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Who’s Heard of Hugh Thompson?
I hadn’t. Maybe it’s a product of being part of the post-Vietnam generation.
An Army helicopter pilot, Thompson intervened in the My Lai massacre, placing his chopper in the line of American fire and pointing his guns at the butchering US troops in order to protect terrified Vietnamese civilians, eventually stopping the killing. In 1998, he was awarded the Soldier’s Medal for his actions.
Anyway, he died several months back. But I think he deserves to be saluted, now and forever, as true American hero.
5 Responses to “Who’s Heard of Hugh Thompson?”
I had not heard of him either and I was a youth and teenager during the Vietnam war.
The news stories of the tragedy usually focus on the soldiers who perpetrated the crime and not on those who came to the rescue of the villagers. It took a lot of guts for the gunners to face down their fellow soldiers.
I hadn’t heard of him – and I was living at Ft. Benning, GA at the time, where the Calley court martial was convened. My (in my mind only, given I was 12 or 13) girlfriend’s father, a bird colonel, was on the jury and I remember I was very impressed he was mentioned in Newsweek for some reason.
BoA, you’re absolutely correct about the media coverage at the time, it seems to me.
His death was fairly prominent in the papers down here. He occasionally wrote a column for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Usually on veteran’s or military issues. I didn’t always agree with him but from his words you could tell he was a man of reason and honor. He will be missed.
NPR had a nice lengthy piece on him when he died.