Samuel W. Koster

File:KosterSamuel.jpg

Samuel W. Koster

Samuel W. Koster (29 December 1919—23 January 2006 was a United States Army officer and the highest-ranking officer charged and punished for his role in the My Lai massacre was slated for promotion to the rank of lieutenant (three star) general at the time of his being charged, only to eventually end his military career in mild disgrace.

Born in West Liberty, Iowa, Koster graduated from West Point in 1942. He was a regimental executive officer in Europe in World War II and directed the Eighth Army's guerrilla warfare operations in the Korean War. Koster became a major general in command of the Americal Division in 1967.

On March 16, 1968, troops led by Captain Ernest Medina and Lieutenant William Calley killed hundreds on civilians in a South Vietnamese village known as My Lai (also known as 'Pinkville'). While no official count was made, soldiers and investigators later estimated that 350 to 500 old men, women and children were slaughtered by grenades, rifles, bayonets and machine guns. Some corpses were piled in ditches that became mass graves; others were burned to death in their huts. No Viet Cong were ever discovered in the village, no shots were fired in opposition and no U.S. troops were wounded. To many Americans at home, the massacre marked the moral nadir of the war in Southeast Asia and became a pivotal benchmark in the war.

Koster was not on the ground at My Lai, but he did fly over the village while the soldiers moved in and afterward. He later testified that he believed only about 20 civilians had died, although he also said he was told about "wild shooting" and a confrontation between ground troops and a helicopter pilot, later identified as Hugh Thompson, who tried to stop the shooting of civilians. He later demanded subordinates to file reports on the incident, but they were incomplete, and one was even lost. Worse, these same reports were never sent to higher headquarters, as military protocol required, until a discharged G.I., Ron Ridenhour, wrote a three-page letter to the Pentagon and triggered a secret investigation. Journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story to the public 20 months after the massacre.

Early in 1970, General Koster and 13 other officers were charged with trying to cover up the massacre. Charges were dropped after the Army determined he "did not show any intentional abrogation of responsibilities". Koster, Superintendent of West Point at the time, was due to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general (three-stars); but his involvement in the Mai Lai coverup caused him to be denied this promotion and further inquiries led the way to his demotion. He was censured, stripped of a Distinguished Service Medal and demoted one rank, to brigadier general, for failing to conduct an adequate investigation.

Following his demotion, he was reassigned to become deputy commander of Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground in charge of Army weapons testing. He retired in 1973.

His decorations included the Silver Star, Legion of Merit and Bronze Star.

After his military retirement, Koster worked for 12 years as an executive vice president for the power transmission division of Koppers and Hanson Industries in Baltimore, overseeing power plants in the United States and Canada.

His sons are career Army officers, two having graduated from West Point.

SAM KOSTER

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References

Stout, David (February 11, 2006). Gen. S.W. Koster, 86, Who Was Demoted After My Lai, Dies. New York Times

Sullivan, Patricia (February 10, 2006). Sam Koster, 86; General Charged in My Lai Killings. Washington Post