Hugh Thompson, American Hero

Hugh Thompson, American Hero
By Denis Mueller

Much has been made of John Kerry’s service in Vietnam and a huge segment of the press has jumped on his statement that atrocities were committed in Vietnam. Well, they were, and the Toledo Blade ran a Pulitzer Prize winning series about this. This group was called the Delta Force. But perhaps the most famous incident was the Mi Lai massacre. Here is that story and the story of Hugh Thompson.

Hugh Thompson was the son of an electrical worker and a military man. His father was in the army and served in the navel reserve for thirty years. Thompson’s parents taught him to stand up for other people. He once defended a physically handicapped boy from a group of young bullies who made fun of the unfortunate youngster. After high school, he joined the navy for three years, but switched to the army later and then entered officer school. He became a helicopter pilot and was, in 1967, sent to Vietnam.

On March 16, 1968, Thompson was sent to cover American troops advancing on the village of Mi Lai. He saw no hostile fire from the ground so he went back to the base to refuel. But while he was gone the infamous massacre at Mi Lai had begun. Many of the men would not follow the orders of Lt.Calley. In fact, one man shot himself in the foot rather than carry out the orders to kill. When Thompson returned, he was shocked to see what was happening on the ground. "We started noticing all those bodies everywhere," said Thompson. “Your thinking. What happened here? This little thing in your mind is saying what happened, but you don’t want to believe it because it looks bad....I can remember thinking, Dammit, isn’t this what the Nazi’s did." Thompson saw a young girl rolling along the ground, obviously in great pain, and radioed for help. During this time a soldier walked up to the girl and executed her. Lt. Calley was goading his men to open fire. He had driven the villagers into a ditch and with the help of Paul Meadlow they began slaughtering the Vietnamese. Blood and body parts flew everywhere and when it was all over fifty Vietnamese men, woman and children lay dead.

Thompson knew it was time to act. He flew down and gathered some help from some of the soldiers on the ground. They sought to protect another group of people who had been thrown into a ditch and awaited a similar fate. Thompson had seen enough and when a group of American soldiers approached an elderly couple and a small child fearfully hiding from the crazed Americans. Thompson’s humanity told him not to let this madness continue. "I was going to save them. I set the aircraft down this time between the civilians and the Americans and told my people. If they open up, you open up." The soldiers who had followed Calley’s orders felt a sigh of relief. They would not be forced to kill anymore.

News of the massacre spread among the troops. In fact, Thompson’s heroism most likely saved other lives as well because the Mi Lai massacre was part of a larger search and destroy operation designed to clear out suspected communist hamlets. When he landed, Thompson angrily reported what he had seen to his superiors. The army conducted an investigation of its own and it was led by Colon Powell. Powell tried to whitewash the whole thing, denying that any massacre occurred, but the army and Powell were unsuccessful in their cover-up.

Twenty-five men were tried for murder and rape at My Lai but only Calley was convicted. He was soon pardoned by Richard Nixon. Four years ago, Thompson received the Soldiers Medal, which is awarded for actions on the battlefield not related to combat with the enemy. Hugh Thompson now goes around the country speaking about that horrible day. He is an American hero who knew what the right thing to do was, and did it.

Sources: Lecture by Hugh Thompson
Seymour Hersch