373:"This lady got up and she had her back turned to me," he said. And my platoon leader...told me to shoot her and I said, 'Well, you shoot her. I don't want to shoot no lady.' So he said, I'm giving you a direct order to shoot and if you don't shoot her then you can be shot yourself. So, as she was putting her foot in the door, I shot her about five or six times, and I went there and turned her over and there was a little three‐month‐old baby in her arms... and this kind of cracked me up." "Well, after that, we had collected about five prisoners... and there come one of the guys in my squad and said, 'Well, let's kill 'em.' So the platoon leader said, 'Well, I'm turning my back so I don't see what you're doing,’ and this guy ...he grabbed my rifle and went to the heads of everyone and put it to their eyes and just pulled the trigger.... It just grew on.... My platoon leader told me—my officer, Lieutenant Brooks, said—'Kill everyone....' He was always near me ... so I think killed about 18 or 20 people that time."
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452:, everything… I just killed… That day in My Lai, I was personally responsible for killing about 25 people. Personally. Men, women. From shooting them, to cutting their throats, scalping them, to...cutting off their hands and cutting out their tongues. I did it. A lot of people were doing it, and I just followed." Simpson said something had snapped at him after the initial murder of the woman and his discovery that he had also killed a child. At this point, Simpson was heavily
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magazine quotes him as stating: "I shot them, the lady and the little boy. He was about two years old." His official statement on the event was succinct: "I killed about eight people that day. I shot a couple of old men who were running away. I also shot some women and children. I would shoot them as
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At the time, Simpson said he thought he was only following orders, but had since changed his mind about the massacre. "I don't think all that should have happened—all those people," he said. "Then again, you got to realize, you got your life out there on the stake, too. I think something is going to
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that he had killed a child with his mother. During the interview, when
Simpson was asked if he had seen any children killed at My Lai, he said he did not want to answer that question, telling the interview that it was painful for him. Simpson then ended the interview abruptly by leaving early.
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In 1977, Simpson's 10-year-old son was accidentally killed by a random shot fired by some neighborhood teenagers. Simpson recalled the day later by stating, "He died in my arms. And when I looked at him, his face was like the same face of the child that I had killed. And I said: This is the
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Under
Captain Medina's command, who said "kill anything in sight," Simpson participated in the massacre at the village of My Lai, where he reportedly killed approximately 20-25 unarmed villagers, including a mother and her baby.
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after recounting his actions in the village, as well as his recurring fears that the dead villagers would come back to wreak vengeance upon him. For years, he lived with all of his doors and windows locked and shuttered.
463:"Once you kill, it becomes easy to kill the next one and the next one and the next one," he said. He said he had endless nightmares about the children killed by him and others, and suffered from constant tremors.
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they ran out of huts or tried to hide." Simpson's words from this interview were later reinterpreted by Robert Lowell in his poem "Women, Children, Babies, Cows, Cats."
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After three unsuccessful attempts, Simpson took his own life in his home on Sunday, May 4, 1997, at the age of 48, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
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Simpson said his rampage started after he was ordered to kill a woman by his lieutenant, Stephen Brooks. He also gave context to the aftermath:
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to his description of events. "The baby’s face was half gone, my mind just went…and I just started killing. Old men, women, children,
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In a 1970 interview, when
Simpson was asked what he thought was a war crime, he considered the entire Vietnam War to be a war crime.
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the following year. Simpson was assigned to Second
Platoon, Charlie Company, under the command of Captain
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After being discharged later in 1968, Simpson got a job at a bank before returning to college.
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happen to me. I dream about it a lot. Sometimes I just want to get away from people."
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to join the U.S. Army as a draftee so he could "get it over with." He was posted to
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to avoid implicating himself. He was never charged for his role in the massacre.
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punishment for killing the people that I killed." Simpson's daughter died of
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612:"1971 Press Photo Varnado Simpson William Calleys Court"
319:. When he was 18, he interrupted his second year at the
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In 1989, in an interview for the
British documentary
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840:United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War
815:American military personnel who died by suicide
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805:African-American United States Army personnel
499:"Veteran Says He Slew Ten in Vietnam Village"
291:(October 7, 1948 – May 4, 1997) was an
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410:a few years before he committed suicide.
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760:"The massacre at My Lai -- Television"
636:"Varnado Simpson: The My Lai Massacre"
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800:African Americans in the Vietnam War
666:Bilton, Michael; Sim, Kevin (1993).
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35:Simpson during an interview in 1969
850:Suicides by firearm in Mississippi
727:Into the Dark: The My Lai Massacre
591:Interviews with Veterans of My Lai
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295:soldier who participated in the
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497:Reed, Roy (November 27, 1969).
820:American murderers of children
556:Lesher, Stephan (1971-07-11).
428:post-traumatic stress disorder
418:In 1982, he was admitted to a
414:Post-traumatic stress disorder
1:
558:"The Calley Case Re-Examined"
516:"My Lai: An American Tragedy"
335:at the time of the massacre.
641:. 1968-03-16. Archived from
845:United States Army soldiers
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355:In a 1969 interview with
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303:civilians. He committed
810:American mass murderers
458:psychological disorders
388:court-martial, Simpson
321:University of Tennessee
315:Simpson graduated from
307:nearly 30 years later.
830:American war criminals
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16:American mass murderer
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260:Years of service
670:Four Hours in My Lai
437:Four Hours in My Lai
424:Jackson, Mississippi
317:Brinkley High School
74:Jackson, Mississippi
55:Jackson, Mississippi
674:. Penguin. p.
333:Private First Class
277:Private First Class
158:~20–25 (1989 claim)
156:~10 (initial claim)
82:Cause of death
825:American torturers
732:2007-12-23 at the
703:""Being forgiven""
610:Images, Historic.
562:The New York Times
518:. TIME. 1969-12-05
401:Personal tragedies
396:Post-military life
358:The New York Times
254:United States Army
86:Suicide by gunshot
685:978-0-14-017709-1
537:"My Lai Massacre"
390:pleaded the fifth
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835:Mỹ Lai massacre
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289:Varnado Simpson
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51:October 7, 1948
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767:. Retrieved
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311:Early career
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114:Mental break
68:(1997-05-04)
795:1997 deaths
790:1948 births
444:and bodily
331:. He was a
182:Location(s)
66:May 4, 1997
784:Categories
769:2022-05-31
713:2008-01-08
652:2015-08-01
621:2022-05-31
597:2022-05-31
575:2022-05-31
542:2015-08-01
522:2015-08-01
475:References
446:mutilation
408:meningitis
222:Allegiance
203:M7 bayonet
199:M-16 rifle
47:1948-10-07
747:issuu.com
570:0362-4331
454:medicated
293:U.S. Army
263:1967–1968
730:Archived
442:scalping
240:Service/
96:Deceased
467:Suicide
305:suicide
194:Weapons
171:Country
153:Victims
148:Details
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242:branch
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187:My Lai
106:Motive
76:, U.S.
57:, U.S.
646:(PDF)
639:(PDF)
502:(PDF)
680:ISBN
566:ISSN
346:TIME
268:Rank
163:Date
118:Rage
63:Died
41:Born
764:UPI
363:NBC
142:N/A
132:N/A
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
