Lieutenant William Calley was the officer in charge of Charlie Company, a unit of the 11th Infantry Brigade of the Americal Division, during the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.
The My Lai massacre was a mass murder of hundreds of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians, mostly women, children, and elderly people, by US Army soldiers. Calley was court-martialed and found guilty of murder for his role in the deaths of 22 South Vietnamese civilians during the massacre.
He was sentenced to life in prison, but the sentence was later reduced to 20 years and he was paroled after serving just three and a half years under house arrest.
The My Lai massacre was widely considered a war crime and led to a re-evaluation of US military tactics and the treatment of civilians in war zones.
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