Research Catalog

Son Thang : an American war crime

Title: Son Thang : an American war crime / Gary D. Solis.
Author: Solis, Gary D.
Publication: Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press, ©1997.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Use in library	KF7657.5.S39 S65 1997	Off-site

Details

Description

xix, 340 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

Three months after Army lieutenant William Calley was charged with the infamous massacre of civilians at My Lai, the Marine Corps had to deal with a savage war crime of its own. Although the incident received little of the media attention focused on Calley's crimes, the murder of sixteen women and children by five Marines at Son Thang-4 raised serious questions for the Corps and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Gary Solis, a Marine combat officer in Vietnam and.
Later a judge advocate, draws on his considerable experience to describe the horrifying crime, its problematic investigation, and the complex courts-martial. It is an engrossing true courtroom drama, complete with unpredictable outcomes and the involvement of both Oliver North and James Webb. Were the five Marines of the self-styled killer team sent to Son Thang-4 on 19 February 1970 carrying out orders to punish the hamlet or reacting to snipers when they opened fire on.
Noncombatant civilians at point-blank range? Were their actions simply a consequence of weeks of unrelenting combat in which fellow Marines were killed by the invisible Viet Cong and their boobytraps? Using trial records and extensive interviews, Solis brings to life the host of military and civilian attorneys, judges, and juries who wrestled with these and other thorny questions in the midst of a combat zone. His riveting courtroom narrative is every bit as fast-paced.
And readable as the best legal fiction, and his authoritative assessments of the principals' performances, explanations of the peculiarities of military justice, and analysis of issues that rocked the very foundation of the military code of justice assure the book's long-lasting value. Here for the first time is the full story of what happened at Son Thang-4, including the controversial deliberations and verdicts - a study as pertinent today as it was in 1 Corps.
Vietnam, more than twenty-five years ago.

Subject

Genre/Form

Trial and arbitral proceedings
Trials, litigation, etc.
Trial and arbitral proceedings.
Comptes rendus de procès et d'arbitrage.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-329) and indexes.

Contents

1/7, 1st MarDiv -- Son Thang-4 -- Discovery and investigation -- Pre-trial -- U.S. v. Pvt. M.A. Schwarz -- U.S. v. Pfc. T.R. Boyd, Jr., and U.S. v. Pfc. S.G. Green, Jr. -- U.S. v. Pvt. R.D. Herrod -- Clemency granted, appeal denied.

ISBN

1557507430
9781557507433

LCCN

97018512

OCLC

ocm36768034
36768034
SCSB-2127498

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library