This series of photographs are from the official records of the General Court-Martial and other military justice proceedings against 1st Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr.- Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. Lieutenant Calley was charged with premeditated murder stemming from his involvement in the killing of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai 4 Hamlet, on March 16, 1968.
Notice the images seen here are not of the mass graves, or of dead women with their baby in hand. However, these are the images taken by the same photographer, on the same day, during the same event. The set of photographs seen here are part of the official record of events that day, taken by Ronald L. Haeberle, the Army photographer on the seen. The photos, which would eventually expose the massacre that day, were taken using Haeberle’s personal camera. He would later claim that this gave him rights to those images, although most military photographs are typically the property of the U.S. government.
The disclosure began with rumors of the mass killings within the military. A GI named Ron Ridenhour heard the reports and began sending letters about the massacre to various members of the U.S. government. Lieutenant Calley was eventually charged with several counts of premeditated murder in September 1969. The American journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story in November despite initial rejections by the establishment press, including Life magazine, (who later published Haeberle’s color photos).
The Army eventually charged 25 officers and enlisted men with “having taken part in the massacre in some way or of having covered it up”. Most of these charges were dropped and despite the murder of at least 450-500 civilians, (39) only Calley was convicted. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but was paroled by the Nixon Administration after serving less than four years.
Notice the images seen here are not of the mass graves, or of dead women with their baby in hand. However, these are the images taken by the same photographer, on the same day, during the same event. The set of photographs seen here are part of the official record of events that day, taken by Ronald L. Haeberle, the Army photographer on the seen. The photos, which would eventually expose the massacre that day, were taken using Haeberle’s personal camera. He would later claim that this gave him rights to those images, although most military photographs are typically the property of the U.S. government.
The disclosure began with rumors of the mass killings within the military. A GI named Ron Ridenhour heard the reports and began sending letters about the massacre to various members of the U.S. government. Lieutenant Calley was eventually charged with several counts of premeditated murder in September 1969. The American journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story in November despite initial rejections by the establishment press, including Life magazine, (who later published Haeberle’s color photos).
The Army eventually charged 25 officers and enlisted men with “having taken part in the massacre in some way or of having covered it up”. Most of these charges were dropped and despite the murder of at least 450-500 civilians, (39) only Calley was convicted. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but was paroled by the Nixon Administration after serving less than four years.
Copyright Joel Woodman. All rights reserved. 2008