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A
Want to get more from American Scandal? Subscribe to Wondery for early access to new episodes, ad free listening and exclusive content you can't find anywhere else. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. American Scandal uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, might be invented, but everything is based on historical research. A Listener Note this episode contains descriptions of violence and may not be suitable for all audiences wondering it's late November 1969 in New York City. Inside a television studio at CBS News, two men sit quietly as all around them crew members get cameras and microphones ready. One of the men is Mike Wallace, a veteran broadcaster wearing a sharp suit and a no nonsense expression. But the pale young man sitting across from him is very different, wearing glasses and a patterned sweater. Paul Meadlow is a 22 year old from Indiana who served as a US army private in Vietnam. He fidgets in his seat, squinting under the bright stage lights. He's nervous, not just because he's about to be broadcast on TV across the nation, but because he has a secret to tell. The crew get in their places and the director counts Wallace in, giving him the signal that the cameras are rolling. We're speaking today with Paul Meadlow, who served in Charlie Company, 11th Infantry Brigade. Paul, I want to ask you plainly, were you present at my Lai on March 16, 1968? Yes, sir. Can you describe what your unit was instructed to do that day? We were told to search the village for the Viet Cong and ensure there were none left. And what did you encounter upon entering the village? There were a lot of people. They weren't supposed to be there. Our intelligence reports said that all civilians would be gone to the market that morning. So what did you do with them? We gathered them up. And these were old men, women, children, Is that right? We didn't know who was the enemy and who wasn't. They could have been VC sympathizers, so we all huddled them up. What happened then? Lieutenant Calley came over and said, you know what to do with them, don't you? 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. Did you comply? Yes, I fired my weapon. At whom? At the villagers, the old men, women and children. Meadlo nods and Wallace leans forward and babies. And babies. How many rounds did you fire? About four clips. Do you know how many people you might have killed? It's hard to say. Maybe 10 or 15. Wallace fixes Meadlo with an intense stare. You're a father, is that correct? Yes, sir. Two children. How does a father of two shoot babies? 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. Do you often think about that day? Yes. I see the women and children in my dreams. Some nights I can't even sleep. This CBS interview with Paul Meadlo will be front page news all across America. Mike Wallace's unflinching forensic questions draw out shocking revelations about what happened at My Lai. It's an interviewing masterclass that leaves the audience in no doubt. An atrocity has been committed in Vietnam. And for those watching at home, it's hard to reconcile the ordinary looking farm boy with the terrible things he's describing. But it's even harder to comprehend how this tragedy has been swept under the rug. It's been more than a and a half since the massacre took place, and up until just a few days ago, no one in the American public had any idea it had even happened.
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B
What do you think makes the perfect snack?
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C
Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.
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B
Could you be more specific?
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C
When it's cravenient. Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at a.m. pM.
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A
I'm seeing a pattern here.
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C
Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.
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A
Crave, which is anything from am pm.
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C
What more could you want?
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A
Stop by AMPM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient.
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C
That's Cravenience ampm.
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A
Too much good stuff.
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D
Think about the most disturbing government secrets you've learned from history. Now imagine discovering one that begins in a hospital room and leads straight to classified military operations that were buried for decades. Listen to a Redacted Medical Mystery, A special episode from redacted and Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries available now. Wherever you get your podcasts.
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A
From Wondery. I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American Scandal. Lieutenant William Caley and the other infantrymen of Charlie Company arrived in Vietnam in late 1967. Their commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina, promised the young soldiers glory. But from the start, America's war in Southeast Asia looked nothing like what they'd imagined. Booby traps, sniper fire and ambushes left the men bitter and paranoid, rarely even getting the chance to shoot back at their attackers. And soon the unit's grief for the growing number of fallen comrades turned into a thirst for vengeance. On the morning of March 16, 1968, Charlie Company entered the village of My Lai. They were told they'd be facing hardened Viet Cong fighters, so the men landed ready for battle. But their actions were something else entirely. This is Episode two, Pinkville. After their helicopters land in the fields outside My Lai, the men of Charlie Company begin their sweep through the village. Private First Class Michael Bernhardt trails near the edge of the hamlet, scanning for danger. A rifleman in the 2nd Platoon, Bernhardt is 21 years old, but unlike many in his generation, he's always had faith in his government and its mission in Vietnam. He dropped out of his junior year at the University of Miami to volunteer for the army, believing that being a soldier was a natural part of a young man's life. His father's generation fought in World War II, and now it's his turn. He keeps his rifle raised as he moves, his finger hovering over the trigger, waiting for the moment when the shooting starts. Back in February, on two separate missions, his fellow soldiers were flanked and attacked by the Viet Cong from behind. Bernhardt and the other men of Charlie Company have no intention of letting that happen again. But as the minutes tick by and the platoons fan out through the hamlet, Bernhardt realizes something strange. As far as Bernhardt can tell, no one's been shot at since they've arrived. They haven't come across any booby traps. There haven't been any sudden screams of any ambushed American soldiers. All they've encountered is the usual morning stillness of a tiny farming village. Chickens clucking in their pens, pots clattering in unseen kitchens and. And smoke lazily rising from cooking fires. It's increasingly clear to Bernhardt that whatever intelligence they had about this place was wrong. If the 48th Battalion of the Viet Cong was here, they're gone now. And there's no fighting to be done in My Lai. So Bernhardt slings his rifle over his shoulder, its muzzle pointing at the ground. He walks along a path behind the village's huts. In the field beyond, he sees an elderly man waving his arms. It's hard for Bernhardt to tell whether he's saying hello or trying to shoo them off, but either way, he's clearly not holding a weapon. Bernhardt turns to tell the rest of the platoon that the man isn't a threat. But before he can say a word, he hears an order barked out to open fire. Bernhardt spins around. He thinks it was Lieutenant William Cawley who gave that command. But there's no time to confirm before a shot rings out and the old man in the field falls to the ground, dead. That single bullet seems to slice through whatever thin thread of restraint has been holding Charlie Company back. And now the men's fury is unleashed. Within minutes, the quiet morning in My Lai unravels into chaos. Old men, teenagers, women holding children are gunned down. Some as they flee, others as they're dragged from their homes and shot at close range. And each killing seems to fuel the next. Private Bernhardt doesn't move. He doesn't speak. He just watches, numb, as the slaughter committed by the American troops continues around him. And as the horrifying choir of gunfire, screams and explosions echoes through My Lai, some Charlie Company officers try to intervene. They shout out they're meant to stop and pull back, but it's too late. Months of frustration, grief and anger have built up to this and there's no controlling the soldiers now. Homes are torched. Livestock are machine gunned in their fields. Elsewhere, American troops begin assaulting and raping women and girls, some barely in their teens. The enemy the men are meant to be fighting is nowhere to be seen. But the momentum of violence keeps building. Lieutenant William Calley's 1st Platoon is supposed to be completing a speedy sweep through the village before rendezvousing with the rest of Charlie Company on the other side. But by 8am, the 30 minutes after their deployment, Cali and his men have stalled in the village while smoke fills the air from burning huts and gunfire erupts in the distance. Cali soldiers have collected around 40 Vietnamese civilians and they're marching them slowly down a dirt path on the outskirts of the village. They're mostly women, children and old men, clinging to each other as they walk. Some shout out that they're not Viet Cong, others are entirely silent. But all of them are terrified. They've heard about American soldiers swooping into villages before, but they've never known anything like this. Another group of civilians is pushed down the trail by a second platoon of Charlie Company, making the miserable line even longer. Some trip and fall, but are shoved roughly back onto their feet. Then Calley orders his men to huddle the villagers together and keep them all under guard. That's when he gets a radio call from Charlie Company's Captain Ernest Medina, who's stationed at a command post just outside the village. C takes a few steps away from his men and answers the squawking radio. Yes, sir, this is Cali. What's your status? Why aren't you at the rendezvous point? Sir, we're still sweeping the village, but progress is slow. We've come across multiple bunkers. Forget the bunkers, dammit. I didn't tell you to check them out. I told you to get your men in position. You're behind now. MOVING yes sir. It's just we've got a large group of Vietnamese with us. Maybe 40, 50 people. I'm not seeing a problem here. CALLIE get rid of them. Captain Medina cuts the conversation short. Tightening his jaw, Calley strides back to his men. He calls out to Private First Class Paul Meadlow, the young GI from Indiana. Who's the nearest man standing watch over the civilians. MEADLOW we gotta get this moving. You know what to do. But before Calley can explain any further, there's a commotion behind him. One of his men is grabbing a Vietnamese woman who's struggling to get away from him. Callie shakes his head. God damn it. Hey, hey, hey, hey. What do you think you're playing at? We don't have time for this. Get her in line with the others. Callie yanks the soldier off the woman and shoves her roughly toward the other villagers. She clutches her torn clothes as she stumbles into the crowd. CALLIE Give me an update. Callie grabs the radio. Sorry, sir, we're still dealing with these subjects. Civilians. I have a lot of Vietnamese here. What part of my order wasn't clear? Are you disobeying me, Lieutenant? No sir. I'm trying. I don't want excuses. Waste them and get your men in position. Copy? Yes, sir. Copy that, sir. Cali exhales slowly. Then he heads back to the civilians under guard. MEADLO what the hell are you waiting for? Private? Meadlo flinches, caught off guard. Callie scowls at him. Come on, come on. We need him dead. That's an order. Captain Medina's waiting. Meadlo still hesitates. He looks between Qali and the villagers. Civilians huddle together, some weeping, some whispering prayers, others staring blankly ahead. Meadlo doesn't move, so Calley races his rifle. Don't make me say it again, soldier, or I'll shoot you instead. PAUL Meadlo doesn't know how to say no to his commanding officer. So he raises his M16 and when Lt. Calley says fire, Meadlo pulls the trigger. From 10ft away, Meadlo and Calley empty clip after clip into the villagers. As the mourning 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. About seven miles away from My Lai. Back at the task Force headquarters at landing zone Dottie. Lt. Col. Frank Barker strides into the operations center. It's 8:40am Just over an hour into the operation. He's just gotten word from Captain Ernest Medina that Charlie Company has eliminated 84 enemy fighters in My Lai so far. At least four Viet Cong have also been reported killed by helicopter gunships. Watching the trails outside the village, a clerk records the numbers in the official task force log. It should be a moment of triumph. On paper, almost 90 kills in just an hour of fighting is an overwhelming success. That kind of victory will delight all their superiors and make the newspapers back home as well. But there are no cheers or mutual congratulations in the operations center this morning. Colonel Barker scans the room and everyone seems to feel it. Something is off. Charlie Company may have reported 84 kills, but there's no confirmation that the dead are Viet Cong. Just Captain Medina's word. So Barker orders the men of Charlie Company to make sure they recover any weapons or documents that can be found on the bodies. Anything that will prove the American troops really are killing the enemy and not innocent civilians. But despite these orders, Barker is still uneasy. The telltale signs of a true firefight are all missing. The radio messages flying back and forth. The medevac calls, the desperate requests for air support. There's none of that. Instead, it's just eerily quiet. Finally, a report comes in of an American casualty. Colonel Barker perks up because maybe this is the sign of the battle they've all been expecting. But it's just a foot wound and even the cause of that is unclear. From the sound of things, the soldier possibly shot himself just to get out of the battle or whatever's happening down there. Barker hopes it is a battle that his men are engaging the enemy bravely with discipline and purpose. That every kill reported is one less Viet Cong fighter and and one more step towards victory. Because the alternative is unthinkable.
- [15:13]
E
The town of AGDA in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex. But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn. The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption. His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant. Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
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A
I am the Archangel Michael.
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The whole town has been thrown into.
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A
Chaos as the mayor is unable to carry out his duties. I would like to address you all. Legal proceedings have been initiated.
- [15:52]
E
Join me, Anna Richardson and journalist Leo Chic for the mystic and the Mayor, as we investigate a story of power, corruption and Magic Binge. All episodes of the mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad free right now on Wondery. Start your free trial in Apple podcasts, Spotify or the wondery app.
- [16:12]
A
In 1925, 18 year old Howard Hughes inherited a fortune and he wasted no time putting it to use. With a million dollars burning a hole in his pocket, he headed west, determined to conquer America's booming new capital of entertainment, Hollywood. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, host of Wondry show Business Movers. We tell the true stories of business leaders who risked it all, the critical moments that define their journey, and the ideas that transform the way we live our lives. In our latest series, Howard Hughes clashes with Hollywood's power players as he fights to see his name in lights. But Howard has deep pockets and even deeper ambitions and he revolutionizes the movie business by breaking rules and spending big. Because for Howard, the best way to level Hollywood's playing field is is to explode the entire industry. Follow Business Movers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of Business Movers early and ad free right now by joining Wondery. The My Lai operation has been underway for an hour and a half when Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson circles over the village in his Raven Light observation helicopter. He's a lanky 25 year old pilot from Georgia, but despite his age, he's the most experienced man aboard. The two men squeezed in either side of him are barely more than kids. He's got a 20 year old crew chief named Glenn Andreotta and an 18 year old door gunner named Lawrence Colburn. And since the operation in My Lai began, they've been flying over the trails outside the village. Their job is to act as bait to draw the fire of hidden Viet Cong fighters so the larger gunships can take them out. But no one has taken a shot at them so far and now they're running low on fuel. Thompson radios to the gunships that he's headed back to landing zone Dottie to refuel, then steers his helicopter away, passing over the village. As they fly overhead, they can see dead civilians scattered in the fields and among the houses below. Some of them he recognizes. Groups of women and children he saw earlier that morning heading down the road toward the market carrying empty baskets. But now they're here and all dead. Thompson doesn't understand. There hasn't been a battle yet. Something terrible seems to have happened. He puzzles over it all the way back to base and after a quick refueling, he's back in the air. At around 9am Thompson flies over a rice paddy just south of My Lai and spots another group of Vietnamese civilians. Again all dead, except when he sees one of them, a woman who's just wounded. So Thompson hovers over the field and drops green smoke grenades to mark her position. Then he relays a message to ground troops requesting immediate medical assistance. Thompson stays on the scene and watches from the air as Charlie Company's commanding officer, Captain Ernest Medina, approaches the wounded woman. Thompson assumes Medina will help her, but instead, Medina casually prods her with his foot and without a word, shoots her. Thompson and his crew shout an outrage from the cockpit. They can't believe what they just saw. Thompson starts running through justifications in his head, trying to make sense of it. Maybe the woman was too far gone. This was a mercy killing. Or perhaps she had some sort of concealed weapon that he couldn't see from his vantage point. But something in Thompson's gut tells him it was neither of those things and that what he actually witnessed was nothing more than a murder. If that's the case, then perhaps the same thing happened to all the other dead people they've seen this morning. Thompson maneuvers his chopper over to the eastern side of the village, where American soldiers are standing beside an irrigation ditch. It's filled with bodies of Vietnamese civilians, and even from the air, Thompson can see that some are still moving. He swings his chopper around, gaining himself just a moment to think, then decides he has to intervene. He should ask permission from command to attempt a landing, but there's no time for that. He turns to his crew members and asks if they're with him. They immediately say yes, so Thompson lands near the ditch and hops out of his pilot seat. He storms over to the soldiers and confronts a sergeant who doesn't seem to think anything is wrong. Then Lieutenant William Calley himself walks over to see what Thompson wants. Thompson implores Calley to stop whatever is happening here. The moment is tense, but by the time he heads back to his helicopter, Thompson believes he's put an end to the killing, that Cali has heard him loud and clear. But as soon as Thompson is airborne, he sees Calley immediately order his men to shoot the survivors in the ditch. Thompson's intervention has done nothing. So furious, he veers away, seeing if there are other villagers who can be helped. By 9:45am Thompson is over the northeast corner of the village, and there he spots an elderly couple with a young child scurrying toward a rudimentary earth and bomb shelter at the edge of a field. They're being pursued by Soldiers from Charlie Company's 2nd Platoon. And Thompson knows he has to do something. Over the radio, he calls for immediate support from nearby gunships. And without a second thought, he once again lands his helicopter, this time putting it between the advancing men of the 2nd Platoon and the group of terrified civilians. Then he gets out and issues his crewmates Glenn Entreata and Lawrence Colburn an order. If the gis open fire on the civilians, they are to shoot. The two young men nod and train their guns on their fellow Americans. Thompson then confronts the commander of the 2nd Platoon. It's another tense standoff. Thompson asks for help to evacuate the civilians from the bomb shelter, but only gets sneers from a soldier saying they could use a hand grenade to get them out. Thompson warns the commander to keep his men back. And then, with no one else willing to help, Thompson holsters his gun and steps into the bomb shelter himself. As his eyes adjust to the dark of the moss covered shelter, Thompson sees that there are nine terrified civilians huddled inside. Extending a hand, he tries to coax them out. It's not easy. The Vietnamese have little reason to trust Thompson, who looks like every other American soldier who's terrorized them that morning. But one by one, Thompson manages to convince them to follow him outside. Two of the heavily armed gunships have answered Thompson's cross call for backup. And despite the extreme risk of landing in a free fire zone, one pilot touches down twice to ferry the civilians to safety, while the other pilots circle overhead, offering cover from 500ft above. All the while, Thompson stays on the ground, positioned directly between the Vietnamese civilians and the armed American troops, using his own body as a human shield. If he has to die to save these villagers lives, then that's what he's willing to do. Then, once all the villagers are safely evacuated, Thompson returns to his helicopter, which by now at 11am is again running low on fuel. Soon he'll have to fly back to landing zone Dottie, but before then, he wants to make sure that there's no one else in My Lai that he can help. Circling low over the village, Thompson scans beneath him. Many of the huts are still burning, and through the smoke he can see dead bodies sprawled everywhere. There are no signs of life, so he moves on. He then flies out over the drainage ditch on the edge of the village. The American troops who were there earlier have now gone, leaving behind a scene of devastation. The bodies in the ditch are too many to count, but not everyone down there is dead. Thompson and his crew spot a flicker of movement. A small boy, maybe Five or six years old, half buried under the other villagers, Thompson once again lands his helicopter without command's permission. Dusk kicks up in the rotor wash as the chopper touches ground crew chief Glenn Andreotta unbuckles, grabs his rifle, and jumps out. He then scrambles down the steep edge of the ditch, boots sliding in the mud and gore. He does his best not to step on the dead, but there are so many, it's impossible to avoid them all. So he tries not to think too much about it and just focuses on the boy. He's not crying, just in shock, silently shaking. Reaching him, Andreata 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, and Andreata is in danger of slipping back down until gunner Lawrence Colburn jumps out of the helicopter to lend a hand. With Colburn's help, Andreata gets on board the helicopter, and moments later, they're airborne again, racing toward the hospital in Quang Ngai City. The boy is safe, but no one really knows what his future will look like. Everything he knew has just been erased by the very people who said they were there to protect it. Thompson can't bear it, so from the hospital, he flies his helicopter back to landing zone Dottie so he can speak directly to his superiors. After touching down, Thompson rushes to his platoon leader and tells him what he's just seen. But the man doesn't know what to do with the information, so he tells Thompson to go talk to their commander. Thompson storms across the tarmac toward the aviation operations van. He throws open the door and immediately confronts the major in charge of the battalion. Sir, I need to talk to you right now. Thompson, what's going on? What's going on, sir? I just saw our own soldiers gun down civilians, women, children, just executing them in cold blood. The major squints at Thompson like he's not sure he's heard right. You're telling me there were casualties? No, sir. I'm saying it was a massacre. This was not collateral damage. This was like something out of Nazi Germany. Watch yourself, Thompson. I know what I saw. They were rounding them up and hurting them in ditches and then just shooting them. If this is what they're doing, 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. Now you're making some serious accusations. I watched it happen, sir. I landed in that village three Times trying to stop it. We airlifted out a handful of them. Everyone else was slaughter. You confronted ground troops directly? Yes, sir. I put my crew between the civilians and our men. That's an unsanctioned landing in a hot zone. You put your crew and your aircraft at serious risk. Sir, I was not worried about protocol while our guys were out there slaughtering children. Are you listening to what I'm saying? I'm listening just fine, but we don't have the full picture yet. It could have been crossfire. It sounds like a chaotic scene. Sir, you are not hearing me. There were no enemy fighters in the village. It was only our men out there doing the shooting. The Major takes a deep breath. Look, perhaps there's been some misjudgment. You're saying 20, 30 civilians. Maybe. That. That's tragic, but sometimes things go wrong. This is war. This wasn't war, sir. This was murder. And if you don't report it to the higher ups, I will. The Major agrees to pass the report up the chain of command to Lieutenant Colonel Barker. But as Hugh Thompson walks back out into the heat and dust of Landing's own Dottie, he worries that his account may be softened, or worse, outright ignored. So he makes a vow to himself that he won't let this get swept under the rug. He'll do everything in his power to make sure that justice is done and that the soldiers he saw out there in My Lai get the punishment they deserve.
- [27:07]
F
How hard is it to kill a planet? Maybe all it takes is a little drilling, some mining, and a whole lot of carbon pumped into the atmosphere. When you see what's left, it starts to look like a crime scene.
- [27:19]
A
Are we really safe? Is our water safe? You destroyed our tap.
- [27:23]
F
And crimes like that, they don't just happen.
- [27:25]
B
We call things accidents.
- [27:27]
A
There is no accident. This was 100% preventable.
- [27:32]
F
They're the result of choices by people. Ruthless oil tycoons, corrupt politicians. Politicians, even organized crime. These are the stories we need to be telling about our changing planet. Stories of scams, murders and cover ups that are about us and the things we're doing to either protect the Earth or destroy it. Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of Lawless Planet early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondry App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
- [28:06]
G
It's your man, Nick Cannon, and I'm here to bring you my new podcast, Nick Cannon at Night. I've heard y' all been needing some advice in the love department. So who better to help than yours truly? Nah, I'm serious. Every week I'm bringing out some of my celebrity friends and the best experts in the business to answer your most intimate relationship questions. Having problems with your man? We got you catching feelings for your sneaky link. Let's make sure it's the real deal first. Ready to bring toys into the bedroom? Let's talk about it. Consider this a non judgment zone to ask your questions when it comes to sex and modern dating in relationships, friendships, situationships and everything in between. It's gonna be sexy, freaky, messy and you know what? You'll just have to watch the show. So don't be shy, join the conversation and head over to YouTube to watch Nick Cannon at night or subscribe. Subscribe on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast. Want to watch episodes early and ad free? Join Wondery plus right now.
- [29:13]
A
By early afternoon on March 16, 1968, the operation in My Lai has recorded a total of 128 enemy kills. Of those, 84 are claimed by Charlie Company. That's the same number Captain Ernest Medina gave Lieutenant Colonel Barker earlier in the morning. According to him, the body count hasn't gone up since then. But he does claim his company has recovered documents, a radio, some ammunition and medical supplies from the fallen enemy. And if indeed 128 Viet Cong fighters had been killed, it would be an undeniable military success for the task force. But cracks in the story begin to appear almost immediately. By 3:30 that afternoon, Colonel Orrin Henderson of the 11th Infantry Brigade receives two separate reports of mass civilian casualties in My Lai. He wants to get to the bottom of what really happened, so he orders Charlie Company to return to the village and get an accurate body count. Captain Medina immediately objects. He argues that his men are exhausted and running low on supplies. They're already near their designated defensive position for the night, so sending them back into a potentially mined and hostile area would be reckless and unnecessary. Medina's objections are run all the way up the chain of command to Major General Samuel Koster, the officer in charge of the entire division. After weighing the risks, Koster sides with Medina and tells Colonel Henderson that there's no reason to send anyone back into My Lai, and that decision is final. The village will remain undisturbed. It's a relief for Medina. He knows that a proper body count would raise questions about his claim that there were minimal civilian casualties. For Medina and the rest of Charlie Company, there's no point looking back now they still have a mission to complete. They just need to keep pushing forward. So the next morning, their operation in Pinkville continues. Lt. William Kelly and his 1st Platoon sweep the countryside, pushing deeper into enemy territory. They climb up a hill, but on their way back down, Callie decides that they'll take a different path. It's rougher terrain, but it should be faster. Private First Class Paul Meadlo is walking point. He's uneasy with Calley's decision to take this path. The way up had already been cleared with a minesweeper. They know it's safe, but anything could be waiting for them on the way down on this new path. But Meadlo followed orders yesterday at the ditch, and he follows orders now, too. So he starts off down the hill, leading the rest of the platoon. But midway down, Meadlo steps on a mine. The explosion rips through his leg, blowing his foot off. Calley is hit too, with shrapnel ripping into his face. Soldiers scramble for cover as Meadlo screams in agony, clutching at his leg. The radioman calls in for immediate medevac, and within minutes, a chopper is lowering through the smoke toward their position. As Meadlo is lifted onto a stretcher, he points at Calley and shouts through his pain, screaming out that God came for him for what he did at My Lai and he'll be coming for Calley next. Callie doesn't let Melo's words affect him. He doesn't regret what he did yesterday. As far as he's concerned, he was simply following orders. If Charlie Company had doubled back to get an accurate body count in My Lai, the number of recorded casualties from March 16, 1968 would have been very different. 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. But officers in the army chain of command all downplay the carnage. Some may truly believe everything was above board. Others know the truth, or at least can guess at it. But they all know that that even the suggestion of a massacre could explode into a scandal. None of them need so little. Mention of civilian casualties makes it into the official army reports. And the U.S. joint Service Command in Saigon even issues a glowing communique praising the operation. This whitewash leaves two reporters who were on the ground with the troops and My Lai with a decision to make. Army Combat Corps correspondent J. Roberts hurries breathlessly through a U.S. army camp, a piece of paper clutched in his hand. A sergeant with the 11th Brigade's Public Information Department. Roberts has spent months embedded with the troops, filing stories that have filled the pages of newspapers like Stars and Stripes. He ducks into a tent. Military photographer Ronald Haberly is lying on his bum, but he sits up fast as Roberts barges in and thrusts a crumpled dispatch at him. You seen this? What is it? Communicate out of Saigon just came down the wire, Major. Victory in my line says we wiped out an enemy force, but not a word about the civilians. Haberly reads the dispatch. 128 VC dead. Three. Three weapons recovered. That's. That's it. That's it. That's the story. Now Robert starts pacing, agitated, while Haberly continues staring at the paper. There's nothing here about the women or the kid. Nothing about the ditch. Robert shakes his head. He jabs a finger at the press release. I bet my stripes Colonel Barker pushed this. He's been writing me to clean my copy. Cut anything that mentions civilians. Just talk about enemy gear and tactical success. What are we gonna do? You saw what I saw. I've got the photos to back it up. I know. Then we tell the truth, right? Robert stops pacing. He glances toward the tent flap. Maybe. Maybe you hold on to those slides. Just for now. You're kidding. You've got what, two, three weeks left? Then you're out of here stateside. I've got another year, Ron. If I cross the wrong people. Jay, we can't lie about this. I'm not saying we lie. I'm just saying we wait until we're both home. Alive. Roberts leans in, lowering his voice. I mean, you've heard the stories. You know how this place works. Guys who speak up get reassigned to hot zones and they don't come back. So we just wait. But. But for what? Someone else to blow the whistle? If someone else steps up, then we back them with everything we've got. Photos, testimony, whatever. But I don't think we should go first, Ron. Not alone. No. No, this isn't right. I know it's not right. But I don't think we have a choice. Jay Roberts leaves the tent and then writes a news release that follows the official line. Within a week, the report is picked up across the world. Headlines celebrate a major American victory, and the US Army Chief of Staff, General William Westmoreland himself, commends the men of Charlie Company for their outstanding action. But in that tent in Vietnam, photographer Ronald Haberly sits on his bunk, holding pictures the world hasn't seen. Pictures which tell a very different story ever since helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson put himself between American forces and Vietnamese villagers in My Lai. He's been waiting for the higher ups to take action. But with every passing day, he grows less confident that his superiors will do the right thing. By now, his account of what happened in My Lai has made it all the way to the commander of the division, Major General Samuel Coster. He instructs Colonel Orrin Henderson to conduct an informal investigation into the claims, and Henderson comes back a little over a month later with a clean report. He says that while there were some casualties at My Lai, it was a total of 20 civilians. Nothing like the mass murder Thompson has suggested. But Costner doesn't entirely buy Henderson's findings, and he's worried how a misleading body count might reflect on his own leadership. So he tells Henderson to go back and conduct a more thorough formal inquiry. The unsaid implication is clear. Get it right this time. But somehow it is not Henderson who takes charge of this second investigation, even though it's his task force that is under the microscope. It's Lieutenant Colonel Frank Barker himself who ends up taking over. And he comes back with the same findings as Henderson, assuring Koster that there are no merits to Hugh Thompson's claims. Still, no one wants Thompson repeating the accusations to anyone else. In the past, inconvenient witnesses have been persuaded to stay quiet with promotions or medals. So it's decided that Warrant Officer Thompson will be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The citation praises him for taking the Vietnamese boy to the hospital and says it was done during intense crossfire. But 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. Besides, by now, Thompson feels more like he's being punished for not falling in line and keeping his mouth shut, whether it's by coincidence or because the army brass feel he's now expendable. Since My Lai, Thompson's being sent out on increasingly dangerous missions. Over the summer of 1968, his helicopter is hit by enemy fire seven times, and eventually his luck runs out. In August, his chopper is struck by machine gun fire and plummets 600ft to the ground. The crash landing is so hard that Thompson suffers a severe compression fracture in his back, ending his combat career in Vietnam. And with Thompson out of the way, recovering in a hospital in Japan, the events at My Lai are effectively swept under the rug. US Commanders insist that the operation was a complete success, and internal army inquiries continue to deny that there was any wrongdoing. Some mistakes may have been made, but American soldiers aren't callous murderers. Whatever people said they saw, it didn't happen because it couldn't have. From Wonder Eat this is Episode two of the Massacre at My Lai for American Scandal. In our next episode, the truth begins to surface not from military authorities, but from a lone whistleblower desperate to be heard. And as the army scrambles to contain the fallout, an investigative reporter picks up the trail and uncovers one of the most explosive stories in modern American history. If you're enjoying American scandal, you can unlock exclusive seasons on Wondery Binge new seasons first and listen completely ad free when you join Wondery in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a survey@wondery.com survey if you'd like to learn more about the Massacre at My Lai, we recommend the books Vietnam, 1968 and the Descent into Darkness by Howard Jones, Cover up by Seymour Hersh and the Forgotten Hero of the Hugh Thompson Story by Trent Anders. This episode contains reenactments and dramatized details. And while in most cases we can't know exactly what was said, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Scandal is hosted, edited and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship Audio editing by Christian Paraga Sound design by Gabriel Gould supervising sound designer, Matthew Filler Music by Throng this episode is written and researched by Alex Burns, fact checking by Alyssa Jung Perry managing Producer, Emily Burke development by Stephanie Jens senior Producer, Andy Beckerman Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship and Jenny Lauer Beckman, Marcia Louie and Erin o' Flaherty for Wondering.
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