Rice farmer Nguyen Dam still remembers the day that 10 elderly farmers were gunned down by American soldiers while tending their fields in July 1967 during the Vietnam War.
Standing on the edge of the field, he gestured with his hand as he told reporters yesterday: "The soldiers stood here and they were shooting. It was impossible to describe it. When I think about it, it still pierces my heart."
Dam, who was 31 at the time, buried two dead women. One of those killed was his father-in-law. All were too old to fight and at least five were women.
The killings in the central Vietnam village are among the biggest atrocities committed against civilians in the province by an elite US army unit known as the "Tiger Force" for their striped camouflage uniforms. The Toledo Blade newspaper in Ohio broke the news of the war crimes on Oct.19, saying none of the soldiers was prosecuted.
The 45-member paratrooper unit was assigned to spy on enemy forces in Quang Ngai and Quang Nam provinces between May and November 1967. The Blade said at least 81 Vietnamese were known to have been killed, possibly more, including women, children and elderly civilians.
Some bodies were scalped and had their ears cut off, one infant was reported to have been decapitated and a 13-year-old girl sexually assaulted and killed.
The information came from interviews with more than 100 Tiger Force members, Vietnamese civilians and thousands of government documents, the newspaper said.
The Pentagon, when asked about the events, has said it has no plans to reopen the investigation. The Army's probe took four years and found 18 soldiers had committed war crimes but no charges were filed. While Hanoi has said it wishes to close the book on events, eyewitnesses and survivors say they still have bitter memories and want retribution.
Huynh Thi Gioi, 68, says American soldiers shot her six-year-old son as she carried him on her back from a bunker.
It was August 1967. "Two American soldiers came to my house. They didn't even ask questions, they just shot." Her son, one of five children at the time, died instantly. She was unharmed but fainted.
Gioi believes Vietnamese victims should receive compensation for property that was destroyed by the American soldiers. "For human life lost, they should be punished," she said.
The war between the northern communists and the Saigon regime backed by America ended in 1975. Some 58,000 Americans lost their lives in the conflict, while Hanoi says three million civilians and military were killed.
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