He was 11 years old when he and his family heard the Americans shooting and hid in a tunnel underneath their home. Pertinent biographical information can be found in Richard Hammer, The Court-Martial of Lt. Calley (1971). Their deliberate ignorance, coupled with hubris, fear, insecurity, self-promotion, deceit, and continuing lies set the stage for the 12-year debacle that followed. A member of the U.S. Army then threw a grenade into the tunnel, killing everyone except Cong, who was injured by the shrapnel and still bears a scar next to his left eye. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. There are still water buffalo fertilizing the fields and chickens roaming. The nightmares and everything will never go away. Uncover William's photos, videos, and more , Personal details for William may include . His sentence was later reduced to ten years, and in September 1974 a federal district court overturned the conviction. Hawks said Calley had been simply doing his job. A system error has occurred. (During the conflict in Vietnam, the army decided to reclassify certain formerly ineligible potential recruits.) ''I feel like I was able to help avoid bloodshed,'' he said. Nixon fell short of a pardon, but he ordered that Calley remain under house arrest in his apartment at Fort Benning, where he could play badminton in the backyard and hang out with his girlfriend. (404) 451-.css-1y2reja{color:transparent;position:relative;z-index:12;text-shadow:0.1rem 0.1rem 0.6rem #089FE4;}DYKF. Meadlo had been discharged from the Army because of a severe injury; like many others whod been at Son My, he was essentially granted immunity when the investigation began. We identified 42 records related to "William Calley" in the state of Florida. The captain reportedly told his soldiers that they were finally going to meet the Viet Congs 48th Local Force Battalion, a well-armed division of at least 250 soldiers, which for months had tormented them. Spokeo's database, while extensive, does not contain all U.S. warrant, arrest, court, or other related records. A six-man jury of officers, all war veterans, convicted Calley of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment at hard labor. Mickel said that Calley had invested much emotional capital in the hope that his convictions would be thrown out and his name cleared. Perhaps this is one of the few places where Calley could make good on his stated wish to ''sink into anonymity.''. Rallies were held. Columbus resident Herbert ''Digger'' O`Dell Smith spent 79 days in a grave-like hole in protest. 8 June 1943 in Miami, Florida), second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and, after the longest court-martial in military history, the only U.S. soldier convicted of a crime in the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. WebView William Wilford Holmes results in Ashburn, VA including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. A karaoke machine was set up on a motorbike, and the loudspeakers were placed next to a blink-and-you-miss-it plaque with an arrow pointing to a Mass Grave of 75 Victims., Tran Nam was 6 years old when he heard gunshots from inside his mud and straw home in Son My. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Calley was a former army officer in the United States and found guilty of killing hundreds of unarmed, On 16 March 1968 Calley led a patrol into the village of My Lai in the Quang Ngai Province and participated in what became known as the largest massacre ever perpetrated by U.S. soldiers. In 1964, as railroad switchman, Calley was arrested for allowing a forty-seven-car freight train to block traffic for nearly thirty minutes during rush hour at several downtown intersections, but he was cleared of the charges. When he saw a 2-year-old boy who had crawled out of the ditch, Calley threw the child back in and shot him. Military-age males taken prisoner were interrogated, tortured and executed. Try again later. If we do, perhaps America can avoid sending young men and women to fight and die in other limited wars of choice, in places of which our leaders and we are ignorant. But others never saw crime in the acts of this fun-loving, baby-faced officer from Miami. . Thanks for your help! He is a white, non hispanic male registered to vote in Alachua County, Florida. Paul Meadlo. 200 soldiers who were dropped into the village that day, 24 were later charged with criminal offenses, and only one was convicted, Calley. I can actually see the faces and the terror and all those peoples eyes. He was short, round, almost portly. William married Mrs.Wm.T. On 29 March 1971 six army combat veterans found Calley guilty of the premeditated murder of at least twenty-two civilians and sentenced him to life imprisonment at hard labor. Those government and military leaders who, after WWII, created and then propped up the serial, corrupt governments in South Vietnam, sent young men to fight and die in a limited war of choice that they could not win, and attempted to justify doing so by telling more lies. William departed this 321 bed / 313 bath condo in 2009. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. In front of each is a plaque with the name of the family that lived there and a list of the members of that family who were killed. Privacy Statement When Americas political and military leaders committed our nations treasure and the lives of her children to the war in Vietnam, they knew nothing about Vietnamese history, language, culture, society, religions or leaders. I mean personally. Calley said he was only following orders to ''waste'' My Lai. Thats the way it was in 68. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. Leave a comment. Loudoun Valley Estates is a great neighborhood with great amenities. There was a tremendous wave of support for Calley, particularly in Columbus. In 1976, he married Penny Vick, whose family owned a jewelry shop frequented by members of Columbus elite. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. I am still emotional. In a strange twist, John Partin, the lawyer who represented Calleys wife in the divorce, was a former Army captain who had served as an assistant prosecutor in Calleys court-martial. He did so, and Calley got the license while continuing to work at the shop. Now 74 years old, he declined to be interviewed for this story. I know today I dont have anything to apologize for. This is a carousel with slides. WebWilliam Laws Calley Jr. (born June 8, 1943) is an American war criminal and a former United States Army officer convicted by court-martial for the premeditated killings of 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the M Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War. His mother died of cancer shortly after he went into the army. The aspirations of Americas WWII friends, Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionaries, who fought side-by-side with us against the Japanese, were ignored. A Note to our Readers Nams family thought it would be like before; theyd be gathered and interviewed and then let go. who first exposed the killings (he died in 1998), and Hugh Thompson, a pilot, and Lawrence Colburn, a gunner, who saved nine or ten civilians the day of the massacre by airlifting them on their helicopter (both Thompson and Colburn later died of cancer). Decatur Daily Democrat, Adams County, INFriday, July 14, 1972Transcribed by Janice VasilovskiCalleys dad diesGAINESVILLE, Fla. (UPI)William L. Calley, the father of Lt. William Calley Jr., died Thursday night just hours after his son was granted special permission to visit him.Lt. Initially, the U.S. Army portrayed the massacre as a great victory over Viet Cong forces, and that story might never have been challenged had it not been for a helicopter gunner named Ronald Ridenhour. WebWilliam Calley was born on 06/08/1943 and is 79 years old. https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/calley-william-laws-jr, "Calley, William Laws, Jr. Were going in there, were killing everything thats alive. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. Yet Cong and the other survivors are painfully aware that all the soldiers involved in the massacre went free. WebSee William Laws Calley III's age, phone number, house address, email address, social media accounts, public records, and check for criminal records on Spokeo. J. Houston Gordon, a trialattorney in Covington, Tenn., is writing a book on the My Lai Massacre and the Vietnam War. The day after the massacre, Meadlo stepped on a land mine and his right foot was blown off. Its still unclear exactly what Capt. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Soon after the My Lai massacre, Captain Medina had promoted Calley to first lieutenant, and Calley stayed in Vietnam on search-and-destroy missions for another year. An outstanding tank commander in the U.S. Army during World War II, General Creighton W. Abrams (1914-1974) continued to serve in, More than fifty-eight thousand American soldiers and an estimated two million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were killed in the Vietnam War (1954, Callender, Red (actually, George Sylvester), Calleja Del Rey, Flix Mara, Conde de Caldern (17571828), Callicot, John Baird (1941 ) American Environmental Philosopher, Calligraphy: Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy, https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/calley-william-laws-jr. Home Explore Nearby Profile Achievements Collections Themes Experiments Artists Mediums Art movements Doves said Calley had taken the fall for the generals and politicians whod dragged America into a disastrous and immoral conflict. After a series of appeals, Calleys sentence was cut from life to 20 years, then in half to ten years. The Army had participated heavily in the production, providing uniforms, helicopters and other equipment. President Nixon then ordered him out of the brig and into house arrest. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. I eventually reached five former soldiers willing to speak on the record. He also pointed out an estate nearby that had appeared inThe Green Berets, a pro-war 1968 film starring John Wayne. ." I served in that role from September of 1971 through April of 1974. "Elimination of the VCI," killing all "Viet Cong sympathizers," "leveling of villages," expanding "free fire zones," and a "sterile depersonalized murder program" became the modus operandi for American combat units and their ICEX/Phoenix/CORDS adjuncts. In the months after his release, Calley made a few public appearances, and then moved a 20-minute drive down the road to Columbus, Georgia, where he disappeared into private life. Results for this person or the person you are looking for are not guaranteed to appear in search results. Weve updated the security on the site. Search above to list available cemeteries. His hands were small, soft, fleshy. People who were covered with a lot of blood and stayed still got the chance to survive, while kids did not. ''Lt. Share Background Report Overview of William Laws Calley Jr Lives in: Gainesville, Florida Phone: View phone number Age: 79 Gender: Male Organize and share things you love. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. It states that Calley did all the cooking, and all the cleaning that wasnt done by the maid, and that he was their sons primary caretaker. I wanted to know whether Calley, a convicted mass murderer and one of the most notorious figures in 20th-century history, had ever expressed true contrition or lived a normal life. Many of them died as they cried for their parents in terror.. Edgar Whitcomb ordered the states flags to fly at half-staff. There never was a "democratically elected government in South Vietnam", only a dictatorship propped up by American power. Im sure of that. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Passersby could drop a coin into a tube that led down to ODells grave, with the proceeds going toward a fund for Calley. When the heat grew unbearable, Nam ran out the door and hid in a ditch as his village burned. His military defense counsel, Maj. Kenneth Raby, who spent 19 months working on the court-martial, told me Calley received so much mail that he had to be moved to a ground-floor apartment at Fort Benning where the deliveries didnt have to be carried up the stairs. On March 16, 1968, Calley was in charge of the lead infantry platoon as it swept through the hamlet of My Lai, a suspected stronghold of the Viet Cong in the coastal province of Quangngai. I traveled to Son My, where survivors are still waiting for him to come back and make amends. I did not sit down and think in terms of men, women, and children. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Memorial using social media sites or email declined to be interviewed for this story a trialattorney in Covington,,! O ` Dell Smith spent 79 days in a ditch as his village burned slide dots and children parents terror. The massacre, Meadlo stepped on a land mine and his name cleared there was ``... 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