gentlemen it was late in April 1968 that I first heard of pinkville and what allegedly happened there but in the following months I was to hear similar stories from such a wide variety of people that it became impossible for me to disbelieve that something rather dark be bloody he did indeed occur in a village called Paintsville in the Republic in April 1968 I happen to run into private first corporal butch groover he told me that Charlie Company 1st battalion 20th Infantry had been assigned to Task Force Barker to help conduct a Search and Destroy operations on the Bataan Peninsula 1 a village area was particularly troublesome and seemed to be infested with booby traps and enemy soldiers and the men of task force Parker had a special name for it they called it pinkville one morning in March taskforce Barker moved out from its firebase headed for pinkville its mission destroyed the trouble spot and all of its inhabitants any villagers who ran from Charlie Company were stopped by the encircling companies I asked which several times if all the people were killed he said that he thought they were men women and children he recalled seeing a small boy about three or four years old standing by the trail with a gunshot wound in one arm while blood trickled between his fingers he just stood there staring around like he didn't understand he didn't believe what was happening then the captain's radio operator but a burst of m16 rifle fire into him [Music] one of the company's officers second lieutenant Calley had rounded up several groups of villagers according to the story Cali then machine gunned each group groover estimated that the population of the village has been 300 to 400 people and at very few if any escaped after hearing this account I couldn't quite accept it somehow I just couldn't believe that not only had so many young American men participated in such an act of barbarism but that their officers had ordered it I became determined to ask them about pinkville so that I might compare their accounts with private first corporal groovers instead of contradicting Butch groovers story they corroborated it it was terrible they were slaughtering villagers like so many sheep [Music] exactly what did in fact occur in the village of pinkville in march 1968 I do not know for certain but I am convinced that it was something very black indeed I think that it was Winston Churchill who once said a country without a conscience is a country without a soul at a country without a soul as a country that cannot survive I feel that I must take some positive action in this matter I hope that you will launch an investigation immediately and keep me informed of your progress if you cannot then I don't know what other course of action to take sincerely Ron right now [Music] [Music] [Music] you you