But many in the Army and the public supported Calley over Thompson. They got some people to listen, and then there were others in the Pentagon trying to put it at the bottom of the stack. Hugh said, Im going to take him on the right, which meant he was my target. We are inundated with information but we are not very well informed. 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. We had different missions. 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. 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. Remember, this was later in the morning approaching noon, most of the killing had already been done. Thompson risked his life and career and had Lt. Calley shoot him. Join Facebook to connect with Hugh Thompson and others you may know. 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.. 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. Ive mulled this over for years. It was unusual, the only time it happened while I was there. No Id never seen nor heard of anything like that before, except in World War II. Thompson was the first to communicate back to headquarters about the killing occurring on the ground. And when Thomson reported the horrific actions, the Army tried to cover up the M Lai massacre. Who were the people lying in the roads and in the ditch, wounded and killed? Ronald L. Haeberle/U.S. 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. We came to think we were indirectly killing these people ourselves by marking them with smoke. He angered some GIs as he tried to photograph them as they fondled the breasts of a fifteen-year-old Vietnamese girl. Larry Colburn talks about his late friend Hugh Thompson, the My Lai massacre, the subsequent cover up, investigations and trials. You and Thompson must have been good mutual support. Would I have? Hugh Clowers Thompson, Jr. (April 15, 1943 - January 6, 2006) was a United States Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. I guess thats the $64,000 question isnt it? When the orders came down, the CO called me into his office and demanded to know what they were for. Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot, had threatened to fire on the American troops in order to rescue Vietnamese women and children from the slaughter. In late December 1967, at the age of 25, Hugh Thompson was ordered to Vietnam and assigned to Company B, 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division. But remember, at My Lai only about a third of the men participated in the massacre, but no one else tried to stop it. They were not running, but just slowly moving out of the village. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Id seen civilians get in the way and unfortunately lose their lives because of that. 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. We hope to link up with other organizations and grow some legs. Thompson acted more instinctively, given his morals, character, and military training. A sergeant stood by the ditch. Bettmann/Getty ImagesHugh Thompson on his way to testify against William Calley on November 23, 1970. 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. On March 16, 1968, did you have any expectations of serious action? Commentary: Opponents need to stop equating abortion with eugenics, Editorial: Polluters keep trying to block gas bans. Thank you both for being of upstanding and outstanding moral character and having the backbone to stand up for what you know is right! At that point, no one had a clue beside you and Hugh? 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Yes, and we were checking the perimeter as they were coming in and starting the combat assault. . It was a case of bloodlust. Then, as I was in this crowd, I turned around and there he waswith his beautiful wife and new baby boy. The dead were women, old men and children. We also did a lot of recon missions and flying into free-fire zones to find enemy positions. It was denial on the part of the public. endstream endobj 172 0 obj <. Ill have no part of this, Ill tear these wings off and never fly again!. They had been writing to the Pentagon for years about Hugh, totally unbeknownst to Hugh. Nicholas Goldberg: Is God on the side of blasphemy laws? Im giving interviews and working with students. Hugh Clowers Thompson Sr. was an electrician who served in the United States Navy during World War II. In an interview first broadcast in 2004, Hardtalk's Tim Sebastian spoke to Mr. 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. As children ran for safety, soldiers gunned them down. Hannah's Testimony. 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. U.S. ArmyHugh Thompson in his Army uniform, c. 1966. I lost faith in the whole military organization and wanted to put it all behind me. If you are an American who thinks all of our foreign policy and actions over the years is as pure as the driven snow, well that is just not reality. We loved those guys in the field. I was 17 when I enlisted in 1966 with some friends. I waited in the hospital waiting room for about four hours to see a psychologist. But that was not to be the case. 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. When he arrived,. 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. That was the only enemy combatant we saw that day. But still, who do you shoot? But he didnt even draw a sidearm as he walked up to the bunker and motioned to the people to come out. 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. Hugh said, No, lets do it at the Wall. They said no, the weather might be bad or something. I met Thompson in 2000 and interviewed him for my radio program on KPFK in Los Angeles. He looked up and saw us and then took off for the tree line. Hugh transmitted what he could to the low gun in hopes that it would get up to the commander and someone would make a decision to stop it. I remember wearing the same fatigues and they were pretty much covered with blood stains from carrying the boy and being in that ditch. I just figured it was time to do something, to not let these people get killed. I was hoping there would be justice, but what did it achieve? 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 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. In 1966, Thompson enlisted in the United States Army and completed the Warrant Officer Flight Program training at Fort Wolters, Texas, and Fort Rucker, Alabama. Hugh Thompson in his Army uniform, c. 1966. 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. 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. But when he returned to his Stateside home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Thompson. Now, if I had known then what I know now about some of the activity going on there, the rapes and barbarism. Michael Bernhardt, who was at M Lai. But I still dont think the topic really gets the exposure it really needs. They approached but because the aircraft was at flight idle they tended to stay back a little. When I arrived at My Lai in 2008, no one knew where he was. He didnt have much support for decades. Furious, Hugh Thompson landed again, this time in front of a bunker where civilians were hiding. While the massacre took place, helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson and his crew flew over the jungle, offering air support. Hugh Thompson, the helicopter pilot who stopped the My Lai massacre, later told the news program "60 Minutes" that he was ostracized and received death threats upon his return from Vietnam.. When did you see those particular villagers again? Ever reflect about how you are part of an event of such historical significance? You are the ones that deserve to be called American Soldiers. Were you vilified or the target of death threats the way Hugh Thompson was? And on the 30th anniversary of the massacre, Hugh Thompson returned to M Lai. You are not comfortable with being called a hero, either? Did you have any knowledge of who was being inserted into My Lai that morning? 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.". This ended his combat career in Vietnam. We would have died for them. California cities shouldnt be deterred. When it was all over, hundreds of unarmed civilians had been murdered by American forces. So, he decided to do something. They were true American heroes. They waited until the sun went down and they crawled out of that ditch. Calley was the only person found guilty out of the 14 charged. 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. View the profiles of people named Hugh Thompson. The troops also burned the village and Sn Ms surrounding hamlets to the ground and slaughtered the livestock. At some point they finally did call for a cease-fire, but by then it was too late. Court-martial me, and he left his weapon and walked away. They killed everything. Colburn came from Atlanta to be at his bedside. It took the Army 30 years, but in 1998, they finally acknowledged that Thompson had done something good. 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. We never thought we were heroes. Even though the military has admitted to the massacre, many people are not capable of acknowledging and processing that information. He was 62. I am sorry this world has lost you. And yes, they did know that. Thompson was more experienced than Lt. Calley, more ethical, more talented, and brighter, and probably recognized Calley didnt know what he was doing. It is amazing to see the strength of the human spirit. 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 going to let this happen, weve got to do something. 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. She enticed me to move to east Oregon, near a ski area. That was a point of no return for Thompson? Hugh was furious, ready to do anything to save these innocent people. The outcome of the trails was disgraceful, and Hugh and I saw that it was a sham. Unfortunately, Lt. Calley and the rest of Company C never paid the price for the atrocities they committed. There could be a reason for doing it, or there could have simply been a complete breakdown in leadership. 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. In the middle of a firefight I was an E4, what was I to do? Did you get help? 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. We came across a ditch, with probably 150 or more people in it and the wounded trying to crawl out. The lieutenant told him to mind his own business and get out of the way. If its not sincere, it doesnt mean anything. I have come to understand him more now than I did when he was here. 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. When the officers take part in it, it just escalates things. We thought that was good, that they would be out of the way. I went back in 2008 for the 40th anniversary. But Ive had my episodes. And just sitting there saying, God, howd this happen? They tried to make arrangements to get him there, but couldnt find him. After My Lai, did you feel traumatized or feel like you carried a huge burden? Im not judge, jury and executioner. To this day I cant remember exactly about that day reporting to Henderson. I dont know, at the time I thought about creating a diversion, discharging my weapon in another direction. Are you guys with me?. He had a great rapport with enlisted men, as he had been one himself. It was in their hands. Did you fly with him much before My Lai? Of course anyone thinking of making a career in the military probably pretended they never heard anything. The hero received death threats for speaking out about the massacre. Did you consider bringing gunships to ferry out others from the ditch? The second time, he touched down near a bunker in which a group of about 10 civilians were being menaced by American troops. I was encouraged in that there was an investigation going on and they were going after some people in a big way. We came in from altitude down to low level. Yes. What drove you to create the Hugh Thompson Foundation? Larry Colburn talks about his late friend Hugh Thompson, the My Lai massacre, the subsequent cover up, investigations and trials, https://www.historynet.com/interview-larry-colburn-why-my-lai-hugh-thompson-matter/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot. 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. If people have some confusion about that, thats their problem. In addition to scholarly publications with top presses, she has written for Atlas Obscura and Ranker. HOANG DINH NAM/AFP via Getty ImagesHugh Thompson returned to M Lai in 1998 and met some of the people he saved. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didnt. Months later you were surprised with a medal for action at My Lai? 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. He retired as a VA counselor in Louisiana. Mr. Thompson remained in combat, then returned to the United States to train helicopter pilots. You felt pretty vulnerable in that little helicopter. Ive had PTSD issues for 42 years. ' Thompson recalled. Thompson and Colburn returned to Sn M to meet with survivors of the massacre at the Sn M Memorial in 1998. I wanted to survive and get home. We started noticing these large numbers of bodies everywhere, he told me, people on the road dead, wounded. Im not going to let this happen, weve got to do something. I said, Thank you, sir, and went back to work. That particular morning we were to provide reconnaissance for a ground operation that was going on in My Lai . Thompson left the Army in 1983 and became a private helicopter pilot in the South. They couldnt have been killed by artillery. Mr. Thompson, you and Mr. Colburn are indeed the heroes in this sordid story and I am ashamed at how they were treated. Hugh Thompson reported the massacre to his commanding officer. He said youre a plant arent you. Friends I had on the division level told me they were taking volunteers for the 123rd Aviation Battalion. Thompson was later promoted to Major, but Thompson was a Warrant Officer in his heroic acts. We know that Americans committed a massacre 50 years ago today; and we also know that an American stopped it.
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