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In a letter dated March 29th 1969 and addressed to dozens of top [Typewriter printing the date]

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American officials Ron Ridenhour described in detail a series of grisly stories [Letter being posted]

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he'd heard from fellow soldiers. Many of the men he spoke with were members of

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the C Company of the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry, 11th Light Infantry Brigade

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better known as the Charlie Company. Yeah the name sounds cute until you find out [Tent with Charlie Company on the side]

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what they did. According to Ridenhour this company had completely annihilated

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a village called 'My Lai'. They'd been ordered to attack it because it was

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supposedly infested with the Viet Cong. Well maybe so but mostly it was infested [Viet Cong soldiers with guns]

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with innocent old people, women, children and infants and under the direction of

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Lieutenant William Calley, the soldiers rounded up every single person so that [William Calley in army uniform]

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their lieutenant could mow most of them down with a machine gun. Well had this

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horrific massacre really happened? Had Ridenhour made it up? Well if Ridenhour

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was telling the truth then had his sources, the soldiers lied or at least

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exaggerated? Well if they hadn't then why had these murders occurred or was it

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even possible to explain such terrible war crimes. Well it was up to a guy named [Soldier reading 'Vietnamese to English Dictionary']

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Colonel William Wilson to find out. Suffice to say this was not a mystery

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story with a happy ending. During his disturbing detective work Colonel Wilson [Colonel Wilson holding up a magnifying glass]

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learned that things in My Lai had been just as horrific as Ridenhour described.

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To make matters worse another company, B company had conducted an equally vicious

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attack that very same day on the inhabitants of Son Mai village. Well among [Soldier holding up machine gun to Vietnamese people with their backs turned]

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the crimes committed at Son Mai Wilson reported were acts of murder, rape, sodomy,

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maiming, assaults on non-combatants, oh and the mistreatment and killing of

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detainees, yeah we know... fun stuff... Both incidents were so similar in their [Picture of distraught looking Vietnamese people]

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extreme awfulness people couldn't help but wonder if this kind of stuff was

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happening every day in Vietnam. It was just these kinds of reports that lit a

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fire under anti-war protesters who were taking to the streets more and more by

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the day. Well in 1971 during a nationally publicized ten month-long trial [Aubrey Daniel walks into the court room]

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prosecuting attorney Aubrey Daniel brought forth two dozen witnesses to the

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killings. In testimony after testimony military officers revealed

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the incomprehensible details of that day's events. What was already shocking [Military personnel stood at the witness stand]

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got more and more shocking by the minute. Take the testimony of Herbert Carter a

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soldier from Charlie Company, turns out Herbert shot himself in the foot no not

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metaphorically he literally shot himself in the foot to avoid participating in [Picture of soldier stood on one leg being carried]

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the killings. But that's not the shocking part, Herbert said that when one

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Vietnamese woman emerged from a Hut weeping and holding her child who'd been

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wounded by a gunshot a fellow soldier shot her with an M16 and then finished [Soldier holding up an M16]

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off the baby next. When Lieutenant William Calley, the guy in charge of the

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massacre took the stand he claimed he was simply following orders. Well captain [Calley holds up his hands]

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Ernest Medina Calley's superior totally denied giving any such orders. Yeah of

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course he did... Though years later he admitted that he was lying. On the 10th of

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September 1971 lieutenant Calley and only Calley was convicted for the [Judge uses court gavel]

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premeditated murder of 22 people and for ordering the killings of many more. Well

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the court then sent Calley to life in prison. A lot of people had big issues [Police take Calley out the court]

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with the verdict anti-war folks claimed that the army was using Calley as a

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scapegoat and the people way farther up the food chain were ordering these kinds [Protestors outside the courts]

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of crimes. A lot of Americans were even more upset when Nixon lowered Calley's

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punishment to house arrest where he could hang out with friends and family and

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make frozen pizzas to his heart's content. And more were flabbergasted when

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just three and a half years after his conviction, Calley was released. He ended up in [Calley walks out his home to find protesters outside]

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Columbus, Georgia where he took over his father-in-law's jewelry store. Of course

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depending on his father-in-law that fate may be worse than jail... [Calley trapped in the store]

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