Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot, had threatened to fire on the American troops in order to rescue Vietnamese women and children from the slaughter. I have come to understand him more now than I did when he was here. He angered some GIs as he tried to photograph them as they fondled the breasts of a fifteen-year-old Vietnamese girl. Document points to Nixon in My Lai cover-up attempt - CBS News The squad leader ordered Thompson and his men to get out of the way. 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. No, we had no knowledge of who they were, we just knew they were Americans on the ground and we would have done anything for them. Everybody's 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. Im going to go over to the bunker myself and get these people out. 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. Did you fly with him much before My Lai? It was about six months ago that the S&P 500 dipped . There was some chatter since most of the people at Ft. "They said I was screaming quite loud," he told U.S. News & World Report in 2004. Did you experience retaliation for what you did that day, or for talking to Henderson? You started out on an OH-23 scout helicopter? Mr. Thompson remained in combat, then returned to the United States to train helicopter pilots. Thompson spent the rest of his life wondering if he could have saved more lives. Remember, this was later in the morning approaching noon, most of the killing had already been done. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Among those numbers were 17 pregnant women and 56 infants. The eyewitness testimony of Thompson and his surviving crew member helped convict Calley at a court-martial. We surveyed around the bunker and saw that squad approaching. That one person will go on to tell 10 other people. And it turned out it was a good thing that they did. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. We came across a ditch, with probably 150 or more people in it and the wounded trying to crawl out. I did hear that the men on the ground were told to pretend like it never happened. He remembered how Glenn would put him down and pick him back up as he checked on other victims in the ditch. We were told by the prosecuting attorneys to keep our mouths shut, and I didnt advertise the fact I was at My Lai. It was an enemy tactic to blur the lines between combatants and noncombatants. He looked up and saw us and then took off for the tree line. I just thank God everybody kept their cool and no one made any quick moves. A list of his survivors was not immediately available. Were you prepared to fire on the squad? 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:. 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, 62, Who Saved Civilians at My Lai, Dies 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. Thompson wanted you to also make a report? 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. I was a helicopter pilot that day, and I guess I was invited here to tell you about a day of my life. Hugh struggled, but you see the people who survived are still in the same village, doing what they do. 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. She asked me what it was about, and I said I wasnt sure. 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.. You were a witness for the prosecution in the trials that followed? How did you and Hugh reconcile what you knew happened with the outpouring of public support for Calley and his men? I think he broke his flight helmet, he threw it down so hard. 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. We are inundated with information but we are not very well informed. It was Hugh and he told me that I would be getting orders to report to Washington. Justice Thompson was re-elected for additional six-year terms in 2000, 2006, and 2012. There was a guy at the ditch with Calley, shooting people not yet dead. Except for the boy, it appeared the rest were already dead. It has turned me into a cynic philosopher. 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.. At some point they finally did call for a cease-fire, but by then it was too late. 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. They couldnt have been killed by artillery. Hugh Thompson Jr. - Wikipedia the testimony he gave to the House Committees and the courts-martial of the . Hugh Thompson & Helicopter Crew Honored for Helping End My - YouTube Hugh Thompson and My Lai - CounterPunch.org Medina and maybe higher. If Hugh knew that, it would have made everything he went through worthwhile for him. Only he would have known that. Join Facebook to connect with Hugh Thompson and others you may know. 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. Then, take a look through these declassified Vietnam War photos.

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