Honor

Hugh Thompson, Lawrence Colburn and Glenn Andreotta. Remember their names? Of the three soldiers, one lives today – Lawrence Colburn. They exemplify the very best of moral courage, duty and honor. And during a time of war. I’ve tried writing about them before, but I felt woefully unable to honor them appropriately.

I didn’t and don’t want my words to cheapen their heroism. In 1998, Sen. Max Cleland said the three represented “true examples of American patriotism at its finest.”

It was in Vietnam, March 16, 1968, in a helicopter piloted by then US Army Warrant Officer that was manned by door gunners Lawrence Colburn and Glenn Andreotta.

Both gunners were Spc’s and Andreotta also served as crew chief. They flew over a tiny village called My Lai.

Earlier that morning, Thompson’s chopper had come upon Viet Cong suspects, captured them and took them back to the base to be interrogated. Prior to departing with the prisoners, he also noted several wounded Vietnamese villagers. After marking their location, he delivered the prisoners and then came back to be of help. When they returned they were no longer alive. While still hovering, the warrant officer saw a Vietnamese woman who had been wounded but had survived, a few hundred yards away. He then he saw her killed by a US officer, Capt. Ernest Medina, who was the commander of Company C. (Medina would later claim he thought she had a grenade.) Thompson and crew then spotted the infamous ditch and what was apparently some survivors among the Vietnamese.

“It looks to me like there’s an awful lot of unnecessary killing going on down there. Something ain’t right about this. There’s bodies everywhere. There’s a ditch full of bodies that we saw. There’s something wrong here.”
Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson’s radio message.

Thompson landed his chopper, thinking they may be able to provide some assistance to the wounded Vietnamese civilians. A sergeant on the ground told Thompson that the only help they needed was to kill them. It was then that a young second lieutenant, leader of the First Platoon, Company C, named William Calley approached Thompson and a conversation ensued. Calley, as a commisioned officer outranked Thompson.

Thompson: What’s going on here, lieutenant?
Calley: This is my business.
Thompson: What is this? Who are these people?
Calley: Just following orders.
Thompson: Orders? Whose orders?
Calley: Just following…
Thompson: 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.
Thompson: Yeah, great job.
Calley: You better get back in that chopper and mind your own business.
Thompson: You ain’t heard the last of this!

Thompson and his crew departed in the helicopter. Glenn Andreotta saw that those in the ditch were now being executed by Sgt. Mitchell, the same sergeant Thompson had spoken with on the ground.

“[Thompson] put his guns on Americans, said he would shoot them if they shot another Vietnamese, had his people wade in the ditch in gore to their knees, to their hips, took out children, took them to the hospital…flew back [to headquarters], standing in front of people, tears rolling down his cheeks, pounding on the table saying, ‘Notice, notice, notice’…then had the courage to testify time after time after time.”
Chief My Lai prosecutor William Eckhardt

While hovering, Andreotta  spotted more villagers who had fled into a bunker, Thompson landed the helicopter again, this time directly between the soldiers and the villagers. He told his crew to train their M-60’s on the US soldiers should they fire on the civilians or him. They then rescued the Vietnamese and evacuated them,  with the help of another gunship. After Thompson arrived at base, his report stopped further killing by Capt. Medina’s Company C.

It wasn’t until almost two years later that My Lai came to the attention of the American public. Spc. Andreotta was killed in action three weeks after My Lai. After being shot down numerous times, Thompson was severely wounded with a broken back when crash landing after his helicopter was hit. He was sent to Japan to recuperate. Lawrence Colburn and Hugh Thompson would both testify at the courts martial and remained close friends until  Thompson’s death from cancer, January 6, 2006.

The only conviction in the courts martial of the 26 men charged was Lt. Calley, who was sentenced to life for premeditated murder. He was placed under house arrest for three years and received a reduction in his sentence three days after his conviction by President Richard Nixon.

Thirty years to the day after the My Lai massacre, Thompson, Colburn and Andreotta   received the Soldier’s Medal from the US Army. Sadly, Glenn Andreotta’s medal was awarded posthumously. (The Soldier’s Medal is the highest award for bravery not involving conflict with the enemy.)

Note: Many of those in Charlie Company refused to participate in the killings, some throwing down their weapons. They were in the field for a year, under conditions that I can never fully imagine, losing their friends and brothers in arms.

As Lawrence Colburn said, “And God bless the men on the ground. We would have given our lives on any day, any moment for them. Glenn did three weeks later; he was shot in the head on a mission.
 
But just like in public life, you got a percentage of wackos. (At My Lai) their leaders didn’t stop them. We’re talking about 30 guys led by Commanders Lt. Stephen Brooks, Lt. William Calley and Capt. Medina. It was extremely poor leadership. Instead of nipping it in the bud, they escalated it.”

 The ‘”little boy” from the ditch that Colburn rescued is now a man. Do Hoa, remembers everything.

“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. The three “set the standard for all soldiers to follow.”

The atrocities committed at My Lai are a shameful stain upon our history – but may we never judge the vast majority of those who served honorably with the disgraceful actions of a few.  And may we always honor these brave men – Hugh Thompson, Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn.