Remembering a Hero
Thirty-six years ago Lt. William Calley ordered his unit to massacre over 500 Vietnamese women, elderly, and children in the village of My Lai. He, his men, and his superiors then covered up the massacre as best they could until Seymour Hersh revealed it in his 1970 Pulitzer Prize winning expose. A year after the massacre became public Calley was convicted for the massacre and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility for parole.
And nobody would have even known about the massacre if not for a helicopter gunship crew that witnessed the events and ultimately brought an end to them. The pilot of the helicopter, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, was so sickened with what he was witnessing that he landed his helicopter between the US Soldiers and the last remaining survivors of the massacre. When Calley and his men refused to halt the carnage Thompson ordered his gun crew to shoot any soldier who made a move towards the survivors. He then radioed for other gunships to come to the area to help evacuate the survivors. It was Thompson and his crew’s testimony at the court martial of Lt. Calley that assured his conviction.
That should have been the end of the story, except there was a movement to portray Calley as an unjustly accused hero of Vietnam. He was seen as a scapegoat for regrettable but inevitable civilian casualties. Thompson was vilified by the army, sent death threats, harassed in public, and even had a US representative threaten to see that he was brought before a court martial. President Nixon even commuted Calley’s sentence to ten years of house arrest… he now works in a jewelry store in Columbus, GA.
Hugh Thompson was not given recognition for what he had done till 1998 when he and the two men of his gunship crew were awarded the Soldier’s Medal (the highest military award for bravery not involving contact with the enemy) at a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Hugh Thompson, died on Friday at age 62 after unsuccessful treatment for cancer, and I just wanted to take this time to remember him. We are now fighting a conflict overseas and there are numerous rumors of members of our military performing heinous atrocities against the very people that we are supposed to be there to liberate. Lets take care not to vilify soldiers who show uncommon courage in the willingness to say no to their superiors and call evil actions for what they are. If and when we hear about them we need to commend them for their bravery now, instead of waiting to award them in the autumn years of their life.