I was referring to their physical resemblance, which immediately struck me, but the similarities between the legal plights of Lynndie England and William Calley can't be denied either.
In 1973, when I was a Private First Class in the Army, I shared a room at Silas B. Hayes Army Hospital at Fort Ord, California with a Sergeant First Class (infantry type) who had served three tours in Vietnam. He told me that when the My Lai story broke, there were more than a few infantry lieutenants who were worried that they would suffer the same fate as Lieutenant Calley.
The SFC told me that the reason Calley was singled out was because he was in the Americal Division, which he said had the nickname of "the Metrical for Lunch Bunch" (a reference to a popular diet drink at that time). He said that whenever anything bad happened in Vietnam, it always seemed to fall on the Americal Division.
In retrospect, I think another reason that Calley ended up being the scapegoat was that he, like Specialist England, wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Calley was a junior college dropout, something of a rarity for a commissioned officer, who are usually college educated.
Lynndie England spent 521 days in prison; Calley served three and a half years under house arrest. I won't go into the ins and outs of how the justice system arrived at those punishments, but suffice it to say, it makes for some interesting reading.
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Remarkable resemblance to another scapegoat from a bygone era.
ReplyDeleteThis may surprise you, but I agree.
ReplyDeleteI was referring to their physical resemblance, which immediately struck me, but the similarities between the legal plights of Lynndie England and William Calley can't be denied either.
ReplyDeleteIn 1973, when I was a Private First Class in the Army, I shared a room at Silas B. Hayes Army Hospital at Fort Ord, California with a Sergeant First Class (infantry type) who had served three tours in Vietnam. He told me that when the My Lai story broke, there were more than a few infantry lieutenants who were worried that they would suffer the same fate as Lieutenant Calley.
The SFC told me that the reason Calley was singled out was because he was in the Americal Division, which he said had the nickname of "the Metrical for Lunch Bunch" (a reference to a popular diet drink at that time). He said that whenever anything bad happened in Vietnam, it always seemed to fall on the Americal Division.
In retrospect, I think another reason that Calley ended up being the scapegoat was that he, like Specialist England, wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. Calley was a junior college dropout, something of a rarity for a commissioned officer, who are usually college educated.
Lynndie England spent 521 days in prison; Calley served three and a half years under house arrest. I won't go into the ins and outs of how the justice system arrived at those punishments, but suffice it to say, it makes for some interesting reading.