24-yr-old Thompson rescued Vietnamese civilians

For years, the U.S. military tried to cover up the My Lai massacre. In 1968, Hugh Thompson, door-gunner Lawrence Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta rescued Vietnamese civilians from his fellow GIs during the My Lai massacre.

They landed the helicopter in the line of fire between American troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians and pointed their own guns at the U.S. soldiers to prevent more killings.

“There were no weapons captured. There were no draft-age males killed. They were civilians,” says Colburn, referring to the ditch filled with bodies. “It was full … some of the people were still, they were dying, they weren't all dead.”

“I saved the people because I wasn't taught to murder and kill. I can't answer for the people who took part in it,” says Thompson. “I apologize for the ones that did. I just wished we could have helped more people that day.”
In fact, they did help more people. Thompson and Colburn found nine or 10 villagers cowering in a bunker. They radioed for a couple of choppers, which airlifted all of them to safety.

Later, Thompson was treated not as a hero, but as a traitor. He suffered snubs and worse from those who considered him unpatriotic. He recalled a congressman angrily saying that Thompson himself was the only serviceman who should be punished because of My Lai.

As the years passed, Thompson became an example for future generations of soldiers, said Col. Tom Kolditz, head of the U.S. Military Academy's behavioral sciences and leadership department. Thompson went to West Point once a year to give a lecture on his experience, Kolditz said.

In 1998, the Army honored the three men with the prestigious Soldier's Medal, the highest award for bravery not involving conflict with an enemy.

"It was the ability to do the right thing even at the risk of their personal safety that guided these soldiers to do what they did," Army Maj. Gen. Michael Ackerman said at the 1998 ceremony. The three "set the standard for all soldiers to follow."

But 30 years had passed since the massacre, and Thompson says it was strangely unsatisfying. Too late, he says, from a reluctant military leadership. But he felt far different on the stage in Nashville, as he was inducted on the first ballot into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame.

He says it’s a big honor. “This is my peers electing me to put me in there,” says Thompson. “This is my fellow aviators. And that makes me feel good.”

Thompson died Jan. 6. 2006. He was 62 yrs old. I shall never forget you.

--Excerpt from
Common dreams (a national non-profit citizens' organization)
60 Minutes