The My Lai Massacre

Sir: Perhaps the horror-filled memory of My Lai will awaken more of us to the belated knowledge that no nation has a monopoly on goodness, truth, honor and mercy--all the virtues habitually ascribed to Americans, and particularly the American soldier.

BERNICE BALFOUR

Anaheim, Calif.

Sir: Why is the world so horrified? I don't remember hearing any outcry against the air crews who bombed civilians in Germany and Japan. Or is there an army regulation which stipulates that civilians may be killed only when they cannot be seen?

Surely here is another proof of not only the evil but also the idiocy of war.

E. K. ANDERSON

Leicester, England

Sir: In the light of the massacre of innocent civilians at My Lai, doesn't the indictment of the Green Berets for the murder of a double agent seem absurd?

EDWARD A. LASHINS JR.

Forest Hills, N.Y.

Sir: Why the hell all that noise about My Lai? The story of humanity is a long, uninterrupted list of atrocities. I remember the Spanish War, Lidice, Babi Yar, Korea, Algeria, the Congo, Mozambique, day after day after day--children murdered--all in my generation.

We are only human beings, and the fittest will survive. Please stop playing with ideals and words, and be prepared, for "something rather dark and bloody" may happen someday in the States, and it won't even be World War III.

JEAN CRETE

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Sir: The extermination of the civilian population of My Lai is yet another clear example that man, and not the lion, is the king of the beasts.

HARVEY E. GOLDFINE

San Francisco

Sir: Since when do men have the right to judge a man for murder, when they taught him how? We hand these men guns, teach them to kill, and then expect them to remain mentally intact. If you think the younger generation is screwed up now, wait until you start checking out what's coming home from Viet Nam.

ELLIN POLLACHEK

Elizabeth, NJ.

Sir: Only effete snobs and impudent fools (or is it the other way around?) will blame clean-living American dropouts for the shooting of four-year-old children in My Lai. It needs little reflection to realize that they would have been full-grown and battle-hardened Viet Cong by the time Nixon's secret plan to end the Viet Nam war can be expected to succeed.

J. EDWARD PRIGGEN

Mexico City

Sir: In war the average man will commit atrocities whether he be American, Asian, German, British, Israeli or Arab. War--not the morality of an individual man--should be the subject of all this misplaced soul-searching.

If more people do not realize where the real blame lies instead of looking for scapegoats and excuses, if more do not condemn this and every war, then this whole mass post-mortem will have been in vain.

JON SEBBA

Houghton, Mich.

Sir: Under the circumstances, I would think that the Vietnamese might prefer the lions to the Christians.

(MRS.) MARNIE MELLBLOM

Geneva, Switzerland

Sir: Lieut. Galley or his commander, or both, will be tried and convicted and punished, because someone has to be the patsy in any war.

Nineteen years ago today, I was captain in front-line combat in Korea, with orders to shoot anything that moved after dark. We did, and we "won." On D-day in Normandy and for some time afterward, the same order applied in my outfit, and we "won" that war too. So it has always been, is now and will ever be, until some power stops war.

HARRY MCDANIEL

Carmel Valley, Calif.

Sir: The phrase "aberrations of soldiers under stress" would have brought a wry smile to the face of George Orwell. What a unique and sanitized way to describe the murder of children and babies.

NORMAN J. GALLO

Carmichael, Calif.

Sir: Let's not allow the issue an undeserved partiality. The village supposedly was a haven for Viet Cong. The people were probably sympathizers with the V.C., and perhaps their direct aid contributed to American combat deaths.

When I was in Viet Nam, our battalion had a young sergeant who had been first on a battle scene where he discovered half a dozen Americans hanging upside down, tied through the ankles like deer, and castrated. The V.C. had attempted to skin their "war prisoners" like we skin animals. Cuts circled their wrists, ankles and thighs from the futile attempts. Yet I do not recall any uproars about the atrocities of the V.C.

It is folly to think that war should be conducted with a cool head and a box score delivered every day to the public.

ROGER GALLAGHER

Lafayette, La.

Sir: O.K. So Lieut. Calley stands indicted as the heinous mastermind of the whole My Lai incident. In the interest of judicial equity, however, shouldn't Nixon, Johnson, et al., be codefendants?

PAULA KATZ

Woodmere, N.Y.

Sir: Your story states: "So far, the tale of My Lai has only been told by a few Vietnamese survivors--all of them pro-V.C. . . ." It is a shame that all the pro-American My Lai survivors have not been heard from.

RANDY TENNEN

Oberlin, Ohio

Sir: I will go on active duty as an Army lieutenant in January, and what with the Green Beret case and now this one, I am not at all certain that there is any future for me. If one side doesn't get me, the other will.

ROBERT C. MEEHAN

Pittsburgh

Sir: Let's have that line again about saving South Viet Nam from Communism . . .

STEVE CHASE

Covina, Calif.

Nominations Are Open

Sir: I would like to nominate Vice President Spiro Agnew for Man of the Year. He has stood up and loudly and forcefully proclaimed what the great majority of this country has been softly murmuring. Surely this man was heaven-sent.

ALLEN CURD

Odessa, Texas

Sir: Neil Armstrong. There can be no competitor for the title within 238,857 miles.

MICHAEL A. REARDON

Helena, Mont.

Sir: Mayor John Lindsay. His victory four years ago was a sensation, and his re-election gives new hope for the future.

TAGE JENSEN

Copenhagen

Sir: Richard Ridenhour. Because his story may spur to action some of us silent pacifists and change the locus of that silent majority.

(MRS.) SUSAN KLENNER

Los Angeles

Sir: I say the Kennedys: "Family of the Decade."

MICHAEL MCSWEENEY

Redondo Beach, Calif.

Sir: The plane hijacker.

RUTH REIK

Lake Geneva, Wis.

Sir: I nominate the Honorable U.S. District Judge Julius J. Hoffman. In this age of protecting the criminal instead of the victim, it is heartening to see a man who will not sit weakly by and permit his courtroom to be turned into a circus.

SONDRA L. WARD

McAlester, Okla.

Sir: Beatle Paul McCartney should be bestowed with this honor for living down the biggest hoax--"Paul is dead"--of the year.

BOB HILBRECHT

Stamford, Conn.

Sir: I choose Ralph Nader, for his unselfish honesty.

PAUL MANN

Randolph, Mass.

Sir: All the men and women in the U.S. who are actively fighting to preserve and protect our threatened wildlife and our natural environment.

WILLIAM A. VERHULST

Phoenix, Ariz.

Now They Do It!

Sir: Hurray for the implementation of the welcomed and more equitable draft-lottery bill [Dec. 12]--but it is too damn late!

(SP/5) DOUGLAS D. YOUNGDAHL

USA

A.P.O. San Francisco

Sir: I was alarmed when my birthday was drawn in the opening minutes of the lottery. Thinking that all the blame for my black birthday rested on my mother, I telephoned home for words of comfort.

"Congratulations," she said sarcastically. "This is the first time in your life that you've been in the top third of your class."

I think I'll enlist today.

PETER DOYLE

Boston

Sir: The only change resulting from the new lottery induction system is that the blame is shifted from General Hershey to the Lord.

FRITZ A. DEUTSCH

Euclid, Ohio

Sir:

So let high-sighted tyranny range on; Till each man drop by lottery.--Julius Caesar

BETH FITZGERALD

Belleville, N.J.

Call for Help

Sir: It is pathetically easy to question the motives of the student radicals [Nov. 28] and to doubt their sincerity. With their ability to organize and seemingly endless funds to publicize and attend demonstrations, why do they not organize groups to clean rats and other pests from infested areas; help indigents feed, clothe and house themselves; tutor children and adults in backward areas; organize and staff voluntary centers to help the unemployed find jobs and care for children of low-income working mothers?

We of the Establishment, through our service organizations, charities and taxes for welfare programs, are doing what we can. We could use their help far more than their protests.

They spend millions of dollars annually in their search for pleasure--rock records, mod fashions and drugs--and then protest our materialism; they protest society's ills, then drop out and complain. The money and energy involved in only one Moratorium could provide thousands of meals for impoverished families.

M. P. JELOVCHAN

Jacksonville

All Work and No . . .

Sir: I received your Nov. 28 issue of PlayTIME. My copy does not contain the middle foldout. Will you please send?

For your information, three astronauts flew to the moon that week. I cannot remember their names, but maybe you can get the information from Hugh Hefner.

JOSEPH G. GRACA

Ames, Iowa

Sir: How Timely that your Thanksgiving issue served us the great American favorite--broad-breasted turkey.

MARJORY OTTE

Columbus

Sir: Many, many thanks for your entertaining cover story on filmland's most exciting and beautiful actress. May Wonder Woman continue to give Mere Man a "real good time" for many years.

ROBERT C. HERBER

Cinnaminson, N.J.

Sir: The following concepts are very simple to understand: 1) Sex is interesting. 2) People like it. 3) Raquel Welch is sexy. 4) Therefore people like her. Simple, right? Not to the author of your article on Raquel/Myra. He thinks that the mystery of Raquel is a profundity explainable only in terms of complex Jungean theories of archetypal behavior.

MRS. MICHAEL L. WILSON

Southwick, Mass.

The Capper

Sir: The failure of the television camera on the moon [Nov. 28] points to NASA's inability to accept the technical expertise of those of us outside the space industry. Had they asked for my assistance, I would have recommended the Light Energy Neutralization System Cover and Protective Shielding. Of course, NASA might want to follow its well-known penchant for acronyms and rename the system LENS CAPS.

JAMES L. REED

Corona, Calif.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.