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Creative Writing: My Lai Massacre

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MY LAI, Vietnam -- Truong Thi Le stares at a graphic photograph of the massacre 's carnage, then points at the pile of corpses under which she hid for four hours, clutching her 6-year-old son. Her dead mother, brother and another son sprawl nearby. "I feel pain in my heart when I look at this," she says, her voice choking. "I have to struggle not to cry. I still can 't account for what happened." Dredging up memories of the terrible events of March 16, 1968, is easy -- far too easy -- for Le, 70, and Ha Thi Quy, 73 ((see top photo). Dealing with the memories is another matter. That long-ago day started mostly overcast and breezy, with some hot sun later around noon, the two women say. The 8,000 residents of the four My Lai hamlets were

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