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The Nobel Peace Prize and the My Lai
massacre
On the morning of March
16, 1968, Charlie Company of the 11 th Light Infantry
Brigade was dropped by helicopter next to a hamlet
identified on US army maps as My Lai 4 in Quang Ngai
province in central Vietnam. Four hours later, as
Charlie Company completed its sweep of the village
without having encountered any hostile fire, its 1st
Platoon, commanded by Lieutenant William "Rusty" Calley,
had massacred between 300 and 400 old men, women and
children.
In the days following the incident
news of the massacre slowly spread. When asked by their
superior officers if there had been civilian casualties,
some of the soldiers of Charlie Company refused to
answer. Pictures of dozens of women and children, lying
dead in heaps taken by combat photographer Ronald
Haeberle began to circulate.
A freelance
journalist, Seymour Hersh, after considerable research,
finally broke the story in late 1969. On November 17,
1970 the court martial of Calley began at Fort Benning,
Georgia. On March 29, 1971, after 79 hours and 58
minutes of deliberation, the jury found Calley guilty of
the premeditated murder of 22 of the villagers of My
Lai, and two days later he was sentenced to prison for
life.
News of the sentencing created a wave of
sympathy for Calley throughout the US. Those on the
political left viewed him as a scapegoat and wanted to
see the generals put on trial. Those on the right saw
the verdict as an insult to the American soldier.
On the day of the sentencing, the Governor of
Georgia, as a gesture of support for Calley, appealed to
the citizens of the state to drive with their headlights
on and "honor the flag as Rusty had done".
Thirty-one years later, the governor received
the Nobel Peace Prize. His name was Jimmy Carter.
As for Calley, he was released on parole the day
after his sentencing and received a full pardon three
years later.
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