By Cadet Hodge

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• By Cadet Hodge

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What happened
The My Lai massacre took place March 16, 1968 as
the 11th brigade of the American Division
entered the village of My Lai. As the troops
entered the superior officers said to search an
destroy and that's just what the brigade did.
The killing was extremely brutal and extreme.
            The killing of more than 100
unarmed civilians.  The leader of this massacre
was Lieutenant William Calley.  At the village
there were said that the some of the civilians
were raped, shot in prayer, and beaten.  
        The massacre at My Lai didn't reach
America until November 1969.  The news of this
atrocities caused  a severe movement in the
already divided American public.  The public
began to question the military conduct of the
soldiers.  People began to demand the government
begin to investigate this stories horror.
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Cover up

• Initial investigations of the My Lai incident
  were undertaken by the 11th Light Infantry
  Brigade's Commanding Officer, Colonel Oran
  Henderson, under orders from Americal's Assistant
  Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Young.
  Henderson interviewed several soldiers involved
  in the incident, then issued a written report in
  late April claiming that approximately 22
  civilians were inadvertently killed during the
  military operation in My Lai. The army at this
  time was still describing the event as a military
  victory resulting in the deaths of 128 enemies.

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Six months later

• Six months later, a 21-year-old soldier of the
  11th Light Infantry named Tom Glen wrote a letter
  accusing the Americal Division of routine
  brutality against Vietnamese civilians the
  letter was detailed, its allegations horrifying,
  and its contents echoed complaints received from
  other soldiers. Colin Powell, then a young US
  Army Major, was charged with investigating the
  letter, which did not specifically reference My
  Lai. Powell wrote "In direct refutation of this
  portrayal is the fact that relations between
  American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are
  excellent." Later, Powell's refutation would be
  called an act of "white-washing"

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Courts martial

• On March 17, 1970, the United States Army charged
  14 officers with suppressing information related
  to the incident. Most of these charges were
  dropped.
• U.S. Army Lt. William Calley was convicted in
  1971 of premeditated murder in ordering the
  shootings and initially sentenced to life in
  prison two days later, however, President
  Richard Nixon ordered him released from prison,
  pending appeal of his sentence. Calley served
  3½ years of house arrest in his quarters at Fort
  Benning, Georgia, and was then ordered freed by
  Federal Judge J. Robert Elliot. Calley claimed he
  was following orders from his captain, Ernest
  Medina Medina denied giving the orders and was
  acquitted at a separate trial. Most of the
  soldiers involved in the My Lai incident were no
  longer enlisted. Of the 26 men initially charged,
  Lt. Calley's was the only conviction.

Lieutenant William Calley
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• The End