 | |  | | William Calley | | | context : | Vietnam  | | judgement place : | United States | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Sentenced to hard labour for life for premeditated murder | | position : | Lieutenant |
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| | | | William Calley was born on 8 June 1943. At the time of the events, he was a lieutenant in the US Army.
On 16 March 1968, around eight o’clock in the morning, Charly Company, one of the three units making up the Barker Task Force of the US Army, entered the village of My Lai in Quang Ngai Province situated in South Vietnam. The Company was under the command of Captain Ernest Medina. In little over three hours, members of this company executed around 500 civilians including children, women and elderly people.
Lieutenant William Calley, as leader of one group, played an active role in the massacre. With the help of one of his soldiers, he fired on a group of some 80 civilians which had been assembled in the village square. The quasi-totality of these people were shot to death. He also ordered his soldiers to kill about another 80 people who had been gathered together in a ditch. He himself took an active part in these executions.
In March 1969, Ronald Ridenhour, an ex GI, having heard of what had happened in My Lai, decided to report the incident to the US authorities. At that time the case was transmitted to the Inspector General of the army for investigation. It was then subsequently committed to the army’s Criminal Investigation Division. On 5 September 1969, William Calley was formally charged with premeditated murder. He was found guilty on 29 March 1971, sentenced to hard labour for life and dishonourably discharged from the army.
After a series of revisions of his sentence, he was released on parole on 9 November 1974. His imprisonment had lasted for only 3 and a half years.
Parallel to this, the Defence Department had held its own investigation. These proceedings culminated in a report, which recommended prosecution for several soldiers and officers notably for incidents of murder and rape (known as the Peers Report). | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | United states | | | date of birth : | | | 08.06.1943 | | | period of charges : | | | 16.03.1968 - 16.03.1968 | | | judgement period : | | | 21.03.1971 - 21.12.1971 | | | charges : | | | War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 17.03.2005 |
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