Calley, William 1943-

American Decades | Date: 2001

CALLEY, WILLIAM 1943-

Army officer

My Lai and the Vietnam War

The trial of Lt. William Calley for the murder of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in My Lai raised many difficult issues for the American people over the conduct of the Vietnam War. The massacre was cited by many as a war crime and genocide, demonstrating the immorality of the American war effort. Others defended Calley, saying that he was a soldier doing his duty in a brutal war. They said that it was unfair to punish Calley without also punishing the whole army as well as the society that had placed him in Vietnam and taught him to kill.

The My Lai Massacre

On 16 March 1968 Lieutenant Calley led his platoon into My Lai, South Vietnam, along with two other platoons of Charlie Company. They had expected to meet heavy Vietcong resistance, but they reached the village without a challenge. Finding only women, children, and old men in the village, they nonetheless went in shooting. They rounded up other villagers, herded them into a ditch, and shot them with automatic weapons. Calley's platoon was responsible for over one hundred deaths. Many young women and girls were raped and assaulted. Calley participated directly in the massacre, shooting some villagers himself and ordering his soldiers to shoot others. There was no evidence that the villagers put up any armed resistance.

The Emerging Scandal and Cover-up

No reports of the massacre at My Lai became public until the following year when returning Vietnam veterans and news reporters began to piece together reports from Vietnamese refugees and American soldiers who had seen or heard of the killings. As the story came out, both the horror of the massacre and the broad scale of the army cover-up shocked the American people. The army formally charged Calley with the murder of civilians in September 1969. Calley's immediate superior, Capt. Ernest Medina, was also charged, as were six enlisted men in Calley's platoon. In addition, fourteen army officers, including two generals, were charged with violating army regulations in covering up the My Lai incident.

The Court-Martial

Calley's court martial trial started in November 1970. The trial revealed the horror of American soldiers killing defenseless Vietnamese civilians. While he disagreed with some details, Calley did not deny that he shot civilians and ordered his soldiers to do so. He explained, "I was ordered to go in there and destroy the enemy. That was my job on that day. That was the mission I was given. I did not sit down and think in terms of men, women, and children. They were all classified the same, and that was the classification we dealt with, just as enemy soldiers." The court martial jury, made up of six army combat veterans, convicted Calley of the premeditated murder of at least twenty-two civilians. The jury sentenced Calley to life imprisonment at hard labor, choosing against imposing the death penalty. Calley was the only officer or enlisted man convicted at court martial for the massacre at My Lai. Six enlisted men were tried, but none was convicted, largely because they were responding to Lieutenant Calley's orders at My Lai. Charges were dropped against Calley's superior, Captain Medina, for his role. Several officers, including the two generals, were demoted and reprimanded for their roles in covering up the massacre.

Support for Calley

There was an immediate uproar in support of Calley. The White House reported receiving more than one hundred thousand letters and telegrams, the great majority in support of Calley. American Legion officials objected to Calley being punished for doing his duty. A spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War said, "We are all of us in this country guilty for having allowed the war to go on. We only want this country to realize that it cannot try a Calley for some-thing which generals and presidents and our way of life encourage him to do. And if you try him, then at the same time you must try all those generals and presidents and soldiers who have part of this responsibility."

Aftermath

President Nixon ordered Calley released from the military stockade and placed under house arrest while his conviction was being appealed. He served three years under house arrest before a federal court overturned his conviction in 1974. The Supreme Court refused to review the case when it came to them in 1976, effectively ending Calley's prosecution.

Sources:

Michael Bilton, Four Hours in My Lai (New York: Viking, 1992);

Seymour Hersh, Cover-Up (New York: Random House, 1972).

Copyright 2001, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.