American Scandal – The Massacre at My Lai | Pinkville | 2 Airdate: August 19, 2025 | Host: Lindsey Graham (Wondery)

Episode Overview

This episode of American Scandal continues the deep investigation into one of the darkest incidents of the Vietnam War: the My Lai Massacre. Through dramatized accounts grounded in historical research, host Lindsey Graham exposes how U.S. soldiers, under stress, confusion, and questionable orders, perpetrated atrocities against Vietnamese civilians. This installment, “Pinkville,” follows the initial assault, individual choices made by soldiers and helicopter pilots, the subsequent cover-up, and the first glimmers of resistance to official narratives.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Shocking Public Revelation – The Paul Meadlo Interview

• [00:00-03:59] The episode opens with a dramatization of a 1969 CBS interview between Mike Wallace and former Army private Paul Meadlo.
  • Meadlo, nervous and quietly tormented, confirms to a national audience that he shot and killed Vietnamese civilians, including babies, under orders from Lieutenant William Calley.
    • Meadlo (02:39): “I thought he meant to guard them, but he came back later and asked why they weren’t dead yet. He started shooting and told me to start shooting too.”
    • Mike Wallace (03:21): “How does a father of two shoot babies?”
    • Meadlo (03:28): “I don’t know. It’s just one of them things. Why did you do it? I felt I was ordered to... At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.”

2. The Arrival in My Lai and Unfolding Atrocity

• [04:57-10:00] Lindsey Graham narrates the landing of Charlie Company in My Lai on March 16, 1968.

  • Soldiers, primed for combat, instead find a quiet village. Their pent-up grief and anger over fallen comrades “unleashes fury.”
  • Private Michael Bernhardt, a believer in the mission, is shocked by the slaughter.
    • Narration: “It’s increasingly clear to Bernhardt the intelligence they had was wrong... The 48th Battalion of the Viet Cong was gone. There’s no fighting to be done in My Lai.”

• Orders from Lt. Calley and Captain Medina escalate the violence.

  • Calley (13:39): “I don’t want excuses. Waste them and get your men in position. Copy?”
  • Narration: Calley and Meadlo then open fire. “As the morning goes on, more civilians are rounded up and executed under Calley’s orders. And through it all, not a single shot is fired at the men of Charlie Co.”

3. Signs of a Cover-Up & Army Chain of Command

• [10:00-15:10] Task force leadership begins receiving early reports of high numbers of enemy “kills”—but with no evidence of combat.
  • Colonel Frank Barker is uneasy; the operation’s statistics do not match reality. Orders are given to recover weapons or documents (15:00), but the “tell-tale signs of a true firefight are all missing.”

4. The Intervention of Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson

• [16:11-25:00] Helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson and crew spot the massacre from the air.

  • After witnessing Captain Medina shoot a wounded woman, Thompson attempts to intervene directly—marking wounded civilians, confronting Calley and ground troops.

    • Narration [18:19]: “Thompson implores Calley to stop whatever is happening here. ...But as soon as Thompson is airborne, he sees Calley immediately order his men to shoot the survivors in the ditch.”

  • Thompson lands his helicopter between soldiers and escaping civilians, ordering his own crew to protect the Vietnamese at gunpoint if necessary.

    • Narration [22:25]: “With no one else willing to help, Thompson holsters his gun and steps into the bomb shelter himself... using his own body as a human shield.”

  • He helps rescue a severely traumatized boy from a ditch filled with bodies, airlifting him to safety.

    • Narration [24:45]: “Reaching him, Andreotta gently pries the boy’s hands from his dead mother’s blouse and lifts him into his arms. ...The child weighs next to nothing, but still the climb back out of the ditch is difficult... moments later, they’re airborne again, racing toward the hospital in Quang Ngai City.”

  • Thompson confronts his superiors, refusing to soften his account.

    • Thompson (26:01): “If this is the mission, you can take these wings right off me. They’re just sewn on with thread, and I don’t want them now.”

5. The Numbers and Effort to Suppress the Story

• [29:13-35:45] Official body counts report 128 enemy kills—a supposed “victory.” Orders to return for an accurate count are denied by General Koster, at Medina’s urging.
  • Narration: “The village will remain undisturbed. ...A proper body count would raise questions about his claim that there were minimal civilian casualties.”
• The true extent is staggering: 504 Vietnamese civilians killed—including 182 women (17 pregnant) and 173 children (56 infants).
• Military reports are deliberately sanitized.
  • Reporter J. Roberts: “There’s nothing here about the women or the kids. Nothing about the ditch.” [32:55]
• Army photographer Ronald Haberly holds back graphic photos from publication, fearing for his safety.

6. Fallout for Whistleblowers and Continued Whitewash

• [36:00-39:45] Thompson’s attempt to blow the whistle is ignored or minimized.
• He is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross—but for fabricated reasons. Thompson rejects the citation and ends up being sent on even more dangerous missions, finally wounded and out of Vietnam.
  • Narration: “If the Army hopes to buy Thompson’s silence, Thompson isn’t willing to sell. He throws away the citation, wanting no part in the lie.”
• Internal inquiries echo false accounts, and official statements praise the operation.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Paul Meadlo, CBS Interview ([02:39]):
  “I thought he meant to guard them, but he came back later and asked why they weren’t dead yet. He started shooting and told me to start shooting too.”

• Mike Wallace to Meadlo ([03:21]):
  “How does a father of two shoot babies?”

• Meadlo’s haunted admission ([03:28]):
  “I don’t know. It’s just one of them things. Why did you do it? I felt I was ordered to... At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.”

• Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson confronts superiors ([26:01]):
  “If this is the mission, you can take these wings right off me. They’re just sewn on with thread, and I don’t want them now.”

• On Army’s official cover story ([38:35]):
  “The US Army Chief of Staff, General William Westmoreland himself, commends the men of Charlie Company for their outstanding action.”

• On numbers censored from history ([34:59]):
  “504 Vietnamese civilians were killed in the village. These victims included 182 women and 173 children. Seventeen of those women were pregnant and 56 of the children were infants.”

Key Timestamps

• [00:00-03:59] – Paul Meadlo’s CBS interview reveals first-hand confession of killing civilians at My Lai
• [04:57-10:00] – Charlie Company’s entry into My Lai and the beginning of the massacre
• [16:11-25:00] – Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson discovers, attempts to stop, and actively intervenes in the massacre
• [29:13-34:59] – Official cover-up narrative and suppressed body count; the true number of victims
• [36:00-39:45] – Failed investigations, the attempted silencing and endangerment of Hugh Thompson, and the ongoing whitewash

Tone & Storytelling Style

American Scandal employs highly immersive dramatization, combining dialogue, narration, and historical fact. The tone is somber, urgent, and unsparing, delivering the horror of events and the mounting sense of injustice. Each segment builds towards the central question: how can such atrocities happen, be hidden, and who will hold the powerful accountable?

Next Episode Preview

The promise for Episode 3 centers on a lone whistleblower and a journalist determined to surface the truth, as the Army tries desperately to contain the scandal while the story threatens to break wide open.

For Further Reading

• Vietnam: 1968 and The Descent into Darkness by Howard Jones
• Cover Up by Seymour Hersh
• The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story by Trent Angers

Summary prepared for listeners seeking insight, context, and the emotional gravity of this defining moment in modern American military and media history.