Okay, the soldiers during the Vietnam war, unlike the Iraqi War, unlike the Bosnian War, these guys were drafted; there was some regular Army, but most of – a lot of them were drafted. So, there were poor people. There were blacks, there were Hispanics, there were Puerto Ricans, there were not many college kids, they managed to get out - there were some. Soldiers did not know what they were doing there, they did not know what they were fighting for, they did not know what the purpose of it was. I don’t know what we were doing there. The President didn’t know what we were doing there – that just came out a few months ago on tape. The Secretary of Defense didn’t know what we were doing there. Now, he says we were wrong, we were terribly wrong.
I think, God . . . You’re sent to Vietnam, you’re walking around . . . You’re stepping on mines, your buddies are dying, they’re losing arms and legs, and the whole year you don’t see a VC, you don’t see any enemy. You just see innocent civilians. GI’s finally decided, well, they’re not so innocent. GI’s started hating the Vietnamese, hating the Vietnamese people. And it was very rare to find a soldier who liked the Vietnamese people. I’m thinking of one guy who was the S5 Officer, he was the Civil Affairs Officer in Quang Ngai. He really liked the Vietnamese; he cared for the Vietnamese. He worked six months for the Vietnamese, getting them medicine, getting them Band-Aids, getting them sewing machines, teaching sewing classes, getting them pigs, getting them pig food, trying to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese. And you know who that was? That was First Lieutenant William L. Calley.
What was William Calley like? Normal, normal, normal, normal! Went to Edison High School in Miami, went to college. He wasn’t studying very hard, like most Americans. He was smoking and joking. He was going out with girls. He was drinking and dancing, that’s what he liked. I know you can say he’s normal, and the people are gonna say, “Whaddya mean? How can he be normal? He killed 100 or more people, innocent people, children, women, babies! You call this normal?” Yeah. For Vietnam, it was normal. There were 100 guys in Charlie Company. Ninety percent of them did the same thing. The other 10% were too scared to. Ninety percent of them were killing women and children at My Lai. That’s more than the percent of Americans who killed Germans in World War II, much more. So, yeah, he was normal.
How did Lieutenant Calley get in the Army? He wasn’t drafted, he was gonna be drafted. The draft board in Miami said, “Come on home, we need you.” So, he starts going back across the country in his old Buick, and he gets to Albuquerque, and the car breaks down, the water pump breaks. He’s got four dollars and eighty cents . . . in his pocket. So, he goes into the Army recruiter and he says, “Can you wire my draft board in Miami, tell them to send me some money, and I’ll come in for them.” And the recruiter says, “Well, it doesn’t work that way.” So, he ends up in the Army, he ends up enlisted, and going to Fort Benning, going to Officer’s Candidate School at Fort Benning where they teach him – this is war, everybody you see out there is your enemy, nobody is your friend. You gotta be on guard, you gotta be careful. Don’t let your guard down for one minute. Never did they say to him, “Hey, there’s innocent civilians out there.”
After Officer's Candidate School, Lieutenant Calley went to Hawaii, was assigned to Hawaii, was assigned Charlie Company, which was forming there in Hawaii, and once again, all the talk is about, "Be on guard. Be careful. Everyone is your enemy." Nobody is talking about innocent civilians out there, except once. Once, right before they went to Vietnam, an officer gave a briefing called, “Vietnam, Our Host”. And, uh, the briefing lasted about three minutes and the officer said, “Okay, guys, wake up, wake up. We’re going to Vietnam. Wake up, because Vietnam is our host. Wake up, I . . . You can’t, uh, insult the women.” The guy who gave that briefing was Lieutenant Calley. He was assigned to do it. He said it’s a very important job. He said he realizes that now.
Charlie Company gets to Vietnam, and they’re so gung ho, “We’re gonna come in here. We’re gonna stop this war. We’re gonna sock it to ‘em, show these people what America’s like. We’re gonna win this war in a couple of weeks and then we’ll go back home.” And Lieutenant Calley is there.
They go out on ambush patrols, and they’re looking for VC, and Lieutenant Calley is saying, “Any moment now guys, be ready, be ready. The VC are gonna come. They’re gonna come at any moment, so stay sharp, stay sharp!” What ambush. Ambush patrol, another ambush patrol, and nothing happens. You never see any VC. Most soldiers go to Vietnam without seeing the enemy. And their guard starts falling and they start playing with the children. Lt. Calley says, “Stop playing with the children. You gotta be on guard!” Who can stop an American guy from playing with children?
And, meanwhile, the Colonel, Battalion Commander, is flying overhead all the time in his helicopter. He’s looking for a body count. He radios down to Lt. Calley, “You got a body count?” Lt. Calley says, “No, no we don’t.” “You don’t have a body count?” “No, we don’t have anyone to shoot at.” “You better get on the stick, Lt., or I’ll find another Lt. who will!” The Colonel radios down, “I see a VC suspect, he’s just over that little hill!” Well, they tromp and stomp through the boonies for two hours getting over that hill, and they find the VC suspect. It’s an old lady. She’s taking her taxes, and they radio back to the Colonel, “It’s an old lady, she’s taking her taxes in.” “Did you get a body count?” “No, we didn’t get a body count.”
That’s what was going on for several months and then after a couple of months they move to another area and then they started stepping on mines. Then they started being hit by bullets. Then they started dying. Still didn’t see any VC. Still didn’t get a body count, unless they made it up.
Lt. Calley went on R&R – rest and recuperation leave in a beach on the China Sea. He spent most of the time in a brothel with a wartime romance. Then he came back to the hill that Charlie Company was on. Charlie Company was out in the field. And he quickly found out what was going on the field, because the helicopters started coming in. They started coming in with wounded, coming in with guys without arms and legs. Coming in with body bags.
One of the things they had was a boot, somebody’s boot with a foot still in it. They’re absolutely stuck in this minefield. Lt. Calley wasn’t there. He tried to get in, but they wouldn’t let him in. No, there’s enough dying already. Six people died in the company. Twelve people were wounded. One guy stepped on a mine; it split him from his throat down to his crotch, blew him open, and all of the intestines, everything just spilled out. And the Captain and the medic pick him up, lay him down right on top of another mine, he blows up again. The medic is just spattered with blood, covered with blood, on his religious medal is a piece of the guy’s liver. Captain Medina brushes it off so the medic doesn’t see it. And, in this minefield, right at the edge of the minefield is a Vietnamese village, and the Vietnamese are just walking around, doing their farming, doing their thing. None of the Vietnamese came up to the soldiers and said, “Hey, be careful, there’s a minefield here.” You go through this, 18 casualties, you start disliking the Vietnamese, and you start telling yourself, “Hey, the VC and the Vietnamese are the same, they’re the same people.”
Did Charlie Company receive enough training? No, of course not, of course not. How do you receive training in Vietnam? How do you receive training for uh, for a war in which you’re walking around and getting killed and you never see the enemy? You can’t be trained for it. Of course the training was insufficient, it can’t be sufficient.
Capt. Medina says in his briefing he said, "Kill everything," and somebody asked, "does that mean women and children?" And Capt. Medina said, "You have to use common sense." Lt. Calley says, if Capt. Medina said I have to use common sense, I would have said, "Yes sir, I’m back to the United States tonight." That’s the only common sense.
This is March 15, 1968. There’s been another burial that afternoon. Sgt. Cox has died. The chaplain says, he was a good soldier, he’s with his Lord now. There had been a lot of funeral services like that. Capt. Medina gathers the troops together and says, okay, tomorrow we’re going into My Lai 4. He says, there’s going to be a lot of casualties. We’re going to attack My Lai 4, My Lai 5, My Lai 6, and then Pinkville, My Lai 1. And there’s a VC battalion there, and they outnumber us. He says, we’re going to start back with My Lai 4 and we’re going to kill everything there. Someone says, men, women and children? Capt. Medina says, I said everything.
Everyone testifies to that, everybody except Capt. Medina. Every soldier who was there said that’s what Capt. Medina said. And they agreed with him. They said, yeah, if the United States wants us to do a dumb thing like go to Vietnam, wants us to do a dumb thing like attack a VC battalion in Pinkville, it’s the only way to do it.
The morning of the 16th, Lt. Calley is scared, scared he’s going to die. The soldiers are all scared, scared they’re gonna die. Lt. Calley is not thinking, these are women, these are children, these are civilians. He’s just thinking, these people are the objective. Shoot ‘em up, shoot ‘em up, get through the village, get through it as fast as possible, get out the other end and get on to My Lai 5. That’s all he’s thinking. Keep going, keep going, keep going. That’s the orders from Capt. Medina, keep going, keep going. He doesn’t want people holding him up.
Specifically, moment to moment, what happened in My Lai, the beginning of it, Lt. Calley can remember. They got on their helicopters, jumped off the helicopters. They weren’t being fired on. They, as in any Army operation, they’re all messed up. The first platoon should be here and the second platoon here, but the second platoon’s here and the first platoon’s here. So, everybody’s switching orders and they start going through the village. At that point, it becomes a blur.
Lt. Calley knows that he didn’t line up people halfway through My Lai, in that photograph, and kill them. He knows that all he was doing was shooting, and shooting and shooting, and keeping going.
This whole trial, all those witnesses, half a year back and forth. It was unnecessary. Lt. Calley’s own testimony was enough to get him hanged. It isn’t – what he’s charged with isn’t killing civilians, he’s charged with killing prisoners. That’s against the rules in the United States Army. You don’t kill prisoners. He was doing it, and he testified he was doing it.
Was Lt. Calley surprised he was charged? He was absolutely astonished. And he was in Vietnam, and was on his second tour, and all of sudden the orders come in, we need you in the United States today. He thought, well what could this be? Maybe they’re giving me a medal. He goes to Washington, goes to the Judge Advocate General, and the Judge Advocate General says, "Lt. Calley, this is an investigation, a special investigation for the Chief of Staff. Do you want a lawyer?" Calley said, "Do I need a lawyer?" And the Judge Advocate General says "Well, this is about an operation on 16 March 1968 in the village of My Lai. At the end of this investigation, you can possibly be charged with murder." Lt. Calley says, "That serious?" "Yeah, murder, it can carry the death penalty."
My criticism of the trial – hey, the trial was right, somebody kills civilians, you should try him. The United Nations should try him. The Vietnamese, if they win the war, should try him. Joan Baez and the hippies should try him. But he should not be tried by the very people who gave him that order.
Opening day of the trial. You know, on opening day and every single day of the trial, Lt. Calley never turned around to face the audience, to face the press. He sat with his back to the audience, the spectators, staring straight ahead, keeping his bearing, keeping his demeanor, being a good soldier. Why did he do that? It started when he saw an open letter in the newspaper to President Nixon. Somebody had written to President Nixon saying I protest the trial of Lt. Calley.
Lt. Calley read this and thought, wow, if I am a reflection of the American people, I’ve got a duty to the American people. I’ve got to be a reflection that the American people can be proud of. I can’t cry, I can’t scream, I can’t lie. I have to tell the truth, I have to give them turkey, he told me, with no Christmas dressing on it. And so, he insisted on telling the truth at the trial. Now, the lawyers all wanted to say, well, we can say you didn’t do it, we can say you were somewhere else, we can say you were in Honolulu. Lt. Calley said, no, I did it, and I want to testify that I did it. I don’t want to go around the rest of my life thinking that I did something so awful, that I had to lie in front of 200 million American people to get away with it.
The lawyers, of course, are trying everything they can. Lt. Calley insisted that he wanted to testify, that he wanted to testify that he did it. And the lawyers are tearing their hair out, saying, you can’t say that. Lt. Calley is saying, I want the jury, the panel, to hear what I did and why I did it and I want them to approve and say, we understand. And the lawyer told him, that’s not the law. The law says that if you did it and you say you did it, you’re guilty, you’re going to be hanged.
Calley got his way. He got on the stand, and what he was accused of, he said, yes, I did it. He wanted to explain why he did it. They didn’t allow that testimony. Nobody cares why you did it.
There were 100 people at My Lai, and there were My Lai’s all over Vietnam, and only a couple of years ago a sergeant was telling me about an incident that was worse than My Lai, where they did it absolutely on purpose, just getting their rocks off. And only Lt. Calley was convicted of war crimes. What was the reason for that? O.J. Simpson had a good lawyer. Lt. Calley, I gotta say, had a bad lawyer. He was a good man, but he was getting old, he was quite old, and he wasn’t really on top of things. In fact Judge Kennedy had to lean over backwards to try to help the defense. Judge Kennedy would sometimes have to take up the slack because Judge Latimer just wasn’t doing the job.
And the press – what made good news was, Calley was a monster. Calley was a horror. Calley was a terrible, terrible person. And the press was looking for anything to prove that Calley was a monster.
The verdict, the verdict was right. He was guilty. He did murder prisoners of war. He did murder women and children. The verdict was absolutely appropriate. My complaint with the verdict is not what it said. It was the people who said it. The people who said it were the six officers in the United States Army. The very people who sent him there and told him to do it. The very people who were still doing it that day in Vietnam.
Calley never felt that he was the fall guy. I mean, that’s what the Army’s like. Life isn’t fair. The Army isn’t fair. Your company is retreating, the whole division is retreating, and they tell you, Lt. you and your platoon stay here on this rock and hold the enemy off so the rest of us can get out. You don’t say, why me? You say, yes sir. And you stay there, and you hold the enemy off as long as possible and you die. That’s what you do in the Army.
I’m offended by the hypocrisy of it. You take a lieutenant, you take a nice guy off the streets of Miami. You take a considerate, compassionate guy, a guy whose only feeling is, I want to do what the United States asks me to do; they know better than I do, I’ll do what they say. A guy who feels, the United States has told me that the Vietnamese people are good people and they are in danger from Communism and I gotta keep the Communists off them, I’m gonna do it. A guy who cares about the Vietnamese people and you send him over there into that situation and basically you tell him, now kill everybody in sight. And in the craziness, and in the confusion, and in his patriotism, he does what you tell him to do, and then you turn around and say, now you’ve committed murder. And it’s so sad.
Lessons learned from My Lai? I’ll tell you the lesson that Calley learned. We were in my house in New York City. We were drinking some bourbon, the Army drink, and Lt. Calley said, "You know, the Army is a Frankenstein monster." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, Dr. Frankenstein, he wanted to create this, this great being, this very powerful, strong, smart human being who would do all good for mankind. He would help people. And instead he created a monster that just ran around the countryside stomping people to death. That’s the United States Army. We tried to do something good, we tried to do something good in Vietnam, but we just created a monster."
JOHN SACK
When William Calley chose to tell his own version of the My Lai story, Sack helped him put it on the page in a biography published in 1974. Sack spent a great deal of time with Calley during and after the trial and provided insight into the embattled lieutenant. Sack says that Calley admitted much of his own wrongdoing, but also calls Calley "normal" and provides an expanded perspective on the man who bore the brunt of the blame for My Lai.
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