I just thank God everybody kept their cool and no one made any quick moves. Oh, no, Mr. Thompson, let me see what we can do, he said. the testimony he gave to the House Committees and the courts-martial of the . Im sorry. Glenn shouted, Hes firing into the ditch again!, How did Hugh react when reason failed? Hugh Thompson, the hero who stopped a massacre committed by US troops in the Vietnamese village of My Lai by landing his helicopter in the line of fire, 1968. "They said I was screaming quite loud," he told U.S. News & World Report in 2004. 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 want to recognize people in the military and all walks of life who really make difficult decisions the way Hugh did. Facebook gives people the power to. In about 10-15 minutes we were back to the same spot where we saw the villagers on the road leaving. It took the Army 30 years, but in 1998, they finally acknowledged that Thompson had done something good. Thompson felt obliged to return to military service when the Vietnam War began. Mr. Thompson remained in combat, then returned to the United States to train helicopter pilots. And yes, they did know that. Then came the backlash. 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. William Calley, the officer in charge of Charlie Company, ordered American soldiers to round up the villagers and open fire. 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. Michael Bernhardt, who was at M Lai. And although he lived with post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, and nightmare disorder for decades, he eventually became a veterans counselor for the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs. 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. Hugh Clowers Thompson Sr. was an electrician who served in the United States Navy during World War II. This is not what Im here for. It was about six months ago that the S&P 500 dipped . Fortunately for the monsters that committed these crimes against everything that is good, the generations that remember this (I remember the headlines and I was only 11 years old) are dying off and the current generations of American citizens think the world revolves around them and cant see past the end of their cell phones. So, how did you guys feel when you got the Soldiers Medals in 1998? Hugh and I were skeptical in 01, so we asked him a lot of questions and he told us things only he could have known. Exactly what you saw. Since we were sitting shoulder to shoulder, we saw virtually the very same things. When I moved to the East Coast, I stopped at a VA hospital and had a list of things I thought I should get out. As he approached the soldiers, he told them to stop. 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. I said, Thank you, sir, and went back to work. 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. When Hugh gave his order, I distinctly remember pointing my weapon directly down at the ground, so there was no question. They didnt want to. Were you talking about this at the time? Letters to the Editor: Should speed humps be put around all L.A. elementary schools? When did you start talking to investigators? As we did, we heard automatic weapon fire. I read the citation and thought what? It was a dime short and day late for Hugh, 30 years after the factafter causing him griefthen theyre going to call him a hero? According to Miriam-Webster.com, the word "testimony means: proof or evidence that something exists or is true, firsthand authentication of a fact, an open acknowledgment, a public profession of religious experience . If we would have had direct contact, we could have told them that these people are unarmed, no threat. Among those numbers were 17 pregnant women and 56 infants. Hugh said, Im going to take him on the right, which meant he was my target. Thompson had become something of a professional witness. Instead, the Army hid the slaughter of hundreds of innocent people, including 182 women and 173 children. 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. For his interference. Thompson told his crew, Im going to go over to the bunker myself and get these people out. 1st Platoon of Company C, commanded by Lieutenant William Laws Calley Jr., forced approximately 7080 villagers, mostly women and children, into an irrigation ditch and murdered the civilians with knives, bayonets, grenades, and small arms fire. 171 0 obj <> endobj by Vietnam magazine 2/7/2011. He said: They are coming this way. Hugh P. Thompson was the chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. It was like he dropped out of the sky. Then, in 1998, the Army awarded him the Soldiers Medal for heroism. In unison, all three of us shouted, You son of a bitch! That was Captain Ernest Medina. They were true American heroes. 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. Weve been accused of many things, of being traitors. 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. If people have some confusion about that, thats their problem. And then she finished her sentence: she said, So we could forgive them.'. You felt pretty vulnerable in that little helicopter. Nicholas Goldberg: Is God on the side of blasphemy laws? On March 6, 1998, the Army presented the Soldier's Medal, for heroism not involving conflict with an enemy, to Mr. Thompson; to his gunner, Lawrence Colburn; and, posthumously, to Mr. Andreotta, who was killed in a helicopter crash three weeks after the My Lai massacre. 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. But still, who do you shoot? 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. Harry claimed a 'secret agreement' stopped him bringing hacking claims earlier 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. I guess thats the $64,000 question isnt it? I thought someone else was getting recognition for something. 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. He had a great rapport with enlisted men, as he had been one himself. Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. was born on April 15, 1943, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, to Wessie and Hugh Clowers 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. Hugh and I went in 1998 with 60 Minutes, just after we were given the Soldiers Medal. When Mr. Thompson returned home, it seemed to him that he was viewed as the guilty party. I thank God to this day that everybody did stay cool and nobody opened up. Hell, I didnt want to believe it, either, but I had no choice because I saw it.. Im giving interviews and working with students. But it turns out he was 8. They landed their helicopter between the American forces and the civilians, and they trained their guns on the advancing Americans. When the orders came down, the CO called me into his office and demanded to know what they were for. I think I may have been in shock to some extent. But that was not to be the case. From his helicopter, Hugh Thompson could not communicate with Charlie Company on the ground. Calley pointed his weapon at him and threatened him with a court-martial. It took several weeks of time, and several volumes of testimony to satisfy the United States pen<rion bureau that "Old Reliable" was the identical soldier who had enlisted in Company H, Fifteenth Ohio volunteer Infantry, in 1862, and who was last reported "wounded and missing In battle of . Thats what they want to do. Hugh was running scenarios through his head to figure it out. 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. Finally, the Army launched an inquiry. Back at their base he filed a complaint about the killing of civilians that he had witnessed. Did the boy have a recollection of March 16, 1968? If Hugh knew that, it would have made everything he went through worthwhile for him. He angered some GIs as he tried to photograph them as they fondled the breasts of a fifteen-year-old Vietnamese girl. If there was anything that was cleansing for me that was it. Well, I took the prescriptions, ripped them up into little pieces and walked out. To see people herded up like so many animals, marched into a ditch and machine-gunned? Colburn said. Colburn came from Atlanta to be at his bedside. 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 . 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. Charlie Company arrived in M Lai with orders to destroy the village. We were told by the prosecuting attorneys to keep our mouths shut, and I didnt advertise the fact I was at My Lai. Possibly we could have stopped things earlier. I went back in 2008 for the 40th anniversary. They were going to kill more, but they didnt because of what Thompson did. I have a few lined up at some universities this year. He walked about 50 meters and encountered the lieutenant who was leading the squad. You must have had some post-traumatic stress after your experience in Vietnam. 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. Had you ever seen anything even approaching this before? 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? In harsh times, heroes are ordinary men doing extraordinary things. Ultimately, it was a pubic relations move, they had to give the medal. Hugh said: These people are going to die. Except for the boy, it appeared the rest were already dead. 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. Particularly because of the Peers and the IG investigations, I thought there were people sincere about upholding the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But I really didnt know what was going to happen or how to react. "Something terrible happened here 30 years ago today," Mr. Thompson was quoted as saying by CNN. We are inundated with information but we are not very well informed. 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. I would be there from December 67 to December 68. Since Hughs death, I have become the recipient of some of the hate mail he used to get. .d,H2F I met Thompson in 2000 and interviewed him for my radio program on KPFK in Los Angeles. But Ive had my episodes. At some point they finally did call for a cease-fire, but by then it was too late. . What would I have done if I were a man on the ground? Whats that make you, my buddy? So, just because guys served in the same theater doesnt necessarily mean we are all that close. But, after going through the process and seeing the ultimate outcome, I wasnt really surprised, but I was disillusioned. I know its great copy, but Ive tried to correct the record many times: No one pointed any weapons at anybody. Calley had many supporters, who condemned and harassed Thompson. We went back to the ditch because we knew there were a lot of people there who could have been saved. Did you fly with him much before My Lai? He was evacuated to a hospital in Japan and began a long rehabilitation period. He was 62. When I finally got in to see the guy, he was a major, he wouldnt make eye contact as I read my list. Prepared Testimony and Statement for the Record of Hugh Thompson Chief Technology Officer Hearing on "Bolstering the Government's Cybersecurity: Lessons Learned from WannaCry" Before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Oversight and Subcommittee on Research and Technology Indeed, for a time, Thompson himself feared court-martial. You found later that that wasnt true? Nearby, a squad of soldiers approached with weapons drawn. 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. 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.

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