hugh thompson testimony

"Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up. Hugh Thompsons actions may be unique. So I was not a good guy.". 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. We knew something seemed wrong. They tried to make arrangements to get him there, but couldnt find him. He tried to explain that these people appeared to be civilians, that we hadnt taken any fire and there was no evidence of combatants in that area. Mercy Thompson, Testimony, Church of Christ in Missouri v. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 70 F. 179 (8th Cir. It was in their hands. While the massacre took place, helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson and his crew flew over the jungle, offering air support. Everybody walked. These were infants, two-, three-, four-, five-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever.. Hugh Thompson is a genuine, bone-fide hero of the Vietnam war, protecting hundreds from being massacred by US troops at My Lai. Im giving interviews and working with students. They got some people to listen, and then there were others in the Pentagon trying to put it at the bottom of the stack. Bettmann/Getty ImagesHugh Thompson on his way to testify against William Calley on November 23, 1970. They had been writing to the Pentagon for years about Hugh, totally unbeknownst to Hugh. In harsh times, heroes are ordinary men doing extraordinary things. But Ive had my episodes. Meet the Participants | American Experience | Official Site | PBS He angered some GIs as he tried to photograph them as they fondled the breasts of a fifteen-year-old Vietnamese girl. In 1999, Thompson and Colburn received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award. A defendant charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, who testified that he believed he was "following presidential orders" from President Donald Trump when he stormed the building. Hugh and I were skeptical in 01, so we asked him a lot of questions and he told us things only he could have known. Hugh Thompson was a United States Army Major and a former warrant officer in the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division who helped end the My Lai Massacre of the South Vietnamese village known as Sn M on March 16, 1968. That Is little Hugh!" It was "Little Hugh" sure enough. I was raised with a sense of duty. Thompson spent the rest of his life wondering if he could have saved more lives. I was a helicopter pilot that day, and I guess I was invited here to tell you about a day of my life. Hugh Thompson - Collierville, Tennessee, United States - LinkedIn NYPD officers face departmental trial over shooting death of mentally I was back at Ft. The second time, he touched down near a bunker in which a group of about 10 civilians were being menaced by American troops. My Lai And Hugh Thompson: A Man of Uncommon Courage You found later that that wasnt true? 187 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<24715D214BB8264D9C081C2824AD5AA6><5B5B6AB10B516B4B92CEE481B23C2455>]/Index[171 29]/Info 170 0 R/Length 83/Prev 54619/Root 172 0 R/Size 200/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. I enjoyed that. 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? At the time, I figured he was 3 or 4 years old, he was tiny. Jan Swango Emerson and Hugh Feiss, eds., Imagining Heaven in the Middle Ages (New York: Garland, 2000); . They were taking volunteers for the 11th Brigade. But, after going through the process and seeing the ultimate outcome, I wasnt really surprised, but I was disillusioned. William Calley, the officer in charge of Charlie Company, ordered American soldiers to round up the villagers and open fire. They were going to kill more, but they didnt because of what Thompson did. PDF The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story Are you guys with me?. It took the Army 30 years, but in 1998, they finally acknowledged that Thompson had done something good. Glenn went down into the ditch and found the boy that he had seen moving and handed him up to me. Court-martial me, and he left his weapon and walked away. Who were the people lying in the roads and in the ditch, wounded and killed? 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. Thompson felt obliged to return to military service when the Vietnam War began. But he didnt even draw a sidearm as he walked up to the bunker and motioned to the people to come out. . Mr. Thompson told of what he had seen when he returned to his base. At the same time, judging from Hendersons reactionhe seemed almost nonchalant, like it was just another day at the office. Anyone can read what you share. People should realize that when atrocities are committed like this and covered up, it degrades us all. Hannah's Testimony - truthsaves.org On the morning of March 16, 1968, the people of M Lai were making breakfast when soldiers stormed in. You are the ones that deserve to be called American Soldiers. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. This ended his combat career in Vietnam. Some soldiers even jumped on the water buffalos, riding them around while trying to kill them with their bayonets. PDF Prepared Testimony and No. We came across a ditch, with probably 150 or more people in it and the wounded trying to crawl out. For a while we were going out on snatch missions, where wed basically kidnap draft-age males and take them in for interrogations. It all crystallized in that moment. That same day, the cover up started. Thompson told his crew, Im going to go over to the bunker myself and get these people out. 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. 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. Nearby, a squad of soldiers approached with weapons drawn. 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. When the revelations about My Lai surfaced, he testified before Congress, a military inquiry and the court-martial of Lt. William L. Calley Jr., the platoon leader at My Lai, who was the only soldier to be convicted in the massacre. Friends I had on the division level told me they were taking volunteers for the 123rd Aviation Battalion. Hugh Clowers Thompson Sr. was an electrician who served in the United States Navy during World War II. 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. Hugh Thompson, the helicopter pilot who stopped the My Lai massacre, later told the news program "60 Minutes" that he was ostracized and received death threats upon his return from Vietnam.. Letters to the Editor: Hey, leave linoleum out of the DeSantis-Disney fight. Im a garden-variety human being and thats all there is to it. I went back in 2008 for the 40th anniversary. Remember, this was later in the morning approaching noon, most of the killing had already been done. A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago today - Los Did you have any knowledge of who was being inserted into My Lai that morning? Before the story broke, did you or Hugh consider going public with the story? Hugh Thompson died in 2006, when he was only 62. They interviewed Hugh Thompson and his crew. And then she finished her sentence: she said, So we could forgive them.'. Genevieve Carlton earned a Ph.D in history from Northwestern University with a focus on early modern Europe and the history of science and medicine before becoming a history professor at the University of Louisville. Thompson was vilified by many Americans for his testimony against United States Army personnel. Thompson continued to fly and was hit eight times, in four of which incidents the aircraft was lost. Thats what keeps me going. There was also testimony of absolute insanity. Id seen civilians get in the way and unfortunately lose their lives because of that. 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. We had thought there were two or three, but there were about 10 in the bunker. And it turned out, after we dropped him off with the nun at the hospital, he didnt stay 24 hours. Thompsons father played a central role in his childrens education. Mr. Thompson landed twice in an effort to determine what was happening, finally coming to the realization that a massacre was taking place. Fortunately for the monsters that committed these crimes against everything that is good, the generations that remember this (I remember the headlines and I was only 11 years old) are dying off and the current generations of American citizens think the world revolves around them and cant see past the end of their cell phones. That one person will go on to tell 10 other people. Interview: Larry Colburn | American Experience | PBS When you see something like that happen, with no negative repercussions, you begin to think perhaps this is the method of operation. Well, it wasnt really an apology, was it? Wed talk a lot and if I was stressing I could always pick up the phone and Hugh could always talk me down. Where else in history has a massacre of civilians been stopped in the middle of the massacre? Innocent people didnt die that day They didnt just fly off the handle and engage a target that was borderline. We took him out of the area to a hospital and gave him to a nun. The Army covered it up. Out of the blue, our unit was called out onto the tarmac for an awards and decoration ceremony. . 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. Harry claimed a 'secret agreement' stopped him bringing hacking claims earlier He recounted in a CBS 60 Minutes television program in 2004, "I'd received death threats over the phone.Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up." [14] [7] I remember catching one of the soldiers eyes and I waved to him and he waved back. I was 17 when I enlisted in 1966 with some friends. In about 10-15 minutes we were back to the same spot where we saw the villagers on the road leaving. And Hugh said, What about my crew? They said they didnt have any intention for awards of the crew. Hell, I didnt want to believe it, either, but I had no choice because I saw it. And the Army company only stopped because Thompson literally put himself between the soldiers and the civilians and threatened to shoot them if they didnt end the killings. Hugh Thompson, 62, Who Saved Civilians at My Lai, Dies Meet Hugh Thompson, The Hero Who Stopped The M Lai Massacre And Was Branded A Traitor For It. The Army covered it up, but the facts eventually came to light and the responsible officer, Capt. . For the sake of any kind of lame justice, they should have been put to death for their atrocities. After evacuating the people, you thought you could do more? They waited until the sun went down and they crawled out of that ditch. I waited in the hospital waiting room for about four hours to see a psychologist. When the orders came down, the CO called me into his office and demanded to know what they were for. When they started convicting people, I thought, now this is how it should unfold. Thats unlikely to improve anyones mental health, Letters to the Editor: Yes, we need to talk about Bidens age. We came to think we were indirectly killing these people ourselves by marking them with smoke. Digital History But in the end,. When you testified in Washington for the Army investigation led by General William Peers, did you feel they were after the real story? In late December 1967, at the age of 25, Hugh Thompson was ordered to Vietnam and assigned to Company B, 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division. 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. Did the boy have a recollection of March 16, 1968? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Thats what they want to do. Many fellow GIs still dont think you did the right thing? 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. Hugh said, No, lets do it at the Wall. They said no, the weather might be bad or something. They were face to face, screaming at each other. Mr. Thompson, you and Mr. Colburn are indeed the heroes in this sordid story and I am ashamed at how they were treated. But eventually the journalist Seymour Hersh found out about the massacre, and his report made it worldwide news and a turning point in the war. Hugh Thompson Jr. was a twenty-five-year-old helicopter pilot and Army warrants officer. Hugh Thompson reported the massacre to his commanding officer. I stayed on gunships for rest of my time in Vietnam. Were you vilified or the target of death threats the way Hugh Thompson was? It was denial on the part of the public. You still didnt understand what was actually happening? You felt pretty vulnerable in that little helicopter. Billy Waugh, a fabled Special Forces Green Beret and CIA military operative, served in Vietnam and helped hunt for Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists. Thompson risked his life and career and had Lt. Calley shoot him. I was always comfortable as the sidekick and enjoyed the time with Hugh. They were true American heroes. The sergeant waited until Thompson left and then fired on the helpless civilians. Now that the dynamics have changed with Hugh passing, I understand now how difficult it was for him, carrying it around in his gut, alone. I saw them shoot an M79 [grenade launcher] into a group of people who were still alive, said Sgt. The eyewitness testimony of Thompson and his surviving crew member helped convict Calley at a court-martial. ' Thompson recalled. 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. Wed 11 Jan 2006 08.06 EST. He ranked higher than a warrant officer. Weve been accused of many things, of being traitors. Thompson and his crew managed to evacuate the civilians and stop the massacre. There was a guy at the ditch with Calley, shooting people not yet dead. There were probably 10 in the squad. That seemed suicidal to me, going out with next to no backup or firepower. For his interference. U.S. ArmyWilliam Calley, the officer who ordered the slaughter at M Lai. Then, as I was in this crowd, I turned around and there he waswith his beautiful wife and new baby boy. We couldnt come up with an explanation until Hugh marked a woman we saw who had a chest wound and decided to just move back in a hover when we saw a squad coming near. Hugh said, Im going to take him on the right, which meant he was my target. And I was just devastated. 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.. When did you make your report of what happened? *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 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. Larry Colburn was a door gunner with crew chief Glenn Andreotta and Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson as pilot of a small scout helicopter during a combat assault at the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. The outcome of the trails was disgraceful, and Hugh and I saw that it was a sham. Hugh Thompson was a United States Army Major and a former warrant officer in the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Division who helped end the My Lai Massacre of the South Vietnamese village known as Sn M on March 16, 1968. "They said I was screaming quite loud," he told U.S. News & World Report in 2004. I flew in the 23 as a gunner through that summer, then I asked about throwing my hat into ring for a gunship where there was a little more armor and security. I said, Thank you, sir, and went back to work. 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 . He teaches the U.S. history survey since 1877 and specialized courses on Vietnam, 1960s America, and U.S. foreign relations. On March 16, 1968, did you have any expectations of serious action? An Account of the My Lai Courts-Martial - University of Missouri 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. When did you meet Hugh Thompson? TIE LOST SOLDIER Hugh Thompson's Strange Life Will Fill a Book Hugh told her he probably didnt have any family left. Jan. 6 defendant Dustin Thompson, who blamed Trump for storming Capitol They were finally recognized for the heroic act they did. Of course anyone thinking of making a career in the military probably pretended they never heard anything. And they recommended charging 28 officers for the massacre and coverup. 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.". At some point they finally did call for a cease-fire, but by then it was too late. When I arrived at My Lai in 2008, no one knew where he was. Hood were returnees, but no one really zeroed in on what was happening. 199 0 obj <>stream Whats going on? And we started thinking what might have happened, but you didnt want to accept that thought because if you accepted it, that means your own fellow Americans, people you were there to protect, were doing something very evil.. Hugh Thompson, who has died aged 62, was the helicopter pilot who tried to halt the My Lai massacre of more than 500 villagers by American troops during the Vietnam war . Instead, the Army hid the slaughter of hundreds of innocent people, including 182 women and 173 children. You know, you think everybody feels you and you can ignore your own symptoms. It was like he dropped out of the sky. Some of Calleys men didnt follow Calleys orders and did nothing. The lieutenant told him to mind his own business and get out of the way. 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. Yet in the midst of the chaos and bloodshed, one U.S. soldier followed his convictions. I was aghast at hearing how Lt William Calley got away with cold blooded murder, spending one day behind bars as a convicted criminal. We started noticing these large numbers of bodies everywhere, he told me, people on the road dead, wounded. Hugh Thompson was determined to stop the massacre. In the Peers inquiry testimony, I believe there were 14 rapes that were reported. They also led as many surviving civilians as they could to shelter. But it turns out he was 8. Michael Bernhardt, who was at M Lai. Thompson wanted you to also make a report? Andreotta died in action a few weeks later, but Thompson and Colburn were key witnesses in the investigations and trials to follow. 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. Hugh Clowers Thompson, Jr. (April 15, 1943 - January 6, 2006) was a United States Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. At that point, no one had a clue beside you and Hugh? 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. Somehow they trusted him and they came out. I have come to understand him more now than I did when he was here. Thompson was buried in Lafayette, Louisiana, with full military honors, including a three-volley salute and a helicopter flyover. In this exclusive interview with Vietnam magazine and VietMag.com, Larry Colburn talks about his late friend Hugh Thompson, the My Lai massacre, the subsequent cover up, investigations and trials, his journeys back to Vietnam and meetings with survivors and the Hugh Thompson Foundation, which he formed after Thompsons death in 2006. I didn't want to be a part of that. Central to the case prosecuted by the Civilian Complaint. Nick Turse investigated violence in Vietnam against noncombatants for his book Kill Anything that Moves. He concluded after a decade of research in Pentagon archives and more than 100 interviews with American veterans and Vietnamese survivors that Americans killing civilians in Vietnam was pervasive and systematic. One soldier told him there had been a My Lai a month.. As he told The Associated Press in 2004: "Don't do the right thing looking for a reward, because it might not come. At 8 years old, he made his way about 10 miles through the jungle by himself to the village. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. Unfortunately, Lt. Calley and the rest of Company C never paid the price for the atrocities they committed. Were you glad you got it? Interview - Larry Colburn: Why My Lai, Hugh Thompson Matter DOC HUGH THOMPSON'S TESTIMONY: - Social Studies with Miss Daniel Hugh told me to keep my mouth shut and I did. If they fire on these people, or fire on me while Im doing that, shoot em! Now Hugh really had no idea who or what was in that bunker, could have been an AK47 waiting for him there. Upon coming home, he got death threats and the like. 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. I just thank God everybody kept their cool and no one made any quick moves. 30 years after the massacre, Thompson and the two other members of his crew, Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn, were awarded the Soldier's Medal (Andreott. These people are going to die, Thompson said to his crew. Finally, when the sergeant said OK, Hugh thought hed convinced him and got back in the helicopter and we pulled out. When did you start talking to investigators? before the subcommittee, and then refused to release the transcripts of the testimony. One of the instructors told me a story that he wished Hugh could hear. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didnt.

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