Calley, William L.

Calley, William L. (1943–) army officer, born in Miami. Calley was in command of the U.S. Army Americal Division, charged in the My Lai incident in which Vietnamese civilians, including women and children, were massacred on March 16, 1968 (the Army's final estimate of the number killed was 347). In the fall of 1969, letters written by a former soldier to government officials forced the Army to act. Several soldiers and veterans were charged with murder, and several officers were charged with dereliction of duty because they covered up the massacre. Special investigations by both the U.S. Army and the House of Representatives determined that a massacre had, in fact, occurred. Of the soldiers originally charged, only five were court-martialed. Of those, only Calley was convicted. On March 29, 1971, he was found guilty of the premeditated murder of at least twenty-two Vietnamese civilians and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Later, Calley's sentence was reduced to ten years, and, in 1974, a federal district court overturned his conviction and he was released.