It was so blatantly wrong what they were doing, we had no choice, we had to do what we did. He knew the importance of getting people who are struggling the attention they need so they can transition back into civilian life and deal with problems, be they physical or emotional. Thompson was vilified by many Americans for his testimony against United States Army personnel. What did you see when first flying over My Lai? We had different missions. When Hugh realized it was our people doing this killing, he knew he had to take drastic measures. Harry claimed a 'secret agreement' stopped him bringing hacking claims earlier How did you and Hugh reconcile what you knew happened with the outpouring of public support for Calley and his men? Thats what they want to do. Meet the Soldier Who Prevented More Killings During the My Lai Massacre He ranked higher than a warrant officer. Did the word about what happened at My Lai get around? 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. These were infants, two-, three-, four-, five-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever.. Im not that much of a man., I always questioned, in my mind, did anybody know we all arent like that? In the last incident, his helicopter was brought down by enemy machine-gun fire, and he broke his back in the resulting crash landing. There was a guy at the ditch with Calley, shooting people not yet dead. It couldnt be gunships, they werent firing on people. We even started marking the wounded with smoke, thinking the men on ground would come assist them. Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. (April 15, 1943 - January 6, 2006) was a United States Army Major, and a former warrant officer in the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division.He is credited with ending the M Lai Massacre of the South Vietnamese village known as Sn M on March 16, 1968, alongside and hierarchically above Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn. The . We started noticing these large numbers of bodies everywhere, he told me, people on the road dead, wounded. It all crystallized in that moment. I did hear that the men on the ground were told to pretend like it never happened. When he had a heart attack he said he would slow down, but he didnt. Upon entering Sn M, officers and soldiers of Company C moved through the Song My Village and vicinity, murdering civilians, raping women, and setting fire to huts. 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 . I wish we could have done more to thank him. It took the Army 30 years, but in 1998, they finally acknowledged that Thompson had done something good. We didnt talk too much about it ourselves because we reported on it and we were, frankly, preoccupied with the next mission. Charlie Company arrived in M Lai with orders to destroy the village. On March 16, 1968, a company of U.S. soldiers stormed into the Vietnamese village of Sn M and began shooting. I just figured it was time to do something, to not let these people get killed. My Lai massacre was a bloody stain of the Vietnam War, but one man changed the course of the battle and went from traitor to hero. Thompson and his crew managed to evacuate the civilians and stop the massacre. When they started convicting people, I thought, now this is how it should unfold. Hugh alerted the low gunship as to what we had seen on the ground. None did. But in the end,. 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. Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up. I know who I am, Im no hero, I was scared shitless most of the time. Meet Hugh Thompson, The Hero Who Stopped The M Lai Massacre And Was Branded A Traitor For It. When did you make your report of what happened? He was very helpful to General Peers and it seemed like he wasnt just going through the motions, it was like he really wanted to know what happened. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. William Calley, the officer who ordered the slaughter at M Lai. The outcome of the trails was disgraceful, and Hugh and I saw that it was a sham. I said, Thank you, sir, and went back to work. Some soldiers even jumped on the water buffalos, riding them around while trying to kill them with their bayonets. %PDF-1.6 % When I finally got in to see the guy, he was a major, he wouldnt make eye contact as I read my list. All content is protected by copyright and may not be used for commercial purposes without prior written permission. There was no time to get an ethics opinion or consult authorities. One of the instructors told me a story that he wished Hugh could hear. He showed no reaction at all. It had to be. TIE LOST SOLDIER Hugh Thompson's Strange Life Will Fill a Book The pilots were briefed, if the crew was briefed it was by the pilot in the aircraft on the way to the area. 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. This meant that military prosecutors would be prohibited from calling those persons as witnesses . Hood to give testimony in the basement war room of the Pentagon. Mercy Thompson and the Revelation on Marriage - The Church of Jesus As he approached the soldiers, he told them to stop. So you were encouraged at that point? Hugh Thompson reported the massacre to his commanding officer. We hope to link up with other organizations and grow some legs. Among those numbers were 17 pregnant women and 56 infants. Hugh Thompson Jr (1943-2006) - EA Forum 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. Court-martial me, and he left his weapon and walked away. The troops also burned the village and Sn Ms surrounding hamlets to the ground and slaughtered the livestock. 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. Instead, the Army hid the slaughter of hundreds of innocent people, including 182 women and 173 children. They were going to kill more, but they didnt because of what Thompson did. Unfortunately, Lt. Calley and the rest of Company C never paid the price for the atrocities they committed. Trent Angers, Thompsons biographer and friend, analyzed the list and found about 50 there who were 3 years old or younger. Thompson told his crew, Im going to go over to the bunker myself and get these people out. Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a49bccbef3b55dea5fdfe48a500a42a9" );document.getElementById("c08a1a06c7").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Content on this website is free to use and share, but please provide a link back to Spec Ops Magazine as a source. The photos document the free, unobstructed flow of water through the easement area between the base of the dam and the drop inlets on the Nixon and the My Lai massacre coverup - New York Post It went on like that for another year and half until finally they agreed to award medals to all of us. As United States citizens, as representatives of the one country in this world that is supposed to protect human life, they are ones to be ashamed of, to be shunned, to be branded traitors. Id seen civilians get in the way and unfortunately lose their lives because of that. I enjoyed that. Wed talk a lot and if I was stressing I could always pick up the phone and Hugh could always talk me down. Hugh Thompson: The Forgotten Hero of My Lai - Spec Ops Magazine Still, Thompson had saved civilians who would have been killed if he had not intervened. Hugh Thompson Jr. - Wikipedia I thank God to this day that everybody did stay cool and nobody opened up. Hugh Thompson Jr. was a twenty-five-year-old helicopter pilot and Army warrants officer. How many of them were paid and paid well to rape and murder innocent babies, children, women and men? As the wounded tried to crawl out, they were fired on by someone who had been left there to do just that. No. This is not what Im here for. PDF The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story I was a helicopter pilot that day, and I guess I was invited here to tell you about a day of my life. Furious, Hugh Thompson landed again, this time in front of a bunker where civilians were hiding. He walked about 50 meters and encountered the lieutenant who was leading the squad. A defendant charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, who testified that he believed he was "following presidential orders" from President Donald Trump when he stormed the building. They didnt want to. But that was not to be the case. A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago today - Los But when he returned to his Stateside home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Thompson received death threats and insults, while Calley was pardoned by President Nixon. Back at their base he filed a complaint about the killing of civilians that he had witnessed. At first, they only wanted to give it to Hugh at a private ceremony. We took him out of the area to a hospital and gave him to a nun. Return to My Lai - CBS News At 8 years old, he made his way about 10 miles through the jungle by himself to the village. Could you have just reported this and left, knowing youd at least made an effort? Then, as I was in this crowd, I turned around and there he waswith his beautiful wife and new baby boy. We started thinking what might have happened, but you didnt want to accept that thought, Thompson said in a 2000 interview, because if you accepted it, that means your own fellow Americans, people you were there to protect, were doing something very evil.. As we watched from about 15 feet off the ground, back maybe 20 meters, we saw this captain approach the woman, look down at her, kick her, step back and then blow her away. On February 8, Congressman Charles Boustany (R-La.) None. Upon seeing that, Hugh Thompson landed the helicopter, approached Calley, and talked to him. A sergeant stood by the ditch. Hugh Thompsons actions may be unique. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Opinion: California wants more psychiatric detentions. Thompson risked his life and career and had Lt. Calley shoot him. Hugh told me that was what was going through his mind, he was thinking of Nazi Germany, people digging trenches, forced to march into those trenches, mass graves. . Remember, this was later in the morning approaching noon, most of the killing had already been done. Nearby, a squad of soldiers approached with weapons drawn. However, Ive spoken to survivors on different occasions who had been at the bottom of the pile. If we would have had direct contact, we could have told them that these people are unarmed, no threat. That is what other people say. Billy Waugh, a fabled Special Forces Green Beret and CIA military operative, served in Vietnam and helped hunt for Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists. When he arrived,. To this day I cant remember exactly about that day reporting to Henderson. He kept the aircraft and himself in between these people and the squad. Well, I took the prescriptions, ripped them up into little pieces and walked out. These people appeared to be no threat at all, and we couldnt figure out why they were fired on and killed as they were leaving the area. Did you consider bringing gunships to ferry out others from the ditch? Finally, the Army launched an inquiry. We came in from altitude down to low level. No. Thompson wanted you to also make a report? Yes, and we were checking the perimeter as they were coming in and starting the combat assault. I may have clipped him but he made it to the trees. Hugh Thompson Jr. graduated from Stone Mountain High School on June 5, 1961. Glenn went down into the ditch and found the boy that he had seen moving and handed him up to me. Hugh Thompson returned to M Lai in 1998 and met some of the people he saved. As we flew around more, we started seeing small groups of people dead or dying in other parts of the village. Does it worry you that it was, and remains, in our capacity to excuse or rationalize an atrocity like My Lai committed by Americans? Ultimately, it was a pubic relations move, they had to give the medal. 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. People should realize that when atrocities are committed like this and covered up, it degrades us all. And on the 30th anniversary of the massacre, Hugh Thompson returned to M Lai. The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story - Goodreads They had been writing to the Pentagon for years about Hugh, totally unbeknownst to Hugh. If Hugh knew that, it would have made everything he went through worthwhile for him. Im a garden-variety human being and thats all there is to it. The military was forced after an eight-year letter writing campaign by David Egan, a professor at Clemson University, and a businessman named William Cavanaugh. Letters to the Editor: Should speed humps be put around all L.A. elementary schools? Hugh Thompson Profiles | Facebook Glenn took a .51-caliber in the head, he was dead before he hit the ground. Particularly because of the Peers and the IG investigations, I thought there were people sincere about upholding the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Hugh Thompson, the hero who stopped a massacre committed by US - Reddit Did the boy have a recollection of March 16, 1968? Andreotta died in action a few weeks later, but Thompson and Colburn were key witnesses in the investigations and trials to follow. Ill have no part of this, Ill tear these wings off and never fly again!. Wed done what we could. Hugh Clowers Thompson Sr. was an electrician who served in the United States Navy during World War II. Nobody would be held responsible. 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. From his helicopter, Hugh Thompson could not communicate with Charlie Company on the ground. 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. Testimony to the Truth: Smyth, Reverend Hugh P.: 9781163377390: Amazon Do you think most people realize there was more than just the killing that was going on? We want to recognize people in the military and all walks of life who really make difficult decisions the way Hugh did. 0 I dont know, at the time I thought about creating a diversion, discharging my weapon in another direction. Did you expect something would be done as a result? Glenn Andreotta was killed just a few weeks after My Lai? Hugh landed and ran over and told the sergeant, These are civilians, we got to help them out. The sergeant agreed, telling Hugh hed help themout of their misery. Hugh continued to argue, said they were no threat, they had no weapons. And I was just devastated. Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot, had threatened to fire on the American troops in order to rescue Vietnamese women and children from the slaughter. Now, if I had known then what I know now about some of the activity going on there, the rapes and barbarism. When did you start talking to investigators? Thompson was more experienced than Lt. Calley, more ethical, more talented, and brighter, and probably recognized Calley didnt know what he was doing.