Posted on Aug 2, 2024
William Calley, dead at 80, still used in Army lessons about preventing war crimes like the My...
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Posted 4 mo ago
Responses: 4
I had left Vietnam in June of 1967,and the Army in November of 1968,even then,the war was eroding the fabric of military discipline and good order,drug use,fragging,racial conflicts were on the rise,I personally witnessed Second Lieutenants having little or no control over their AIT trainees,playing the good guy against the hard assed training NCOS, they did no favors to these young men ,soon to face a deadly enemy ,whose sole purpose was to send them home in body bags,no wonder later in the war Officers such as Calley had the deck stacked against them,the Army failed them and they failed the Army, Welcome Home Brothers.
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MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.
So very true, Phil. I was working for the 11th Lt. Inf. Bde.'s 31st Public Info. Det. by Dec. '70 and I got to meet a lot of the key players. Calley came through hoping to get witness statements from residents of "Tin City" near FSB Hill 4-11 where they sent many of the refugees. Also saw Gloria Emerson from the NYT who was trying to get an exclusive interview with Calley. SSG Hodges, who had been in Calley's platoon was back on a second tour. And, of course, there was former Sp4 Ron Ridenhour who'd been a door-gunner in the 174th AHC and blew the whistle on My Lai. He liked to drop by our hut and hang out . . .
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MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.
I'm still surprised Capt. Medina escaped prosecution. The TF CO, LTC Barker, was killed when his C-and-C bird got shot down a few months later in the summer of '68. Bde. CO Col. Oren K. Henderson retired and became a realtor. Maj. Gen. Samuel Koster. the Div. CG was reduced to Brig Gen. and stripped of his DSM for that tour . . .
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Good. Perhaps his stained history chapter can finally be closed. He was totally responsible for what happened at My Lai, regardless of who above him gave the order.
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