US war veteran Billy Kelly has donated 50 million VND (roughly 2,650 USD) to upgrade a mass tomb of victims killed during the massacre in Son My, the central province of Quang Ngai in March 1968.

The seriously-degraded tomb in Khe Thuan commune, Tinh Khe hamlet, Son Tinh district where 75 innocent civilians were buried, was recently upgraded thanks to the donation, with steles engraved with brief individual biographies erected in memory of the victims. A road from Tinh Khe hamlet to the mass tomb was built to make it convenient for visitors.

The management board of the Son My massacre site has installed a stele engraved with a line “An American for Peace” in both English and Vietnamese and a white dove beside the mass tomb, as wished by Billy Kelly, who visits the site and lays 500 roses at the monument dedicated to the victims on their death anniversary every year.

The Son My Site of US Massacre Relics has become popular among tourists, both domestic and international. In the first half of the year, the site welcomed 70,000 tribute paying visitors, including almost 20,000 foreigners.

On March 16, 1968, US troops killed up to 504 innocent civilians, most of them women, children and the elderly, including babies, at this site./.