On March 16, 1968, U.S. soldiers from the 11th Brigade, Americal Division of Charlie Company took part in the "My Lai Massacre" when they entered the village of My Lai, an area which had long been suspected of being a haven for the Viet Cong, and began indiscriminently killing unarmed Vietnamese civilians. According to some reports, they assembled over 500 villagers, mostly women, children, and the elderly, and then shot them. Through the efforts of journalist Seymour Hersh, the atrocities committed at My Lai eventually came to light and lit a political firestorm under an already divided American public. In 1971, Lt. William Calley, who reportedly gave the order to shoot everyone in the village, was convicted of murder for his part in the My Lai Massacre and sentenced to life in prison. U.S. President Richard Nixon, however, ordered him released from prison only one day after his sentencing. In the end, Calley's lifetime sentence was reduced to just 3 1/2 years of house arrest at his quarters in Fort Benning, Georgia. Calley always claimed that he was following the orders of his immediate superior, Captain Ernest Medina. In a separate trial, Medina was found innocent of all charges related to the massacre.