THE WALL OF FACES

HUGH THOMPSON

~~~ DIES AT AGE 62 ~~~

SAVED CIVILIANS AT MY LAI


By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: 07 January 2006


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, Louisiana.

He was 62.

The cause was cancer, Jay DeWorth, a spokesman for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center where Mr. Thompson died, told The Associated Press.

On 16 March 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.

Mr. Thompson landed twice in an effort to determine what was happening, finally coming to the realization that a massacre was taking place.

The second time, he touched down near a bunker in which a group of about 10 civilians were being menaced by American troops.

Using hand signals, Mr. Thompson persuaded the Vietnamese to come out while ordering his gunner and his crew chief to shoot any American soldiers who opened fire on the civilians. None did.

Mr. Thompson radioed for a helicopter gunship to evacuate the group, and then his crew chief, GLENN ANDREOTTA, pulled a boy from a nearby irrigation ditch, and their helicopter flew him to safety.

Mr. Thompson told of what he had seen when he returned to his base.

" They said I was screaming quite loud," he told U.S. News & World Report in 2004. " I threatened never to fly again. I didn't want to be a part of that. It wasn't war."

Mr. Thompson remained in combat, then returned to the United States to train helicopter pilots.

When the revelations about My Lai surfaced, he testified before Congress, a military inquiry and the court-martial of Lieutenant William L. Calley Jr., the platoon leader at My Lai, who was the only soldier to be convicted in the massacre.

When Mr. Thompson returned home, it seemed to him that he was viewed as the guilty party.

" I'd received death threats over the phone," he told the CBS News program " 60 MINUTES " in 2004. " Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up. So I was not a good guy."

On 6 March 1998, the United States Army presented the SOLDIER'S MEDAL, for heroism not involving conflict with an enemy, to Mr. Thompson; to his gunner, LAWRENCE COLBURN; and, posthumously, to Glenn Urban Andreotta, who was killed in a helicopter crash three weeks after the My Lai massacre.

The citation, bestowed in a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, said the three crewmen landed " in the line of fire between American ground troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians to prevent their murder."

On 16 March 1998, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn attended a service at My Lai marking the 30th anniversary of the massacre.

" Something terrible happened here 30 years ago today," Mr. Thompson was quoted as saying by CNN. " I cannot explain why it happened. I just wish our crew that day could have helped more people than we did."

Mr. Thompson worked as a veterans' counselor in Louisiana after leaving military service.

A list of his survivors was not immediately available.

Through the years, he continued to speak out, having been invited to West Point and other military installations to tell of the moral and legal obligations of soldiers in wartime.

He was presumably mindful of the ostracism he had faced and the long wait for that medal ceremony in Washington.

As he told The Associated Press in 2004: " Don't do the right thing looking for a reward, because it might not come."

According to an Associated Press article dated 1/07/06, early in the morning of 3/16/68, helicoptor pilot Hugh Thompson, door-gunner Lawrence Colburn, and crew chief Glenn Andreotta came upon U.S. ground troops killing Vietnamese civilians in and around My Lai.

They landed their helicopter in the line of fire between U.S. troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians and pointed their own guns at the U.S. soldiers to prevent more killings. Colburn and Andreotta provided cover for Thompson as he went forward to confront the leader of the U.S. forces. Their efforts led to a cease-fire order at My Lai.

Glenn Andreotta was killed in battle three weeks later.

We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Glenn Andreotta and his brave team members who upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. military and the United States. God bless them and all who continue to defend us.

As I researched The My Lai Massacre I gained more respest for Glenn. Glenn was a huge help with "famous" Hugh Thompson.

SPECIALIST 4

GLENN URBAN ANDREOTTA

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--- LIFE STORY OF THE HERO OF MY LAI REVEALED IN NEW BOOK ---


LAFAYETTE, Louisiana - A new book published in August 1999
reveals that the My Lai massacre - in which 504 civilians were
killed in the Vietnam War in 1968 - could have taken many more
lives had it not been for the heroic actions of HUGH THOMPSON
and his helicopter crewmen.

The book also reveals that the leaders of the House Armed Services
Committee, at that time, attempted to sabotage the My Lai trials so
that no U.S. soldier would be convicted of war crimes in connection
with the massacre.

Titled, THE FORGOTTEN HERO OF MY LAI: THE HUGH THOMPSON
STORY, the biography was released at a news conference at the
National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on August 5.

The publisher is Acadian House Publishing of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Thompson is the U.S. Army helicopter pilot whose complaint of the
slaughter of civilians brought about the cease - fire that put a stop
to the massacre. He and his crew are credited with directly saving
the lives of nine unarmed civilians who were about to be killed by
fellow U.S. soldiers. They also rescued a five-year-old girl from an
irrigation ditch filled with the bodies of some 170 dead or dying
Vietnamese women, children and old men.

Thompson, GLENN ANDREOTTA and LARRY COLBURN were finally decorated
for heroism by the U.S. Army in March of 1998, some 30 years after
the massacre. They received THE SOLDIER's MEDAL at the Vietnam Wall
in Washington in a ceremony that was publicized throughout the
United States and internationally.

The book was authored by veteran journalist TRENT ANGERS of
Lafayette, Louisiana. The introduction was written by MIKE WALLACE
of CBS News, who was a war correspondent in Vietnam 30 years ago.

In supporting his conclusion that many more would have died in the
massacre had it not been for Thompson's decisive action, the author
cites a number of sources, including the book by LTG WILLIAM R. PEERS,
titled THE MY LAI INQUIRY, as well as trial testimony by LT WILLIAM
CALLEY, the only soldier convicted in the massacre.

"The game plan of Task Force Barker was to permanently get rid of the
Viet Cong from a large area of Quang Ngai Province. My Lai-4 was only
the starting point. It was but one subhamlet of one hamlet in one
village in the target area," Angers writes, explaining that the target
area was made up of six villages with a total population of some 10000
people.

On the subject of the attempt to sabotage the My Lai trials, the author
quotes several sources, including WILLIAM ECKHARDT, a prosecutor in the
trials, and STANLEY RESOR, who was Secretary of the Army at the time.
Eckhardt says the late Congressmen F. Edward Hebert (D-LA) and
L. Mendel Rivers (D-SC), through the use of their investigating
subcommittee, tried to sabotage the prosecution of those responsible
for the massacre.

"Hebert and Rivers decided that these trials were detrimental to the
interests of the United States of America and they tried, calculatingly
and technically using the Jencks Act, to sabotage them," Eckhardt charges.

Moreover, Eckhardt adds, besides trying to get Calley and the others
off the hook, they tried to turn the table on Thompson and set him up
to be court - martialed for threatening the lives of fellow soldiers in this
attempt to stop the killing of the unarmed civilians.

THE FORGOTTEN HERO OF MY-LAI: THE HUGH THOMPSON STORY
is an authorized biography that traces Thompson's life from his birth in
Atlanta in 1943, through his adolescence in Stone Mountain, Georgia,
and his over 20 years in the U.S. military. It provides a detailed account
of his heroic rescue of civilians at My Lai, as well as the stress - filled
role he played as a key government witness in the My Lai massacre trials.

Because of his bravery and ethnical conduct on the battlefield, the book
notes, Thompson received the COURAGE OF CONSCIENCE AWARD from
the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts, which is affiliated with
Harvard Divinity School and Wellesley College. Previous recipients
include MOTHER TERESA of Calcutta and MAHATMA GANDHI.

The 248-page hardcover book is available in bookstores nationwide.

It can also be obtained via the internet (www.acadianhouse.com)
or by mail order from ACADIAN HOUSE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
P.O. BOX 52247, Lafayette, Louisiana 70505 - (800) 850-8851.

The book retails for $ 19.95, plus $ 3.00 for shipping.

The book is dedicated to the memory of the 504 Vietnamese killed in
the massacre. The names of the victims, along with the age and sex
of each, are published as an appendix.

Research for the book uncovered the fact that the story of Thompson's
heroic rescue of civilians is being used in U.S. and European military
training manuals to teach battlefield ethics.

SPECIALIST 4

GLENN URBAN ANDREOTTA

WHO LOST HIS LIFE AT THE AGE OF 20

AS A RESULT OF A

HELICOPTER CRASH ON

8 APRIL 1968

WAS A RECIPIENT OF

THE SOLDIER'S MEDAL

THE PURPLE HEART MEDAL




YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN
NOR SHALL YOU EVER BE