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Thursday, March 16, 2006
THE HEROES WHO SAID NO On March 16, 1968 the most publicized of atrocities dominated the news. The reporter, Seynour Hersh, who chanced upon the massacre at My Lai won a Pulitzer prize for his telling of the story. Lt Calley, the platoon leader the day hundreds of men, women and children were slaughtered, was given life in prison. His sentence was commuted to three years of home confinement by President Nixon.  I was in High School. I was the son of a critically injured soldier who won a bronze star and a purple heart for the actions that eventually took his life in 1967 while serving in Southeast Asia. I gathered petitions from students asking for leniency for Lt. Calley. Calley was a man whom I viewed as a victim of an incompetent chain of command and a vile unjust war with any civilian a potential threat to a soldier's survival. I did not know then of Hugh Thompson, Lawrence Colburn, Glenn Andreotta or their heroic actions on that terrible day. Thompson and his crew spotted US troops killing civilians and flew their helicopter into the middle of the genocide. They trained a .50 calibre machine gun on men in like uniforms serving the same cause in Vietnam. They were ready to shoot fellow soldiers to save the few innocent civilians that remained. They then airlifted nine civilians, one a wounded boy, to safety. This earned them the scorn, disrespect, and even death threats. An American congressman said that the only ones who should have been punished for My Lai were Thompson and his men. It took 30 years to set the record straight. Thompson and Colburn were awarded The Soldiers Medal, the non-combat equivalent of the Medal of Honor. Andreotta was awarded his medal posthumously as he died "in country" less than thirty days after My Lai. Warrant Officer Thompson, who long suffered mental anguish from his tour in Vietnam, died earlier this year of cancer. He was 62 years old and Lawrence Colburn was at his bedside when he died. I still stand behind my support of Calley at the time. I do not think he got off lightly: the spirits of the murdered cannot help but haunt him. I choose to laud one of the most extraordinary acts of bravery in the history of American warfare. Heroes Thompson, Andreotta, and Colburn served justice in its purist form on this day in 1968. A salute from this everyday old soldier to the heroes of My Lai and to all the men and women serving with honor in the face of unfathomable peril.  China Asia Blogging China Blogs China Blog Blogging Hugh Thompson Vietnam War My Lai Peace Heroes Lawrence Colburn Lonnie Hodge Lonnie Hodge China Blogs at: ONEMANBANDWIDTH Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Lonnie at 8:16 AM |
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