Thread by @garius

On 16th March, 1968 Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jnr was flying helicopter recon for an attack on an alleged Viet Cong-controlled village in Vietnam.

As the attack developed, Thompson realised he was witnessing something something else:

A massacre.

He decided to act. /1 🧵

At first Thompson and his crew, Lawrence Colburn and Glen Andreotta thought the wounded were the result of artillery fire.

They dropped a green flare near a wounded civilian, expecting the infantry to help. Cpt Medina of Charlie Company walked over and shot her in the head.

"We were hovering six feet off the ground not more than twenty feet away when Captain Medina came over, kicked her, stepped back, and finished her off." He later said. "He did it right in front of us. When we saw Medina do that, it clicked. It was our guys doing the killing."

Horrified, Thompson spotted similar scenes unfolding at an irrigation ditch nearby. He immediately landed his helicopter, attempting to stop the murder.

“These are human beings!" He yelled at the Lieutenant there. "Unarmed civilians sir!”

He was ordered back into his helicopter

From this point on, it was clear to Thompson and his crew that nobody was going to restrain the ground forces. Thompson had no direct radio to them or to their command, so began demanding the other aerial forces present who did intervene. They stayed silent.

As Thompson demanded intervention, they spotted 2nd Platoon Charlie Company, under Lieutenant Brooks closing on a group of women, children and old men to the north. Thompson threw the 'copter towards them and grounded it between the advancing soldiers and the terrified civilians.

Jumping out of the 'copter with only his side arm, he turned to Colburn on the machine gun and issued him an order he would never forget:

If 2nd Platoon fired on him OR the civilians...

“Open up on ‘em. Blow ‘em away.”

Brooks demanded Thompson and his crew move. He refused.

For the next 20mins, an angry standoff took place on the ground. The 'copter crew stared down 2nd Platoon as Thompson begged and swore at the other air units to help.

Eventually two broke away (flown by friends of the crew) and landed, ushering the civilians on board to safety.

Low on fuel Thompson's crew took to the air, aiming for LZ Dottie. There they hoped to get word out and the killing stopped. Passing over the irrigation ditch again, Andreotta saw movement.

They landed. Thompson covered his crew with the machine gun as they saved a 3yr old boy.

At Dottie Thompson stormed into HQ loudly announcing to all what was happening at the place known as My Lai.

"It's mass murder out there. They're rounding them up and herding them in ditches and then just shooting them."

He would not be quieted. He forced his way into command.

Thompson raged that they were acting no better than Nazis. It caused enough of storm that, spooked, the Task Force’s commander ordered an immediate order be relayed to the troops at My Lai for the killing to stop.

Now fully refuelled, Thompson returned to make sure it did.

Thompson’s report into the incident held back nothing. My Lai was becoming uncomfortable for the US forces. They quietly issued him a Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for "bravery under crossfire."

He threw it away. That fire was from his own countrymen killing civilians.

Eventually, Thompson was seriously wounded in action and sent back to the US where he continued to serve, but lost contact with Colburn and Andreotta.

Under pressure and unwilling to break his oath of loyalty to the Army, he remained vocal internally but felt unable to go public

When public news of the massacre finally began to break, Thompson broke cover.

He refused to keep quiet or minimise the crimes committed, despite pressure from press, the military and a hostile Congress.

He stood up. He testified at the enquiry. He was vilified by many.

Thompson was forced to watch as those involved in the massacre were publicly cleared. He received death threats. Dead animals left on his porch. He was threatened with court-martial for ordering his crew to draw weapons on Charlie Company.

He refused to change his account.

In 1988 Michael Bilton, a British filmmaker, was trying to make a documentary about My Lai. He managed to track down Thompson.

Bilton asked him if he would go on camera, and risk going through all that again, to tell the truth again.

Thompson agreed, without hesitation.

You can watch "Four hours in My Lai" below. Made for Yorkshire Television, it won a British Academy award, an Emmy and spawned a successful book. It helped shift the dial. Finally, after decades, the process of recognising what had been done was happening.

Thompson's first appearance is about 29mins in. Colburn, his former gunner, makes an appearance as well. Bilton had managed to track him down, too.

This was the to the delight of both men, who had been trying to find each other for years. Their friendship was renewed.

The process of official acknowledgement and apology for My Lai remained frustratingly slow. Thompson, reinvigorated, became a key voice pushing for it to happen.

"My Lai…was no accident whatsoever." He would say. "Pure, premeditated murder. Are we too big to apologize?"

In 1989 David Egan, a professor at Clemson University, launched a letter-writing campaign to encourage the government to honour Thompson’s heroism at My Lai.

Ten years later, they finally decided to award him the Soldier’s Medal, the highest non-combat award in the US army.

When Thompson learned that ONLY he would be issued the Soldier's Medal he warned the US army that he would refuse it.

He demanded Colburn and Andreotta (who had since died) be awarded it as well, for their own actions that day.

The army relented. All three were recognised.

In 1998, Thompson and Colburn returned to My Lai. Unsure how they would be received, they felt mixed emotions when they were welcomed as honoured guests as part of a grand ceremony to commemorate those lost in the massacre.

Later, Thompson and Colburn privately returned to the site of their stand-off with 2nd Platoon. They were approached by two women, who revealed they were people the men had saved.

“I just wish our crew that day could have saved more people than we did.” Thompson apologised.

One of the women told Thompson that what had happened that day wasn’t his fault. She then asked him why the survivors of Charlie Company - those who had perpetrated the killings - hadn’t come back with them. Not to be subject to their anger, but so they could see, and be forgiven

Thompson would later confess to a journalist that what the woman said devastated him. Because forgiveness was something that he felt was beyond him.

“I’m not man enough to do that.” He said. “I’m sorry. I wish I was, but I won’t lie to anybody. I’m not that much of a man.”

Hugh Thompson Jnr died of cancer at the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Pineville Louisiana in 2006, aged 62.

Lawrence Colburn was sat at his side. He had travelled all the way from Atlanta to be there, at the end, for his former officer, friend, and fellow hero.

Thompson remains, to my mind, one of the finest examples of leadership and courage, military or otherwise, you will find.

It is easy to just "follow orders", pretend you don't see what's happening or that you're just doing what your country needs you to do "for patriotism".

Thompson not only refused to accept any of the above and acted, but he continued to stand up for what was right as many of those around him, in the press, and in public, branded him a traitor.

Because he knew that REAL patriotism was doing what was right, not what he was told.

There are many excellent books on My Lai and now, belatedly, some on Thompson himself.

I recommend starting with the "original" (Four Hours in My Lai). And for Thompson his official biography. amazon.co.uk/Four-Hours-Lai…

amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Hero…

Anyway. Hope you enjoyed this thread. I've been pulling together stuff on Thompson for a while for a book project I'm working on, and figured y'all might appreciate it.

As usual with Friday history threads, if you want to buy me a beer you can do so here! ko-fi.com/garius

ADDENDUM: If you're new to my stuff, you can find lots of my previous history threads compiled here. Enjoy.

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