WASHINGTON: William Calley, a former US Army lieutenant convicted of war crimes in the Vietnam-era tragedy known as the My Lai massacre, has died at the age of 80, a US newspaper reported on Monday.
The Washington Post reported that Calley died on April 28 in Gainesville, Florida, but his death was not made public until a recent search of public records.
In 1971, Calley became the only member of the US military to be found guilty of war crimes for the My Lai massacre, one of the darkest chapters in US military history.
It happened on March 16, 1968, when Calley’s brigade entered the village of My Lai based on erroneous intelligence that enemy Viet Cong soldiers were camouflaged among the civilians there.
Calley, who was 24 at the time, ordered the soldiers to kill the villagers, even though they found no evidence of enemy combatants.
The massacre involved the torture, rape and murder of hundreds of innocent Vietnamese.
The US military covered up the events at My Lai for more than a year afterwards.
The death toll of the massacre remains disputed, but US estimates place the death toll at between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians, most of whom were women, children or elderly men.
Pham Thanh Cong, a survivor of the massacre, expressed regret that Calley never returned to Vietnam before his death.
“Many more Americans have returned to Son My,” the 67-year-old told AFP, using the Vietnamese term for the village.
“They came to pray, to ask for forgiveness from the souls of the dead, but Calley… never came back.
Congo was only 11 years old when his family was killed in front of him by American soldiers.
He was hiding with his mother, brother and sister in a bunker in his home as soldiers threw grenades at the family and shot them with M-16s.
“He caused the death of many civilians, including my family,” said Cong, who ran the war memorial for the fallen until his retirement.
“I regret that he did not return to Son My, witness his revival and the development of his people.
Calley was later the subject of a high-profile court-martial, during which he said he was following orders from his superiors.
Although 12 other military officers were charged with crimes related to the massacre – including the subsequent cover-up – all were eventually acquitted of criminal charges.
Calley was eventually convicted of the murder of 22 non-combatants and sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labour. However, his sentence was commuted a few days later by then-President Richard Nixon, and he was finally released after three years of house arrest.
After his release, Calley settled in Columbus, Georgia, where he remained in obscurity for most of his life.
In 2009, local newspapers reported on a speech Calley gave at the Kiwanis Club of Greater Columbus during which he apologized for his role in the massacre.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel guilty about what happened that day in My Lai,” Calley said. “I feel sorry for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I’m very sorry.”
