US Army Officer Convicted for Role in Vietnam's My Lai Massacre Dead at 80

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JUL 31 2024

Above: Army 1st Lt. William L. Calley Jr. arrives on January 20, 1970, for a pre-trial military hearing where his attorneys were to argue for dismissal of charges that he murdered Vietnamese in an alleged massacre by American troops at Song My on March 16, 1968. Image copyright: Bettman/Contributor/Bettman via Getty Imagesstory last updated AUG 1 2024

The Facts

The Washington Post broke the news this week that US Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr., the only American convicted in connection with the Vietnam War's My Lai massacre in 1968, died on April 28 at a hospice in Gainesville, Fla., at the age of 80.
This comes as the outlet obtained a copy of his death certificate from the Florida Department of Health, after Harvard Law School graduate Zachary Woodward noticed the then unreported death while looking through public records.
On March 16, 1968, Calley led Charlie Company's first platoon into My Lai on a mission to confront Viet Cong fighters; it ended in the most notorious massacre in US modern history, as soldiers killed 504 unresisting civilians, mostly women, children, and elderly men.

The Spin

Narrative A

Lt. Calley spent most of his life being demonized as a war criminal, becoming one of the most infamous US Army officers ever due to his role in the shameful My Lai massacre. In retrospect, however, it's clear that he was merely a scapegoat — just another officer that had been told by his superiors to raze the village and kill anything that moved.

Military.com

Narrative B

The now-deceased Lt. Calley became a perverse kind of folk hero for many due to his actions in My Lai, with most Americans opposing a life sentence for him despite agreeing his killing of civilians was wrong. He may have acted under the orders of his superiors, but that doesn't make him less of a war criminal — he even rejected calls to stop the massacre.

Reason.com