| Ernest Medina | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 27, 1936 Springer, New Mexico |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry of the 11th Brigade, Americal Division |
| Commands held | Company C, 1/20 Americal |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
Ernest Lou Medina (born August 27, 1936) is a former captain of infantry in the United States Army. He served during the Vietnam War and was acquitted in a court-martial of war crimes charges in 1971. He was the commanding officer of Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry of the 11th Brigade, Americal Division, the unit responsible for the My Lai Massacre of 16 March 1968.
Recent discoveries and actual declarations of survivors and soldiers of his platoon acknowledge his culpability in the My Lai massacre.
Contents |
Ernest Medina was born into a Mexican-American family in Springer, New Mexico. He was known as a "tough, able soldier" who had excelled as a non-commissioned officer, and graduated fourth in his class of two hundred at Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia.
According to the 1970 investigation by General William R. Peers, Medina:[1]
Captain Medina was court-martialed in 1971 for willingly allowing his men to murder My Lai noncombatants.[2] Medina denied all the charges, and claimed that he never gave any orders to kill Vietnamese noncombatants. Medina's defense team, led by F. Lee Bailey, alleged that his men killed Vietnamese noncombatants under their own volition and not under Medina's orders. Medina also testified that he did not become aware that his troops were out of control at My Lai until it was too late.
Medina also strongly denied killing any Vietnamese noncombatant at My Lai, with the exception of a young woman whom two soldiers testified that they found hiding in a ditch. When she emerged with her hands held up, Medina shot her. Medina claimed that he thought that the unarmed woman had a grenade in which Bailey and his lawyers brought up many incidents during the Vietnam War of Viet Cong suspects and sympathizers faking surrending in order to get close to American military personnel to try to harm or kill them with hidden pistols or grenades.
In August 1971, Medina was ultimately found not guilty of all charges relating to the deaths of more than 500 South Vietnamese civilians in the massacre.[3] His trial deliberations lasted approximately 60 minutes. Nevertheless, his military career was finished and Medina resigned from the U.S. Army shortly thereafter.
Lieutenant William Calley, a platoon leader serving in Medina's company during the massacre and who claimed he was following orders from Medina, was found guilty of various crimes. Calley ultimately served 3½ years of house arrest in his quarters at Fort Benning, Georgia and was released in 1974 by a federal judge.
After resigning from the army, Medina went to work at an Enstrom Helicopter Corporation plant owned by F. Lee Bailey in Menominee, Michigan.[4] He lives in Marinette, Wisconsin.
Medina is mentioned by name in the first stanza of Pete Seeger's Vietnam protest song "Last Train to Nuremberg" (1970).