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A hero during Vietnam massacre, pilot dies at 62 Last Updated Fri, 06 Jan 2006 20:39:51 EST CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/01/06/my-lai-pilot.html?print
Hugh Thompson Jr., a helicopter pilot who trained his guns on American troops to save civilians during the worst atrocity in modern U.S. military history, has died of cancer at 62.
On the morning of March 16, 1968, he was a 24-year-old chief warrant officer skimming above Vietnamese rice paddies in a U.S. Army helicopter with a crew of two, gunner Lawrence Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta.
In and around the village of My Lai, they saw piles of bodies and realized that U.S. troops were killing civilians - about 500 that day, it was later estimated.
INDEPTH: My Lai http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/iraq/abughraib_mylai.html
After landing and being warned away, they saw civilians running toward a bunker, pursued by Americans.
Thompson landed the helicopter in the line of fire between the two groups. With Colburn and Andreotta providing cover - he told them to shoot the Americans if they opened fire - he coaxed the Vietnamese out of the bunker so they could be flown to safety.
INDEPTH: Vietnam http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/vietnam/
Before returning to base, the three landed again to pick up a child, about four years old, from a ditch full of bodies. Andreotta, who died in combat weeks later, waded through the gore to rescue the youngster.
After the My Lai story broke, some Americans accused Thompson of treachery and called Lieut. William Calley, who led the massacre, a hero.
FROM NOV. 13, 1998: Three awarded medals for stopping My Lai massacre http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/national/1998/03/07/medal980307a.html
In 1998, however, Thompson and his crew were awarded the Soldier's Medal, Andreotta posthumously. The medal is the highest U.S. honour for bravery not involving conflict with the enemy. The medal citation credited Thompson with saving at least 10 civilian lives directly and with taking back reports that led to a ceasefire order and ended the killings. He died Friday at a veterans hospital outside Washington.
The only American punished for the massacre was Calley, who spent three years under house arrest before getting parole.
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