‘No Use for Hatred’: A Village Seeks to Move On From a U.S. Massacre The hamlet of My Lai is infamous for American war crimes, but now it holds lessons in resilience and how to let go of anger.

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Posted on 11/17/2024 3:50:43 AM PST by Cronos

The strawberry ice cream for sale by the ticket booth seemed out of place at the museum to the My Lai massacre, one of America’s most ghastly crimes of war. The parking lot held a single car. Only a wide sign near the entrance explained the significance of the location.

It showed a map of the area as it looked on the morning of March 16, 1968, when a company of American soldiers showed up and killed more than 500 women, children and older men, raping girls, mutilating bodies and burning homes with families still inside.

One of the massacre’s survivors, Nguyen Hong Mang, would tell me later that he had met the soldiers with a smile, shouting, “Welcome, Americans!” He was 14.

Minutes later, he and his family and neighbors were being lined up and shot, crumpling into a pile of the dead and nearly dead.

...The video mostly featured the museum’s director, Pham Thanh Cong, another survivor, meeting an American soldier involved in the massacre, and staying calm.

A second video, in Vietnamese, was even more magnanimous. A narrator highlighted a handful of humane soldiers: one who intentionally shot himself in the leg to avoid taking part in the violence, a helicopter crew that eventually intervened to stop the killing.

...It was the sign of a resilient nation — Vietnam often tops Gallup’s ranking of the most optimistic countries — eager to seek prosperity with past enemies.

“One of the first things that many Americans notice when they go to Vietnam is that Americans are not just welcomed, not just tolerated — there is genuine enthusiasm,”

...“So many people go to the U.S. to study, and so many Americans come here,” Ms. Son said. “If we feel hatred now, what’s the use? There’s no use for hatred.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

The Vietnamese have forgiven, not forgotten. This can be the start of a beautiful friendship - and it will be more robust once they junk the communist party

1 posted on 11/17/2024 3:50:43 AM PST by Cronos

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