Like the trials, it was forced. Back at the base, Thompson threw his flight helmet on the ground. How did you get to the 123rd Aviation Battalion? Through the years, he continued to speak out, having been invited to West Point and other military installations to tell of the moral and legal obligations of soldiers in wartime. 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. California cities shouldnt be deterred. A sergeant stood by the ditch. From his helicopter, Hugh Thompson could not communicate with Charlie Company on the ground. Hugh came back to the aircraft and because we had flight helmets on and the aircraft was running, we had to literally put our heads together as Hugh shouted instructions. So, how did you guys feel when you got the Soldiers Medals in 1998? Im not going to let this happen, weve got to do something. I guess thats the $64,000 question isnt it? That particular morning we were to provide reconnaissance for a ground operation that was going on in My Lai 4, which was better known to us as Pinkville." It was supposed to be a real big operation that day. That seemed suicidal to me, going out with next to no backup or firepower. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didnt. They got some people to listen, and then there were others in the Pentagon trying to put it at the bottom of the stack. Like most 18-year-old males I was nave, had no idea what risks were. Hugh Thompson was a volunteer officer in the Vietnam War who turned his squad's weapons on American soldiers to stop them raping and murdering more women and . At first, they only wanted to give it to Hugh at a private ceremony. Did you get help? 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. I think it is deception, and that remains constant today. Only he would have known that. He also wanted to be able to get out quickly if need be. Did you have any knowledge of who was being inserted into My Lai that morning? When Hugh realized it was our people doing this killing, he knew he had to take drastic measures, recalled Larry Colburn, a gunner on Thompsons crew. Just then Glenn spotted some people in an earthen bunker, saw faces peering out of the entry. Thats when he crashed about five helicopters in five months. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? If people have some confusion about that, thats their problem. In 2001 we went back and were reunited with the boy in the ditch. "I threatened never to fly again. He remembered Glenn picking him up, seeing me in the ditch. That one person will go on to tell 10 other people. Calley was paroled just three years later, in 1974, after Richard Nixon commuted his sentence. Does it worry you that it was, and remains, in our capacity to excuse or rationalize an atrocity like My Lai committed by Americans? If there was anything that was cleansing for me that was it. We thought that was good, that they would be out of the way. Remember, this was later in the morning approaching noon, most of the killing had already been done. Calley was the only person found guilty out of the 14 charged. It was so blatantly wrong what they were doing, we had no choice, we had to do what we did. By the end of what has become known as the M Lai massacre, the Vietnamese government estimates that American soldiers killed at least 504 people, mainly women and children. 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. 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. It went on like that for another year and half until finally they agreed to award medals to all of us. Finally, when the sergeant said OK, Hugh thought hed convinced him and got back in the helicopter and we pulled out. It wasn't war.". HOANG DINH NAM/AFP via Getty ImagesHugh Thompson returned to M Lai in 1998 and met some of the people he saved. But I still dont think the topic really gets the exposure it really needs. Andreotta died in action a few weeks later, but Thompson and Colburn were key witnesses in the investigations and trials to follow. The second time, he touched down near a bunker in which a group of about 10 civilians were being menaced by American troops. I flew with him dozens of times and saw sporadic action. Were you glad you got it? You risked your lives, I said, to protect those Vietnamese civilians., Well, it didnt come to that, he replied. 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. He remembered how Glenn would put him down and pick him back up as he checked on other victims in the ditch. Ive tried to put myself in their position, tried to empathize. Hell, I didnt want to believe it, either, but I had no choice because I saw it. Hugh Thompson Jr. was a twenty-five-year-old helicopter pilot and Army warrants officer. You and Hugh had the opportunity to tell your stories to young military officers. I testified in the trials of Henderson, Medina and Calley. When the officers take part in it, it just escalates things. Among those numbers were 17 pregnant women and 56 infants. . Hugh said that was OK, because that was the appropriate place. Two young infantrymen in Iraq came upon a situation where a number of civilians were questionable and the men werent sure whether to engage or not. 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. 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. The bodies of massacred villagers at M Lai, as captured by a U.S. Army photographer. I told him everything and he didnt know how to respond, he had no idea how to deal with it. 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. That Is little Hugh!" It was "Little Hugh" sure enough. I thought Hugh would pull it off, when I saw some pull their rucksacks off and leave it to the lieutenant to have it out with Hugh. 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. He didnt want to appear to be frantic; he wanted to be taken seriously by Henderson. Yes. All of the investigations led to nothing, Hugh and I felt like all three trials were just window dressing. Testimony to the Truth: Smyth, Reverend Hugh P.: 9781163377390: Amazon He has had an impact on many young minds in the military. In an interview first broadcast in 2004, Hardtalk's Tim Sebastian spoke to Mr. The troops also burned the village and Sn Ms surrounding hamlets to the ground and slaughtered the livestock. He ranked higher than a warrant officer. Larry Colburn was a door gunner with crew chief Glenn Andreotta and Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson as pilot of a small scout helicopter during a combat assault at the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. endstream endobj 172 0 obj <. Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up. He told the story of what happened that day, when he and his two-man crew flew over My Lai, in support of troops who were looking for Viet Cong fighters. Some peoplepublicly stated that they felt Thompson was the only soldier at My Lai who should be punished (for turning his weapons on fellow American troops) and wanted to see him court-martialed for his actions at My Lai. Thompson continued to fly and was hit eight times, in four of which incidents the aircraft was lost. I may have clipped him but he made it to the trees. Hugh alerted the low gunship as to what we had seen on the ground. Thompson spent the rest of his life wondering if he could have saved more lives. Thompson left the Army in 1983 and became a private helicopter pilot in the South. My father landed on Normandy Beach and as a kid I watched the television series Victory at Sea and went to bed praying never to have to face the fire like those men on Normandy. Hugh told her he probably didnt have any family left. Mr. Thompson remained in combat, then returned to the United States to train helicopter pilots. Those on station knew something about it but not many saw it up close and personal except for the men on the ground and a couple of helicopter crews. I saw them shoot an M79 [grenade launcher] into a group of people who were still alive, said Sgt. When Hugh realized it was our people doing this killing, he knew he had to take drastic measures. You still didnt understand what was actually happening? Hugh Thompson, 62, Who Saved Civilians at My Lai, Dies . %PDF-1.6 % History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. There were real good highs, he told me, and very low lows. .d,H2F Thompson risked his life and career and had Lt. Calley shoot him. If its not sincere, it doesnt mean anything. What did you do after My Lai for the rest of your tour? 171 0 obj <> endobj They landed their helicopter between the American forces and the civilians, and they trained their guns on the advancing Americans. With Hugh, usually the more tense the situation, the more comical he would be. He had to make sure his mother, brother and sister, killed in the ditch, were buried properly. Thompsons father played a central role in his childrens education. At the same time, judging from Hendersons reactionhe seemed almost nonchalant, like it was just another day at the office. 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. The conclusion Hugh and I came to was they were trying to keep us quiet by giving us a phony award. We never thought we were heroes. Hugh Thompson was a United States Army Major and a former warrant officer in the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division who helped end the My Lai Massacre of the South Vietnamese village known as Sn M on March 16, 1968. Jon Wiener is professor emeritus of history at UC Irvine, and working, with Mike Davis, on a book on Los Angeles in the 1960s. After we took the boy to Quang Nai, we went back to our base, and Hugh Thompson and I reported to Colonel Oran Henderson. Hugh Thompson Jr., The Army Major Who Stopped The My Lai Massacre Hugh was furious, ready to do anything to save these innocent people. I was 17 when I enlisted in 1966 with some friends. No Id never seen nor heard of anything like that before, except in World War II. Thats what keeps me going. We surveyed around the bunker and saw that squad approaching. Then came the backlash. It has turned me into a cynic philosopher. Many fellow GIs still dont think you did the right thing? Mr. Thompson radioed for a helicopter gunship to evacuate the group, and then his crew chief, Glenn Andreotta, pulled a boy from a nearby irrigation ditch, and their helicopter flew him to safety. Well, it wasnt really an apology, was it? Facebook gives people the power to. They tried to make arrangements to get him there, but couldnt find him. TIE LOST SOLDIER Hugh Thompson's Strange Life Will Fill a Book So he called our low gunship, piloted by a friend of his, Dan Millans, and said: Danny, I need a favor. And Hugh said, What about my crew? They said they didnt have any intention for awards of the crew. Hugh said, Im going to take him on the right, which meant he was my target. Hugh M. Thompson IV on LinkedIn: Weekly market wrap Amid a flurry of corporate earnings releases and somewhat lackluster market activity last week, an important milestone went largely unnoticed. He was 62. Calley told Thompson that he was following orders, presumably from Capt. In mid-March 2022, posts about a warrant officer named Hugh Thompson and his role in the My Lai massacre circulated on social media, including a tweet describing that time period as the 50-year anniversary of that incident:. Hugh Thompson - Ballotpedia When you testified in Washington for the Army investigation led by General William Peers, did you feel they were after the real story? Genevieve Carlton earned a Ph.D in history from Northwestern University with a focus on early modern Europe and the history of science and medicine before becoming a history professor at the University of Louisville. He walked about 50 meters and encountered the lieutenant who was leading the squad. He said youre a plant arent you. I think that is probably what has helped me get through it all. He was saying: Ill never fly again. Hugh told me to keep my mouth shut and I did. Mr. Thompson landed twice in an effort to determine what was happening, finally coming to the realization that a massacre was taking place. 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. The low gun probably did because they had visual and were communicating with Hugh, and Hugh had been telling them what wed been seeing, hoping they were relating that up to the command craft that was flying above at altitude. Did you experience retaliation for what you did that day, or for talking to Henderson? They were going to kill more, but they didnt because of what Thompson did. 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. Sorry thats not what we did and I dont care what they think of me. Billy Waugh, Famed Special Forces Warrior and CIA Legend, Dies At 93. Hugh Clowers Thompson, Jr. (April 15, 1943 - January 6, 2006) was a United States Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. Since Hughs death, I have become the recipient of some of the hate mail he used to get. These were infants, two-, three-, four-, five-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever.. But one of things the most infuriating is being called a whistleblower, as if we went and ratted someone out. Back at their base he filed a complaint about the killing of civilians that he had witnessed. 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.. Then he assumed the Army initiated an investigation. Calley had many supporters, who condemned and harassed Thompson. The citation, bestowed in a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, said the three crewmen landed "in the line of fire between American ground troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians to prevent their murder.". Somehow they trusted him and they came out. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else.. Dont salute me or call me sir, he said, Just Mr. Thompson. He didnt believe in that no fraternization stuff, he was really one of the fellows, he knew both sides. What about those who didnt stand up to evil in their midst? We are inundated with information but we are not very well informed. 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. When did you meet Hugh Thompson? As we flew around more, we started seeing small groups of people dead or dying in other parts of the village. When he had a heart attack he said he would slow down, but he didnt. He looked up and saw us and then took off for the tree line. As we did, we heard automatic weapon fire. Months later you were surprised with a medal for action at My Lai? 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. Letters to the Editor: Should speed humps be put around all L.A. elementary schools? It was fresh enough that things hadnt changed much. Whats that make you, my buddy? So, just because guys served in the same theater doesnt necessarily mean we are all that close.