Hugh C. Thompson, Jr

Birth: Apr. 15, 1943, Atlanta, DeKalb County, Georgia, USA
Death: Jan. 6, 2006, Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, USA.

US Army Warrant Officer and Helicopter Pilot; he was honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from his fellow soldiers during the 1968 My Lai massacre, and for bringing the massacre to a halt. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, he joined the Navy in 1961, and upon completion of his Navy term of service, joined the US Army in 1966, to become a helicopter pilot. He volunteered for the Vietnam Aerial Scout Unit, and was assigned to Task Force Barker to fly over the jungle to draw enemy fire, giving attack helicopters a chance to kill enemy forces. On the morning of 16 March 1968, Thompson was piloting an OH-23 helicopter, when they came upon American ground troops killing Vietnamese civilians around the village of My Lai. To prevent more killings, he landed... (Continues)

"I confess, without shame, that I am sick and tired of fighting — its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands, and fathers ... it is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated ... that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation...."

"Confesso, senza vergogna, che non ce la faccio più a combattere - tutta 'sta gloria è una sciocchezza; anche la vittoria più brillante è ottenuta al prezzo di morti e corpi maciullati, con il tormento ed il dolore di parenti lontani che mi chiedono della sorte dei loro figli, dei loro mariti, dei loro padri... Sono soltanto quelli che non hanno mai sentito uno sparo, che non hanno mai sentito le urla e i gemiti dei feriti e degli straziati, a chiedere urlando ancora sangue, ancora vendetta, ancora desolazione..."

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, 1865.