As Hugh jumped out, he told us to take our weapons down off the bungee cords and take some belted ammo and backup weapons and set up a little perimeter around the aircraft. Thompson risked his life and career and had Lt. Calley shoot him. It was so blatantly wrong what they were doing, we had no choice, we had to do what we did. It was Hugh and he told me that I would be getting orders to report to Washington. When did you start talking to investigators? 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. 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. 0 So you were encouraged at that point? How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! I was encouraged in that there was an investigation going on and they were going after some people in a big way. He recounted in a CBS 60 Minutes television program in 2004, "I'd received death threats over the phone.Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up." [14] [7] Thompson was buried in Lafayette, Louisiana, with full military honors, including a three-volley salute and a helicopter flyover. No, because the commander was on a different frequency. Thompson landed his helicopter next to a ditch that contained 150 people many dead, but many others wounded and trying to escape. Thompson felt obliged to return to military service when the Vietnam War began. There was a guy at the ditch with Calley, shooting people not yet dead. And on the 30th anniversary of the massacre, Hugh Thompson returned to M Lai. It has turned me into a cynic philosopher. I may have clipped him but he made it to the trees. hbbd``b`:$WXWkZ ["|Ab b:H2@#H@ ( Jan Swango Emerson and Hugh Feiss, eds., Imagining Heaven in the Middle Ages (New York: Garland, 2000); . At first, I just felt shock. It was an enemy tactic to blur the lines between combatants and noncombatants. Testimony of Dr. Hugh Thompson, HTA Engineering (Expert Witness) (Exhibit Allegra-10) Exhibit Allegra-10 includes Survey Notes and 12 photographs taken by HTA Engineering on January 12, 2010. I thought someone else was getting recognition for something. Upon coming home, he got death threats and the like. To see people herded up like so many animals, marched into a ditch and machine-gunned? Colburn said. He received a life sentence in 1971 for premeditated murder which was later reduced to 10 years. Im not judge, jury and executioner. It took the Army 30 years, but in 1998, they finally acknowledged that Thompson had done something good. What did you do after My Lai for the rest of your tour? 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. Nicholas Goldberg: Is God on the side of blasphemy laws? 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. Then he assumed the Army initiated an investigation. 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. They awarded him the Soldiers Medal for heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy., On the 30th anniversary of the massacre, Thompson went back to My Lai and met some of the people whose lives he had saved. the testimony he gave to the House Committees and the courts-martial of the . What about those who didnt stand up to evil in their midst? Hugh Thompson returned to M Lai in 1998 and met some of the people he saved. When he had a heart attack he said he would slow down, but he didnt. There was no time to get an ethics opinion or consult authorities. I flew in the 23 as a gunner through that summer, then I asked about throwing my hat into ring for a gunship where there was a little more armor and security. Somehow they trusted him and they came out. 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. Finally, when the sergeant said OK, Hugh thought hed convinced him and got back in the helicopter and we pulled out. The My Lai massacre of March 16, 1968, stands as one of the darkest moments in U.S. military history. 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?. Now, if I had known then what I know now about some of the activity going on there, the rapes and barbarism. He was presumably mindful of the ostracism he had faced and the long wait for that medal ceremony in Washington. In this exclusive interview with Vietnam magazine and VietMag.com, Larry Colburn talks about his late friend Hugh Thompson, the My Lai massacre, the subsequent cover up, investigations and trials, his journeys back to Vietnam and meetings with survivors and the Hugh Thompson Foundation, which he formed after Thompsons death in 2006. "Something terrible happened here 30 years ago today," Mr. Thompson was quoted as saying by CNN. At the age of 62, after extensive cancer treatment, Thompson was removed from life support and died on January 6, 2006, at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pineville, Louisiana. Thompson acted more instinctively, given his morals, character, and military training. I dont know, at the time I thought about creating a diversion, discharging my weapon in another direction. Now we saw them again, but they were all lying on the road, dead or dying. Hugh told me to keep my mouth shut and I did. Then came the backlash. I read the citation and thought what? I just figured it was time to do something, to not let these people get killed. If its not sincere, it doesnt mean anything. On February 8, Congressman Charles Boustany (R-La.) I was back in Mount Vernon, outside Washington, and I got a call from my mother saying there were some people at the house who wanted to talk to me. Trent Angers, Thompsons biographer and friend, analyzed the list and found about 50 there who were 3 years old or younger. I guess thats the $64,000 question isnt it? Like the trials, it was forced. 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 he arrived,. 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. It went on like that for another year and half until finally they agreed to award medals to all of us. This meant that military prosecutors would be prohibited from calling those persons as witnesses . Ernest Medina and Lt. William Calley were court-martialed. How did you and Hugh reconcile what you knew happened with the outpouring of public support for Calley and his men? There was also testimony of absolute insanity. They tried to make arrangements to get him there, but couldnt find him. We had no direct radio contact with the men on the ground. Today is the 50th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre, when US soldiers raped and murdered 500 Vietnamese civilians and burned their homes. I have accompanied Hugh when he has spoken at West Point, the Naval and Air Force Academies, to the Red Cross, in Norway, Australia and elsewhere. This is not how this military organization is supposed to conduct operations. On March 16, 1968, Chief Warrant Officer Thompson and his two crewmen were flying on a reconnaissance mission over the South Vietnamese village of My Lai when they spotted the bodies of men, women and children strewn over the landscape. Following graduation, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served in a naval mobile construction battalion at Naval Air Station Atlanta, Georgia, as a heavy equipment operator. Thompson had become something of a professional witness. They were going to kill more, but they didnt because of what Thompson did. Upon seeing that, Hugh Thompson landed the helicopter, approached Calley, and talked to him. From his helicopter, Hugh Thompson could not communicate with Charlie Company on the ground. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else.. %PDF-1.6 % All of a sudden I hear my name called, I had no advance knowledge, no idea what was happening until they pinned the Bronze Star with Valor on me. We knew something seemed wrong. He found 69 between the ages of 4 and 7, and 91 between the ages of 8 and 12. And yes, they did know that. They were face to face, screaming at each other. The . We came across a ditch, with probably 150 or more people in it and the wounded trying to crawl out. William Calley, the officer in charge of Charlie Company, ordered American soldiers to round up the villagers and open fire. He didnt want to appear to be frantic; he wanted to be taken seriously by Henderson. 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. I think it is deception, and that remains constant today. How do you think your story, of an event now long in the past, can make a difference? I stayed on gunships for rest of my time in Vietnam. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Hugh Thompson discover inside connections to recommended job . If they fire on these people, or fire on me while Im doing that, shoot em!. For his interference. Hugh Thompson on his way to testify against William Calley on November 23, 1970. Facebook gives people the power to. We kept flying back and forth, Thompson recalled, and it didnt take very long until we started noticing the large number of bodies everywhere. What would I have done if I were a man on the ground? The sergeant waited until Thompson left and then fired on the helpless civilians. First He Castrated Himself. After seeing U.S. troops advancing on a Vietnamese family, he landed his helicopter, called in gunships to rescue the civilians, and ordered his gunner to fire on any American who interfered. If we would have had direct contact, we could have told them that these people are unarmed, no threat. 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. You know, you think everybody feels you and you can ignore your own symptoms. Hugh Thompson Jr. graduated from Stone Mountain High School on June 5, 1961. ", Hugh Thompson, 62, Who Saved Civilians at My Lai, Dies, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/07/us/hugh-thompson-62-who-saved-civilians-at-my-lai-dies.html. HUGH THOMPSON'S TESTIMONY: I'm Hugh Thompson. On March 16, 1968, a company of U.S. soldiers stormed into the Vietnamese village of Sn M and began shooting. 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. But one of things the most infuriating is being called a whistleblower, as if we went and ratted someone out. Hes saved lives again. And you want to instill the spirit of Thompson in others. That particular morning we were to provide reconnaissance for a ground operation that was going on in My Lai . He struggled too. "I threatened never to fly again. We are developing the concept of a Hugh Thompson Medallion to do that. Some were sent out into the field for 60-75 days straight, and they started getting the feeling somebody was trying to get rid of them. Hugh Thompson Jr. was a twenty-five-year-old helicopter pilot and Army warrants officer. 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. Hugh was being jovial. From Testimony to Tragedy: My Lai in Personal Perspective Michael W. Flamm Michael W. Flamm Michael W. Flamm is professor of history at Ohio Wesleyan University. They were not combatants. 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. I enjoyed that. We want to recognize people in the military and all walks of life who really make difficult decisions the way Hugh did. In about 10-15 minutes we were back to the same spot where we saw the villagers on the road leaving. Except for the boy, it appeared the rest were already dead. It was denial on the part of the public. The bodies of massacred villagers at M Lai, as captured by a U.S. Army photographer. Join Facebook to connect with Hugh Thompson and others you may know. Meet Hugh Thompson, The Hero Who Stopped The M Lai Massacre And Was Branded A Traitor For It. When I got to Vietnam I was attached to a headquarters company. On March 16, 1998, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn attended a service at My Lai marking the 30th anniversary of the massacre. 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 How could I ever be prepared for something like that? Glenn said, If we are going to do something, we better do it right now! So Hugh lands right between the approaching squad and the bunker. 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. I lost faith in the whole military organization and wanted to put it all behind me. A list of his survivors was not immediately available. Ultimately, it was a pubic relations move, they had to give the medal. ' Thompson recalled. We also did a lot of recon missions and flying into free-fire zones to find enemy positions. View the profiles of people named Hugh Thompson. 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 I finally got in to see the guy, he was a major, he wouldnt make eye contact as I read my list. And it turned out it was a good thing that they did. That was the only enemy combatant we saw that day. Thompson and Colburn returned to Sn M to meet with survivors of the massacre at the Sn M Memorial in 1998. Im not going to let this happen, weve got to do something. Hugh alerted the low gunship as to what we had seen on the ground. Every time Ive been back there, the survivors ask me, Why dont the men who committed the atrocities come back and ask for forgiveness so that we might forgive them. Theyre Buddhists you know, they can forgive, put it behind them and carry on. Then, as I was in this crowd, I turned around and there he waswith his beautiful wife and new baby boy. He teaches the U.S. history survey since 1877 and specialized courses on Vietnam, 1960s America, and U.S. foreign relations. 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. Michael Bernhardt, who was at M Lai. . 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. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Testimony to the Truth Calley was the only person found guilty out of the 14 charged. So, he decided to do something. Instead, the Army hid the slaughter of hundreds of innocent people, including 182 women and 173 children. Thank you both for being of upstanding and outstanding moral character and having the backbone to stand up for what you know is right! They were taking volunteers for the 11th Brigade. 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.

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