My uncle was there (later died from a mortar.) His letters home to my Grandmother strongly suggested that Lt. Calley was railroaded and did not deserve most, if not all, of the accusations or treatment he received.
Being 81 years of age in 2018 would have made him 21 during the Mi Lai Massacre. 21 and a captain?
ok 31 and a captain. Pardon my math.
From Wiki:
William Laws Calley Jr. (born June 8, 1943) is a former United States Army officer convicted by court-martial of murdering 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War.
While not technically exonerated, after three and a half years of house arrest, Calley was released pursuant to a ruling by federal judge J. Robert Elliott who found that Calley’s trial had been prejudiced by pre-trial publicity, denial of subpoenas of certain defense witnesses, refusal of the United States House of Representatives to release testimony taken in executive session of its My Lai investigation, and inadequate notice of the charges.
His initial conviction faced widespread public opposition both due to the campaign circumstances of civilian embedded Viet Cong, and due to Calley being singled out as the sole officer convicted with respect to the massacre.
You note in your “about” page that McCain finished very low in his Navy Academy class. Calley finished last in his OCS class. I live in the greater Columbus, Georgia area as does “Rusty” and he may be a nice guy most days but his guilt at My Lai is pretty well confirmed.
If so many college boys at not dodged the draft or run to Canada, Calley would never have been an officer and he should not have been one.
No offense to your uncle who gave all but there are reams of testimony that Calley was guilty as hell..and then some
What is also true is that he got scapegoated because he sure didn’t act alone
This was not some pissed of Marine in Tarawa executing s few Jap prisoners or some Airborne guy in France losing his cool and clipping some surrendered Wehrmacht
This was a platoon directed by their CO to massacre an entire village by all means and Calley led the way
That’s not acceptable and nobody I’ve known as an American combat vet thinks it is....
Warrant officer and future major Hugh Thompson stopped the masssacre by force from his chopper and saved dozens from Calley and his men
It’s also true that the army brass tried to cover it up....including former free republic favorite Colin Powell