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William Calley, a military officer who was the only person ever convicted of the mass killing of Vietnamese civilians, including children, in what became known as the My Lai massacre, has died at the age of 80.
The Washington Post first reported Calley’s death on Monday, citing a death certificate that showed Calley died in April. New York TimesCali’s death was also reported, citing Social Security Administration death records.
Neither newspaper reported the cause of death. A call to the phone number of Culley’s son, William L. Culley III, went unanswered.
On March 16, 1968, U.S. troops massacred 504 people in the village of Son My, nestled between the coast and the misty mountains of central Vietnam. Westerners called the incident the “My Lai Massacre.” The massacre shocked the United States and galvanized the anti-war movement.
Calley was initially charged with killing 102 people in a military court and sentenced to life in prison in 1971 for killing 22 civilians. He was imprisoned for just three days before then-President Richard Nixon ordered him placed under house arrest. After leaving the military, he lived a quiet life in Georgia.
William Calley, pictured in 1970, the only person convicted of the mass killing of Vietnamese civilians in what became known as the My Lai massacre, has died at the age of 80
A house in My Lai burned down by U.S. Marines during the massacre
William Laws Culley Jr. was born on June 8, 1943, the only son and fourth child of a Miami businessman. As a young man, his nickname was “Rusty.”
In four years, Kali attended four high schools, two of which were military academies. In seventh grade, Kali was caught cheating and was forced to repeat the grade.
After graduating from college, he worked as a porter, dishwasher, insurance investigator and train driver.
He joined the Army in 1966 after going broke in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and distinguished himself.
Despite his poor academic performance, Calley graduated from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning because the military was in urgent need of platoon leaders a year before the My Lai incident.
After leaving the military, Carley married Penny Vick in 1976 and worked for Penny Vick’s father in the jewelry business in Columbus, Georgia, becoming a certified gemologist. They had one son and later divorced.
Insisting he was merely following orders and viewing himself as a scapegoat, Carley became the focal point of a country bitterly divided over the unpopular Vietnam War.
Calley refused to speak to journalists or historians about My Lai. After the war, he tried to go on a speaking tour but withdrew from public life.
However, friends said he admitted to the crimes he was accused of and had learned to live with reality.
A barber in his hometown told 1993 Investigative Journalist: “He’s a good man, a wonderful man. Don’t mention it anymore. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”
A man who owns a nearby watch shop and is a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars said Carley was a “very nice guy.”
“He was wrongly accused… You should bury him. This is hard enough to bear… If you’ve ever killed someone, you don’t know what I’m talking about… If you’ve ever seen enough blood to bathe in, you don’t know what it feels like.”
A US Marine fuels the fire in My Lai
Seconds after this photo was taken, all of these Vietnamese civilians were dead, murdered by American soldiers from the 11th Light Infantry Brigade.
This photo was taken during Cali’s trial in 1971
Despite being told that My Lai was a hotbed of communist National Liberation Front guerrillas, U.S. troops encountered no serious armed resistance in the village and found very few weapons, the U.S. Army Historical Foundation said.
But they still killed almost everyone there and raped the women and girls.
Four soldiers were charged for the massacre, but only Calley was found guilty.
Calley spent three years under house arrest in an apartment at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was visited by his girlfriend, before being paroled and discharged from the service.
In 2009, he made his first public apology.
“There is not a day that I don’t regret what happened at My Lai,” Carley said at the Kiwanis Club in Columbus, Ohio. “I regret the Vietnamese who died, their families, the American soldiers who fought in the war and their families. I’m so sorry.”
William Laws Culley Jr. was born on June 8, 1943, the only son and fourth child of a Miami businessman. In four years, he attended four high schools, two of which were military academies. After graduating from junior college, he worked as a baggage handler, dishwasher, insurance investigator and train conductor.
Born penniless in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Calley joined the Army in 1966 and excelled, graduating from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning a year before the My Lai incident despite poor grades.
After leaving the military, Carley married Penny Vick in 1976 and worked in the jewelry business for Penny’s father in Georgia, becoming a certified gemologist. They had one son and later divorced.
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