My Lai The Event, the Trial, The signifigance
American troops landed in Vietnam in the spring of 1965; that was probably the biggest mistake the United States of America have made in its 200 plus years of existence. As a result, the country's concern turned towards, next to the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam, mostly in favor of it, but some against it. For the first time ever, America saw daily reports, footage, broadcasts on television of the "reality" of the war. The images presented at first, along with some carefully prepared lies that a tense government conjured up gave a frictional society the impression that American presence in Vietnam was appropriate, and that we would come out as heroes (Almond)... The lies were the "truth" as the people saw it. Then eventually, reports and images began showing up that showed the inhumane actions, cruelty, violence, and the absolute truth of what was really going on in Vietnam. In reality, it was a blood bath (Almond).When the truth of the extremity and the reality of the war broke ground and reached the public eye, society's realization of the truth collided head-on into the government's world of lies, and all hell broke loose. The people's opinion began drifting non-stop against the war, as opposed to their prev
Official Army reports of the operation were far from the truth. The reports stated that 128 enemy were killed, and one American was injured. In reality, though, as many as 500 civilians were killed that day, and the American that was injured intentionally shot himself in the foot (Linder). Another interesting statistic that came out of the report was that only three rifles and 10 hand grenades were recovered or seized from the sight (background.html). One would think that if troops would be that successful in wiping out the enemy in such a situation, there would be a lot more artillery recovery. What is historically significant about the decision was, first, the amount of time it took the jury to deliberate; it was the longest in the military court system's history (NY Times). Secondly, Calley was originally sentenced to life imprisonment, and 3 1/2 years later was released on bond, and put on parole. Why was he even found guilty to begin with? Was it worth it? 3 1/2 years of his life were wasted because of, can we say it.... stupidity. If they knew in the beginning it was going to end up like that 3 years later, he never would have been found guilty, or at least not given that extreme of a sentence. William Calley had no criminal background. He dropped out of college and joined the army in July 1966. He started out as a filing clerk, but was eventually sent to Ft. Benning, Ga. for training as an infantry Lieutenant (background.html). He attended an Officer Candidate School for six moths, graduated, and shipped to Hawaii. There, he met Capt. Ernest Medina of Charlie Company, joined the ranks, and was in Vietnam at the end of 1967. The rest is just history. Shortly following a huge cover up of the massacre came a huge investigation. And following that investigation came the trial of Lt. William Calley. Prosecutor Aubrey Daniel's opening statement set the stage for the trial, telling the jury of Calley's role in My Lai, and of such events where Calley was killing people here, throwing children there, and shooting everyone. The prosecution's case was built "methodically" by Daniel (Linder). At first, they presented evidence in an attempt to place Calley at the scene of a shooting, while not calling a single witness. The defense's strategy took two pa
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Approximate Word count = 1536
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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