Ron Ridenhour’s Last Talk: My Lai and Why it Matters 

I was in the army at that time. In 1971 I was stationed at Ft Sill, OK, in Med Company. Most of the guys I ran with were former combat medics. One of them that I dated told me about being on dust-off flights. When they would get calls to pick up wounded POWs, he said, members of military intelligence would always go with them. What he told me the MI guys would do to the POWs has to have been war crimes. He said one time the MI people wanted to question the POWs and when none of them would answer they ordered him to inject air into their veins to kill them, one by one, until someone would talk. He refused to do that, telling them he was a medic to save lives, not to take them. So they would question the POWs and if they would not respond, they would toss them out of the helicopter, one by one, hoping to scare the others into talking. He said he sat by until all but one had been thrown out of the helicopter, at high altitude, and none of the POWs responded. He said things like that were routine when they were sent out to bring in wounded POWs. Another friend I knew there had been a conscious objector. He could have avoided service but was willing to serve so long as he did not have to carry a weapon, or shoot anyone. He served as a combat medic and had actually earned medals for valor under fire. One time some sergeant handed him a rifle and told him to guard an old woman, who took off walking away and he was ordered to shoot her. He said he just dropped the gun and turned away. Someone else killed her. He died shortly after getting out of the army from an accident where he was riding a motorcycle while under the influence. So many of the kids I knew who had served in Vietnam as combat medics ended up dying from drugs, alcohol or outright suicide.

Thank you Ron Ridenhour. We owe it to you to keep the truth alive.

Ron raised some awareness when he said "Year's down the line, like with the Germans, the world (other countries) will ask the same question ; When will we get our justice from the atrocities committed by this country".

You, Sir, Earned the Respect and Love from everysingle Vietnamese. Thank You

"Why should we remember the war that we fought? Because it became the nature of the wars that we fostered."

I salute you sir. As a former combat vet myself, I can attest that there are some really sick people serving in our armed forces. It takes courage above and beyond to stand against unjust killings in a combat zone. RIP

Ron... you are SUCH a good man..... what a horrific tragedy that you found yourself in such hideous circumstances.....

All we need is one good director to turn his life into a film, TV series or Documentary…

Even if those women and children were sympathetic to the VC way.... they shouldn't have been killed by that. Army fights battles with combatants... they don't execute children and women, but these stupid soldiers did.

I can't believe this clip has less than 10k views. This should be mandatory viewing for all service personnel.

Thank you Sir. Rest in peace.

Thank you for this information.

Sgt. Torres in our Airborne Company in Panama, 1969, was sent to Fort Benning for the trial; he confessed to us what he had done; he was a very disturbed man..Never understood my Central American Nations needed such large military forces; other than to maintain personal power and control of resources...

What an important and heartbreaking lecture. Rest in peace, Mr. Ridenour.

War is a terrible thing, I’d hope I had the same courage as this man in the face of such inhumanity

And Mr Ridenour dies at the age of 52 of a heart attack less than two months after this lecture. Hmm, seems like a lot of Viet Nam vets met very early deaths.

RIP, Mr. Ridenhour.

Balls! Anyone here with a brain knows he was snuffed. Victors write the history. Nothing new under the sun man. R.I.P. FRIEND

This is a masterpiece of a documentary. His dramatic expressions, effects etc. Really give you an idea of the environment these men lived through. And he was right, this wasn't a war against Communists. The Vietnamese we're defending their fatherland from Imperialism and Colonialism. They were actually "Nationalist" that Uncle, Shlomo/ Sam, demonized by labelling them Communist.

The answer to the first question from the audience is that there's a lot of money to be stolen from the taxpayer trough by the strategists who create conflicts.

They knew that there was a combat photographer there at the time taking pictures 🤔🤔

This guy was a hero.

🙏thanks. We can’t remember if we don’t understand.

Wonderful Human being.... 🙏🙏🙏

Was this the journalist who took the photos with his personal camera..?

So General Westmoreland apparently didn’t have a clue what was going on at platoon and company level. No wonder the body counts of “VC” were so favorable. The responsibility goes all the way from Calley and the other platoon commanders to LBJ and Nixon. We criticized the WW2 cruelties of Japanese and Nazis and Viet Cong in the Vietnam war but we’ve done the same. Admittedly our atrocities weren’t national policy, but the cover ups did not speak well of our leaders.

I was a grunt in Vietnam 1971. It was an intense year for me. Americal Division 196th Inf

In life, there are people of ‘moral stature’, and there are ‘little’ people. Ron Ridenhour and Hugh Thompson are people of moral stature. William Calley and Ernest Medina are ‘little’ people.

I joined the Navy at 17. I'm a female. I served on two carriers. No big deal. All I did was operate radars. My personal experiences and lessons learned early, and also we were the first females on carriers. Morals have always been important to me. I was there to do a job. Trust your shipmates......never. What do I think people are capable of, especially in Vietnam at that age with weapons and medal hungry officers.....life is nasty. I did my four and got out.

Why did he stay in the army at all Lrps really

My stepdad was a vet there he’s disgusting he was talking about heads on sticks so repulsive 🤮 I was army to cpsd from when I was a kid so much mess man so much pain

Read about Hugh Thompson Jr.

Does he have proof of these manuals? Or aware of what went on at the School of the Americas?

Imagine the outcry if any Russian war crimes in Ukraine were treated the same as the American war crimes.

Not exactly the way to win “hearts and minds.” No wonder we had such great body counts - shooting unarmed civilians. So My Lai was just typical of American atrocities (Vietnam Cong and Vietnam Mihn did similar). How inhumane and senseless was the Vietnam war. Capt Medina and his platoon commanders should have served hard time.

war releases legitimacy in the beast

Americal was a shit division, not everyone was that bad.

I am an US Army Vietnam era veteran. I had guard duty at the court house where Lt. Calley was on trial while I was going through jump school at Benning. I was never a proponent of the Vietnam war and never an apologist for My Lai. But I disagree with his unsubstantiated claim that similar massacres were commonplace. He has no proof but makes that ugly assertion anyway. And in reference to South America does anyone believe that the USA needed to train South American rebels in torture? I agree that Calley and many others should have been sentenced to prison for life. But this dude makes countless off the cuff and ugly accusations which he cannot substantiate. He denigrates the service of all Americans that served in Vietnam in courage and integrity.

it should be a war policy,if you don't have uniform and you don't have one and you are neither in war,you are guilty of man slater

History passing us veitnam locac veitnam vetrian pass by hurry up visit there

Watching this, I am TRULY convinced that we - Homo-Sapiens - are no better (possibly worse in many cases) than the lowest form of life that inhabits this planet!

Ok I’m dumb and have no idea what I’m talking... sorry for my Ignorance

Come to Islam n success

Chess not checkers

LERP Team were assassins.this guys a hypocrite.