1968 was a year of protests, assassinations, the Vietnam War, and the .
My Lai, known as Tu Cung to the Vietnamese, one of the nine hamlets.
located near Son My. It was known as "Pinkville" to the GI's, because on their .
military maps it was colored rose.It is located in South Vietnam, in the Quang .
Ngai province. Quang Ngai is located on QL-1, the only South Vietnam .
national highway. Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 11th Brigade built a base .
camp at Duc Pho, a small village in the southern part of Quang Ngai. When .
they arrived at Duc Pho, they found the villages destroyed. On January 30th, .
the Viet Cong and NVA launched an attack in South Vietnam, known as the .
Tet Offensive. (Donelson 273).
Charlie Company suffered many casualties, although never came.
close to any Ciet Cong. The Viet Cong set up mines and booby traps. .
One day, while the men of Charlie Company were patrolling close to Son My,.
they came upon a heavily laid minefield. Fifteen men were wounded or killed. .
They had suffered twenty-eight casualties all together, just from mines and .
traps alone. (Crime Library). .
Charlie Company was led by Lieutenant William Calley. Calley was a 5'3 .
twenty-four year old college drop out, raised in Miami Florida. He attended Palm .
Beach Junior College in 1963, and failed with two C's. one D, and four F's. .
His father was a Navy veteran. After failing college, Calley worked as an.
investigator for an insurance company, at a car wash, washing cars, and.
as a train conductor before he entered the service. In 1966, he found himself in .
San Francisco, where he lived for a few months. He then received a letter from.
the Selective Service System, saying that he was to go back home for a medical .
examination, that his draft status had been reevaluated. On his way back home.
to Florida, his car broke down, he found a recruitment center in Alburquerque .
and enlisted in the army. Calley finished basic training in Fort Benning, Georgia, .