Ultimately, it was a pubic relations move, they had to give the medal. Harry claimed a 'secret agreement' stopped him bringing hacking claims earlier 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. Nobody would be held responsible. Finally, the Army launched an inquiry. This ended his combat career in Vietnam. Hannah's Testimony - truthsaves.org 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. Did you consider bringing gunships to ferry out others from the ditch? History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. They interviewed Hugh Thompson and his crew. While the massacre took place, helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson and his crew flew over the jungle, offering air support. That Is little Hugh!" It was "Little Hugh" sure enough. 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. Thats what keeps me going. Im not going to let this happen, weve got to do something. Medina and maybe higher. That was the only enemy combatant we saw that day. We knew something seemed wrong. We didnt talk too much about it ourselves because we reported on it and we were, frankly, preoccupied with the next mission. I thought that from a historical perspective, something needed to be in place so that when Im gone, what Hugh did at My Lai wont just fade into obscurity. And it turned out, after we dropped him off with the nun at the hospital, he didnt stay 24 hours. Now we saw them again, but they were all lying on the road, dead or dying. When I first joined the company, the commander took the volunteers to the flight line and showed us bullet holes in the aircraft and asked us if we knew what they were. People need to know who Hugh Thompson was, what he did and why he did it. As the wounded tried to crawl out, they were fired on by someone who had been left there to do just that. The photos document the free, unobstructed flow of water through the easement area between the base of the dam and the drop inlets on the It is denial, a refusal to believe our young men could run amok the way they did. Did the word about what happened at My Lai get around? Glenn shouted, Hes firing into the ditch again!, How did Hugh react when reason failed? At the time, I figured he was 3 or 4 years old, he was tiny. PDF Prepared Testimony and 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. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. 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. If people have some confusion about that, thats their problem. 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.". It went on like that for another year and half until finally they agreed to award medals to all of us. That morning was clear and as we came over a hilltop we saw a suspect in uniform with a pack, carrying a carbine in the middle of a rice paddy. Letters to the Editor: Should speed humps be put around all L.A. elementary schools? After My Lai, did you feel traumatized or feel like you carried a huge burden? Thats what they want to do. When I finally got in to see the guy, he was a major, he wouldnt make eye contact as I read my list. Thompson landed his helicopter next to a ditch that contained 150 people many dead, but many others wounded and trying to escape. All content is protected by copyright and may not be used for commercial purposes without prior written permission. So we continued our recon. We know that Americans committed a massacre 50 years ago today; and we also know that an American stopped it. It was like he dropped out of the sky. I was aghast at hearing how Lt William Calley got away with cold blooded murder, spending one day behind bars as a convicted criminal. This fella stood up and said: Fuck you. Now Trent Angers, who chronicled Hugh Thompson's heroism during the My Lai massacre of Vietnamese civilians in 1968, believes he has uncovered information about an unseen adversary Thompson fought . Now, if I had known then what I know now about some of the activity going on there, the rapes and barbarism. Hugh Thompson on his way to testify against William Calley on November 23, 1970. You had no radio contact with the men on the ground? There was a sergeant standing by the ditch by himself. The low gun probably did because they had visual and were communicating with Hugh, and Hugh had been telling them what wed been seeing, hoping they were relating that up to the command craft that was flying above at altitude. View the profiles of people named Hugh Thompson. Among those numbers were 17 pregnant women and 56 infants. And we did, the best we could. Hugh Thompson - Tom Joad Out of the blue, our unit was called out onto the tarmac for an awards and decoration ceremony.