Swooped Into The Line Of Fire Between Troops, Civilians At My Lai

Aero-News is saddened to report the loss last week of someone whose name probably wouldn't ring a bell with many of our readers -- or, to the untold people saved by his act of courage on one of the darkest days of the Vietnam War.

US Army pilot Hugh Thompson, Jr. was flying patrol on the morning of March 16, 1968, along with door-gunner Lawrence Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta, when they came upon ground forces attacking civilians in a Vietnamese village. The village was called My Lai... and the troops were American.

The men landed their helicopter between the troops and the fleeing civilians -- right in the line of fire -- and pointed their guns at their fellow troops, to prevent more shots from being fired.

Colburn and Andreotta then provided cover to Thompson as he left the helicopter to confront the leader of the US forces, according to National Public Radio. Thompson convinced the platoon leader to abort the attack, and he later flew a wounded child to the hospital.

"It was the ability to do the right thing even at the risk of their personal safety that guided these soldiers to do what they did," Army Maj. Gen. Michael Ackerman said at the 1998 ceremony honoring the three men with the Soldier's Medal, the highest award for bravery not involving conflict with an enemy. "[They] set the standard for all soldiers to follow."

The My Lai Massacre was one of the most horrific events to come out of Vietnam. When the event became public a year-and-a-half later, it was portrayed by war protestors as a symbol of the menaces of war... and American troops, who returned home to taunts, curses, and screams of "baby killer" in the wake of My Lai.

What those protestors perhaps failed to realize, however, is the same army that produced the soldiers attacking a village, also produced the men who courageously stepped in to right a horrible wrong, potentially at the cost of their own lives.

Glenn Andreotta didn't live to receive his medal, having died in battle three weeks after My Lai. And now, Hugh Thompson is gone, as well.

Gentlemen... we salute you, and the others who serve by your example today.

FMI: www.army.mil