Stephen A. Myrow, Waging War on the Advice of Counsel: The Role of Operational Law in the Gulf War Task Force Barker was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

task force under the command of

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Frank A. Barker during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. While a part of Task Force Barker, U.S. Army soldiers from

Company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

C of the 1st

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division committed the

My Lai Massacre My or MY may refer to: Arts and entertainment * My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station * Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe * ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak * ''My'' (EP), by Cho Mi-yeon Business * Market ...

in 1968. On 16 March 1968, Task Force Barker, an American combat task force of the 23rd Infantry Division, assaulted the Son My village complex in the Quang Ngai province of South Vietnam. Members of the task force proceeded to destroy most of the homes in the village, kill domestic animals, rape female civilians, and in-discriminately murder hundreds of civilian children, women, and elderly people.

Composition and structure

This force of about 500 men was composed of three companies of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, the so-called

Americal Division The Americal Division was an infantry division of the United States Army during World War II and the Vietnam War. The division was activated 27 May 1942 on the island of New Caledonia. In the immediate emergency following Pearl Harbor, the U ...

. The Americal Division had the honorable reputation of being "the first unit in the US Army to successfully conduct offensive operations against the enemy in all of the global events of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

." In detail these were: * The A, B, and C companies of 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry (1/20) Americal Division * The D Company, a composite artillery unit of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, the 6 / 11th Artillery Battalion * For this purpose 9 transport helicopters and gunships , "DOLPHINS & SHARKS", of the 174th Assault Helicopter Company together with the B company of the 23rd Aviation Battalion from

Hunter Army Airfield Hunter Army Airfield , located in Savannah, Georgia, United States, is a military airfield and subordinate installation to Fort Stewart located in Hinesville, Georgia. Hunter features a runway that is 11,375 feet (3,468 m) long and an aircr ...

were used for logistical support

Command management

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Sam Koster - Americal Division *

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

George H. Young - Assistant Division Commander * Col. Oran K. Henderson - 11th Infantry Brigade *

Frank A. Barker - Task Force Commander *

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Ernest Medina Ernest Lou Medina (August 27, 1936 – May 8, 2018) was a captain of infantry in the United States Army. He served during the Vietnam War. He was the commanding officer of Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry of the 11th Brigade, Americal ...

- C Company Commander *

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

William Calley William Laws Calley Jr. (born June 8, 1943) is a former American army officer and war criminal convicted by court-martial for the premeditated killings of 200 to 400 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the Mỹ Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, d ...

- Commander of the 1st Platoon

Mission

The TF Barker's mission was to be a planned, temporary strike against the

Viet Cong , , war = the Vietnam War , image = FNL Flag.svg , caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green. , active ...

on the coast of the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

, which was believed to be a stronghold of the political and military wing of the Viet Cong. The order for this was "

Search and destroy Search and destroy, seek and destroy, or simply S&D is a military strategy best known for its employment in the Malayan Emergency and the Vietnam War. The strategy consists of inserting ground forces into hostile territory, ''search''ing out ...

", a US military tactic that was increasingly used in the course of the Vietnam War. The TF operated from LF Dottie, about 10 km north of Quang Nhai on Vietnamese National Highway 1. Because the operational plan was not put on paper, it is no longer possible to clarify exactly which job TF Barker had in detail. It is certain, however, that she would pursue the remnants of the 48th Viet Cong Local Force Battalion in a three-day operation, Operation Muscatine. The operation was named by Major General Sam Koster, who chose this name based on a neighboring town in his home village in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. This Vietnamese battalion, which had been severely decimated during the fighting for the town of

Quảng Ngãi Quảng Ngãi () is a city in central Vietnam. It serves as the capital city of Quảng Ngãi Province. Quảng Ngãi City borders Tư Nghĩa District to the south and west, Sơn Tịnh District to the northwest and Bình Sơn District to the ...

at the time of the

Tet Offensive The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...

, was suspected to be in the extensive settlement area of

Son My A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

. This operation lasted from 16-18 March 1968. In addition, while combing through the villages, the political functionaries should be tracked down and, if necessary, liquidated. The “ black lists” drawn up by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

and other military secret services speak for this. It remains questionable whether the task force was even aware of or in possession of these blacklists. The officers of TF Barker were able to proceed at their own discretion when carrying out their mandate. This offered a welcome opportunity for the management team to put themselves in the limelight and possibly combine successes that could promote a career. As a result, the troop leaders finally gave their soldiers a license to kill indiscriminately. A message on the day before the operation read: “All residents of Son My Village are sympathizers or supporters of the Viet Cong and thus second class civilians." On the morning of 16 March 1968, around 8:00 AM local time, several companies of the TF Barker were deployed in the Son My district to comb this terrain in the province of Quảng Ngãi, because a battalion of the

was suspected there. When the helicopters returned to pick up the troops at around eleven, My Lai was erased. Between 490 and 520 dead women, children, middle-aged men, old people and babies, as well as the villagers' livestock, were scattered in or around the village on dirt roads, rice fields or in moats.

References

{{Reflist Military task forces