Theme: Ethics

My Lai Hero Dies

"Hugh Thompson Jr., a former Army helicopter pilot honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from his fellow GIs during the My Lai massacre, died early Friday. He was 62," reports CBS News.

In1968 Thompson and 2 other soldiers discovered U.S. troops killing Vietnamese civilians in the village of My Lai. Thompson "landed the helicopter in the line of fire between American troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians and pointed their own guns at the U.S. soldiers to prevent more killings...Thompson later coaxed civilians out of a bunker so they could be evacuated..."

Initially Thompson was reviled for his actions -- one congressman even claimed that only Thompson himself should be punished because of My Lai. But as time passed his actions became an example for U.S. soldiers and he was often asked to speak at service academies. Col. Tom Kolditz, head of the U.S. Military Academy's behavioral sciences and leadership department, stated, "There are so many people today walking around alive because of him, not only in Vietnam, but people who kept their units under control under other circumstances because they had heard his story. We may never know just how many lives he saved."

Links:

CBS obituary: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/06/national/main1185502.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories

HIS OWN WORDS: Thompson's own account of My Lai: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/Myl_hero.html#HUGH%20THOMPSON

INTERVIEW: A 1998 interview with Thompson:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/guides/debate/chats/thompson/

BOOK: Suggested Reading: "The Forgotten Hero of My Lai":
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0925417335/002-9567627-4865608?v=glance&n=283155

PHOTOS: Vietnam photo essay, including My Lai photos: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/vietnam/photoessay.htm