Posted on 10/26/2003 3:41:08 AM PST by dsc
At the height of the Vietnam War, civilians were butchered by an army unit and the carnage was covered up. But this was not My Lai. This bloody massacre has only come to light in the past week - and not one of America's elite corps of reporters can claim the credit. It was a huge scoop. Yet the newspaper that uncovered the atrocity was not the venerable New York Times or the Washington Post, still resting on its Watergate laurels. Nor was it the New Yorker, famed for its in-depth journalism. It was The Blade, a daily newspaper with a circulation of just 150,000 that serves the Ohio city of Toledo, by Lake Erie.
For four days last week, The Blade ran its tale of the massacre of innocent Vietnamese civilians by a US Army unit called Tiger Force. The story was immediately hailed as the discovery of a 'new My Lai', the infamous massacre of Vietnamese villagers that lifted the veil on wartime US brutality.
America's larger dailies and TV networks were left scrabbling to make up the ground - no easy task. Two Blade reporters had spent eight months working solely on the scoop. Another had joined part-way through. Together, they interviewed more than 100 people, tracking down former soldiers in Tiger Force and finally travelling to Vietnam to interview survivors and witnesses.
'The reaction has been overwhelming. The attitude of the government for the past 36 years has been to keep this quiet,' said Ron Royhab, a Blade executive editor.
The story began with a tip-off to the Blade's Washington bureau about some classified documents. The information was passed back to Ohio, where a reporter, Mike Sallah, began to dig. That process began to turn up references to a secret investigation into Tiger Force. Requests for army documents were repeatedly turned down, meaning The Blade's team would have to track down witnesses and victims themselves.
The details of the scoop are harrowing, both for the Vietnamese survivors and many of the still-living US Army soldiers.
Tiger Force operated out of control in the Vietnamese highlands for seven months in 1967. Moving across the region, the platoon of 45 paratroops slaughtered unarmed farmers and their wives and children. They tortured and mutilated victims. A litany of horror has emerged - a baby decapitated for the necklace he wore, a teenage boy for his tennis shoes. A former Tiger Force sergeant, William Doyle, told reporters of a scalp he took off a young nurse to decorate his rifle. The Blade investigation concluded that hundreds probably died. 'We weren't keeping count,' Ken Kerney, a former soldier who is now a California firefighter, told the paper. 'I knew it was wrong, but it was an acceptable practice.' Another, Rion Causey, then a 19-year-old medic and now a nuclear physicist, talked of how villagers were routinely shot: 'If they ran we shot them, and if they didn't run we shot them anyway.'
The killing spree was either ignored or encouraged by army top brass, but when an inquiry did take place it lasted for four years. No one was charged. Details were not released to the public, and are still classified. Bill Carpenter, a former special infantryman with Tiger Force, believes the self-styled death squad's former commander, Lt James Hawkins, should be held accountable. He 'thoroughly enjoyed killing' and, now retired to Florida, still defiantly defends his platoon's wartime activities. 'I don't regret nothing,' Hawkins has said.
But memories of the blood lust run deep in Vietnam. One farmer, Nguyen Dam, now 66, vividly remembered being attacked. 'Our people didn't deserve to die that way. We were farmers. We were not soldiers. We didn't hurt anyone,' he said.
The Blade also found amazing stories from within Tiger Force itself. One soldier, Gerald Bruner, turned on his own men and ordered them to stop shooting civilians or he would open fire. For this, he was berated by a commanding officer and told to see a psychiatrist.
Bruner was almost alone in resisting the killings. Yet the brutality left its mental legacy. Barry Bowman, a Tiger Force medic, told The Blade he is haunted by nightmares after witnessing the execution of one elderly Vietnamese man. Others described flashbacks and many have sought therapy to cope with their crimes. Others expressed no remorse. Moreover, criminal charges are unlikely to be brought.
However, the series of stories about Tiger Force seems certain to put The Blade in contention for a Pulitzer Prize this year. In fact, the paper is no stranger to awards. The Blade is rare in modern America in being owned by a wealthy local family, the Robinson Blocks, who have a strong commitment to investigative journalism. That means money and time is available for The Blade's reporters to bring in a major scoop. 'We have the resources to do this. There are no shareholders to worry about,' said Royhab.
Another Blade investigation - into the effects of a deadly industrial hazard - was shortlisted for the Pulitzer in 2000. 'The Toledo Blade is not just another American newspaper. We are much greater than that,' said John Robinson Block, the family's main representative on the paper.
The Robinson Blocks have owned the paper since 1926 and are keenly aware that until the 1920s The Blade was a big player in the US newspaper industry, with a national circulation. 'I suppose we have the ghosts of that history still hanging around with us,' John Robinson Block said.
That history was revisited spectacularly last week. And, as John added: 'As long as I am around, we will continue to try to do things like this.'
Anyone know (other than avoiding embarrassment) why this info confidential?
The facts were laid out in the Blade story. If you have facts to the contrary, why don't you just present them here, instead of blowing off the story and casting aspersions on those who are long dead?
The complete Blade series is at:
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SRTIGERFORCE
You might want to read it before posting again on this thread ;)
This was not a common incident(although not the only incident), for the most part, most american boys, over there, or over here, are not murderers.
To use the "excuse" that this was during a war, dishonors the majority of our boys who did not murder any innocent person.
Therefore, if innocents were murdered, those who did it should be severely punished, no matter if it was there or here, or how long ago it was, or whether it was during a war or not, with no statute of limitations.
Yeah. Lets have a poll. How many FR's who were over in vietnam murdered innocent civilians themselves and who think it is just ok, even in a war, any war, to intentionally deliberately murder innocent civilians of a country that we are occupying?
Not quite what I meant.
I wondered if anyone knew about such conduct, or even better, could refute such things.
My point exactly. I read a lot of the secret white house tapes, and at least during the Johnson years, Lyndon Johnson(McNarrah, Humphrey, Russel, Dirkson, etc) did NOT approve of innocent people being deliberately murdered.
US policy during the Johnson years did not approve of murdering innocents in a country that we occupied.
When these NPR crowds start reporting fairly about the carnage with Planned Parenthood and the money that they make from all of this bloodshed, then we can start to get an idea where the real horrors are. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre happens every day in these abortion hell-holes and nothing is said about it. We need a reality check here.
Old Patriot
Old Patriot
Again, maybe you should hae actually read the article before you posted. Part of what keeps a country strong is the ability of its citizens and soldiers to be guided by a moral compass, to learn from their mistakes, and to right a wrong when it occurs. Blowing off this story, writing off its source as 'pinkos,' or excusing the actions of these men does none of this.
Why don't you go to the Blade site, read at least one of the articles in the series, and listen to some of the audio files recorded by the men who were actually there, before you make any further comments?
If we'd get back to fighting wars like they have to be fought, we could live in peace for a LOT longer time. The Middle East needs a "Three Generations" purge right now. Also, the Babylonians and Syrians knew how to do it. Relocate the old and young that are left. Move them completely from their surroundings. Kills rebellion instantly. When are we going to have leadership with the backbone to do what has to be done. When?
It was another muck-raking piece of leftist trash bent on making a name for itself through the "discovery" of a long-dead scandal, the publication of which can serve no useful purpose.
This just in: "Thousands slaughtered at Gettysburg.[subhead] Authorities also investigating claims of atrocities at Bull Run."
One might want to go to Tiger Force's website to see what the day to day life was like for this "recon" team at: http://www.tigerforcerecon.com/tigers661.htm . On the first page is a photo of a captured NVA Junior Captain that does not look too displeased at his capture. The caption states: ""Tiger Force Number One!! The 1/327 commander, LTC Walter E Meinzen poses with the first POW during Operation John Paul Jones an NVA Jr Captain captured by the Tiger Force. In the insert is the Captain's Chicom Tokarov pistol." Tigers had written "Tiger Force No. 1" on his chest with merthiolate.""
War is hell, and no person who was ever in a "recon," LRRP, or SF unit would ever claim that there were regular rules of engagement in the "bush." Let us all remember that all that kept one alive in "Indian Country" was one's own buddies. And life gets pretty rare in no-man's land, especially in Vietnam, Republic of.
Old Patriot
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.