April 15 was Hugh Thompson’s birthday. In light of recent focus on war atrocities, I thought this would be a good time to give some deserved attention to him.
He was a warrant officer (kind of hybrid enlisted/officer; feel free to provide a better explanation) and a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He was flying, with his crew, over My Lai with the massacre underway. He landed, and stopped it, basically by running and yelling, “What the hell are you doing? Stop!” (He lacked the rank to swing action just by his presence).
I think he showed great moral clarity and courage. It’s one thing to recognize an atrocity thousands of miles away, and tut tut. It’s another to run in front of armed men actively engaged in it and tell them they are wrong and must stop. It’s so much easier to stay on the sidelines and maybe file a report after. (Thank God, on this Good Friday, that the soldiers listened and heeded).
A couple hundred innocent villagers were slaughtered. Thompson was a major force in saving the rest. All the excuses used by the war criminals (alt. Calley was prosecuted but there was always speculation that the order to wipe out the village, as a message, came from higher)- that this was payback for collusion with VC, this was a message, that this was revenge-were shown to be lies by his actions in that he was as much of a combat vet as any.
The army didn’t know what to do with Thompson, as it struggled to prosecute Calley while still fighting a war with an army somewhat sympathetic to him. WO Thompson didn’t get recognition for his bravery and honor until the ‘80s, and he died far too young (Calley is still alive). In my opinion, in large part he saved the “soul” of our army, by showing that war crimes can be stopped, renounced. RIP, Hugh Thompson. You were a different kind of war hero, but a hero nonetheless.