the My Lai massacre
/ðə ˌmiː laɪ ˈmæsəkə(r)/
/ðə ˌmiː laɪ ˈmæsəkər/
- an incident that occurred during the Vietnam War on 16 March 1968. A group of US soldiers killed 347 ordinary people, including women and children, in the Vietnamese village of My Lai. In 1971, the officer who ordered the attack, Lieutenant William Calley, was sent to prison for life, but this was later reduced to 10 years and he was in fact released in 1974. Many Americans were shocked by the incident, and as a result protests against the war increased.