It was early spring of 1967. U. S. military officials strongly suspected Quang Ngai Province of South Vietnam, as being a Viet Cong stronghold. Military officials declared the province a free-fire zone and subjected it to frequent, violent bombing missions and artillery attacks. By the end of 1967, most of the dwellings in the province had been destroyed and nearly 140,000 Vietnamese civilians were left without homes. "The war had taken on a hard-nosed character of its own. It was getting bloodier," said authors Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim in their book Four Hours In My Lai. Seymour Hers…
