I waited in the hospital waiting room for about four hours to see a psychologist. Our purpose for being there was to protect them. Thats what keeps me going. You know, you think everybody feels you and you can ignore your own symptoms. But many in the Army and the public supported Calley over Thompson. Weve been accused of many things, of being traitors. Hugh Thompsons actions may be unique. Hugh told her he probably didnt have any family left. 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?. 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. He was presumably mindful of the ostracism he had faced and the long wait for that medal ceremony in Washington. 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:. No, because the commander was on a different frequency. Then came the backlash. I was hoping there would be justice, but what did it achieve? View Hugh Thompson's professional profile on LinkedIn. We started noticing these large numbers of bodies everywhere, he told me, people on the road dead, wounded. I said Im not really at liberty to say. I enjoyed that. No. Furious, Hugh Thompson landed again, this time in front of a bunker where civilians were hiding. Justice Thompson was re-elected for additional six-year terms in 2000, 2006, and 2012. He started accusing me of being with CID. When you see your lieutenant or captain initiate these things, some enlisted men on the ground are more likely to do the same thing. So, he decided to do something. And it turned out, after we dropped him off with the nun at the hospital, he didnt stay 24 hours. It has turned me into a cynic philosopher. None did. 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. But in the end,. Then again, it was a Saturday morning and they were possibly going to market. LinkedIn is the world's largest business network, helping professionals like Hugh Thompson discover inside connections to recommended job . Friends I had on the division level told me they were taking volunteers for the 123rd Aviation Battalion. 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 also did a lot of recon missions and flying into free-fire zones to find enemy positions. 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 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.. Id seen civilians get in the way and unfortunately lose their lives because of that. So we continued our recon. 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! The Army covered it up, but the facts eventually came to light and the responsible officer, Capt. PDF Testimony of Dr. Hugh Thompson, HTA Engineering (Expert Witness Back at the base, Thompson threw his flight helmet on the ground. His final term would have expired in December 2018; he retired in January 2017. We came across a ditch, with probably 150 or more people in it and the wounded trying to crawl out. They landed their helicopter between the American forces and the civilians, and they trained their guns on the advancing Americans. Hugh Thompson - Ballotpedia 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. In 1964, Thompson received an honorable discharge from the Navy and returned to Stone Mountain to live a quiet life and raise a family with his wife. At the same time, judging from Hendersons reactionhe seemed almost nonchalant, like it was just another day at the office. I remember wearing the same fatigues and they were pretty much covered with blood stains from carrying the boy and being in that ditch. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Indeed, for a time, Thompson himself feared court-martial. The eyewitness testimony of Thompson and his surviving crew member helped convict Calley at a court-martial. %PDF-1.6 % Interview - Larry Colburn: Why My Lai, Hugh Thompson Matter. From his helicopter, Hugh Thompson could not communicate with Charlie Company on the ground. So, what do you make of Calleys apology last year? Digital History 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. In harsh times, heroes are ordinary men doing extraordinary things. Ill have no part of this, Ill tear these wings off and never fly again! Fortunately, people calmed him down before he reported to Colonel Henderson. HUGH THOMPSON: I'm Hugh Thompson. Thompson wanted you to also make a report? Glenn and I were staring them down and watching to see how it would unfold. On the morning of March 16, 1968, the people of M Lai were making breakfast when soldiers stormed in. After Hugh died, I was invited to Annapolis to speak one more time. Hugh Thompson - Tom Joad He kept the aircraft and himself in between these people and the squad. For his interference. Of course anyone thinking of making a career in the military probably pretended they never heard anything. Hugh Thompson on his way to testify against William Calley on November 23, 1970. An American Hero - CBS News 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. It was denial on the part of the public, said Colburn. U.S. ArmyHugh Thompson in his Army uniform, c. 1966. Letters to the Editor: Should speed humps be put around all L.A. elementary schools? At 8 years old, he made his way about 10 miles through the jungle by himself to the village. In November 1970, the M Lai trials started and Hugh Thompson testified against William Calley. I dont know who did what. He retired as a VA counselor in Louisiana. Using hand signals, Mr. Thompson persuaded the Vietnamese to come out while ordering his gunner and his crew chief to shoot any American soldiers who opened fire on the civilians. I did hear that the men on the ground were told to pretend like it never happened. We hope to link up with other organizations and grow some legs. Im giving interviews and working with students. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Concertgoer lets out a loud full body orgasm while L.A. Phil plays Tchaikovskys 5th, Opinion: Why my Taiwanese American identity has become more complicated. But I really didnt know what was going to happen or how to react. People should realize that when atrocities are committed like this and covered up, it degrades us all. What would I have done if I were a man on the ground? Hood and my CO called me in, said I had a phone call. I read the citation and thought what? He said: They are coming this way. The My Lai massacre of March 16, 1968, stands as one of the darkest moments in U.S. military history. They were going to kill more, but they didnt because of what Thompson did. He told me not to say anything to anybody, and just tell the truth when I got there. 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, a helicopter pilot, had threatened to fire on the American troops in order to rescue Vietnamese women and children from the slaughter. That seemed suicidal to me, going out with next to no backup or firepower. 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. They interviewed Hugh Thompson and his crew. He was 62. Yet in the midst of the chaos and bloodshed, one U.S. soldier followed his convictions. 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. And he was a character, a real joker. I was back at Ft. 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. And you want to instill the spirit of Thompson in others. Thompson was the first to communicate back to headquarters about the killing occurring on the ground. Ill never fly again, he vowed. 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. At some point they finally did call for a cease-fire, but by then it was too late. In the middle of a firefight I was an E4, what was I to do? 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. She enticed me to move to east Oregon, near a ski area. Hugh said: These people are going to die. Did you experience retaliation for what you did that day, or for talking to Henderson? Trent Angers, Thompsons biographer and friend, analyzed the list and found about 50 there who were 3 years old or younger. If we would have had direct contact, we could have told them that these people are unarmed, no threat. 1895), in United States testimony 1892, typescript, 247, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. 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. There were real good highs, he told me, and very low lows. 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. Now we saw them again, but they were all lying on the road, dead or dying. They approached but because the aircraft was at flight idle they tended to stay back a little. Thompson was later promoted to Major, but Thompson was a Warrant Officer in his heroic acts. And when Hugh Thompson testified against William Calley, the officer who ordered the massacre, Thompson received death threats. Thompson was more experienced than Lt. Calley, more ethical, more talented, and brighter, and probably recognized Calley didnt know what he was doing.