He is still tiny, but he remembers everything. How many of them were paid and paid well to rape and murder innocent babies, children, women and men? Hugh P. Thompson was the chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. I thought someone else was getting recognition for something. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. Nicholas Goldberg: Is God on the side of blasphemy laws? PDF Prepared Testimony and The outcome of the trails was disgraceful, and Hugh and I saw that it was a sham. Im a garden-variety human being and thats all there is to it. hbbd``b`:$WXWkZ ["|Ab b:H2@#H@ ( 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. Calley was convicted, and Medina was acquitted. Im not judge, jury and executioner. I may have clipped him but he made it to the trees. Could you have just reported this and left, knowing youd at least made an effort? Billy Waugh, Famed Special Forces Warrior and CIA Legend, Dies At 93. If they fire on these people, or fire on me while Im doing that, shoot em! Now Hugh really had no idea who or what was in that bunker, could have been an AK47 waiting for him there. They were finally recognized for the heroic act they did. The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story - Goodreads 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. I thank God to this day that everybody did stay cool and nobody opened up. We started noticing these large numbers of bodies everywhere, he told me, people on the road dead, wounded. 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. William Calley, the officer who ordered the slaughter at M Lai. U.S. ArmyHugh Thompson in his Army uniform, c. 1966. To do something like that in the whirlwind of war was downright insane, and thats exactly what he did. As he approached the soldiers, he told them to stop. 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. Hes saved lives again. .d,H2F Hugh and I went in 1998 with 60 Minutes, just after we were given the Soldiers Medal. Commentary: Opponents need to stop equating abortion with eugenics, Editorial: Polluters keep trying to block gas bans. When I arrived at My Lai in 2008, no one knew where he was. View the profiles of people named Hugh Thompson. Thompson was buried in Lafayette, Louisiana, with full military honors, including a three-volley salute and a helicopter flyover. You and Thompson must have been good mutual support. Ill have no part of this, Ill tear these wings off and never fly again!. It was Hugh and he told me that I would be getting orders to report to Washington. Hugh Thompson and his crew rescued a surviving child whom they flew to the nearest field hospital. But that was not to be the case. Hood and my CO called me in, said I had a phone call. We know that Americans committed a massacre 50 years ago today; and we also know that an American stopped it. No. Andreotta died in action a few weeks later, but Thompson and Colburn were key witnesses in the investigations and trials to follow. She enticed me to move to east Oregon, near a ski area. We want to recognize people in the military and all walks of life who really make difficult decisions the way Hugh did. It was a case of bloodlust. When did you start talking to investigators? He angered some GIs as he tried to photograph them as they fondled the breasts of a fifteen-year-old Vietnamese girl. What about those who didnt stand up to evil in their midst? 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. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else.. But one of things the most infuriating is being called a whistleblower, as if we went and ratted someone out. Hugh Thompson Jr. was a twenty-five-year-old helicopter pilot and Army warrants officer. On March 16, 1968, did you have any expectations of serious action? Still, Thompson had saved civilians who would have been killed if he had not intervened. It went on like that for another year and half until finally they agreed to award medals to all of us. Are you guys with me?. I lost faith in the whole military organization and wanted to put it all behind me. I believe Glenn got a Bronze Star too. He found 69 between the ages of 4 and 7, and 91 between the ages of 8 and 12. So I was not a good guy.. If there was anything that was cleansing for me that was it. But I still dont think the topic really gets the exposure it really needs. Mercy Thompson and the Revelation on Marriage - The Church of Jesus Had you ever seen anything even approaching this before? As we got back on station, we saw a lot of villagers leaving and figured that we may have dropped leaflets or had fired some artillery in morning. 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. 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 . 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. What did you see when first flying over My Lai? They landed their helicopter between the American forces and the civilians, and they trained their guns on the advancing Americans. And we did, the best we could. Jan. 6 defendant Dustin Thompson, who blamed Trump for storming Capitol If its not sincere, it doesnt mean anything. He said: They are coming this way. DOC HUGH THOMPSON'S TESTIMONY: - Social Studies with Miss Daniel In 2001 we went back and were reunited with the boy in the ditch. Even though the military has admitted to the massacre, many people are not capable of acknowledging and processing that information. With Hugh, usually the more tense the situation, the more comical he would be. And Hugh said, What about my crew? They said they didnt have any intention for awards of the crew. When we first saw him in 2001, he said all he wanted was to get out of Ho Chi Minh City where he worked in a factory at low wages, and get back to village and find a wife. 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 I know its great copy, but Ive tried to correct the record many times: No one pointed any weapons at anybody. And on the 30th anniversary of the massacre, Hugh Thompson returned to M Lai. Glenn shouted, Hes firing into the ditch again!, How did Hugh react when reason failed? The villagers offered no resistance as U.S. soldiers shoved them into a ditch and opened fire with machine guns. Upon coming home, he got death threats and the like. We know that Americans committed a massacre 50 years ago today; and we also know that an American stopped it. Spec Ops Magazine 2023 All Rights Reserved. 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. They killed everything. The best therapy I got was in those four hours and seeing the people who were so broken physically. Upon seeing that, Hugh Thompson landed the helicopter, approached Calley, and talked to him. 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. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. It couldnt be gunships, they werent firing on people. To see people herded up like so many animals, marched into a ditch and machine-gunned? Colburn said. Before the story broke, did you or Hugh consider going public with the story? But it was mostly done with a machine gun. Anyone can read what you share. 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. Hugh Thompson Profiles | Facebook After Hugh died, I was invited to Annapolis to speak one more time. No. HUGH THOMPSON: I'm Hugh Thompson. 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 . There was a sergeant standing by the ditch by himself. There was some chatter since most of the people at Ft. endstream endobj startxref We came to think we were indirectly killing these people ourselves by marking them with smoke. Innocent people didnt die that day They didnt just fly off the handle and engage a target that was borderline. When Mr. Thompson returned home, it seemed to him that he was viewed as the guilty party. Nobody would be held responsible. Im not going to let this happen, weve got to do something. As the wounded tried to crawl out, they were fired on by someone who had been left there to do just that. I dont know, at the time I thought about creating a diversion, discharging my weapon in another direction. They approached but because the aircraft was at flight idle they tended to stay back a little. Does it worry you that it was, and remains, in our capacity to excuse or rationalize an atrocity like My Lai committed by Americans? 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. I went back in 2008 for the 40th anniversary. HUGH THOMPSON'S TESTIMONY: I'm Hugh Thompson. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didnt. And I was just devastated. We are inundated with information but we are not very well informed. In front of Lt. Calley,Hugh Thompson was outranked. But to see people herded up like so many animals, marched into a ditch and machine-gunned? Larry Colburn was a door gunner with crew chief Glenn Andreotta and Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson as pilot of a small scout . I think it is deception, and that remains constant today. Weve been accused of many things, of being traitors. TIE LOST SOLDIER Hugh Thompson's Strange Life Will Fill a Book And you want to instill the spirit of Thompson in others. Afterwards Thompson testified at the trial of Lt. William Calley, the commanding officer during the massacre. I felt that my testimony validated Hughs, and that was why it was important. Thompson was later promoted to Major, but Thompson was a Warrant Officer in his heroic acts. No, because the commander was on a different frequency. Im not going to let this happen, weve got to do something. Facebook gives people the power to. Hugh said, Im going to take him on the right, which meant he was my target. You had no radio contact with the men on the ground? You felt pretty vulnerable in that little helicopter. In harsh times, heroes are ordinary men doing extraordinary things. This is not what Im here for. I read the citation and thought what? But many in the Army and the public supported Calley over Thompson. We kept flying back and forth, Thompson recalled, and it didnt take very long until we started noticing the large number of bodies everywhere. As children ran for safety, soldiers gunned them down. These people are going to die, Thompson said to his crew. Thank you both for being of upstanding and outstanding moral character and having the backbone to stand up for what you know is right! Hugh said that was OK, because that was the appropriate place. Back at their base he filed a complaint about the killing of civilians that he had witnessed. PDF Testimony of Dr. Hugh Thompson, HTA Engineering (Expert Witness 187 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<24715D214BB8264D9C081C2824AD5AA6><5B5B6AB10B516B4B92CEE481B23C2455>]/Index[171 29]/Info 170 0 R/Length 83/Prev 54619/Root 172 0 R/Size 200/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream Hugh Thompson returned to M Lai in 1998 and met some of the people he saved. 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. Hannah's Testimony - truthsaves.org The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. We also did a lot of recon missions and flying into free-fire zones to find enemy positions. Where else in history has a massacre of civilians been stopped in the middle of the massacre? I think he broke his flight helmet, he threw it down so hard. 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. 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. The squad leader ordered Thompson and his men to get out of the way. 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. I had an administrative MOS and was ordered to Hawaii where I was working as a courier. Thats what keeps me going. He has had an impact on many young minds in the military. You are not comfortable with being called a hero, either? Ever reflect about how you are part of an event of such historical significance? This ended his combat career in Vietnam. From Testimony to Tragedy: My Lai in Personal Perspective Hugh Thompson reported the massacre to his commanding officer. From his helicopter, Hugh Thompson could not communicate with Charlie Company on the ground. Did you get help? Thats unlikely to improve anyones mental health, Letters to the Editor: Yes, we need to talk about Bidens age. We knew something seemed wrong. Did you have any knowledge of who was being inserted into My Lai that morning? I have come to understand him more now than I did when he was here. I knew General Peers had gotten in touch with Hugh and took him back over to the scene of the crime. 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. Testimony to the Truth: Smyth, Reverend Hugh P.: 9781163377390: Amazon After learning about the heroism of Hugh Thompson Jr. during the M Lai Massacre, read about the Gulf of Tonkin incident that started the Vietnam War. . We were told by the prosecuting attorneys to keep our mouths shut, and I didnt advertise the fact I was at My Lai. We had thought there were two or three, but there were about 10 in the bunker. In addition to scholarly publications with top presses, she has written for Atlas Obscura and Ranker. We came in from altitude down to low level. Did you fly with him much before My Lai? Like the trials, it was forced. Letters to the Editor: Should speed humps be put around all L.A. elementary schools? 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.. 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. I know who I am, Im no hero, I was scared shitless most of the time. Well, I took the prescriptions, ripped them up into little pieces and walked out. 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. It had to be. The monsters involved in this Massacre are surely going to hell no matter if theyve led a squeaky-clean life since then. The pilots were briefed, if the crew was briefed it was by the pilot in the aircraft on the way to the area. It was in their hands. All content is protected by copyright and may not be used for commercial purposes without prior written permission. 0 You must have had some post-traumatic stress after your experience in Vietnam. I dont know who did what. I dont know how they found me, but I gave a brief interview, and it appeared with the Life magazine photo spread in December 1969. As he told The Associated Press in 2004: "Don't do the right thing looking for a reward, because it might not come. Hood to give testimony in the basement war room of the Pentagon. It wasn't war.". Except for the boy, it appeared the rest were already dead. Larry Colburn talks about his late friend Hugh Thompson, the My Lai massacre, the subsequent cover up, investigations and trials. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Hugh was being jovial. Hugh Thompson Jr (1943-2006) - EA Forum 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. They were face to face, screaming at each other. In about 10-15 minutes we were back to the same spot where we saw the villagers on the road leaving. They were not running, but just slowly moving out of the village. Join Facebook to connect with Hugh Thompson and others you may know. Are you guys with me?. It all crystallized in that moment. Particularly because of the Peers and the IG investigations, I thought there were people sincere about upholding the Uniform Code of Military Justice. There was no time to get an ethics opinion or consult authorities. Unfortunately, Lt. Calley and the rest of Company C never paid the price for the atrocities they committed. Hugh was running scenarios through his head to figure it out. Inside Brianna Maitland's Chilling Disappearance And The Bizarre Clues Left Behind, How Ken Miles Helped Ford Beat Ferrari Before Dying Tragically Behind The Wheel, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Thompson was more experienced than Lt. Calley, more ethical, more talented, and brighter, and probably recognized Calley didnt know what he was doing. I wish I was, but I wont lie to anybody. Hugh Thompson & Helicopter Crew Honored for Helping End My - YouTube 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 again, it was a Saturday morning and they were possibly going to market. He was evacuated to a hospital in Japan and began a long rehabilitation period. He was presumably mindful of the ostracism he had faced and the long wait for that medal ceremony in Washington. When Hugh gave his order, I distinctly remember pointing my weapon directly down at the ground, so there was no question. They also led as many surviving civilians as they could to shelter. Were you prepared to fire on the squad? In the last incident, his helicopter was brought down by enemy machine-gun fire, and he broke his back in the resulting crash landing. 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.. Finally, the Army launched an inquiry. Hugh Thompsonsdefiance and courage with that of his crew had given a new lease of life to others that they saved and will be remembered by all in the face of Humanity and History. I have a few lined up at some universities this year. 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 he was a character, a real joker. Were you glad you got it? 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. Did you experience retaliation for what you did that day, or for talking to Henderson? Id received death threats over the phone, Thompson said in 2004. I flew from Ft. When the American people responded as they did in defense of Calley, it was really hard, especially for Hugh. The My Lai Massacre was and still is a huge, shameful event that will be hard for several generations to get past. At the same time, judging from Hendersons reactionhe seemed almost nonchalant, like it was just another day at the office. before the subcommittee, and then refused to release the transcripts of the testimony. We had different missions. But in the end,. Testimony to the Truth [Smyth, Reverend Hugh P.] on Amazon.com. Having redeemed himself for other peoples mistakes, his heroic act was written in US Military history. However, Ive spoken to survivors on different occasions who had been at the bottom of the pile. Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot, had threatened to fire on the American troops in order to rescue Vietnamese women and children from the slaughter. Hugh Thompson, the hero who stopped a massacre committed by US - Reddit I said, Thank you, sir, and went back to work. Remember, this was later in the morning approaching noon, most of the killing had already been done. "They said I was screaming quite loud," he told U.S. News & World Report in 2004. But still, who do you shoot? When I got to Vietnam I was attached to a headquarters company. You risked your lives, I said, to protect those Vietnamese civilians., Well, it didnt come to that, he replied. Among those numbers were 17 pregnant women and 56 infants. Thompson risked his life and career and had Lt. Calley shoot him. When you testified in Washington for the Army investigation led by General William Peers, did you feel they were after the real story? How many men were in squad and were they threatening? An army helicopter piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson arrived in the My Lai vicinity about 9 a.m. Thompson noticed dead and dying civilians all over the village. Sorry thats not what we did and I dont care what they think of me. 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. Mr. Thompson told of what he had seen when he returned to his base. "Something terrible happened here 30 years ago today," Mr. Thompson was quoted as saying by CNN. Yes. He tried to persuade him to stop the attack but with no success. Jan Swango Emerson and Hugh Feiss, eds., Imagining Heaven in the Middle Ages (New York: Garland, 2000); . They also reported the massacre to higher officers, who ordered the troops on the ground to stop. Hell, I didnt want to believe it, either, but I had no choice because I saw it.. Somehow they trusted him and they came out. I think I may have been in shock to some extent. Did the word about what happened at My Lai get around? 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. None. A list of his survivors was not immediately available. Central to the case prosecuted by the Civilian Complaint. Did you have a sense that what you had seen at My Lai was and isolated incident or did you suspect similar atrocities were happening elsewhere? Charles Guiteau told a local newspaper that he shot James A. Garfield without malice or murderous intent.. You are the ones that deserve to be called American Soldiers. 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. Thompson was vilified by many Americans for his testimony against United States Army personnel. Thompson had a famous emotional outburst upon returning to base? When he arrived,. And then she finished her sentence: she said, So we could forgive them.'. If people have some confusion about that, thats their problem. At first, I just felt shock. 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. Then, in 1998, the Army awarded him the Soldiers Medal for heroism. As we did, we heard automatic weapon fire. So he called our low gunship, piloted by a friend of his, Dan Millans, and said: Danny, I need a favor. 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. Nearby, a squad of soldiers approached with weapons drawn. What would I have done if I were a man on the ground? Interview - Larry Colburn: Why My Lai, Hugh Thompson Matter It was denial on the part of the public, said Colburn. The high gun stayed in the air and circled. But I really didnt know what was going to happen or how to react. 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?. 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. 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. He had a great rapport with enlisted men, as he had been one himself. The My Lai massacre of March 16, 1968, stands as one of the darkest moments in U.S. military history. 1895), in United States testimony 1892, typescript, 247, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. It was unusual, the only time it happened while I was there.
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