Leadership
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William Calley Jr. was a lieutenant in the army who led an
infantry in to the remote village of My Lai during the Vietnam War. When he
entered My Lai looking for the Viet Cong members he had only one thing roaming
through his mind, mass civilian murder. On that day there were thousands of
innocent civilians, men, women, and children were murdered. When the soldiers
were mindlessly killing these people they didn’t even know who was or was not
part of the Viet Cong. Aside from murdering almost all of the occupants of the
village, they burned down homes, raped women, and looted from the homes. When
William Calley was finally tried for 25 accounts of murder, he was found not
guilty and was never punished for the things he did. Even though he was said to
have killed twenty five people. He and other soldiers killed several more than
what they were tried for.
When you look back and listen to some of the stories told by the Vietnamese that surprisingly escaped, they have worse things to tell about than just murder. Some reported seeing Calley, with the aid of his soldiers, aggressively beating and torturing innocent people. They would often cut their tongues then leave them to bleed to death. For these exact reasons I believe Calley has left a haunting legacy of violence and destruction in history. What adds to this legacy was that he never was actually sent to jail. This outraged the people of the United Sates and all around the world. Lieutenant William Calley Jr. left not only a legacy of violence, but left of country embarrassed and humiliated.
When you look back and listen to some of the stories told by the Vietnamese that surprisingly escaped, they have worse things to tell about than just murder. Some reported seeing Calley, with the aid of his soldiers, aggressively beating and torturing innocent people. They would often cut their tongues then leave them to bleed to death. For these exact reasons I believe Calley has left a haunting legacy of violence and destruction in history. What adds to this legacy was that he never was actually sent to jail. This outraged the people of the United Sates and all around the world. Lieutenant William Calley Jr. left not only a legacy of violence, but left of country embarrassed and humiliated.