Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1964-1992 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
21 boxes, (0.21 metres cubed)
Scope and content
The _Four hours in My Lai _archive, 1964-1992, relates to the massacre of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians on 16 Mar 1968, by members of C Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11the Light Infantry Brigade, US Army, at Tu Cung sub hamlet (known to US Army as My Lai (4) in the Pinkville region), My Lai hamlet, Son My village, Son Tinh district, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, and includes the documentary video, uncut interview transcripts, photographs, audio recordings, press cuttings, photocopied material from US archives, research notes, and the published book relating to the documentary and also titled Four hours in My Lai (Viking Penguin, New York, 1992). Eyewitnesses interviewed on film for the documentary include Vietnamese survivors of the massacre and well as members of C Company, and other US Army personnel. The photographs collection includes colour and black and white photographs taken on the day of the massacre by Army photographer Ron Haeberle, Frederick Widmer's photographs of his tour of Vietnam and photographs of individuals involved in the massacre and the investigations, some of which were published in the book. Photocopied documentation from US archives includes statements and evidence gathered during the US Army Inspector General's investigation, conducted by Col William V Wilson, Apr-Jun 1969, the US Army Criminal Investigation Division (USACID) investigation conducted by Chief Warrant Officer André Feher, Aug 1969-1970 , and the Peers Inquiry conducted by Lt Gen William R Peers, Nov 1969-Mar 1970, as well as the courts martial of Lt William Laws Calley, the only soldier who was ever convicted for the crime, and Capt Ernest M Medina and Col Oran K Henderson. Audio material in the collection includes recording of the radio communications between helicopters on 16 Mar 1968, news interview from 1969, as well as recordings of Bilton's telephone interview with various witnesses. News cuttings cover reports of the massacre in the US press and the subsequent investigations and trials, as well as articles on the post-1968 careers of individuals involved.
System of arrangement
An alphabetical list of subject files exists within the collection, however it omits a significant number of the files which form part of the collection including the interview transcripts, documentation of the Inspector General's Inquiry, the US Army Criminal Investigation Division (USACID) investigation, the Peers Inquiry, and a number of others. This subject file list also contains additional comments on the material within the files, suggesting it is not strictly a file list. As there is little correspondence between this list and the order in which the material was received, the omitted groups of files have been given their own sections, as have the photographs and preliminary research interviews since they contain material of a particular format. The remainder of the files have been arranged in a broadly alphabetical order.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Repository
Custodial history
Presented to the Centre by Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim, Yorkshire Television in three deposits, 12 Jun 1992, 11 Sep 1992 and 23 Mar 1993.
Conditions governing access
Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.
Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Finding aids
This collection level description and detailed catalogue.
Alternative identifier(s)
Place access points
People and Organisations
- Calley, William Laws, b 1944, Lieutenant, US Army (Subject)
- Feher, Andre, fl 1968-1969, Chief Warrant Officer, US Army (Subject)
- Haeberle, Ronald, fl 1968, US Army photographer (Subject)
- Henderson, Oran K, 1921-1998, Colonel, US Army (Subject)
- Medina, Ernest, fl 1968, Captain, US Army (Subject)
- Peers, William R, b 19194, Lieutenant General, US Army (Subject)
- Widmer, Frederick, fl 1968, photographer (Subject)
- Wilson, William V, fl 1968-1969, Colonel, US Army (Subject)
- US Army (Subject)
- US Army Criminal Investigation Division (Subject)
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.
Script(s)
Archivist's note
Compiled by Alison Field