I believe Glenn got a Bronze Star too. We also did a lot of recon missions and flying into free-fire zones to find enemy positions. Hugh was being jovial. We loved those guys in the field. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. That was a point of no return for Thompson? None did. The daring act of a man in defiance of combat differences in saving unarmed civilians from being deliberately butchered by his own side while under combat orders. How did you feel about that? Mr. Thompson remained in combat, then returned to the United States to train helicopter pilots. Im going to go over to the bunker myself and get these people out. That is completely false, there was no backstabbing going onwe were right in their face at My Lai, we were ready to confront those people then and there. You can imagine the emotions that surfaced. If there was anything that was cleansing for me that was it. Ultimately, it was a pubic relations move, they had to give the medal. That morning was clear and as we came over a hilltop we saw a suspect in uniform with a pack, carrying a carbine in the middle of a rice paddy. The only radio communication we had was with the low gunship. Landed the aircraft in between the Americans and the Vietnamese, told my crew chief and gunner to cover me, got out of the aircraft, went over to the American side.. Probably not. All of the investigations led to nothing, Hugh and I felt like all three trials were just window dressing. What did you see when first flying over My Lai? What drove you to create the Hugh Thompson Foundation? We were the closest and should have been able to communicate, but thats the way it was structured. At first, I just felt shock. I may have clipped him but he made it to the trees. And it turned out it was a good thing that they did. In the middle of a firefight I was an E4, what was I to do? I lost faith in the whole military organization and wanted to put it all behind me. Nearby, a squad of soldiers approached with weapons drawn. He just said I was a prime candidate for PTSD. Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot who rescued Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre, reported the killings to his superior officers in a rage over what he had seen, testified at the inquiries and received a commendation from the Army three decades later, died yesterday in Alexandria, La. In about 10-15 minutes we were back to the same spot where we saw the villagers on the road leaving. But I really didnt know what was going to happen or how to react. Medina and maybe higher. Just then Glenn spotted some people in an earthen bunker, saw faces peering out of the entry. 30 years after the massacre, Thompson and the two other members of his crew, Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn, were awarded the Soldier's Medal (Andreott. The My Lai story and Hugh Thompsons role in it is really important, but do you find most people are unaware of it? So, he decided to do something. You are not comfortable with being called a hero, either? He looked up and saw us and then took off for the tree line. Upon seeing that, Hugh Thompson landed the helicopter, approached Calley, and talked to him. If people have some confusion about that, thats their problem. We went back to the ditch because we knew there were a lot of people there who could have been saved. There was a guy at the ditch with Calley, shooting people not yet dead. How could I ever be prepared for something like that? I was a helicopter pilot that day, and I guess I was invited here to tell you about a day of my life. 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 came across a ditch, with probably 150 or more people in it and the wounded trying to crawl out. And then she finished her sentence: she said, So we could forgive them. Im not man enough to do that. Now, if I had known then what I know now about some of the activity going on there, the rapes and barbarism. You had no radio contact with the men on the ground? The conclusion Hugh and I came to was they were trying to keep us quiet by giving us a phony award. Typically, when we post testimonies here on truthsaves, we're detailing conversion experiences. No one wants a president to die in office. But it turns out he was 8. As I understand, that part of brain doesnt develop until 25. 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.. She enticed me to move to east Oregon, near a ski area. Then, take a look through these declassified Vietnam War photos. Calley told Thompson that he was following orders, presumably from Capt. For a while we were going out on snatch missions, where wed basically kidnap draft-age males and take them in for interrogations. You found later that that wasnt true? Traces the life of U.S. Army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson, who tried to stop the infamous My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War Genres NonfictionHistoryWar BiographyMilitary HistoryMilitary Fiction 248 pages, Hardcover First published May 1, 1999 Book details & editions About the author Trent Angers 40 books6 followers Friends Following Hugh alerted the low gunship as to what we had seen on the ground. 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? And I was just devastated. Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up. And the Army company only stopped because Thompson literally put himself between the soldiers and the civilians and threatened to shoot them if they didnt end the killings. Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot who rescued Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre, reported the killings to his superior officers in a rage over what he had seen, testified at. I was hoping there would be justice, but what did it achieve? We surveyed around the bunker and saw that squad approaching. That one person will go on to tell 10 other people. So he gave me prescriptions for several psychotropic drugs. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? In addition to scholarly publications with top presses, she has written for Atlas Obscura and Ranker. Now that the dynamics have changed with Hugh passing, I understand now how difficult it was for him, carrying it around in his gut, alone. . And we did, the best we could. I flew with him dozens of times and saw sporadic action. It was a case of bloodlust. For the sake of any kind of lame justice, they should have been put to death for their atrocities. I was on the backup team that day and we went out to try to retrieve the bodies. Since Hughs death, I have become the recipient of some of the hate mail he used to get. It was absurd, but you have to be willing to pay the price. He walked about 50 meters and encountered the lieutenant who was leading the squad. I guess thats the $64,000 question isnt it? The My Lai massacre of March 16, 1968, stands as one of the darkest moments in U.S. military history. Hugh was running scenarios through his head to figure it out. The high gun stayed in the air and circled. This is not how this military organization is supposed to conduct operations. That particular morning we were to provide reconnaissance for a ground operation that was going on in My Lai . Just because you tell the truth, it doesnt mean everything always come up roses. View Hugh Thompson's professional profile on LinkedIn. The outcome of the trails was disgraceful, and Hugh and I saw that it was a sham. If Hugh knew that, it would have made everything he went through worthwhile for him. At that point, no one had a clue beside you and Hugh? Mr. Thompson worked as a veterans' counselor in Louisiana after leaving military service. the testimony he gave to the House Committees and the courts-martial of the . He is still tiny, but he remembers everything. To do something like that in the whirlwind of war was downright insane, and thats exactly what he did. Of course anyone thinking of making a career in the military probably pretended they never heard anything. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Hugh Thompson discover inside connections to recommended job . That seemed suicidal to me, going out with next to no backup or firepower. Mr. Thompson, you and Mr. Colburn are indeed the heroes in this sordid story and I am ashamed at how they were treated. I had an administrative MOS and was ordered to Hawaii where I was working as a courier. I was raised with a sense of duty. We are inundated with information but we are not very well informed. Its like the line from the movie No Country for Old Men when the Vietnam veteran played by Josh Brolin, who responds to another guy who introduced himself and says he was in Nam too: Oh, you were in Vietnam too. He struggled too. They interviewed Hugh Thompson and his crew. Hugh said, No, lets do it at the Wall. They said no, the weather might be bad or something. Yes, and we were checking the perimeter as they were coming in and starting the combat assault. 1895), in United States testimony 1892, typescript, 247, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. When the revelations about My Lai surfaced, he testified before Congress, a military inquiry and the court-martial of Lt. William L. Calley Jr., the platoon leader at My Lai, who was the only soldier to be convicted in the massacre. They couldnt have been killed by artillery. No. Nicholas Goldberg: Is God on the side of blasphemy laws? . Who were the people lying in the roads and in the ditch, wounded and killed? Were you glad you got it? He tried to explain that these people appeared to be civilians, that we hadnt taken any fire and there was no evidence of combatants in that area. At first, they only wanted to give it to Hugh at a private ceremony. He threw his weapon down and said he wasnt going to do it. The lieutenant told him to mind his own business and get out of the way. Id received death threats over the phone, Thompson said in 2004. Ill never fly again, he vowed. Hugh said that was OK, because that was the appropriate place. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else.. In 2001 we went back and were reunited with the boy in the ditch. Possibly we could have stopped things earlier. When the American people responded as they did in defense of Calley, it was really hard, especially for Hugh. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. Hannah's Testimony. Ill always know that we did was morally right, we did what we could to help people who could not defend themselves. Remember, this was later in the morning approaching noon, most of the killing had already been done. I said, Thank you, sir, and went back to work. What happened next was one of the most remarkable events of the entire war, and perhaps unique: Thompson told the American troops that, if they opened fire on the Vietnamese civilians in the bunker, he and his crew would open fire on them. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Hugh was furious, ready to do anything to save these innocent people. He had to make sure his mother, brother and sister, killed in the ditch, were buried properly. The truth of the M Lai massacre did not come out until a year and a half later when a soldier whod seen reports on the massacre contacted a journalist. PFC. The . Hugh Thompson, a pilot of the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Americal Division, flew an observational helicopter supporting Task Force Barker on March 16, 1968. Friends I had on the division level told me they were taking volunteers for the 123rd Aviation Battalion. You and Thompson must have been good mutual support. As murderous bloodlust unfolded on the ground below, Thompson and crew confronted fellow GIs to save numerous civilians from the fate of some 500 others that morning. The Army covered it up. We started noticing these large numbers of bodies everywhere, he told me, people on the road dead, wounded. You felt pretty vulnerable in that little helicopter. Do you think most people realize there was more than just the killing that was going on? Everywhere wed look, wed see bodies. Thompson wanted you to also make a report? Ever reflect about how you are part of an event of such historical significance? Instead, the Army hid the slaughter of hundreds of innocent people, including 182 women and 173 children. After evacuating the people, you thought you could do more? Hugh Thompson was a helicopter pilot in 1968, on a day American soldiers gunned down more than 500 unarmed civilians in a village called My Lai. Hugh said, Im going to take him on the right, which meant he was my target. Now we saw them again, but they were all lying on the road, dead or dying. So, what do you make of Calleys apology last year? Testimony in the case against Officers Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis is scheduled for Tuesday, with follow-ups expected in May. I imagine he wants to get right with God; hes not a young guy anymore. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didnt. hb```,(qaB3W[ 4 `Tfc" QB\%xv{ It was time to stop it, and I figured, at that point, that was the only way the madness, or whatever you want to call it, could be stopped.. . Im not judge, jury and executioner. He kept the aircraft and himself in between these people and the squad. I said Im not really at liberty to say. To see people herded up like so many animals, marched into a ditch and machine-gunned? Colburn said. When the officers take part in it, it just escalates things. It was unusual, the only time it happened while I was there. 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. Hugh was the generals personal pilot. Likewise, what Hugh did has been ignored or glossed over in history texts, much the same way the incident has been. In unison, all three of us shouted, You son of a bitch! That was Captain Ernest Medina. I stayed on gunships for rest of my time in Vietnam. Even though the military has admitted to the massacre, many people are not capable of acknowledging and processing that information. For his interference. Thompson told his crew, Im going to go over to the bunker myself and get these people out. In an interview first broadcast in 2004, Hardtalk's Tim Sebastian spoke to Mr. The bodies of massacred villagers at M Lai, as captured by a U.S. Army photographer. The best therapy I got was in those four hours and seeing the people who were so broken physically. Today theres a little museum in My Lai, where Thompson is honored, and which displays a list of the names and ages of people killed that day. No, but Hugh was sent on missions in his OH-23 with his back up another OH-23no gunshipsinto Dragon Valley, where there was rocket activity. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? The M Lai massacre started when the U.S. Army declared everyone in a broad region of Vietnam either part of the Viet Cong or sympathizers. When the orders came down, the CO called me into his office and demanded to know what they were for. Hood to give testimony in the basement war room of the Pentagon. Back at their base he filed a complaint about the killing of civilians that he had witnessed. The monsters involved in this Massacre are surely going to hell no matter if theyve led a squeaky-clean life since then. This is not how this military organization supposed to conduct operations. So you were encouraged at that point? I remember wearing the same fatigues and they were pretty much covered with blood stains from carrying the boy and being in that ditch. Thompson was buried in Lafayette, Louisiana, with full military honors, including a three-volley salute and a helicopter flyover. I read the citation and thought what? Im sorry. He retired as a VA counselor in Louisiana. There were real good highs, he told me, and very low lows. Innocent people didnt die that day They didnt just fly off the handle and engage a target that was borderline. They landed their helicopter between the American forces and the civilians, and they trained their guns on the advancing Americans. Kyle Hockenberry: For Those I love I will sacrifice, Adam Brown: The life and legacy of fearless Navy SEAL, Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart: The real heroes of the Battle of Mogadishu, Ivica Jerak: The Croat who died as American hero. It had to be. When Hugh asked me to come with him and report what had happened, he said: Just tell the truth. 1st Platoon of Company C, commanded by Lieutenant William Laws Calley Jr., forced approximately 7080 villagers, mostly women and children, into an irrigation ditch and murdered the civilians with knives, bayonets, grenades, and small arms fire. 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. You must have had some post-traumatic stress after your experience in Vietnam. Thompson left the Army in 1983 and became a private helicopter pilot in the South. What led you to enlist in the Army? Some soldiers even jumped on the water buffalos, riding them around while trying to kill them with their bayonets. That morning, Hugh said, This is supposed to be a VC stronghold, but you know G2. Usually, when intelligence said an area was hot, it wasnt, and visa versa. I enjoyed that. He just lateraled the ball to Medina. Thompson kept testifying against the butchers of My Lai in hopes of securing justice for the civilians killed that day. When he arrived,. Wed talk a lot and if I was stressing I could always pick up the phone and Hugh could always talk me down. Now Trent Angers, who chronicled Hugh Thompson's heroism during the My Lai massacre of Vietnamese civilians in 1968, believes he has uncovered information about an unseen adversary Thompson fought . Months later you were surprised with a medal for action at My Lai? Jon Wiener is professor emeritus of history at UC Irvine, and working, with Mike Davis, on a book on Los Angeles in the 1960s. He left the aircraft in flight idle, as rotor blades can be somewhat intimidating. William Calley, the officer who ordered the slaughter at M Lai. Would I have? When you see something like that happen, with no negative repercussions, you begin to think perhaps this is the method of operation. The eyewitness testimony of Thompson and his surviving crew member helped convict Calley at a court-martial. Mercy Thompson, Testimony, Church of Christ in Missouri v. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 70 F. 179 (8th Cir. Colburn came from Atlanta to be at his bedside. The villagers offered no resistance as U.S. soldiers shoved them into a ditch and opened fire with machine guns. When did you meet Hugh Thompson? The squad leader ordered Thompson and his men to get out of the way. Before the story broke, did you or Hugh consider going public with the story? Interestingly, there are those toying with the idea of inviting him to make the trip back to My Lai to ask for the people there for forgiveness. This thread is archived New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast 73K 94 2.4K 2.4K comments Best artnaqent 1 yr. ago Standing up for what's right, shouldn't be as hard as that. ArmyThe bodies of massacred villagers at M Lai, as captured by a U.S. Army photographer. Thompson spent the rest of his life wondering if he could have saved more lives. "Something terrible happened here 30 years ago today," Mr. Thompson was quoted as saying by CNN. made a statement in Congress honoring Thompson, stating that the United States has lost a true hero, and the State of Louisiana has lost a devoted leader and dear friend. There are those hardcore people who do still say we shouldnt have told the truth, that we should have covered for those guys in the field; that we didnt know what it was like on the ground. He angered some GIs as he tried to photograph them as they fondled the breasts of a fifteen-year-old Vietnamese girl. But remember, at My Lai only about a third of the men participated in the massacre, but no one else tried to stop it. Thompson and his crew stood in front of the bunker, protecting the civilians. HUGH THOMPSON'S TESTIMONY: I'm Hugh Thompson. Im not going to let this happen, weve got to do something. US military helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson helped stop one of the most infamous massacres of the Vietnam War. 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.
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