Word: courtly
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...gook in a shelter, he was all huddled down in there?an older man. And Sergeant Mitchell hollered, 'Shoot him.' And so the man shot him." (Sergeant David Mitchell, 29, one of Galley's squadron leaders, has been charged with assault with intent to commit murder, but a court-martial has not yet been ordered.) Meadlo says his group ran through My Lai, herding men, women, children and babies into the center of the village?"like a little island...
...implications of the story grew, everyone got very busy. The Army decided that it would indeed hold a public court-martial for Calley. It seems certain that Sergeant Mitchell will face a court-martial on charges of intent to murder some 30 Vietnamese. The biggest mystery so far is why no charges have been placed against Captain Medina, who played an important role in the slaughter by the accounts of a number of his men, though exactly what orders he issued is disputed (see The Legal Dilemmas, page 32). At the same time, the Army has ordered a top-level...
TIME Correspondent Ken Danforth interviewed Calley before the Army announced that the lieutenant would be court-martialed on charges of premeditated murder. Danforth saw him again at Fort Benning last week, but this time was not allowed to speak to him. "He could communicate only with a gesture of recognition," Danforth reports. "He shuffled papers nervously, trying to look busy at his practically empty desk. Under the circumstances, he seemed reasonably cheerful." Calley is attached to the staff of the deputy post commander, Colonel Talton Long, designing plans for the colonel's parking lot and working on an infantry museum...
WHATEVER its ultimate impact on U.S. policy in Viet Nam, the My Lai massacre will profoundly test an evolving principle of U.S. law-that every wrong should have a remedy in court. How, for example, can the Army try the men (three so far) who openly admit that they killed women and children at My Lai-but who are now civilians...
Unless those men retain military links, such as reserve status, they may be immune from prosecution. In 1955, the Supreme Court ruled that civilians cannot be court-martialed for crimes they committed during military service. The court did suggest a remedy: new laws could provide for trial in federal courts of ex-servicemen charged with military crimes. So far, Congress has not enacted the necessary legislation. Nor can the Saigon government prosecute the discharged My Lai participants-even if it wanted to. An agreement signed by the U.S. and South Viet Nam prevents each country from trying nationals...