The ensuing fight ended only after one of the officers pulled his pistol and fired a round into the air. The Army jeep pulled the Marines over and one Army officer told the Marines "You soldiers better square away!" One of the Marines replied, "We ain't soldiers, motherfucker, we're Marines!" The Army lieutenants dismounted for further discussion of the matter. In May or June 1969 near Chu Lai Base Area, Calley and two other Americal Division officers were in a jeep that passed a jeep containing five Marines. Men in his platoon reported to Army investigators that Calley lacked common sense and could not read a map or compass properly. Later, as the My Lai investigation progressed, a more negative picture emerged. He was assigned to 1st Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Brigade, and began training at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in preparation for deployment to South Vietnam.Ĭalley's evaluations described him as average as an officer. 51 on September 7, 1967, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry. He then began 26 weeks of junior officer training at Fort Benning in mid-March 1967. Having scored high enough on his Armed Forces Qualification tests, he applied for and was accepted into Officer Candidate School (OCS).
Career Ĭalley underwent eight weeks of basic combat training at Fort Bliss, Texas, followed by eight weeks of advanced individual training as a company clerk at Fort Lewis, Washington.
Ĭalley then had a variety of jobs before enlistment, including as a bellhop, dishwasher, salesman, insurance appraiser, and train conductor. graduated from Miami Edison High School in Miami and then attended Palm Beach Junior College in 1963. His father, William Laws Calley Sr., was a United States Navy veteran of World War II. Calley served three years of house arrest for the murders.
A new trial was ordered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit but that ruling was overturned by the United States Supreme Court. Calley was released to house arrest under orders by President Richard Nixon three days after his conviction. (born June 8, 1943) is a former United States Army officer and war criminal convicted by court-martial for the premeditated killings of 200–400 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the Mỹ Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War.