Socialist Republic of Vietnam

March 17 (VNA) -- War veterans and tourists joined the people of Tinh Khe commune, Son Tinh district, central Quang Ngai province, on March 16 to remember the 504 men, women and children killed by U.S. troops in My Lai village in 1968.

The delegation of U.S. war veterans was led by Lawrence Colburn and Hugh Thomson, who rescued a number of villagers from the massacre.

The U.S. guests laid flowers carrying notes saying: "Respect to the 504 civilians killed by the U.S. troops on March 16, 1968". Then a U.S. guest, May Bem, played on a violin the score from the documentary film "The Sound of A Violin in My Lai".

The film, directed by Tran Van Thuy, won the prize for best short film at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in Thailand in 1999.

The Madison Quakers marked the occasion by starting construction of the Hoa Binh (Peace) park in Tinh Khe commune. The 15,000 sq.m. park, is expected to completed by the year end with VND 2.7 billion funded by the Madison Quakers.

On March 17, the Madison Quakers handed over to the commune the My Lai Primary School with eight classrooms built at a cost of VND 900 million, including VND 165 million contributed by the locality.--VNA