I thought that from a historical perspective, something needed to be in place so that when Im gone, what Hugh did at My Lai wont just fade into obscurity. When we first saw him in 2001, he said all he wanted was to get out of Ho Chi Minh City where he worked in a factory at low wages, and get back to village and find a wife. Heroes of My Lai - University of Missouri-Kansas City One of the ladies that we had helped out that day came up to me and asked, Why didnt the people who committed these acts come back with you? It is amazing to see the strength of the human spirit. In the midst of it, they had a conversation like this: Remember those old guys from Vietnam and what they told us back at Annapolis?. I remember catching one of the soldiers eyes and I waved to him and he waved back. Everybodys heard of the My Lai massacre March 16, 1968, 50 years ago today but not many know about the man who stopped it: Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot. The story of My Lai is well known: On the morning of March 16, 1968, a company of U.S. soldiers killed as many as 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians in My Lai, a village in South Vietnam. I got there and Ill never forget my mother taking me into the kitchen and telling me if I didnt want to tell these people anything, I didnt have to. As we found out from the farce of justice being served via trials of the monsters responsible, politicians and their cronies cant be trusted either. Did you have a sense that what you had seen at My Lai was and isolated incident or did you suspect similar atrocities were happening elsewhere? Calley told Thompson that he was following orders, presumably from Capt. He ranked higher than a warrant officer. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Some soldiers even jumped on the water buffalos, riding them around while trying to kill them with their bayonets. Hugh said, No, lets do it at the Wall. They said no, the weather might be bad or something. I think it is deception, and that remains constant today. I may have clipped him but he made it to the trees. This meant that military prosecutors would be prohibited from calling those persons as witnesses . Well, Hugh told them, if you just give it to me Ill take the medal, with a camera crew, to the first mens room I can find and Ill flush it down the toilet. This is a colonel he is talking to. We know that Americans committed a massacre 50 years ago today; and we also know that an American stopped it. I figured, I was in the Army, so I should experience it where the action was. No. Back at their base he filed a complaint about the killing of civilians that he had witnessed. Who were the people lying in the roads and in the ditch, wounded and killed? Hugh Thompson in his Army uniform, c. 1966. And when Thomson reported the horrific actions, the Army tried to cover up the M Lai massacre. He struggled too. All of the investigations led to nothing, Hugh and I felt like all three trials were just window dressing. Thompson and his crew stood in front of the bunker, protecting the civilians. Unfortunately, Lt. Calley and the rest of Company C never paid the price for the atrocities they committed. From Testimony to Tragedy: My Lai in Personal Perspective No Id never seen nor heard of anything like that before, except in World War II. . I thank God to this day that everybody did stay cool and nobody opened up. I always thought the American people deserved to know what was going on and I just thought it was good the public got a color photo layout of what happened at My Lai. I believe Glenn got a Bronze Star too. Facebook gives people the power to. You still didnt understand what was actually happening? Ill have no part of this, Ill tear these wings off and never fly again! Fortunately, people calmed him down before he reported to Colonel Henderson. Do you think most people realize there was more than just the killing that was going on? The only radio communication we had was with the low gunship. At 8 years old, he made his way about 10 miles through the jungle by himself to the village. Glenn went down into the ditch and found the boy that he had seen moving and handed him up to me. Return to My Lai - CBS News No, because the commander was on a different frequency. The sergeant waited until Thompson left and then fired on the helpless civilians. He angered some GIs as he tried to photograph them as they fondled the breasts of a fifteen-year-old Vietnamese girl. We are inundated with information but we are not very well informed. When Mr. Thompson returned home, it seemed to him that he was viewed as the guilty party. She asked me what it was about, and I said I wasnt sure. I flew from Ft. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. You and Thompson must have been good mutual support. I thought someone else was getting recognition for something. The Army covered it up, but the facts eventually came to light and the responsible officer, Capt. In November 1970, the M Lai trials started and Hugh Thompson testified against William Calley. When the orders came down, the CO called me into his office and demanded to know what they were for. Now, if I had known then what I know now about some of the activity going on there, the rapes and barbarism. The eyewitness testimony of Thompson and his surviving crew member helped convict Calley at a court-martial. When did you start talking to investigators? We couldnt come up with an explanation until Hugh marked a woman we saw who had a chest wound and decided to just move back in a hover when we saw a squad coming near. In unison, all three of us shouted, You son of a bitch! That was Captain Ernest Medina. They were going to kill more, but they didnt because of what Thompson did. Like the trials, it was forced. Ultimately, it was a pubic relations move, they had to give the medal. As children ran for safety, soldiers gunned them down. With Hugh, usually the more tense the situation, the more comical he would be. When he arrived, American soldiers had already killed 504 Vietnamese civilians (thats the Vietnamese count; the U.S. Army said 347). Nearby, a squad of soldiers approached with weapons drawn. A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago today - Los Hugh Thompson was determined to stop the massacre. Ive had PTSD issues for 42 years. We would have died for them. Hugh Thompson, the hero who stopped a massacre committed by US troops in the Vietnamese village of My Lai by landing his helicopter in the line of fire, 1968. by Vietnam magazine 2/7/2011. When I got to Vietnam I was attached to a headquarters company. Hugh was being jovial. Nick Turse investigated violence in Vietnam against noncombatants for his book Kill Anything that Moves. He concluded after a decade of research in Pentagon archives and more than 100 interviews with American veterans and Vietnamese survivors that Americans killing civilians in Vietnam was pervasive and systematic. One soldier told him there had been a My Lai a month.. I knew General Peers had gotten in touch with Hugh and took him back over to the scene of the crime. "I threatened never to fly again. What led you to enlist in the Army? My Lai massacre hero Hugh Thompson on being shunned - BBC News I want you to come down here and shuttle these people out of here. And thats what happened, but at that he had to make two trips. If Hugh knew that, it would have made everything he went through worthwhile for him. The squad leader ordered Thompson and his men to get out of the way. Was this part of the cover up? Hugh and I were skeptical in 01, so we asked him a lot of questions and he told us things only he could have known. I remember wearing the same fatigues and they were pretty much covered with blood stains from carrying the boy and being in that ditch. That Is little Hugh!" It was "Little Hugh" sure enough. Remember, this was later in the morning approaching noon, most of the killing had already been done. They were old women, old men, children, kids, babies., Then Thompson and his crew chief, Glenn Andreotta, and his gunner, Lawrence Colburn, saw some civilians hiding in a bunker, cowering, looking out the door. In 1998, 30 years after the massacre, Hugh Thompson and the two other crew members, Andreotta and Colburn, were awarded the Soldiers Medal (Andreotta posthumously), the United States Armys highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. Hugh Thompson, who has died aged 62, was the helicopter pilot who tried to halt the My Lai massacre of more than 500 villagers by American troops during the Vietnam war . Hugh Thompson reported the massacre to his commanding officer. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Concertgoer lets out a loud full body orgasm while L.A. Phil plays Tchaikovskys 5th, Opinion: Why my Taiwanese American identity has become more complicated. He said youre a plant arent you. Hugh Thompson, the hero who stopped a massacre committed by US - Reddit Hugh Thompson Jr. - Wikipedia How did you and Hugh reconcile what you knew happened with the outpouring of public support for Calley and his men? Nixon and the My Lai massacre coverup - New York Post The villagers offered no resistance as U.S. soldiers shoved them into a ditch and opened fire with machine guns. Hugh Thompson | US news | The Guardian He educatedhis children to act with discipline and integrity. As he told The Associated Press in 2004: "Don't do the right thing looking for a reward, because it might not come. The high gun stayed in the air and circled. . Document points to Nixon in My Lai cover-up attempt - CBS News Our main job was to fly close to the deck, entice fire to get the enemy to give up their position, mark it, suppress fire and get out of the gunships way.
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