Hugh Thompson Junior

Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson (1966)

Hugh Clowers Thompson Junior (born April 15, 1943 in Atlanta , Georgia , † January 6, 2006 in Alexandria , Louisiana ) was a US Army soldier who served as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. He became known for his successful intervention in the My Lai massacre in 1968, to which he instructed his gunner to shoot the US soldiers who committed it if necessary. For this he was awarded the Soldier's Medal of the Army in 1998 and the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in 1999 .

biography

Thompson volunteered for the US Navy in 1961 and served there with the Seabees in a pioneer unit until 1964 . He joined the US Army in 1966 and trained as a helicopter pilot. He volunteered for the Aerial Scout Unit (aerial reconnaissance). There he was assigned to Task Force Barker , which was responsible for troop reconnaissance in Vietnam.

The My Lai massacre

→ Main article : Mỹ Lai massacre

The crew of the Hiller H-23 helicopter, controlled by Thompson, included the two gunners Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn , who each operated the machine guns in the two doorways.

During a reconnaissance flight for Task Force Barker's operation on March 16, 1968 near the South Vietnamese village of My Lai, Thompson's attention was drawn to dead civilians lying on the ground. They later saw Captain Ernest Medina kick and then shoot a civilian lying on the ground. The helicopter landed and Thompson spoke to Second Lieutenant William Calley :

Thompson: “What's going on here, Lieutenant?” ( What's going on here , Lieutenant?)

Calley: "This is my business." ( This is my business .)

Thompson: “What is this? Who are these people? " (What is that? Who are these people?)

Calley: “Just following orders.” (I'm just following orders .)

Thompson: “Orders? Whose orders? " (Orders? Whose orders?)

Calley: "Just Following ..." (Follow merely ...)

Thompson: "But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir!" (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. " (Watch out, Thompson, this is my business. I'm in charge here. It's none of your business.)

Thompson: "Yeah, great job!" (Yes, great work)

Calley: "You better get back in that chopper and mind your own business." (You'd better get back in your helicopter and take care of your own business.)

Thompson: "You ain't heard the last of this!" (The last word has not yet been spoken!)

Thompson picked up the phone, and Andreotta reported that a soldier named Mitchell continued to execute people. Thompson noticed a group of civilians fleeing in a panic and hiding in a bunker. They were followed by American soldiers. Thompson ended up between the pursuers and the hunted and ordered Colburn and Andreotta to fire on the US soldiers if they tried to murder the civilians. Thompson got out and spoke to train conductor Stephen Brooks. He told him that he wanted to get the civilians out of the bunker. Brooks suggested that he throw a hand grenade in the bunker. Thompson, who was lower in rank than Brooks, tried to argue with him. He succeeded in persuading a total of eleven Vietnamese to leave the bunker and evacuating them with the help of two flights of a Bell UH-1 helicopter that accompanied his helicopter as escort. During their departure, Andreotta discovered movements in an irrigation ditch, whereupon they landed again and Andreotta was able to save a child from among the dead. The child was taken to a hospital in Quảng Ngãi by Thompson's helicopter .

After the massacre

Even after the massacre, Thompson flew helicopter missions in Vietnam for a long time, and was shot down five times. During the fifth kill, he was injured in the spine, which ended his active military service.

In 1998, Thompson and Colburn returned to My Lai again to meet the people they had saved. Among them was Do Hoa, who was eight at the time of the massacre. Thompson later worked as an advisor to the United States Department of War Veterans in Louisiana, and from 2003 lectured at the US Naval Academy on Professional Military Ethics .

At an ethics lecture to naval officers at the US Marine Base in Quantico, Virginia, Thompson said, “ A lot of the girls didn't scream too much either, because they had already cut their tongues out, and a bayonet can kill two real quick if they're pregnant. Ain't that nasty that they — I personally — I mean, I wish I was a big enough man to say I forgive them, but I swear to God I can't. "(German:" Many of the girls hardly screamed because they had already cut out their tongues. A blow with the bayonet can kill two people at once if the woman is pregnant. Doesn't it matter that she ... Personally, I mean, I wish I had the greatness to say that I forgive them, but by God I can't. ")

Thompson later developed cancer. On January 6, 2006, life support at the Alexandria War Veterans Hospital ceased. He was buried with full military honors in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Honors

In 1998, exactly 30 years after the massacre, Thompson, Andreotta and Colburn (Andreotta posthumously ) received the Soldier's Medal for Heroism , the US Army's highest award for special courage in situations without direct enemy contact. The award ceremony during Bill Clinton's presidency was the result of a nine-year campaign by University Professor David Egan . In 1999 Thompson and Colburn received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award .

In 2010 the Hugh Thompson Foundation was established to address the concerns of war veterans, especially soldiers who have been bullied or punished for making the right decisions.

Awards

• Soldier's Medal
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Bronze star
• Purple heart
• Air Medal

literature

• Trent Angers: The Forgotten Hero of My Lai. Acadian House Publishing, Lafayette, Louisiana, 1999, ISBN 0-925417-33-5 , 248 pages (with a detailed description of Thompson's behavior)

Web links

• Douglas Linder: The Heroes of My Lai. (from The My Lai Courts-Martial. 1970)
• Paula Bock: The Choices Made: Lessons from My Lai on drawing the line. Seattle Times Magazine, March 10, 2002
• My Lai pilot Hugh Thompson via All Things Considered . NPR
• Richard Goldstein: Hugh Thompson, 62, Who Saved Civilians at My Lai, Dies. New York Times, Jan. 7, 2006
• The Heroes of My Lai - Hugh Thompson's Story

swell

1. ↑ Trent Angers: The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story. 1999, pp. 119-120.
2. ^ ^{A b} Trent Angers: The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story. 1999, p. 124.
3. ↑ Moral Courage In Combat: The My Lai Story . (PDF) In: USNA Lecture . August.
4. ^ ^{A b} Michael Marsh: Witness to a Massacre. Stories from the man who stopped the killing at My Lai . In: Chicago Reader . November 16, 2000.
5. ↑ Moral Courage in Combat: The My Lai Story (PDF) p. 12. Fall 2003. (This is the edited transcript of a lecture in which the television report of "60 Minutes" ( CBS ) was presented, which in turn refers to Thompson's statement the naval base in Quantico, Virginia, as a clip. Instead of the words: "Ain't that nasty that they ...", other transcripts read: "It got nasty that day" (for example on CBS News .))
6. ↑ My Lai pilot Hugh Thompson National Public Radio
7. ↑ Hero of My Lai dies at 62 ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ^ About the Hugh Thompson Foundation. ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on October 28, 2012)