On March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War, U.S. Army soldiers carried out a mass killing of between 300 and 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women, children, and elderly, in the village of My Lai. The soldiers, part of a unit conducting a search-and-destroy mission, wrongly believed that the village was a stronghold for Viet Cong fighters. Over the course of several hours, the soldiers brutally murdered, raped, and tortured the villagers, while also destroying homes and crops. The massacre remained largely unknown to the public until it was revealed in 1970, sparking outrage and protests across the U.S. The tragedy is considered one of the most heinous war crimes committed by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War, leading to an eventual investigation and court-martial of Lieutenant William Calley, the officer in charge.