Word: kosters
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...enlisted men have been charged with various offenses in connection with the incident. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Viet Nam at the time of My Lai, recently recommended administrative punishment?demotion by one grade?for Calley's division commander, Major General Samuel Koster, and his assistant, Brigadier General George Young Jr., for failing to report the incident. General Koster was also officially censured. Those relatively minor strictures against general officers, compared with the harsher treatment of a young platoon leader, made the Army vulnerable to the suggestion that it had singled Calley...
...story of what happened at My Lai was veiled from public view for 20 months. Twenty-five originally were charged: two were acquitted in court-martial proceedings, three still face trial and the rest were exonerated through administrative action, including Major Gen. Samuel W. Koster, former Commandant of West Point...
Honorable Career. But last week the Army said that it had found no evidence to support five of the seven specific allegations against Koster. There was "some evidence" to support the other two: that the commander failed to report the civilian casualties he knew about and that he did not "ensure a proper and thorough initial investigation." Lieut. General Jonathan Seaman, commanding general of the First Army at Fort Meade, Md., decided to drop the case. His reasons were that Koster had had a "long and honorable career," and that there was no evidence of any "intentional abrogation of responsibilities...
Seaman ruled that Koster had apparently believed information provided by subordinates that only 20 civilians had died in "an unfortunate" combat incident. Actually, there was no resistance from the villagers, and up to 500 of them died in the shooting...
...dismissal of the Koster case was immediately attacked by Robert MacCrate, special counsel to the Peers board, who charged that it has "cut off the orderly progress of inquiry up the chain of command." Charges of covering up the massacre are still pending against Colonel Oran K. Henderson, a brigade commander who served under Koster, and Captain Dennis Johnson, an intelligence officer. Murder charges have been filed against Captain Ernest Medina, commander of Charlie Company, and Captain Eugene M. Kotouc, an intelligence officer. No courts-martial have yet been scheduled for any of them...