From Testimony to Tragedy: My Lai in Personal Perspective Michael W. Flamm Michael W. Flamm Michael W. Flamm is professor of history at Ohio Wesleyan University. We also did a lot of recon missions and flying into free-fire zones to find enemy positions. 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. Hugh Thompson reported the massacre to his commanding officer. He was presumably mindful of the ostracism he had faced and the long wait for that medal ceremony in Washington. You are the ones that deserve to be called American Soldiers. Thompson wanted you to also make a report? But to see people herded up like so many animals, marched into a ditch and machine-gunned? Every time Ive been back there, the survivors ask me, Why dont the men who committed the atrocities come back and ask for forgiveness so that we might forgive them. Theyre Buddhists you know, they can forgive, put it behind them and carry on. This thread is archived New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast 73K 94 2.4K 2.4K comments Best artnaqent 1 yr. ago Standing up for what's right, shouldn't be as hard as that. I walked in and told Henderson we saw unnecessary killing of many civilians. 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. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. 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. In November 1970, the M Lai trials started and Hugh Thompson testified against William Calley. He told me not to say anything to anybody, and just tell the truth when I got there. It was Hugh and he told me that I would be getting orders to report to Washington. He was very helpful to General Peers and it seemed like he wasnt just going through the motions, it was like he really wanted to know what happened. It was unusual, the only time it happened while I was there. That was the only enemy combatant we saw that day. But I really didnt know what was going to happen or how to react. Larry Colburn was a door gunner with crew chief Glenn Andreotta and Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson as pilot of a small scout . They interviewed Hugh Thompson and his crew. Hugh Thompson was determined to stop the massacre. It was in their hands. Did the word about what happened at My Lai get around? At the same time, judging from Hendersons reactionhe seemed almost nonchalant, like it was just another day at the office. I thank God to this day that everybody did stay cool and nobody opened up. We know that Americans committed a massacre 50 years ago today; and we also know that an American stopped it. To do something like that in the whirlwind of war was downright insane, and thats exactly what he did. 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. 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. If we would have had direct contact, we could have told them that these people are unarmed, no threat. Did you have any knowledge of who was being inserted into My Lai that morning? However, Ive spoken to survivors on different occasions who had been at the bottom of the pile. Join Facebook to connect with Hugh Thompson and others you may know. Anyone can read what you share. Whenever I felt discouraged about things, Hugh would remind me that if we get through to just one person, its worth it. So you were encouraged at that point? I just thank God everybody kept their cool and no one made any quick moves. There was also testimony of absolute insanity. We took him out of the area to a hospital and gave him to a nun. By this time, Lt. William Calleys Charlie Company was reaching My Lai? I said Im not really at liberty to say. I remember wearing the same fatigues and they were pretty much covered with blood stains from carrying the boy and being in that ditch. How did you feel about that? It went on like that for another year and half until finally they agreed to award medals to all of us. Were you talking about this at the time? I believe Glenn got a Bronze Star too. It has turned me into a cynic philosopher. It was women, children and elders we saw. I read the citation and thought what? They were face to face, screaming at each other. Hell, I didnt want to believe it, either, but I had no choice because I saw it. For a while we were going out on snatch missions, where wed basically kidnap draft-age males and take them in for interrogations. Calley was the only person found guilty out of the 14 charged. What did you do after My Lai for the rest of your tour? As the wounded tried to crawl out, they were fired on by someone who had been left there to do just that. He struggled too. I wish we could have done more to thank him. But still, who do you shoot? 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. Were you glad you got it? Upon coming home, he got death threats and the like. %%EOF So he called our low gunship, piloted by a friend of his, Dan Millans, and said: Danny, I need a favor. And then she finished her sentence: she said, So we could forgive them.'. It had to be. Who were the people lying in the roads and in the ditch, wounded and killed? I was 17 when I enlisted in 1966 with some friends. So I was not a good guy.". The alternative was to be in an infantry unit, and I was told it would be a good idea to attach to an aviation company, better odds there. Finally, when the sergeant said OK, Hugh thought hed convinced him and got back in the helicopter and we pulled out. The My Lai Massacre was and still is a huge, shameful event that will be hard for several generations to get past. Indeed, for a time, Thompson himself feared court-martial. Probably not. They could communicate with the command craft that was flying at altitude. I met Thompson in 2000 and interviewed him for my radio program on KPFK in Los Angeles. Thompson left the Army in 1983 and became a private helicopter pilot in the South. Charlie Company arrived in M Lai with orders to destroy the village. We also want to carry on Hughs passionate advocacy for all veterans, not just Vietnam vets. It couldnt be gunships, they werent firing on people. First He Castrated Himself. We thought that was good, that they would be out of the way. PFC. 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. After seeing U.S. troops advancing on a Vietnamese family, he landed his helicopter, called in gunships to rescue the civilians, and ordered his gunner to fire on any American who interfered. But when he returned to his Stateside home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Thompson received death threats and insults, while Calley was pardoned by President Nixon. Yes. At some point they finally did call for a cease-fire, but by then it was too late. 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. In an interview first broadcast in 2004, Hardtalk's Tim Sebastian spoke to Mr. This ended his combat career in Vietnam. As we got back on station, we saw a lot of villagers leaving and figured that we may have dropped leaflets or had fired some artillery in morning. They approached but because the aircraft was at flight idle they tended to stay back a little. Hugh Thompson died in 2006, when he was only 62. Hugh Thompson was a volunteer officer in the Vietnam War who turned his squad's weapons on American soldiers to stop them raping and murdering more women and . Thompson had become something of a professional witness. What happened next was one of the most remarkable events of the entire war, and perhaps unique: Thompson told the American troops that, if they opened fire on the Vietnamese civilians in the bunker, he and his crew would open fire on them. Upon returning from the mission, Thompson reported what he had seen and experienced to his. 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. Typically, when we post testimonies here on truthsaves, we're detailing conversion experiences. Weve been accused of many things, of being traitors. The military was forced after an eight-year letter writing campaign by David Egan, a professor at Clemson University, and a businessman named William Cavanaugh. They were finally recognized for the heroic act they did. There were probably 10 in the squad. He told the story of what happened that day, when he and his two-man crew flew over My Lai, in support of troops who were looking for Viet Cong fighters. Commentary: Opponents need to stop equating abortion with eugenics, Editorial: Polluters keep trying to block gas bans. That one person will go on to tell 10 other people. There could be a reason for doing it, or there could have simply been a complete breakdown in leadership. I wanted to survive and get home. Larry Colburn talks about his late friend Hugh Thompson, the My Lai massacre, the subsequent cover up, investigations and trials. So I was not a good guy.. I dont know who did what. When I got to Vietnam I was attached to a headquarters company. As we did, we heard automatic weapon fire. With Hugh, usually the more tense the situation, the more comical he would be. I was raised with a sense of duty. That particular morning we were to provide reconnaissance for a ground operation that was going on in My Lai 4, which was better known to us as Pinkville." It was supposed to be a real big operation that day. At first, I just felt shock. I was back at Ft. Did you consider bringing gunships to ferry out others from the ditch? One of the ladies that we had helped out that day came up to me and asked, Why didnt the people who committed these acts come back with you? And I was just devastated. How many of them went on to draw military pay and benefits? His final term would have expired in December 2018; he retired in January 2017. On March 16, 1998, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn attended a service at My Lai marking the 30th anniversary of the massacre. I want you to come down here and shuttle these people out of here. And thats what happened, but at that he had to make two trips. View the profiles of people named Hugh Thompson. When it was all happening, the feeling I had was, if this is how Im going to die, Im OK with it. Jon Wiener is professor emeritus of history at UC Irvine, and working, with Mike Davis, on a book on Los Angeles in the 1960s. He said youre a plant arent you. Particularly because of the Peers and the IG investigations, I thought there were people sincere about upholding the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Jan Swango Emerson and Hugh Feiss, eds., Imagining Heaven in the Middle Ages (New York: Garland, 2000); . 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. After we took the boy to Quang Nai, we went back to our base, and Hugh Thompson and I reported to Colonel Oran Henderson. Glenn took a .51-caliber in the head, he was dead before he hit the ground. Hugh landed and ran over and told the sergeant, These are civilians, we got to help them out. The sergeant agreed, telling Hugh hed help themout of their misery. Hugh continued to argue, said they were no threat, they had no weapons. When we would come back to those we marked, wed find they were now dead. We came to think we were indirectly killing these people ourselves by marking them with smoke. When we first saw him in 2001, he said all he wanted was to get out of Ho Chi Minh City where he worked in a factory at low wages, and get back to village and find a wife. Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot who rescued Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre, reported the killings to his superior officers in a rage over what he had seen, testified at the inquiries and received a commendation from the Army three decades later, died yesterday in Alexandria, La. I didnt write Hugh up for anything and he said he didnt write me up. Ive had PTSD issues for 42 years. When Mr. Thompson returned home, it seemed to him that he was viewed as the guilty party. We came in from altitude down to low level. So, what do you make of Calleys apology last year? It was time to stop it, and I figured, at that point, that was the only way the madness, or whatever you want to call it, could be stopped.. Hugh Clowers Thompson Sr. was an electrician who served in the United States Navy during World War II. Only he would have known that. Thompson ran over and said, These are civilians, we got to help them out.. When I moved to the East Coast, I stopped at a VA hospital and had a list of things I thought I should get out. Did you get help? He just lateraled the ball to Medina. There was a guy at the ditch with Calley, shooting people not yet dead. Following graduation, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served in a naval mobile construction battalion at Naval Air Station Atlanta, Georgia, as a heavy equipment operator. And it turned out it was a good thing that they did. I think it is deception, and that remains constant today. When did you make your report of what happened? They killed everything. 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. 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, []. You felt pretty vulnerable in that little helicopter. I wish I was, but I wont lie to anybody. He also wanted to be able to get out quickly if need be. But he didnt even draw a sidearm as he walked up to the bunker and motioned to the people to come out. Some of Calleys men didnt follow Calleys orders and did nothing. As murderous bloodlust unfolded on the ground below, Thompson and crew confronted fellow GIs to save numerous civilians from the fate of some 500 others that morning. Hugh Thompson is a genuine, bone-fide hero of the Vietnam war, protecting hundreds from being massacred by US troops at My Lai. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. I may have clipped him but he made it to the trees. The outcome of the trails was disgraceful, and Hugh and I saw that it was a sham. Afterwards Thompson testified at the trial of Lt. William Calley, the commanding officer during the massacre. You started out on an OH-23 scout helicopter? I flew from Ft. Wed done what we could. Glenn and I were staring them down and watching to see how it would unfold. Im a garden-variety human being and thats all there is to it. He had a great rapport with enlisted men, as he had been one himself. Today is the 50th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre, when US soldiers raped and murdered 500 Vietnamese civilians and burned their homes. As Hugh jumped out, he told us to take our weapons down off the bungee cords and take some belted ammo and backup weapons and set up a little perimeter around the aircraft. That Is little Hugh!" It was "Little Hugh" sure enough. I have a few lined up at some universities this year. On the morning of March 16, 1968, the people of M Lai were making breakfast when soldiers stormed in. 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. Hugh P. Thompson was the chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. But it turns out he was 8. Hugh alerted the low gunship as to what we had seen on the ground. It can be disturbing. 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. Upon seeing that, Hugh Thompson landed the helicopter, approached Calley, and talked to him. He found 69 between the ages of 4 and 7, and 91 between the ages of 8 and 12. This is not what Im here for. 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.. When did you start talking to investigators? No one wants a president to die in office. Furious, Hugh Thompson landed again, this time in front of a bunker where civilians were hiding. The eyewitness testimony of Thompson and his surviving crew member helped convict Calley at a court-martial. No, because the commander was on a different frequency. Hugh and I went in 1998 with 60 Minutes, just after we were given the Soldiers Medal. There were real good highs, he told me, and very low lows. I had an administrative MOS and was ordered to Hawaii where I was working as a courier. Innocent people didnt die that day They didnt just fly off the handle and engage a target that was borderline. Hugh Thompson Jr. graduated from Stone Mountain High School on June 5, 1961. Hell, I didnt want to believe it, either, but I had no choice because I saw it.. I think I may have been in shock to some extent. I went back in 2008 for the 40th anniversary. Thats what keeps me going. I was a helicopter pilot that day, and I guess I was invited here to tell you about a day of my life. And I was just devastated. HUGH THOMPSON: I'm Hugh Thompson. Hugh Thompson on his way to testify against William Calley on November 23, 1970. Whats that make you, my buddy? So, just because guys served in the same theater doesnt necessarily mean we are all that close. No. According to Miriam-Webster.com, the word "testimony means: proof or evidence that something exists or is true, firsthand authentication of a fact, an open acknowledgment, a public profession of religious experience . Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Opinion: California wants more psychiatric detentions. No, but Hugh was sent on missions in his OH-23 with his back up another OH-23no gunshipsinto Dragon Valley, where there was rocket activity. In 2001 we went back and were reunited with the boy in the ditch. I thought someone else was getting recognition for something. California cities shouldnt be deterred. Glenn shouted, Hes firing into the ditch again!, How did Hugh react when reason failed? It all crystallized in that moment. ArmyThe bodies of massacred villagers at M Lai, as captured by a U.S. Army photographer. Colburn came from Atlanta to be at his bedside. In the middle of a firefight I was an E4, what was I to do? Were you prepared to fire on the squad? Then, in 1998, the Army awarded him the Soldiers Medal for heroism. Justice, if it could ever be achieved in this case, would have been to line each and every one of them up in front of a firing squad and start shooting from the knees up. People need to know who Hugh Thompson was, what he did and why he did it. In unison, all three of us shouted, You son of a bitch! That was Captain Ernest Medina. It was like he dropped out of the sky. So, how did you guys feel when you got the Soldiers Medals in 1998? Hugh Thompson reported the massacre to his commanding officer. Since Hughs death, I have become the recipient of some of the hate mail he used to get. Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up.