16 Facts About Ernest Medina

Ernest Lou Medina was a captain of infantry in the United States Army.

Ernest Medina 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.

Ernest Medina was court-martialed in 1971 for his role in that massacre, but acquitted the same year.

Ernest Medina eventually admitted to having "not been completely candid" at his court-martial, claiming it was done to protect his reputation and that of the Army.

Ernest Medina ultimately worked at his family's real estate business for the rest of his career, never speaking publicly about the My Lai massacre.

Ernest Medina was born on August 27,1936, into a Mexican-American family in Springer, New Mexico.

In 1952, at age 16, Ernest Medina lied about his age to enlist in the Colorado Army National Guard.

Ernest Medina served 12 years in the enlisted ranks before being commissioned through Officer Candidate School in 1964.

Ernest Medina denied all the charges and claimed that he never gave any orders to kill Vietnamese noncombatants.

Ernest Medina testified that he did not become aware that his troops were out of control at My Lai until the massacre was already well underway.

Ernest Medina 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 up, Ernest Medina shot her because, he claimed, he thought she had a grenade.

We were hovering six feet off the ground not more than twenty feet away when Captain Ernest Medina came over, kicked her, stepped back, and finished her off.

Ernest Medina resigned his commission and left the Army shortly afterward.

Ernest Medina worked in his family's real estate business: Medina, Inc Realtor in Marinette, Wisconsin.

Ernest Medina died on May 8,2018, at the age of 81.