CAPTAIN MEDINA CHARGED FOR ROLE IN MY LAI 45 YEARS AGO
(JFK+50) Ernest Medina*, United States Army captain, along with four other soldiers, were charged forty-five years ago today, March 10, 1970, with the commission of war crimes at the infamous My Lai Massacre which resulted in the deaths of more than 500 Vietnamese civilians.
The My Lai Massacre of March 16, 1968, occurred during an operation attempting to ferret out Viet Cong hiding in the village.
Captain Medina, whose counsel was the famed defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, plead NOT GUILTY and was acquitted on all charges. The Captain resigned, however, shortly after trial.
Captain Ernest Medina
United States Army
*Captain Ernest Medina, born in Springer, NM on August 27, 1936, graduated 4th in his class at Officer Training School at Fort Benning, GA. After the service, EM was employed by Enstrom Helicopter Corporation in Menominee, WI. He currently lives in Marinette, WI.
Both Lt. Calley and Capt. Medina are mentioned in Pete Seeger's 1970 anti-war song "Last Train to Nuremberg." The verse goes...
"Do I see Lt. Calley? Do I see Capt. Medina? Do I see Gen. Koster and all his crew?
Do I see President Nixon? Do I see both houses of Congress? Do I see the voters, me and you?"
JFK SPEAKS ON FARM PROBLEMS IN WISCONSIN
Stevens Point, Wisconsin (JFK+50) Fifty-five years ago today, March 10, 1960, Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts spoke at a campaign stop here in Stevens Point.
JFK addressed problems faced by the American farmer. He said...
"If we can get men in government who understand the farmers problems--who recognize his need for inexpensive credit--who treat him as a first class citizen--then our farm economy can grow and flourish."
JFK went on to win the Wisconsin Democratic Primary held on April 5, 1960. He received 56% of the vote while his opponent, Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, polled 44%. Wisconsin was Senator Kennedy's second primary victory.
University of Wisconsin Sign
Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Auburn, New York (JFK+50) Harriet Tubman, known as "Moses" to the many slaves she helped to escape to freedom, died 102 years ago today, March 10, 1913, here in Auburn.
Tubman, who was born into slavery in 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland, succumbed to pneumonia.
When she first crossed into free territory in the state of Pennsylvania, Harriet Tubman wrote...
"When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything, the sun came like gold through the trees....and I felt like I was in heaven."
As the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad, she took pride on having "never lost a passenger". During the Civil War, she was a Union spy and later worked in the women's suffrage movement.
Tubman had sustained a head injury as a youth which caused her to have visions which she saw as signs from God. Her passionate faith saw her through thirteen expeditions back into slave territory to help others escape.
Surrounded by friends and family, Harriet Tubman passed away quietly. Her remains were interred at Fort Hill Cemetery.
Harriet Tubman
(1822-1913)
