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In March 1968, just after the Tet offensive, one Army company massacred several hundred women and children at the hamlet of [[Quang Ngai#My Lai|My Lai]]. High ranking American officers wre not charged, but the company captain was tried and acquitted. Platoon commander Lt. William Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment by a 1971 court martial. His sentence was reduced and he was released in 1975. 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> Michal R. Belknap, ''The Vietnam War on Trial: The My Lai Massacre and the Court-Martial of Lieutenant Calley'' (2002). [http://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-War-Trial-Court-Martial-Lieutenant/dp/0700612122/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215301180&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]; [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/mylai.htm "Famous American Trials: The My Lai Courts-Martial 1970" online] </ref>
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'''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.<ref>{{citation
| title = My Lai residents remember war's bloodshed
| date = March 14, 1998
| journal = CNN
| url =http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9803/14/my.lai/index.html}}</ref>
 
==U.S. criminal process==
He and his immediate superior Capt. Ernest 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==
{{reflist}}

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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. Ernest 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