Ernest Medina was born on August 27, 1936, into a Mexican-American family in Springer, New Mexico. In 1952, at age 16, Medina lied about his age to enlist in the Colorado Army National Guard. After a variety of post–high school odd jobs, Medina joined the Regular Army in 1956.[1] He served 12 years in the enlisted ranks (including his time in the National Guard) before being commissioned through Officer Candidate School in 1964.[2]
Awarded both the Silver Star and Bronze Star Medal, Medina was promoted to captain in 1966 and was given command of Charlie Company in Hawaii, prior to its deployment to Vietnam.[3]
"Planned, ordered, and supervised the execution by his company of an unlawful operation against inhabited hamlets in Son My village, which included the destruction of houses by burning, killing of livestock, and the destruction of crops and other foodstuffs, and the closing of wells; and impliedly directed the killing of any persons found there."
"Possibly killed as many as three noncombatants in My Lai."
Because Article 4 of the Fourth Geneva Convention excluded South Vietnamese civilians (whose nation was a co-belligerent with the U.S.) from the status of protected persons in interstate wars, Medina was instead court-martialed in 1971 under Article 77 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for willingly allowing his men to murder allied civilians at My Lai.[5][6][7][8] 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, and a support staff that included Gary Myers, 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 the massacre was already well underway.
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 up, Medina shot her because, he claimed, he thought she had a grenade. In fact, she was unarmed. The defense lawyers brought up many incidents during the Vietnam War of Viet Cong suspects and sympathizers faking surrender to use hidden pistols or grenades to harm or kill American military personnel.
However, a helicopter crew in the area that day would have a different accounting of Medina's actions. A 3-man crew consisting of WO1 Hugh Thompson, Crew Chief Spec 4 Glenn Andreotta & Gunner Lawrence Colburn witnessed the following at the Son My village. Per Lawrence Colburn: "Then we saw a young girl about twenty years old lying on the grass. We could see that she was unarmed and wounded in the chest. We marked her with smoke because we saw a squad not too far away. The smoke was green, meaning it's safe to approach. Red would have meant the opposite. We were hovering six feet off the ground not more than twenty feet away when Captain Medina came over, kicked her, stepped back, and finished her off. He did it right in front of us. When we saw Medina do that, it clicked. It was our guys doing the killing."[9]
In August 1971, Medina was ultimately found not guilty of all charges.[10] His jury deliberations lasted about 60 minutes.
Despite his acquittal, the court martial and negative publicity brought Medina's military career to an end. He resigned his commission and left the Army shortly afterward. He later admitted that, during his court martial, he had "not been completely candid to avoid disgracing the military, the United States, his family, and himself."[11]
After the military
After resigning from the Army, Medina went to work at an Enstrom Helicopter Corporation plant owned by F. Lee Bailey in Menominee, Michigan.[11] Medina moved with his family to Marinette, Wisconsin. He worked in his family's real estate business: Medina, Inc. Realtor in Marinette, Wisconsin. He died on May 8, 2018, at the age of 81.[12]
^p. 128 Milam, John R. Not a Gentleman's War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War Univ of North Carolina Press, 2009
^p. 725 Tucker, Spencer C. The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History, 2nd Edition [4 volumes]: A Political, Social, and Military History ABC-CLIO, 20 May 2011
