Gravestone style monument in memory of the massacre at My Lai

This gravestone-style monument was erected in memory of the massacre of Vietnamese at My Lai. The plaque on the stone, written in both Vietnamese and English, states that the monument is a reminder that "on March 16, 1968, the G.I.s killed 170 villagers." Incense sticks fill a small ceramic urn at the base of the monument.In 1968, U.S. forces considered the My Lai area to be a stronghold of Communist Vietnamese fighters (known as Vietcong) and their sympathizers. Repeated bombing of the region only increased the support of local civilians for the communist fighters. After an order was given to U.S. troops to attack My Lai Village, American soldiers killed hundreds of mostly women, children, and elderly with brutal methods. Photographs and reports about the atrocities at My Lai led many Americans who thought little about the Vietnam War to conclude that it was not a war they wished to support. Increasingly, the U.S. government decided to reduce civilian killings and military deployments in Vietnam. American forces gradually were withdrawn and then the southern capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Communist forces on April 30, 1975.