My Lai: Difference between revisions
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'''My Lai,''' a hamlet in [[Quang Ngai Province]] was the site of a | '''My Lai,''' a hamlet in [[Quang Ngai Province]] was the site of a [[war crime]] involving the killing, by U.S. troops, of several hundred women and children in March 1968, just after the Tet offensive. | ||
==Circumstances== | ==Circumstances== | ||
A | A U.S. Army platoon commanded by Lt. William Calley forced unarmed Vietnamese into ditches and killed them. The platoon had taken several casualties and had poor discipline. | ||
The massacre stopped when a U.S. helicopter, flown by Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, landed and its crew physically intervened.<ref>{{citation | |||
| title = My Lai residents remember war's bloodshed | |||
| date = March 14, 1998 | |||
| journal = CNN | |||
| http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9803/14/my.lai/index.html}}</ref> | |||
==U.S. criminal process== | ==U.S. criminal process== | ||
He and his immediate superior Capt. Medina were both tried in military courts. Medina was found innocent, but Calley was found guilty and served four years in prison; his sentence of life imprisonment was commuted in 1975 by President [[Richard Nixon]]. The case became a focus of national guilt and self-doubt, with antiwar leaders alleging there were many atrocities that had been successfully covered up.<ref> | He and his immediate superior Capt. Medina were both tried in military courts. Medina was found innocent, but Calley was found guilty and served four years in prison; his sentence of life imprisonment was commuted in 1975 by President [[Richard Nixon]]. The case became a focus of national guilt and self-doubt, with antiwar leaders alleging there were many atrocities that had been successfully covered up.<ref> [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/mylai.htm "Famous American Trials: The My Lai Courts-Martial 1970" ] </ref> | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
Revision as of 21:28, 4 July 2010
My Lai, a hamlet in Quang Ngai Province was the site of a war crime involving the killing, by U.S. troops, of several hundred women and children in March 1968, just after the Tet offensive.
Circumstances
A U.S. Army platoon commanded by Lt. William Calley forced unarmed Vietnamese into ditches and killed them. The platoon had taken several casualties and had poor discipline.
The massacre stopped when a U.S. helicopter, flown by Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, landed and its crew physically intervened.[1]
U.S. criminal process
He and his immediate superior Capt. Medina were both tried in military courts. Medina was found innocent, but Calley was found guilty and served four years in prison; his sentence of life imprisonment was commuted in 1975 by President Richard Nixon. The case became a focus of national guilt and self-doubt, with antiwar leaders alleging there were many atrocities that had been successfully covered up.[2]
References
- ↑ "My Lai residents remember war's bloodshed", CNN, March 14, 1998
- ↑ "Famous American Trials: The My Lai Courts-Martial 1970"