William
Calley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
William Calley (born June 8, 1943) was a U.S. Army officer involved
in the March 1968 My Lai Massacre. He graduated from high school in
Miami, Florida, and went to Palm Beach Jr. College in Lake Worth,
Florida. He later became a conductor for the Florida East Coast
Railroad before becoming a United States Army lieutenant in the
Vietnam War.
Calley was charged on September 5, 1969 with six specifications of
premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians near
the village of My Lai, at a hamlet called Song My, more commonly
called My Lai in the U.S. press. In this well documented incident,
500 villagers, mostly women, children, infants and elderly, were
assembled and then shot by soldiers of Charlie Company, Americal
Division.
Calley's trial started on November 17, 1969 and resulted in a
conviction on March 29, 1971 of premeditated murder of 22 civilians
for his role in the massacre. On March 31, 1971 he was sentenced to
life in prison.
Testimony revealed that Calley had ordered the men of
Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, American Division to shoot everyone
in the village. Calley claimed that he was following the orders of
his immediate superior, Captain Ernest Medina. Whether or
not this order was actually given is disputed; Medina was later
acquitted of all charges relating to the incident at a separate
trial. Of the 26 officers and soldiers initially charged for their
participation in the My Lai massacre or the subsequent cover-up,
only Calley was convicted.
Calley was seen by some as a scapegoat used by the U.S. Army
instead of accepting responsibility for the failure to instill
morale and discipline in its troops and commanders. Others, with
lack of knowledge about his education or background, sought to
excuse his actions because of his allegedly low intelligence and
cultural background.
On April 1, only a day after Calley was sentenced, President
Richard Nixon ordered him released from prison; in August 1971 his
term was reduced to 20 years. Ultimately, Calley only served 3½
years of house arrest in his quarters at Fort Benning, Georgia and
was released in 1974 by a federal judge. He is now a jeweler in
Columbus, Georgia.
Hugh
Thompson
Huge Thompson was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. He is
chiefly known for his role during the My Lai massacre, during which
he was flying a reconnaissance mission.
Thompson, on seeing soldiers methodically killing civilians, landed
his helicopter in between the soliders of Charlie Company and a
bunker of Vietnamese non-combatants who were taking refuge in a
bunker. Confronting the commanding officers of the company, he
threatened to shoot anyone who opened fire on the surviving
Vietnamese. Thompson then evacuated the remaining civlians by
helicopter out of Son My.
Warrant Officer Thompson was trying to provide support for both US
troops and to villagers. He believed that US troops were here to
protect the civilians but upon witnessing several murders of
civilians, Thompson and the crew realised what their own troops
were doing. At this point, they stopped trusting the safety of the
villagers to the ground troops, and proceeded to the evacuation
with their own means and authority.
Thompson confronted the leaders of the troops. Several sources
believe he would have been prepared to open fire on the US troopers
if they did not let the helicopters proceed with the evacuation
(Quote: He walked back to the aircraft. He said: "I'm going
to go over and get them out of the bunker myself. If the squad
opens up on them, shoot 'em." And he walked away Lawrence Colburn,
[1]
(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2002/0310/cover.html)),
and covered the villagers with his own body.
The crewmembers were credited with saving at least 11 lives, yet
for long after they were reviled as traitors. Exactly thirty years
later, the three were awarded the Soldier's Medal, the United
States Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct
contact with the enemy.
Everyone in the army , knows its an offense to disobey orders, so
what are your view on thie crisis? It's amazing how 1 crisis , can
have 1 hero and 1 zero..So what makes what's right and what's wrong
in a war?