Official government memorial statue for the My Lai Massacre. Over 500 women, children, and elderly people were killed in a matter of hours in March, 1968, by the American boy-soldiers of Charlie Company. My Lai was not the only documented case of war atrocities in Viet Nam, and atrocities have been a part of every war as well (the term "gooks," applied to the Vietnamese, had its origins in the brutal American suppression of the Philippinos in the early 1900s, who were called "goo-goos"). However, given the publicity surrounding this 1968 war crime, it continues to be astonishing that there were only a few trials,, and that the only convicted soldier was pardoned by Nixon....