On March 16, 1968, in the hamlets of My Lai and My Khe, between 347 and 504 civilians were murdered by U.S. Army troops who believed they had been ordered to kill every Vietnamese they encountered.
Three U.S. soldiers tried to intervene in the massacre, Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn, led by Hugh Thompson, a 24-year-old helicopter pilot from Stone Mountain, Georgia, who risked his life to save Vietnamese civilians, and ordered his men to kill any American soldier who shot at the villagers:
- Thompson: What's going on here, lieutenant?
- Calley: This is my business.
- Thompson: What is this? Who are these people?
- Calley: Just following orders.
- Thompson: Orders? Whose orders?
- Calley: Just following...
- Thompson: But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir.
- Calley: Look Thompson, this is my show. I'm in charge here. It ain't your concern.
- Thompson: Yeah, great job.
- Calley: You better get back in that chopper and mind your own business.
- Thompson: You ain't heard the last of this!
Thompson took off again, and Andreotta reported that Sergeant Mitchell was now executing the people in the ditch. Furious, Thompson flew over the northeast corner of the village and spotted a group of about ten civilians, including children, running toward a homemade bomb shelter. Pursuing them were soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, C Company. Realizing that the soldiers intended to murder the Vietnamese, Thompson landed his aircraft between them and the villagers. Thompson turned to Colburn and Andreotta and told them that if the Americans began shooting at the villagers or him, they should fire their M60 machine guns at the Americans:"Y'all cover me! If these bastards open up on me or these people, you open up on them. Promise me!" He then dismounted to confront the 2nd Platoon's commander, Lt. Stephen Brooks. Thompson told him he wanted help getting the peasants out of the bunker:
Thompson: Hey listen, hold your fire. I'm going to try to get these people out of this bunker. Just hold your men here.
Brooks: Yeah, we can help you get 'em out of that bunker - with a hand grenade!
Thompson: Just hold your men here. I think I can do better than that.
(Emphasis sic.) For his decency and heroism, Thompson was threatened in 1969 with court martial for treason and received "hate mail, death threats and mutilated animals on his doorstep." Ten years ago, he got a medal. Two years ago, he died.
(Via d at Lawyers, Guns and Money.)
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