Hugh Thompson Jr. Refused To Just "Follow Orders" During The Mỹ Lai Massacre And Saved The Lives of Countless Civilians

During the Vietnam War, the US military used several controversial tactics in order to protect American citizens. A particularly dark event took place on March 16, 1968, known as the Mỹ Lai Massacre, where US Army units tragically killed numerous unarmed Vietnamese civilians. If not for the brave actions of Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr. and his helicopter crew, the number of casualties could have been even higher.

Hugh Thompson Jr.'s entry into the US military

Hugh Thompson Jr. was born on April 15, 1943, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father, a veteran of the US Navy during the Second World War , instilled in him a deep sense of duty and commitment. Continuing the family tradition, Thompson's brother later served in the US Air Force in Vietnam.

In 1946, the family moved to Stone Mountain, Atlanta, where Thompson became involved with the Boy Scouts of America. Raised in a disciplined and orderly environment, his parents actively opposed racism and prejudice, advocating for ethnic minorities in their community.

During his teenage years, Thompson worked as an aide in a funeral home and in agricultural fields. After graduating from Stone Mountain High School in June 1961, he enlisted in the Navy. He was assigned as a heavy equipment operator with a naval mobile construction battalion at Naval Air Station Atlanta (now the General Lucius D. Clay National Guard Center) and served honorably until his discharge in 1964. He then returned to Stone Mountain to start a family.

Returning to service during the Vietnam War

When the Vietnam War began, Hugh Thompson Jr. was working as a licensed funeral director, having studied mortuary science. Despite being discharged from the military, he felt it was his obligation to serve alongside his fellow countrymen and enlisted in the US Army.

Prior to being deployed, Thompson completed the Warrant Officer Flight Program at both Fort Wolters, Texas and Fort Rucker , Alabama. In December 1967, he made his way to Vietnam as part of Company B, 123rd Aviation Battalion, 23rd Infantry Division.

Mỹ Lai Massacre - four hours of terror

On March 16, 1968, Hugh Thompson Jr. and his Hiller OH-23 Raven crew, Crew Chief Glenn Andreotta and Gunner Lawrence Colburn, were ordered to travel to Mỹ Lai, Sơn Mỹ, Sơn Tịnh district , Quảng Ngãi province, South Vietnam to support a search and destroy operation being undertaken by Task Force Barker. Nicknamed "Pinkville" by the American forces, the hamlet was believed to be a Viet Cong stronghold, despite its population being primarily comprised of rice-farming families.

At approximately 7:24 AM and continuing for four hours, 100 men from Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division, and 100 from Company B, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division began shelling Mỹ Lai. Thompson's OH-23 and other reconnaissance aircraft flew overhead, but suffered no enemy fire - and neither did the forces on the ground.

Upon entering the village, the members of Company C began rounding up and murdering civilians, going so far as to assault women and set their huts on fire. In one of the more horrific incidents to occur during the massacre, the men of 1st Platoon, commanded by Second Lt. William Calley, rounded up 70-80 villagers into an irrigation ditch and killed them with grenades , machine gun fire, knives and bayonets.

Hugh Thompson Jr. and his helicopter crew intervene

Flying overhead, Hugh Thompson Jr. and his OH-23 crew began to suspect something was wrong with the scene below, with him telling radio station KPFK in Los Angeles decades later, "We started thinking what might have happened, but you didn't want to accept that thought because if you accepted it, that means your fellow Americans, people you were there to protect, were doing something very evil."

Thompson's suspicions were confirmed when he witnessed Capt. Ernest Medina, who'd led the ground forces into Mỹ Lai, kill a wounded and unarmed woman. The helicopter pilot then noticed the irrigation ditch filled with deceased civilians. When he confronted Calley about the dead, the second lieutenant simply responded that he was just " following orders ."

In disbelief, Thompson, Andreotta and Colburn took to the air to search for civilians they could evacuate. They spotted a group of children, elderly men and women who were being pursued by a platoon. Thompson landed his OH-23 and ordered his crewmen to point their guns at the advancing American soldiers while he tried to persuade the Vietnamese civilians to follow him to a safer location.

Thompson and his crew reported what he saw to his superiors

Eventually, the helicopter's fuel levels dwindled. Following the transfer of an injured child to the hospital, Thompson piloted towards Landing Zone Dottie, the central hub for Task Force Barker, where he briefed his superiors on what he had witnessed. This action prompted Lt. Col. Frank Barker to communicate with ground forces, ordering them to cease the massacre. Medina directed his troops to "cut [the killing] out - knock it off." Following these developments, Thompson and his team revisited Mỹ Lai to verify the evacuation of the wounded.

Known as the "Mỹ Lai Massacre," the incident is considered "the most shocking episode of the Vietnam War" and represented the largest publicly acknowledged civilian massacre by American forces in the 20th century. Though U.S. figures cite a total death toll of 347, Vietnamese sources suggest the number may be closer to 504.

The US Army tried and failed to cover up what happened

At 11:00 AM on the day of the massacre, Hugh Thompson Jr. filed an official report, which led senior officials to cancel similar operations that were planned against other villages in Quảng Ngãi province.

Initially, the US Army tried to frame what had happened as a victory against the Viet Cong, with initial reports claiming "128 Viet Cong and 22 civilians" had been killed during a "fierce fire fight." Thompson was even awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions on March 16, 1968, but he threw the citation away, as it presented a fabricated version of events.

The truth is revealed

It wasn't until November 1969 that the true nature of the Mỹ Lai Massacre became known to the public, when journalist Seymour Hersh published an interview with Specialist 5 Ron Ridenhour. A door gunner in Vietnam, Ridenhour relayed what he'd been told by members of Company C, adding that he'd previously appealed to the Pentagon, Congress and the White House to address what had happened.

Around this time, Thompson was summoned to appear before a special closed hearing by the House Armed Services Committee, during which he was criticized by Congressmen who tried and failed to have him court-martialed. Following Ridenhour's revelations, a military commission investigated the massacre and found there to be widespread failures in Task Force Barker's leadership, morale and discipline.

William Calley was the only one convicted for his actions in Mỹ Lai

In 1970, 26 officers and enlisted soldiers, including Ernest Medina and William Calley, faced charges for numerous criminal offenses related to the Mỹ Lai Massacre. Hugh Thompson Jr. testified against the defendants, and only Calley was found guilty. The second lieutenant was convicted of murdering 22 civilians and initially sentenced to life in prison. However, President Richard Nixon commuted his sentence, and he served just three and a half years under house arrest.

Despite significant evidence showing Calley's personal responsibility for many civilian deaths, a survey revealed that four out of five Americans disagreed with the verdict. Within three months of his conviction, the White House received over 300,000 telegrams and letters , while Calley himself received 10,000 packages and letters daily.

Thompson, in contrast, was viewed as a traitor by the American public and Army personnel due to his testimony. He frequently received death threats, and the negative attention led him to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), severe nightmares, and alcoholism. The stress surrounding Calley's conviction also contributed to his divorce from his wife, Palma Baughman.

Hugh Thompson Jr.'s military service following the Mỹ Lai Massacre

Hugh Thompson Jr. continued to serve in Vietnam following the Mỹ Lai Massacre, flying numerous observation missions. He was hit by enemy fire a total of eight times, losing his helicopter on four different occasions. In the final incident, he was brought down by machine gun fire and broke his back in the crash. This ended his combat career in Vietnam.

Following his rehabilitation, Thompson was assigned to Fort Rucker, where he served as a pilot instructor, as well as Fort Jackson , South Carolina; bases in Hawaii; Fort Hood , Texas; South Korea; and Fort Ord , California. He later received a direct commission, and retired in 1983 with the rank of major.

Hugh Thompson Jr.'s later life and death

Following his retirement, Hugh Thompson Jr. became a helicopter pilot for the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico. Following the release of the documentary Four Hours in My Lai and the book of the same name , the Army veteran found himself the subject of a campaign to have his heroism and that of his crew recognized. A number of politicians and military officials supported the movement, including President George H.W. Bush.

In 1998, Thompson, Colburn and Andreotta were awarded the Soldier's Medal, the Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. That same year, he traveled to Mỹ Lai to visit with the civilians he'd saved during the massacre. Speaking with CNN at the time, he said, "Something terrible happened here 30 years ago today. I cannot explain why it happened. I just wish our crew that day could have helped more people than we did."

Remembered with a memorial

Today, a memorial stands in the South Vietnamese hamlet, in honor of Thompson and those who lost their lives on March 16, 1968.

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Following his work in the Gulf of Mexico, Thompson served as a counselor with the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs. On January 6, 2006, after treatment for cancer, the 62-year-old was taken off life support and passed away at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pineville, Louisiana. He was buried in Lafayette with full military honors.