A Star Is Lost

It took more than a year for word of the My Lai massacre to reach Washington. Last week the Army punished two of the men it considered responsible for that delay. Major General Samuel W. Koster, commander of the Americal Division at the time of My Lai, was demoted one grade to Brigadier General. He and his assistant division commander, Brigadier General George H. Young Jr., were stripped of their Distinguished Service Medals and given letters of censure. That, in effect, ended their military careers.

Before My Lai, Koster had an outstanding military record. He had commanded an infantry battalion in Europe in World War II and had served with the Eighth Army in Korea. His fellow officers were clearly unhappy with his treatment. They argued that he was only following the old Army practice of protecting his men. But Secretary of the Army Stanley R. Resor, who handed down the punishment just before he resigned last week, maintained that Koster had evidence that possible war crimes had been committed at My Lai, and it was his professional duty to make a report. Koster did in fact inquire into the incident. He asked Colonel Oran Henderson, commander of the brigade that included Lieut. William Galley's Charlie Company, to fill him in. Henderson is being tried by court-martial for failing to make a proper report.

Koster left his post as superintendent of West Point last year when he was charged with dereliction of duty. Later, criminal charges against him were dropped because there was no evidence that he had deliberately intended to cover up the massacre. When informed of his demotion, Koster broke silence to call the punishment "unfair and unjust."

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