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and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
My Lai hero Hugh Thompson Jr. dies at 62
Former helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson, Jr., left, and his gunner Lawrance Colburn leave the My Lai Memorial, in Quang Ngai, Vietnam, March 15, 1998 after a reunion with two female villagers they rescued during the massacre. Hugh Thompson Jr., a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from being killed by fellow GIs during the My Lai massacre, died early Friday, Jan. 6, 2006. He was 62. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
Hersh called Thompson “one of the good guys.”
“You can’t imagine what courage it took to do what he did,” Hersh said.
Although Thompson’s story was a significant part of Hersh’s reports, and Thompson testified before Congress, his role in ending My Lai wasn’t widely known until the late 1980s, when David Egan, a professor emeritus at Clemson University, saw an interview in a documentary and launched a letter-writing campaign that eventually led to the awarding of the medals in 1998.
“He was the guy who by his heroic actions gave a morality and dignity to the American military effort,” Tulane history professor Douglas Brinkley said.
For years Thompson suffered snubs and worse from those who considered him unpatriotic. He recalled a congressman angrily saying that Thompson himself was the only serviceman who should be punished because of My Lai.
Just A Few Links…
Of Who Hugh was, along with his Crew!
Heroes: Hugh Thompson: Reviled, then honored, for his actions at …
CNN – Cold War: Chat with Hugh Thompson
60min. CBS News | An American Hero | May 9, 2004 18:52:03
He Personified what Most Military Personal Truly Are, no matter what you hear or see!