Honor
By Taters on May 3, 2008 at 8:19 AM in My Lai, Vietnam
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.
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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.
Once $299.98, now yours for $149.99.
Wow, Taters, thank you for sharing that story. I was very young when this happened, and actually did not know the details. What heroism! This is an inspiration to do the best we can, in the face of danger and desperation. Amazing!
Thank you for your kind words, talktruth.
As you raise your kids, you only hope you can teach them to be as brave and honorable as Thompson, Andreotta, and Colburn.
If you do this, you have succeeded as a parent, and nothing else in life matters.
That is so powerful Simon.
I remember, Taters Thank you for reminding us of the brave and humane men who brought that disgrace to America William Calley down. It was a horrible stain indeed, and so unfair to all the others who served. I didn’t remember that a boy was rescued. His nightmares must surely dominate his life.
Uppity,
He was dropped off at a Catholic orphanage and after a few days, (at the age of eight, Colburn thought he was much younger at the time) he “escaped”
and made his way back through the jungle to bury his parents.
Wow, Taters. Just a kid, and worried about burying his parents. I hope he has a good life today. He deserves it.
I love his smile in the pic. It goes right through me, Uppity.
GOOD MORNING -PROUD AMERICANS AND HILLARY FANS
well last night hillay,s speech was very good but ofcourse media won,t cover much .
and mr obama, was same sweet waffles,,sweet talk,empty,,lame ,,,
i hardly turn my tv on anymore ,,,so ,,…anyone knows ,,,
when hillary is gonna be on tv again .
lets give her a win ,,at least in indiana ..and lets do it for north carolina too ,,,,,,
who is making calls today ……..
People don’t realize, even in a situation like the armed forces where it’s so important, how VITALLY IMPORTANT leadership is. It’s not a corporate buzzword. The tone set by leadership from the top down, especially in dire circumstances, can govern everything. It’s exactly as he says — the failure of leadership set the tone and allowed the monsters to come out and dominate in those failed soldiers for that one day, and an entire village of people paid for it with their lives.
A firm, strong, just leader, even in the middle of hell, would have made it absolutely clear that that was unacceptable, and the whole thing never would have happened. Even the failed soldiers doing the killing wouldn’t have done it. It really is a failure of leadership in every sense of the word. When the people at the bottom know without a doubt what the leadership wants and will not permit, it makes all the difference in the world.
Janis,
This is a bit lengthy but i believe it’s well worth the read - it ties in directly with what you stated.
From Lt Col.Paul Yingling’s A failure in generalship.
“As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war”… (ht SWJED, quoting Yingling)
The Generals We Need
The most insightful examination of failed generalship comes from J.F.C. Fuller’s “Generalship: Its Diseases and Their Cure.” Fuller was a British major general who saw action in the first attempts at armored warfare in World War I. He found three common characteristics in great generals — courage, creative intelligence and physical fitness.
http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2007/05/2635198
Colon Bowel — was involved in the cover-up of this.
And for this reason alone he is unfit for leadership. He further showed he true character when he stood in front of the UN and LIED about Iraq and he showed cartoons to back up his lies.
Simon,
“As you raise your kids, you only hope you can teach them to be as brave and honorable as Thompson, Andreotta, and Colburn.
If you do this, you have succeeded as a parent, and nothing else in life matters.”
I’ll be having my 16 and 14 year read your post. Very well done and thank you.
I guess it’s as Tater said, we seem to have lost the concept of moral courage, even it’s very definition.
Larry’s post on torture the other day ridiculed Tenet, and that other guy, Michael Something…
And someone made the comment he was taking a chance, ridiculing Tenet, and Michael Something.
But Larry showed moral courage, standing up for those who were, are, and will be tortured by the Lt Calley’s we see today, those “men” like Tenet, Cheney, Yoo, Addington, and Michael Something. Larry took this stand years ago, when to do so was unpopular, and with consequence. I would venture some of his colleagues risked their jobs, their careers by opposing torture, and therefore the administration.
But without their moral courage, the US fails in the face of these petty despots. And it is very very real, this is in part why Germany was lost, briefly, to the Nazis.
It’s the people like Thompson, Andreotta, and Colburn, though, who win, in the long run, insuring the survival of this great nation.
That is what I want my family to know, this is the type of American I want to be…
BTW, knowing there are men and women like Larry, Thompson, Andreotta, and Colburn in our government and military (think of all those men and women who lost their military careers for standing up to Bush, and Cheney, in regard to GITMO), should make us all sleep a little better at night.
It can’t be that much of a “police state” if it’s still seeded with morally courageous American citizens, even if they’re addressed as General, or Admiral, or even “boss.”
I mean, at least one or two, right?
Wow, Simon. Excellent.
Btw - Calley’s defense? He was following orders.
Which was the defense that was used by Japanese and Germans during the war crimes trials at Tokyo and Nuremberg post WWII. It didn’t work for them.
I never knew this side of the story, taters, as much as I knew about Calley.
Thank you, I think a lot of people were unaware of the action of those three men.
Taters, thank you very much for sharing this heartfelt piece.
War is obviously needless suffering and only the arms merchants benefit in the end. I understand, value and appreciate the heroism of those who are called to duty by their nation.
War and other needless suffering come about because we as a people continue to allow our “leaders” to manipulate us with their massive propaganda machines. We can break this cycle of our “leaders” staging a war then when sufficient time has passed, staging another war — we can break this cycle via the viral nature of the Internet using cooperative social engineering.
Please see below two recent posts by myself. I hope these ideas will spread in the memories of our warriors and all peoples who have suffered at the hands of our misguided civilian leaders. We can rightfully blame our leaders, but we must also accept our own responsibility in electing these bad leaders to begin with.
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Comment by Garlic-Nosed Guitarist | 2008-05-02 23:02:55
Excellent news [the GOP going after opponents now using Wright/Obama in their advertising]! Obama has become the Typhoid Mary of the Democratic Party. I can’t see how the party can sustain support of him too much longer. I think they [the party leaders] are hoping for a squeaker in NC and a blowout in IN so it won’t be a hard sell [of convincing Obama to quit the race]. Also, do you remember the rumor of Obama dropping out prior to Monday? I think that won’t happen but who knows.
No wonder Hill and Bill look so confident lately. I knew something was up.
Maybe the Obama cancer will be excised from our collective bodies soon?
Trying not to count chickens here, but this really is great news!
I think the sudden lack of Obamabots here is because the light of truth has been turned on in the kitchen and the cockroach trolls be a scurryin’ towards the darkness from whence they came. Good riddance.
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Comment by Garlic-Nosed Guitarist | 2008-05-03 09:30:42
Good point. But the differences between the Bush/Cheney-trolls and the Obama-trolls is we can defeat the Obama-trolls. In other words, the Bush/Cheney-trolls did their damage and we ended up in a staged war for profit/ego resulting in massive deaths, unnecessary suffering and the pillaging of our national treasure. We have an extremely good chance of defeating the Obama-trolls before they do severe damage: an Obama presidency. I won’t list how damaging that would be, except to point out what I said a couple few days ago, when comparing the three remaining candidates:
So you do point out a valid pattern and I point out how to stop it. Yes, the trolls of whatever flavor are lurking and will come out of the shadows at the next opportunity, but we will defeat them again. Eventually, there will be no more trolls or if you prefer, emasculated trolls: we will break the cycle of the damage they have been doing.
This cycle that needs to be broken is akin to ending the racism in America. In order to defeat racism we must break the cycle and stop Obama from using racism to now divide and conquer the nation. As I wrote yesterday, “The oppressed becoming the oppressor only repeats the cycle ad infinitum…”
Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nelson Mandela, MLK, Gandhi, JFK and the Dali Lama would agree with me en total.
Barack and Michelle Obama would not even have a clue what I am talking about at least where it counts, “getting it” in your soul. Their massive egos and lust for power stand in the way of clear thought.
By the way, I think the wiser of our national leaders have determined Obama has to be stopped very soon by all legal means available. They would feel this way because of Obama’s threats of a race war if he doesn’t get the nomination. Obama has to be stopped because of his dangerous self-fulfilling prophecy. In essence, Obama is threatening insurrection and this is a threat to our national security and our very way of life.
This is also germane to our current discussion, as I said on April 28, 2008 here:
“Wright/Obama/Axelrod/MSM have set back the civil rights movement way into the past century. You cannot achieve equality by demonizing other groups (Jews, Italians, white people) in the process. It is sheer insanity to think so. And I don’t really think Wright wants equality as he becomes useless in his mind and there goes his ego and money from the controversy he continues to foment.”
These simple concepts will be overlooked unless we champion them. The viral nature of the Internet gives humanity a chance to break these cycles. Eventually, trolls will become extinct fossils, just like their extreme idealism — we can take a big step here by defeating them right now. I’ve been championing systemic change for a very long time. I want real change, not the chump-change of Obama and his misguided shortsighted trolls and followers.
Please spread these ideas, they are my gift to my fellow human beings. We must find ways to achieve systemic change rapidly now. There is no longer the luxury of waiting for the next generation to do so.
Hillary clearly “gets this” and will help to usher in a new era of badly needed systemic change and long-term solutions.
We will use the viral nature of the Internet in a new global effort of cooperative social engineering. And with tens of millions of us doing this, the people of Earth will have their day in the sun.
We’ve been seeing a lot of inflammatory info coming out recently about Obama and those around him. I am wondering if it is possible that someone might be trying the same trick that the repubs used to get Dan Rather discredited? (Release a story that is partly true and should be damaging; wait for it to spread; discredit the people who are talking about it.)
I’ve wondered the same thing then I a reminded myself how inept and one-dimensional the Obama campaign is (hope-y change-y via thuggery, racism and fear of race riots). I think we give them way too much credit to think they are that sophisticated to do a Dan Rather-like event. Besides, even if they tried it, it will backfire like everything else they are doing:
1.) Obama picks Wright as friend, mentor and pastor.
2.) Obama distances himself from Wright after his 20 year relationship sees the light of day.
3.) Obama gives a “historic speech” (barf) to cover his ass on the Wright issue. Obama then talks about typical white people.
4.) Wright lashes out against Obama for betraying him.
5.) Obama severs the relationship as his poll numbers plummet.
I forgot to mix in there how the story of their relationship keeps changing, as it suits the pseudo-reality Obama wants us to believe.
So now you see why I am disinclined to believe Obama is clever enough to even wipe Rove’s ass, let alone do something like happened with Dan Rather.
Speaking of the one-dimensional inept PR abilities of Obama:
The Ayers and Dohrn albatross:
Obama said at the last debate that Ayers was just some friend in the neighborhood. Methinks Obama will be trying to sell bridges after he loses the election.
I Just thought of something, I think Obama wanted us to have the image of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” in our minds when Ayers came up at the debate.
But remember - if 99.9% of the story is correct and 1 detail is wrong, they will claim that the one detail invalidates the whole thing, like they did to Rather. The MSM will go along with them on it.
P.S. it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you are right and I am jumping at shadows.
I dream of Obama, in Nike.
Now it all makes sense.
heh….
As I remember, Lt. Calley got a slap on the hand. But what is more disturbing to me is that a certain Captain or Major (not really sure of his rank at that time) Collin Powell was send to investigate and basically tried to whitewash the whole thing.
Good point about Colon Bowel — I will never forgive him for his involvement in the cover up.
And it was the cover up of the break in the DNC offices that brought Nixon down.
Colon Bowel has largely gotten away with being one of the bad guys — but he lacks character and he lacks leadership ability.
Thank you for also remembering the role Colon Bowel played!
GNG,
Thank you. And yes, it is not soldiers who decide policy. I replied to your second comment on V’s excellent thread. I always enjoy reading you.
Your quite welcome.
And our policy making team will be lead by Hillary soon!
I’ll have to go look for it. And likewise on the enjoy reading — your contributions are very much appreciated.
test
mydd
dailykos is talking about
hillary not credable
they have someone realeasing some memo written by sd bayh blaming hill for something closed
they have someone who is gonna release it in indiana newspapers
ANYWAY ,,ITS AT DAILYLOS
they have someone with something to prove that hill is not good and they are releasing it in indiana on monady or sunday ,,,,
pls take action ,,let hill know
take action
mydd has this thing making hill lok bad
they are going to release something in indiana newspapers to make hill look bad
THEY HAVE SOMEONE BY NAME
Well, I hope she doesn’t fall into the Rove trap of frantic, panicked micromanagement (a weak point for Karl, if I’m not mistaken, every little ping steps on his toes).
When it comes up, if it does, the best she can do is tell the truth.
Anyway, after all of this PR garbage, trust needs to be rebuilt between the government, and the people.
No time to start like the present.
Taters,
Are you aware of any such courage to protect the innocent in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Very powerful commentary.
Thank you for a powerful post. It takes courage to stand up for what is right.
Qui Tacet Consentire…..
( Who is silent gives consent….)
Yes, there was a story about a National Guard unit from Oregon who witnessed Iraqi soldiers/police(?) brutalizing prisoners. They interceded. I hope I can find the link.
Also, perhaps in a different way, Gen Taguba’s investigation of Abu Ghraib - who sacrificed his career for the truth. Moral courage nonetheless.
Also, the soldier who reported Abu Ghraib.
He took on death threats, the scorn of those around him, the usual pornography that swings into action ( yawn, it’s SUCH a bore) when someone threatens the cretins, but he prevailed.
I hope he is doing well, he’s a genuine hero, as are these men.
Simon,too
Absolutely! Hugh Thompson also received death threats and dead animals on his porch.
Thanks for the tip.
Col Larry Wilkerson, too, told the truth, he was an attache to Powell, and sacrificed his career, defending our code of law.
A hero, to me.
And the many JAGS who came forward in regard to legal abuses at GITMO.
They are all inspirations.
Your post are words that should be borne in mind when we consider the war crimes committed by this criminal administration. It saddens me beyond words that this cancer of neoconazis have so debased and defiled our military that torture as official santioned and regulated policy and killing of unarmed people and civilians and even wounded prisoners is considered, even embraced as the norm by the American public. I have to wonder just what the publics reaction would be if the Iraqi insurgents took and video taped captured American soldiers and civilians having done to them EXACTLY what Bush and his cabal have instructed and encouraged our military to do to Iraqis?
Bush and his staged war and Obama’s candidacy have something very much in common: Bush formed an unholy alliance with the MSM as has Obama. Bush and Obama are two extremists on opposite sides of the same evil coin.
I’m always looking for patterns, but that’s not enough. We have to find them then stop them. Defeating Obama will send a strong message to the corporations (MSM being their propaganda arm): they no longer control our fate as a nation.
” A cynic is a man who knows the price of everythng and the value of nothing….” Oscar Wilde.
We live in an age of cynicism and we are collectively paying the price.
Where are the solutions and plans to execute them? We are very good at pointing out what’s wrong, although we don’t do enough to combine the “little” wrongs into the “big” overall wrongs-picture.
I’m seeking the pattern to the big overall wrongs culminating in real long-lasting systemic change.
We have to stop putting so much emphasis on dissecting and reacting to things to the point we lose sight that a single illness may be only a symptom of a syndrome (group of illnesses).
The myopia of the human species will lead to its downfall. We have to learn to see the grand manipulations and stop those. Sure, people can be passionate about a single issue, but they should spend at least some energy making sure just because their cabin is tidy, that they don’t lose sight that ship is sinking around them.
You would think with all the intellectual capital around us the university professors and so-called experts would get a clue. I wrote this a while back:
“Rather than come from the status quo of pussyfooting around difficult issues, being ‘popular’ and placating the masses, our new leaders and best hopes for real systemic change will come from the fringe of society.”
Agree wholeheartedly with you Guitarist….I think that one key to this is the decline of teaching philosophy. I purchased one of the best books on Ethics that I’ve ever read by Cabot written in 1933.
The Meaning of Right and Wrong….Harvard Press. What was especially compelling is the way he outlines ethics from the individual, to the family, to the clan, to the community, to the country, to the foreign relations between countries. At the end of the book which I discovered in 2000 he outlines the causes of WWI
and he might as well have written a description of both WWII and the coming invasion of Iraq. Cabot was the head of Ethics Dept. for Harvard University Medical School and like many good scholars was able to draw important distinctions as well as common threads in this human comedy we live. He was also a very good writer.
I agree, but here is an interesting observation:
When people come to their own truths via inner-struggle and introspection, they really “get it” with every fiber of their being. As opposed to someone else teaching you, that sinks in more shallowly.
Being from the inner-struggle side (I never liked to read what other people have to say too much — no offense intended) once I “get” something, its solidly embedded, as opposed to a concept perhaps only sitting on top of the soil, as it were.
Related:
The “Hitler-Jugend” (easiliy manipulated and sought by charlatans/poser-leaders like Obama) flocking to Obama don’t understand it takes years to develop truth discernment skills, and some people never develop them too well — the young, impressionable and inexperienced youth are incapable of differentiating the message from the man and his true motivations, background and hidden agenda.
Although I understand what you are saying about the inner struggle I have always found the dialogue that is eternal between the great philosophers and the individual to be of great merit. A good teacher of philosophy awakens in the student a healthy and enduring respect for the gift of socratic dialogue of inquiry. I was fortunate to have good teachers and have found riches to ponder in perusing the great thinkers. In this I avoid the danger of isolation. Art is a solitary enterprise…..Sometimes it is the dalogue both active and introspective that redeems me from the universe of one……No ?
As I was inferring to your original comments, “I agree,” and I further agree with your additional comments.
I forgot an important thing: Paths can be vastly different. I think growing up I had an undiagnosed learning disability, so I gravitated towards more of a mentorship thing with my elders. My best friend in high school was a teacher. That learning disability whatever it is: I find it hard to read books, it almost hurts to. But I have no problem writing or conversing verbally. I also learn better by doing and prefer to teach myself.
So bottom line: there is more than one path to the same knowledge or goal, and I’ll add, many times we may not find what we originally sought, but might be happier with the results.
Or even unhappy with the results but learn from them anyway. Experience in of itself holds value.
This is something I wrote, which is kind of how my mind works:
“I have learned that apparently disparate things or events are many times related in unforeseeable ways. The tree of disparateness can actually bear real fruit!”
Mind you, I am not saying my “way” is any better than your “way” or anyone else’s.
Agree….and that’s a nice philosophical diddy you composed….I am seriously dyslexic and wasn’t diagnosed till after college….takes me forever to read something cause I have the eye tracking problem…
I don’t flip letters unless I type ( go figure )
Here is one of my all time favorite quotes from an artist. when asked by a reporter to explain his work he responded thus ” If you could say it with words ….You would’nt need to paint it…..” Edward Hopper
* as students we would repeat that using a bad imitaion of Hoppers absurdly deep baritone…*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFArdWcqssc
obama a chicken ,,, FOR SURE
Awesome! Thanks for getting their story out and reminding us that courage/bravery in times of war isn’t measured by enemy body counts.
Thanks too for mentioning Max Cleland, another true American Hero!
Thanks for your response. You are welcome, untilthelastdogdies.
I love Max too!
The human spirt always finds a way. Thanks Taters.
TeakWoodKite,
Thank you my friend.
Taters..
This is such an Important story to Write about…Such a contrast between Good and Evil..and how war can reduce Humans to such a Brutal State of Mind…
Thank you for this story about these Good Men who tryed so hard to hang onto thier sanity and Humanity during that War..
I always appreciate you sensitive and Interesting Contributions here TATERS…Make Music..Not War..
You’re very kind, PH. I hope and trust all is well with you and yours.
Taters, you should try to link this essay, and picture, to other blogs.
People should know about these men, they are very inspiring.
Thank you for posting their story. It is such a tragic story but what incredibly brave men. It has to be so much easier to do the right thing when it concerns the other side but to take that stand against your own… WOW. What they did takes courage, the likes of which is rare. I’m with simon too, I’d be one proud mama.
leis,
You’re quite welcome, and yes it deserves to be heard.
While many of us recall the names of Calley and Medina - I think not enough of us remember or know of Thompson, Colburn and Andreotta.
That picture is wonderful, your telling of the event that connect these souls to another moment in time bears emphasis upon the same obligation to do that today.
Humanity is tasked to uphold a vigil on behalf of one another. Men and women of good conscience will have moments such as this that transcend the realities of war. That smile Do Hoa has, his embrace, gunner Lawrence Colburn’s smile, some day others will bridge the time from now until then in similar ways after being placed in similar situations.
Tater, thanks for this information and Simon,too. Both of you bring up examples of Americans in service now who uphold the Constitution by defending the human rights of others made victims of war.
These efforts will anchor opportunity for others to connect with humanity on terms that also transcend the loss they’ve faced in this war, there and here.
Those people will build the bridges to common ground, will elevate one another’s souls, in the future. They’ll be the people who help secure the peace.