Restoring order after My Lai: the 720th MP Battalion
On 16 March 1968, American soldiers killed Vietnamese civilians in the settlement Americans called My Lai and residents knew as Sơn Mỹ, near Quảng Ngãi in South Vietnam. Units of the US Army’s 23rd Infantry Regiment, part of the Americal Division, attacked a civilian community, killing women, children, older people and men who tried to protect their families. Historical estimates of the dead differ, with 504 a commonly recorded figure. Uncertainty about the exact number cannot diminish what is established about the scale and character of the atrocity.
When reports and photographs reached American readers days later, the killings became an international scandal and an urgent challenge to the credibility of the US Army. Military police from the 720th MP Battalion joined the response around My Lai, helping restore security, protect civilians and support an inquiry into what had happened. Their work unfolded against the wider emergency of the 1968 Tet Offensive, when Vietnamese attacks threatened cities, military installations and the American Embassy in Saigon.
A massacre exposed before the public knew
American records used the name My Lai, while inhabitants called their community Sơn Mỹ. The village lay in Quảng Ngãi Province as a Viet Cong offensive unfolded nearby. Soldiers from Companies A and B, 2nd Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, and elements of Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, entered the settlement and fired on civilians. They murdered residents and destroyed homes. Whatever the tactical circumstances, the attack on an unarmed population was a war crime rather than lawful combat.
Information about the killings travelled through soldiers’ letters home, briefings and contacts with journalists. Life published photographs by Larry Burrows on 28 March 1968, bringing images of murdered women and children into American living rooms. Time followed with detailed reporting in early April. The revelation created an immediate dilemma for soldiers and commanders: cooperate with an investigation that might expose the formation, or become involved in efforts to conceal it. Later investigations documented both brave disclosures and attempts to suppress evidence.
Army investigators and the Peers Inquiry subsequently examined the killings, the conduct of individual soldiers and the decisions of commanders. William Calley was convicted in 1970, while other soldiers faced prosecution, confinement or lesser penalties. The proceedings did not produce a simple verdict on every person involved. Instead, they revealed how responsibility could move between soldiers, junior officers and senior leaders. They also showed why an internal policing system could not be the only check on the institution it served.
The 720th MP Battalion entered a divided landscape
Military police normally performed duties different from those of combat infantry. They controlled traffic, policed bases, escorted prisoners, enforced curfews and investigated disciplinary offences. In a field division, they also supported patrols and protected installations. Personnel from the 720th MP Battalion were among the American police sent into the My Lai area as the public revelations prompted a security response. Their task was to re-establish order after an atrocity, not to treat civilians as an enemy.
Restoring order began with practical responsibilities: securing the area, keeping movement controlled, supporting searches and helping gather reliable information. MPs worked where weapons and bodies were still present, where soldiers might be distressed or obstructive, and where residents had good reason to distrust everyone wearing a uniform. Their authority rested on military law and command arrangements, but their daily obligations included protecting people and preserving evidence. Those aims could pull against each other, especially when a civilian population lived under the restrictions of an occupying force.
The MP presence mattered because arriving troops were not a remedy in themselves. Trained police offered a route towards safer movement, accountable reporting and investigation. They could not undo the violence or guarantee the trust of Vietnamese residents. Around My Lai, order could mean preventing retaliation, holding a perimeter and allowing investigators to work; it could also mean enforcing curfews and searches that residents experienced as another form of control. Any serious account of the 720th MP Battalion must acknowledge both public protection and the unequal power surrounding its work.
Restoring order had two meanings
The Tet Offensive was a campaign of coordinated attacks by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces that challenged South Vietnam’s cities and military positions. Saigon was under siege, and American personnel at the embassy faced lethal attack. The memorial’s reference to military police after the 1968 Tet Offensive at the American Embassy places the My Lai story beside a wider test of security, command and civilian protection. Restoring order in one province meant acting while battlefield fighting, political pressure and a deepening public scandal converged on the same military organisation.
American military police worked within a legal and organisational system unlike Australian civilian policing. Their immediate obligations were shaped by command priorities, the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the need to secure an active battlefield. Australian readers are accustomed to separate state and territory police forces, with the Australian Federal Police responsible for specified federal matters. Comparing the two settings helps clarify the position of military police at My Lai, provided the differences are not blurred.
| Question | Military policing in the My Lai aftermath | Civilian policing in Australia today |
|---|---|---|
| Legal authority | US military law, command orders and the Uniform Code of Military Justice | State and territory law, with Commonwealth powers for specified offences |
| Main task | Secure the area, support curfews, protect civilians and assist investigations | Protect life, prevent crime, investigate offences and maintain public order |
| Relationship with residents | Direct and unequal, within an occupation and active combat zone | Governed by statutory powers and public accountability, although imbalances still occur |
| Oversight | Command structures, inspector general investigations and military justice | Police review bodies, commissions, courts and integrity oversight |
| Accountability | Disciplinary proceedings and courts-martial, with serious command failures later exposed | Independent prosecution, courts and complaint mechanisms, depending on the jurisdiction |
This comparison describes institutions, not equivalent experiences. A US military policeman could arrest a soldier or a civilian and confine a suspect under military authority; an Australian police officer’s powers today arise from state or Commonwealth legislation. Australian military disciplinary cases are governed by the Australian Defence Force Law Act 2016, but that legislation cannot be projected back onto Vietnam. The crucial 1968 question is whether military authority protected civilians and produced truthful evidence, rather than merely making the area quiet.
Evidence and the difficult work of accountability
Evidence in such cases is fragile. Vietnamese witnesses could be frightened, interpreters were scarce, and soldiers’ accounts were shaped by unit loyalty and self-protection. Every delay risked bodies being moved, weapons concealed or reports altered. Military police could help interrupt that process by documenting locations, statements and material evidence. Their work also brought them into conflict with a formation whose reputation depended on denying that a massacre had occurred.
The later investigations exposed failures at several levels: the conduct of individual soldiers, the passivity of some officers, and the tolerance or suppression of evidence by commanders. The Peers Inquiry examined the Americal Division’s leadership and the investigations that followed the massacre. Senior officers were relieved, units were reorganised, and disciplinary and criminal proceedings followed. These actions were delayed and imperfect, yet they demonstrated that restoring order was only the beginning of accountability.
Restoring order and delivering justice were different duties. A perimeter can secure a scene, but it cannot determine guilt. A curfew can limit danger, but it cannot explain why unarmed villagers were killed. Military police were therefore important witnesses as well as enforcers: their reports could expose misconduct or become another layer of concealment. Remembering the 720th MP Battalion means recalling its service and the ethical pressure its members faced, rather than presenting every military policeman as either a hero or a culprit.
Remembering service without erasing failure
Archival photographs and remembered stories can preserve the human side of military service. They show tired personnel waiting after danger, soldiers confronting disturbing evidence, and civilians trying to rebuild homes after violence. The memorial’s Tet Offensive image is valuable for that reason, while also reminding visitors that an emergency could bring admirable conduct and difficult decisions in the same place. The site is an independent tribute and is not endorsed by the US Army or Department of Defense. Its value rests with those who preserve the records, support the people represented and examine the evidence without inventing a cleaner story.
For Australian readers, the connection is one of commemoration rather than direct unit involvement. Australian soldiers served in South Vietnam, but the Americal Division formations responsible for the My Lai killings were American. Canberra’s Australian War Memorial provides a familiar setting for artefacts, photographs and testimony about wartime service. Its Last Post ceremony, together with commemorations held on Anzac Day on 25 April, offers ways to remember the dead without reducing complex events to ceremony alone.
Everyday Australian life offers other points of contact. Melbourne’s tram network carries commuters through busy streets, while Queen Victoria Market has become a familiar place to buy produce and food from many cultural backgrounds, including Vietnamese ingredients. Sydney’s large Vietnamese community reflects a later history of migration, family separation and community rebuilding. These details are not decorative comparisons: trust, public order and the protection of minorities remain practical concerns in Australian society. A memorial can honour military police service while keeping the harder questions visible, including what responsible policing means when authority is unequal and the consequences of failure are measured in human lives.
