hugh thompson testimony

That Is little Hugh!" It was "Little Hugh" sure enough. 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. 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. hbbd``b`:$WXWkZ ["|Ab b:H2@#H@ ( And yes, they did know that. You felt pretty vulnerable in that little helicopter. They were true American heroes. I enjoyed that. It has turned me into a cynic philosopher. ", Hugh Thompson, 62, Who Saved Civilians at My Lai, Dies, https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/07/us/hugh-thompson-62-who-saved-civilians-at-my-lai-dies.html. What about those who didnt stand up to evil in their midst? In the middle of a firefight I was an E4, what was I to do? View the profiles of people named Hugh Thompson. But still, who do you shoot? I was hoping there would be justice, but what did it achieve? 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. 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. Commentary: Opponents need to stop equating abortion with eugenics, Editorial: Polluters keep trying to block gas bans. Thompson and his crew managed to evacuate the civilians and stop the massacre. Billy Waugh, a fabled Special Forces Green Beret and CIA military operative, served in Vietnam and helped hunt for Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists. They interviewed Hugh Thompson and his crew. How did you get to the 123rd Aviation Battalion? Andreotta died in action a few weeks later, but Thompson and Colburn were key witnesses in the investigations and trials to follow. How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! We hope to link up with other organizations and grow some legs. Whats that make you, my buddy? So, just because guys served in the same theater doesnt necessarily mean we are all that close. When Mr. Thompson returned home, it seemed to him that he was viewed as the guilty party. His final term would have expired in December 2018; he retired in January 2017. Hugh struggled, but you see the people who survived are still in the same village, doing what they do. Nicholas Goldberg: Is God on the side of blasphemy laws? Upon coming home, he got death threats and the like. Hugh Thompson was a United States Army Major and a former warrant officer in the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division who helped end the My Lai Massacre of the South Vietnamese village known as Sn M on March 16, 1968. Mr. Thompson worked as a veterans' counselor in Louisiana after leaving military service. Well, it wasnt really an apology, was it? Could you have just reported this and left, knowing youd at least made an effort? Were you talking about this at the time? Whats going on? And we started thinking what might have happened, but you didnt want to accept that thought because if you accepted it, that means your own fellow Americans, people you were there to protect, were doing something very evil.. We had different missions. "I'd received death threats over the phone," he told the CBS News program "60 Minutes" in 2004. Had you ever seen anything even approaching this before? Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. was born on April 15, 1943, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, to Wessie and Hugh Clowers Thompson. He just lateraled the ball to Medina. At first, they only wanted to give it to Hugh at a private ceremony. 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. When I got to Vietnam I was attached to a headquarters company. PFC. .d,H2F I didn't want to be a part of that. The outcome of the trails was disgraceful, and Hugh and I saw that it was a sham. They didnt want to. He is best known for his role in stopping the My Lai Massacre, in which a group of US Army soldiers tortured and killed several hundred unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mutilating their bodies after they had been murdered. So, he decided to do something. As we did, we heard automatic weapon fire. In 1998, 30 years after the massacre, Hugh Thompson and the two other crew members, Andreotta and Colburn, were awarded the Soldiers Medal (Andreotta posthumously), the United States Armys highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. Calley told Thompson that he was following orders, presumably from Capt. When Hugh asked me to come with him and report what had happened, he said: Just tell the truth. This ended his combat career in Vietnam. When did you start talking to investigators? What led you to enlist in the Army? For more information about the Hugh Thompson Foundation, visit www.designaire.com/HughThompson, Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. When we would come back to those we marked, wed find they were now dead. %%EOF You and Hugh had the opportunity to tell your stories to young military officers. Glenn had a visual on some sort of movement in the ditch, so Hugh landed, and Glenn and I got out. 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. 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. When the officers take part in it, it just escalates things. 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 didnt talk too much about it ourselves because we reported on it and we were, frankly, preoccupied with the next mission. Did you consider bringing gunships to ferry out others from the ditch? Join Facebook to connect with Hugh Thompson and others you may know. Jan Swango Emerson and Hugh Feiss, eds., Imagining Heaven in the Middle Ages (New York: Garland, 2000); . Did you fly with him much before My Lai? Harry's phone-hacking testimony contained 'troubling factual inconsistencies', hacking judge says. 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. But many in the Army and the public supported Calley over Thompson. Hugh Thompson reported the massacre to his commanding officer. He tried to persuade him to stop the attack but with no success. 0 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. I was a helicopter pilot that day, and I guess I was invited here to tell you about a day of my life. We came across a ditch, with probably 150 or more people in it and the wounded trying to crawl out. Where else in history has a massacre of civilians been stopped in the middle of the massacre? These were infants, two-, three-, four-, five-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever.. When they started convicting people, I thought, now this is how it should unfold. Hugh told her he probably didnt have any family left. Interestingly, there are those toying with the idea of inviting him to make the trip back to My Lai to ask for the people there for forgiveness. By then I was a civilian and was trying to attend college on the GI Bill, but I kept getting subpoenas. It can be disturbing. I testified in the trials of Henderson, Medina and Calley. 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. Hugh Thompson Jr. graduated from Stone Mountain High School on June 5, 1961. He had to make sure his mother, brother and sister, killed in the ditch, were buried properly. He had a great rapport with enlisted men, as he had been one himself. endstream endobj startxref Even though the military has admitted to the massacre, many people are not capable of acknowledging and processing that information. Hugh said: These people are going to die. We had no direct radio contact with the men on the ground. Thompson told his crew, Im going to go over to the bunker myself and get these people out. If people have some confusion about that, thats their problem. He didnt want to appear to be frantic; he wanted to be taken seriously by Henderson. How did you and Hugh reconcile what you knew happened with the outpouring of public support for Calley and his men? No. Did the gunship crews know what was happening on the ground before this? No. The eyewitness testimony of Thompson and his surviving crew member helped convict Calley at a court-martial. As children ran for safety, soldiers gunned them down. It was denial on the part of the public. How many men were in squad and were they threatening? After evacuating the people, you thought you could do more? Central to the case prosecuted by the Civilian Complaint. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. It is amazing to see the strength of the human spirit. Of course anyone thinking of making a career in the military probably pretended they never heard anything. Hood were returnees, but no one really zeroed in on what was happening. He teaches the U.S. history survey since 1877 and specialized courses on Vietnam, 1960s America, and U.S. foreign relations. They approached but because the aircraft was at flight idle they tended to stay back a little. Afterwards Thompson testified at the trial of Lt. William Calley, the commanding officer during the massacre. That was the only enemy combatant we saw that day. All content is protected by copyright and may not be used for commercial purposes without prior written permission. You and Hugh had a pretty low profile during and after the trials? My Lai massacre was a bloody stain of the Vietnam War, but one man changed the course of the battle and went from traitor to hero. They were not running, but just slowly moving out of the village. You were a witness for the prosecution in the trials that followed? They were not listening, so he did the unbelievable, he drew his own sidearm and pointed it at them. But when he returned to his Stateside home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Thompson. A list of his survivors was not immediately available. We took him out of the area to a hospital and gave him to a nun. You found later that that wasnt true? 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. So he gave me prescriptions for several psychotropic drugs. This is not what Im here for. Many fellow GIs still dont think you did the right thing? Like most 18-year-old males I was nave, had no idea what risks were. 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.. Im sorry. Typically, when we post testimonies here on truthsaves, we're detailing conversion experiences. Some peoplepublicly stated that they felt Thompson was the only soldier at My Lai who should be punished (for turning his weapons on fellow American troops) and wanted to see him court-martialed for his actions at My Lai. 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.. . You are the ones that deserve to be called American Soldiers. If its not sincere, it doesnt mean anything. I dont know who did what. Only he would have known that. . He remembered how Glenn would put him down and pick him back up as he checked on other victims in the ditch. Larry Colburn talks about his late friend Hugh Thompson, the My Lai massacre, the subsequent cover up, investigations and trials. A defendant charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, who testified that he believed he was "following presidential orders" from President Donald Trump when he stormed the building. But to see people herded up like so many animals, marched into a ditch and machine-gunned? There was some chatter since most of the people at Ft. I felt that my testimony validated Hughs, and that was why it was important. The story of My Lai is well known: On the morning of March 16, 1968, a company of U.S. soldiers killed as many as 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians in My Lai, a village in South Vietnam. I went back in 2008 for the 40th anniversary. I got there and Ill never forget my mother taking me into the kitchen and telling me if I didnt want to tell these people anything, I didnt have to. 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. Still, Thompson had saved civilians who would have been killed if he had not intervened. Wed done what we could. So I was not a good guy.. 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. I knew General Peers had gotten in touch with Hugh and took him back over to the scene of the crime. 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. But that was not to be the case. It was absurd, but you have to be willing to pay the price. There was a sergeant standing by the ditch by himself. Hugh Thompson returned to M Lai in 1998 and met some of the people he saved. He showed no reaction at all. We surveyed around the bunker and saw that squad approaching. Facebook gives people the power to. Thompson continued to fly and was hit eight times, in four of which incidents the aircraft was lost. To see people herded up like so many animals, marched into a ditch and machine-gunned? Colburn said. I am sorry this world has lost you. It is denial, a refusal to believe our young men could run amok the way they did. Some soldiers even jumped on the water buffalos, riding them around while trying to kill them with their bayonets. When the orders came down, the CO called me into his office and demanded to know what they were for. 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. 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 The only radio communication we had was with the low gunship. I have accompanied Hugh when he has spoken at West Point, the Naval and Air Force Academies, to the Red Cross, in Norway, Australia and elsewhere. Then he assumed the Army initiated an investigation. Calley had many supporters, who condemned and harassed Thompson. Did you know when the story was about to break? Meet Hugh Thompson, The Hero Who Stopped The M Lai Massacre And Was Branded A Traitor For It. Hes saved lives again. The My Lai story and Hugh Thompsons role in it is really important, but do you find most people are unaware of it? Nobody would be held responsible. You saw him again in 2008? He left the aircraft in flight idle, as rotor blades can be somewhat intimidating. How many of them were paid and paid well to rape and murder innocent babies, children, women and men? For hours, they raped, mutilated, and slaughtered innocent civilians until a helicopter pilot named Hugh Thompson Jr. put his own life on the line to stop the massacre. Thompson testified about the massacre in the U.S. government's military trials, but according to author Trent Angers, two Congressmen who were working in concert with Nixon, managed to seal that. Nearby, a squad of soldiers approached with weapons drawn. When did you make your report of what happened? She asked me what it was about, and I said I wasnt sure. I said, Thank you, sir, and went back to work. Im not that much of a man., I always questioned, in my mind, did anybody know we all arent like that?

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