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{{Short description|United States Army officer (1943–2006)}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Hugh Thompson Jr.
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1943|4|15}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2006|1|6|1943|3|15}}
| birth_name    = Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr.
| birth_place   = [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], U.S.
| death_place   = [[Pineville, Louisiana]], U.S.
| image         = Hugh Tompson Jr (cropped).jpg
| caption       = Thompson in 1966
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = United States
| branch        = {{navy|United States}}<br/> {{army|United States}}
| serviceyears  = 1961–1964 (United States Navy)<br>1966–1983 (United States Army)
| commands      = 
| rank          = [[Major (United States)|Major]]
| unit          = [[Naval Mobile Construction Battalion]]s<br/> 2nd Battalion, 123rd Aviation Battalion, [[23rd Infantry Division (United States)|23rd Infantry Division]]
| battles       = {{tree list}}
*[[Vietnam War]]
**[[Tet Offensive|Tet Counteroffensive]]
**[[My Lai massacre]]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards        = [[Soldier's Medal]]<br/>[[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]]<br/>[[Bronze Star Medal]]<br/>[[Purple Heart]]<br/>[[Air Medal]]
}}

'''Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr.''' (April 15, 1943 – January 6, 2006) was a [[United States Army]] officer, serving as a warrant officer in the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the [[23rd Infantry Division (United States)|23rd Infantry Division]]. He is credited with ending the [[My Lai massacre]] of the South Vietnamese village known as Sơn Mỹ on March 16, 1968, alongside [[Glenn Andreotta]] and [[Lawrence Colburn]].

During the massacre, Thompson and his [[Hiller OH-23 Raven]] crew, Andreotta and Colburn, stopped many killings by threatening and blocking American officers and enlisted soldiers of Company C, 1st Battalion, [[20th Infantry Regiment (United States)|20th Infantry Regiment]], 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division. Additionally, Thompson and his crew saved a number of Vietnamese civilians by personally escorting them away from advancing United States Army ground units and assuring their evacuation by air. Thompson reported the atrocities by radio several times while at Sơn Mỹ. Although these reports reached [[Task Force Barker]] operational headquarters, nothing was done to stop the massacre. After evacuating a child to a Quảng Ngãi hospital, Thompson angrily reported to his superiors at Task Force Barker headquarters that a massacre was occurring at Sơn Mỹ. Immediately following Thompson's report, Lieutenant Colonel [[Frank A. Barker]] ordered all ground units in Sơn Mỹ to cease [[search and destroy]] operations in the village.

In 1970, Thompson testified against those responsible for the Mỹ Lai massacre. Twenty-six officers and enlisted soldiers, including [[William Calley]] and [[Ernest Medina]], were charged with criminal offenses; many were either acquitted or pardoned, notably excepting Calley, who was convicted and served a commuted sentence of three-and-a-half years under house arrest. Thompson was condemned and ostracized by many individuals in the United States military and government, as well as the public, for his role in the investigations and trials concerning the Mỹ Lai massacre. As a result of what he experienced, Thompson experienced [[post-traumatic stress disorder]], [[alcoholism]], [[divorce]], and severe [[nightmare disorder]].<ref name="NPR">{{cite news |last1=Ulaby |first1=Neda |title=50 Years After The My Lai Massacre, An Opera Confronts The Past |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/03/17/593992434/50-years-after-the-my-lai-massacre-an-opera-confronts-the-past |access-date=14 September 2018 |work=NPR |date=17 March 2018}}</ref> Despite the adversity he faced, he remained in the Army until November 1, 1983, then continued to make a living as a helicopter pilot in the [[Southeastern United States]].

In 1998, 30 years after the massacre, Thompson and the two other members of his crew, Andreotta and Colburn, were awarded the [[Soldier's Medal]] (Andreotta posthumously), the United States Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy.<ref name="resource1998">{{Citation |journal = The Congressional Record (Senate) |year = 1998 |title = Additional Statements |url = http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/record/1998/1998_S01709.pdf|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080229153345/http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/record/1998/1998_S01709.pdf|url-status = dead|archive-date = 2008-02-29}}</ref> Thompson and Colburn returned to Sơn Mỹ to meet with survivors of the massacre at the [[Sơn Mỹ Memorial]] in 1998. In 1999, Thompson and Colburn received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023|reason=Did he return to Son My?}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=The Peace Abbey |first=INT’L COURAGE OF CONSCIENCE AWARD |title=INT'L COURAGE OF CONSCIENCE AWARD |url=https://www.peaceabbey.org/list-of-award-recipients/ |access-date=January 22, 2023 |website=The Peace Abbey}}</ref>

==Early life==
Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. was born on April 15, 1943, in [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], to Wessie and Hugh Clowers Thompson.<ref name=Angers>{{cite book|last1=Angers|first1=Trent|title=The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story|publisher=Acadian House|date=2014|isbn=978-0925417909|edition=Rev}}</ref>{{RP|39-40}}<ref name="The Times">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article787066.ece |title=Obituary of Hugh Thompson Jr|date=11 January 2006|newspaper=[[The Times]]|access-date=2017-08-10}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> His family was from the [[Province of Georgia]] and Great Britain.<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|39-40}} He identified his paternal grandmother as being of [[Cherokee descent]].<ref name="Angers" />{{RP|39-40}}

Hugh Clowers Thompson Sr. was an electrician and served in the [[United States Navy]] during the [[Second World War]].<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|39}}

In 1946, the Thompson family relocated from Atlanta to [[Stone Mountain, Georgia]].<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|39}} Thompson's brother and only sibling, Tommie Norman Thompson, was born in 1938 and served in the [[United States Air Force]] during the Vietnam War.<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|40}} Thompson was a member of the [[Boy Scouts of America]] and his family was actively involved in the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]].<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|40}} Hugh Clowers Thompson Sr. educated his children to act with discipline and integrity. The Thompson family denounced racism and ethnic discrimination in the United States and assisted many ethnic minority families in their community.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|42}} Coming from a working-class family, Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. plowed fields and later worked as an assistant for a funeral mortuary to support his family during his adolescence.<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|44}}

Thompson graduated from [[Stone Mountain High School]] on June 5, 1961.<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|46}}  Following graduation, Thompson enlisted in the United States Navy and served in a [[naval mobile construction battalion]] at [[Naval Air Station Atlanta]], Georgia, as a heavy equipment operator. Thompson married Palma Baughman in 1963.<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|47}} In 1964, Thompson received an [[honorable discharge]] from the Navy and returned to Stone Mountain to live a quiet life and raise a family with his wife. He studied [[mortuary science]] and became a licensed funeral director.<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|47}}

When the Vietnam War began, Thompson felt obliged to return to military service.<ref name=Bilton>{{cite book|last1=Bilton|first1=Michael|last2=Sim|first2=Kevin|title=Four Hours in My Lai|date=1992|publisher=Viking|location=New York|isbn=9780670842964|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/fourhoursinmylai00bilt}}</ref>{{RP|135}}<ref name="usna.edu">{{cite web|title=Moral Courage in Combat: The My Lai Story|url=http://www.usna.edu/Ethics/publications/documents/ThompsonPg1-28_Final.pdf|date=24 March 2012|access-date=10 August 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324030925/http://www.usna.edu/Ethics/publications/documents/ThompsonPg1-28_Final.pdf|archive-date=24 March 2012}}</ref> In 1966, Thompson enlisted in the United States Army and completed the Warrant Officer Flight Program training at [[Fort Wolters]], [[Texas]], and [[Fort Rucker]], [[Alabama]].<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|47}} In late-December 1967, at the age of 25, Thompson was ordered to Vietnam and assigned to Company B, 123rd Aviation Battalion of the [[23rd Infantry Division (United States)|23rd Infantry Division]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bco123rdavnbn.org/id15.html|title=History of B Company 123rd Avn Bn|website=Bco123rdavnbn.org|access-date=2017-08-10}}</ref>

== Mỹ Lai massacre intervention ==
{{main|Mỹ Lai massacre}}
[[File:Hiller UH-12 (H-23) bw.jpg|thumb|[[Hiller OH-23 Raven]], three-seat, light observation [[helicopter]], similar to the one Thompson commanded during the massacre]]

On March 16, 1968, Thompson and his [[Hiller OH-23 Raven]] observation helicopter crew, [[Lawrence Colburn]] (gunner) and [[Glenn Andreotta]] (crew chief), were ordered to support [[Task Force Barker]]'s search and destroy operations in [[Sơn Mỹ]], Quảng Ngãi Province, South Vietnam.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|59}} Song My Village was composed of four hamlets, Mỹ Lai, Mỹ Khê, Cổ Lũy and Tư Cung, and was suspected by the United States Army [[Military Intelligence Corps]] to be a [[Viet Cong]] stronghold.<ref name="Angers"/>{{RP|59}}

Army intelligence concerning the presence of Viet Cong in Sơn Mỹ was inaccurate, however, and the village's population was predominately composed of neutral, unarmed rice-farming families. Reconnaissance aircraft, including Thompson's OH-23 crew, flew over the Sơn Mỹ vicinity but received no enemy fire.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|66}} At 07:30, following a short artillery and helicopter gunship barrage, Company C (Charlie Company), 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment of Task Force Barker, led by Captain [[Ernest Medina]], was landed by helicopters and moved into Sơn Mỹ.

Upon entering Sơn Mỹ, officers and soldiers of Company C moved through the Song My Village and vicinity, murdering civilians, raping women, and setting fire to huts.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|69}}<ref name=Bilton />{{rp|137}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zinn|first1=Howard|last2=Arnove|first2=Anthony|title=Voices of a People's History of the United States|date=2011|publisher=Seven Stories Press|pages=437–440}}</ref> 1st Platoon of Company C, commanded by Lieutenant [[William Calley]], forced approximately 70–80 villagers, mostly women and children, into an irrigation ditch and murdered the civilians with knives, bayonets, grenades, and small arms fire.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|73}}

Thompson recounted at an academic conference on Mỹ Lai held at [[Tulane University]] in December 1994: "We kept flying back and forth, reconning in front and in the rear, and it didn't take very long until we started noticing the large number of bodies everywhere.  Everywhere we'd look, we'd see bodies. These were infants, two-, three-, four-, five-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever."<ref name="The Heroes of My Lai">{{cite web|title=The Heroes of My Lai|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/myl_hero.html|access-date=2017-08-10|website=Law2.umkc.edu}}</ref>

Thompson and his crew, who at first thought the artillery bombardment caused all the civilian deaths on the ground, became aware that Americans were murdering the villagers after a wounded civilian woman they requested medical evacuation for, Nguyễn Thị Tẩu (chín Tẩu), was murdered right in front of them by Captain Medina, the commanding officer of the operation. According to Lawrence Colburn,

{{blockquote|Then we saw a young girl about twenty years old lying on the grass. We could see that she was unarmed and wounded in the chest. We marked her with smoke because we saw a squad not too far away. The smoke was green, meaning it's safe to approach. Red would have meant the opposite. We were hovering six feet off the ground not more than twenty feet away when Captain Medina came over, kicked her, stepped back, and finished her off. He did it right in front of us. When we saw Medina do that, it clicked. It was our guys doing the killing.<ref name="historyisaweapon.com">{{cite web|title='History is a Weapon: They Were Butchering People' later|url=http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/colburnbutchering.html|website=Historyisaweapon.com|access-date=2017-08-10}}</ref> }}

Immediately after the execution, Thompson discovered the irrigation ditch full of Calley's victims. Thompson then radioed a message to accompanying gunships and Task Force Barker headquarters, "It looks to me like there's an awful lot of unnecessary killing going on down there. Something ain't right about this. There's bodies everywhere. There's a ditch full of bodies that we saw. There's something wrong here."<ref name=Angers />{{RP|75}} Thompson spotted movement in the irrigation ditch, indicating that there were civilians alive in it. He immediately landed to assist the victims. Lieutenant Calley approached Thompson and the two exchanged an uneasy conversation.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|77}}{{clear left}}

<blockquote>
Thompson: What's going on here, Lieutenant?

Calley: This is my business.

Thompson: What is this? Who are these people?

Calley: [[Just following orders]].

Thompson: Orders? Whose orders?

Calley: Just following...

Thompson: But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir.

Calley: Look Thompson, this is my show. I'm in charge here. It ain't your concern.

Thompson: Yeah, great job.

Calley: You better get back in that chopper and mind your own business.

Thompson: You ain't heard the last of this!

</blockquote>

As Thompson was speaking to Calley, Calley's subordinate, Sergeant David Mitchell, fired into the irrigation ditch, killing any civilians still moving.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|78}} Thompson and his crew, in disbelief and shock, returned to their helicopter and began searching for civilians they could save. They spotted a group of women, children, and old men in the northeast corner of the village fleeing from advancing soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, Company C. Immediately realizing that the soldiers intended to murder the Vietnamese civilians, Thompson landed his helicopter between the advancing ground unit and the villagers.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|79}} He turned to Colburn and Andreotta and ordered them to shoot the men of the 2nd Platoon if they attempted to kill any of the civilians.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|81}} Thompson then dismounted to confront 2nd Platoon's leader, Lieutenant Stephen Brooks. Thompson told him he wanted help getting the civilians out of the bunker:<ref>''The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story'', page 124, 1999</ref>

<blockquote>

Thompson: Hey listen, hold your fire.  I'm going to try to get these people out of this [[bunker]]. Just hold your men here.

Brooks: Yeah, we can help you get 'em out of that bunker – with a [[hand grenade]]!

Thompson: Just hold your men here.  I think I can do better than that.

</blockquote>

Brooks declined to argue with him, even though as a [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] officer he outranked Thompson. After coaxing the 11 Vietnamese out of the bunker, Thompson persuaded the pilots of the two [[UH-1 Huey]] gunships ([[Dan Millians]] and [[Brian Livingstone]]) flying as his escort to evacuate them. (Gunships would ordinarily never land in a combat zone.) While Thompson was returning to base to refuel, Andreotta spotted movement in an irrigation ditch filled with approximately 100 bodies. The helicopter again landed and the men dismounted to search for survivors.  After wading through the remains of the dead and dying men, women and children, Andreotta extracted a live boy, Do Ba.<ref>''The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story'', pp 215, Angers, 1999</ref> According to Trent Angers in ''The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story'' (2014),

{{blockquote|The helicopter looped around then set down quickly near the edge of the ditch. Andreotta had maintained visual contact with the spot where he saw the movement, and he darted out of the aircraft as soon as it touched the ground. Thompson got out and guarded one side of the chopper and Colburn guarded the other. Andreotta had to walk on several badly mangled bodies to get where he was going. He lifted a corpse with several bullet holes in the torso and there, lying under it, was a child, age five or six, covered in blood and obviously in a state of shock.}}

Do Ba was pulled from the irrigation ditch and after failing to find any more survivors, Thompson's crew transported the child to the [[ARVN]] hospital in [[Quảng Ngãi]] where he left the child under the care of a nun.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|215}}<ref>{{Citation  |date = Mar 15, 2008  |title = U.S. soldier returns to My Lai  |url = http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/15/vietnam.mylai.ap/index.html  | work = CNN |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080320203444/http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/15/vietnam.mylai.ap/index.html |archivedate=March 20, 2008 |url-status=dead|agency=The Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{Citation
 |date=Mar 15, 2008
 |title=US soldier returns to My Lai on 40th anniversary, finds hope at the scene of a massacre
 |url=http://www.pr-inside.com/us-soldier-returns-to-my-lai-r485502.htm
 |url-status=dead
 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503111353/http://www.pr-inside.com/us-soldier-returns-to-my-lai-r485502.htm
 |archivedate=May 3, 2009
}}</ref> After transporting the child to the hospital, Thompson flew to the Task Force Barker headquarters ([[Landing Zone Dottie]]), and angrily reported the massacre to his superiors.<ref name=Bilton />{{rp|176–179}} His report quickly reached Lieutenant Colonel Frank Barker, the operation's overall commander. Barker immediately radioed ground forces to cease the "killings". After the helicopter was refueled, Thompson's crew returned to the village to ensure that no more civilians were being murdered and that the wounded were evacuated.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|89}}

===After the massacre===
Thompson made an official report of the killings and was interviewed by Colonel Oran Henderson, the commander of the [[11th Infantry Brigade (United States)|11th Infantry Brigade]] (the parent organization of the 20th Infantry).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/Henderson.html|title=Peers Report: Col. Oran Henderson|first=Doug|last=Linder|website=Law.umkc.edu|access-date=10 August 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624031103/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/Henderson.html|archive-date=24 June 2010}}</ref> Concerned, senior American Division officers cancelled similar planned operations by Task Force Barker against other villages (Mỹ Lai 5, Mỹ Lai 1, etc.) in Quảng Ngãi Province, possibly preventing the additional massacre of further hundreds, if not thousands, of Vietnamese civilians.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|219-220}}

Initially, commanders throughout the American [[chain of command]] were successful in covering up the Mỹ Lai massacre. Thompson quickly received the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] for his actions at Mỹ Lai. The citation for the award fabricated events, for example praising Thompson for taking to a hospital a Vietnamese child "...caught in intense crossfire". It also stated that his "...sound judgment had greatly enhanced Vietnamese–American relations in the operational area". Thompson threw away the citation.<ref name=Bilton />{{rp|204–205}}

Thompson continued to fly observation missions in the OH-23 and was hit by enemy fire a total of eight times. In four of those instances, his aircraft was lost.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|146}} In the last incident, his helicopter was brought down by enemy machine-gun fire, and he broke his back in the resulting crash landing. This ended his combat career in Vietnam. He was evacuated to a hospital in Japan and began a long period of rehabilitation.

When news of the massacre publicly broke, Thompson repeated his account to then-Colonel William Wilson<ref name=Bilton />{{rp|222–235}} and [[William R. Peers|then-Lieutenant General William Peers]] during their official [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] investigations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jan/11/guardianobituaries.usa|title=Hugh Thompson|first=Michael|last=Bilton|date=11 January 2006|access-date=10 August 2017|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> In late-1969, Thompson was summoned to Washington, DC to appear before a special closed hearing of the [[House Armed Services Committee]]. There, he was sharply criticized by congressmen, in particular Chairman [[L. Mendel Rivers|Mendel Rivers (D-S.C.)]], who were anxious to play down allegations of a massacre by American troops.<ref name=Bilton />{{rp|290–291}} Rivers publicly stated that he felt Thompson was the only soldier at Mỹ Lai who should be punished (for turning his weapons on fellow American troops) and unsuccessfully attempted to have him court-martialed.<ref name="The Times"/>

Thompson was vilified by many Americans for his testimony against United States Army personnel. He recounted in a [[CBS]] ''[[60 Minutes]]'' television program in 2004, "I'd received death threats over the phone...Dead animals on your porch, mutilated animals on your porch some mornings when you get up."<ref>{{cite news|title=Hugh Thompson, 62, Who Saved Civilians at My Lai, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/07/national/07thompson.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=7 January 2006 |access-date=2015-02-15|last1=Goldstein |first1=Richard }}</ref><ref name="usna.edu"/>

After his Vietnam service, Thompson was assigned to Fort Rucker to become an instructor pilot and later received a [[Direct commission officer|direct commission]], attaining the rank of captain and retired as a major.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hugh Thompson |url=http://www.hughthompson.org/hugh.htm |website=Hugh Thompson Foundation |access-date=8 December 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222170725/http://hughthompson.org/hugh.htm |archive-date=22 December 2015 }}</ref> His other military assignments included [[Fort Jackson (South Carolina)|Fort Jackson]], South Korea, [[Fort Ord]], [[Fort Hood]] and bases in Hawaii. He retired from the army in 1983.

==Post-military life==
Thompson became a helicopter pilot for the oil industry, operating in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1988 an English documentary film producer, Michael Bilton, working for [[Yorkshire Television]], managed to contact Thompson via his mother, who was then widowed and living in Texas. At that point Thompson had all but disappeared from public life. Bilton had contacted former crew member Colburn, and put Thompson and Colburn in touch with each other after a gap of nearly 16 years. Both Thompson and Colburn had been trying to find each other, but without success. Thompson was living in [[Lafayette, Louisiana]], and Colburn near Atlanta, Georgia. They quickly arranged a reunion. Bilton spent a long weekend with Thompson discussing the events at Mỹ Lai. It proved the beginning of a long friendship which lasted until Thompson's death.

Both Thompson and Colburn were interviewed for the film ''[[Four Hours in My Lai]]'' (1989) (''Remember My Lai?'' on PBS) – which went on to win a [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts|British Academy Award]] and an international [[Emmy]] award. The interview showed Thompson relating what he had witnessed at Mỹ Lai: "Here we were supposed to be the guys in the white hats. It upset me".<ref>"My Lai: A Half Told Story", ''London Sunday Times Magazine'', pp. 28–29, 23rd April, 1989.</ref> Bilton and his colleague Kevin Sim then began researching a book and Bilton conducted further interviews with Thompson and Colburn. When the book ''Four Hours in My Lai'' (1992) was published, it prompted a campaign to have the heroism of Thompson and his helicopter crew recognized. Several senior figures in the U.S. military supported the campaign, as did President [[George H. W. Bush]]. Thompson and Colburn were invited to speak to a wide range of audiences about the ethics of warfare including at [[United States Military Academy|West Point]], a conference in Norway, and at Connecticut College in New London, where they were each awarded an honorary doctorate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/07/national/07thompson.html|title=Hugh Thompson, 62; Saved Civilians at My Lai|date=7 January 2006|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=10 August 2017}}</ref>

In 1998, Thompson and Colburn returned to the village of Sơn Mỹ, where they met some of the people they saved during the killings, including Thi Nhung and Pham Thi Nhanh, two women who had been part of the group about to be killed by Brooks's 2nd Platoon.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|77}} Thompson said to the survivors, "I just wish our crew that day could have helped more people than we did."<ref name="cnn.com">{{cite news|title='Blood and fire' of My Lai remembered 30 years later|url=http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9803/16/my.lai/|website=Cnn.com|access-date=2015-02-15}}</ref> He reported that one of the women they had helped out came up to him and asked, "Why didn't the people who committed these acts come back with you?" He said that he was "just devastated" but that she finished her sentence: "So we could forgive them." He later told a reporter, "I'm not man enough to do that. I'm sorry. I wish I was, but I won't lie to anybody. I'm not that much of a man."<ref name="latimes.com">{{cite news|title=A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago today|url=http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-wiener-my-lai-hugh-thompson-20180316-story.html|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=2018-03-18}}</ref> Thompson and Colburn lit incense sticks and placed them in an urn by a stone marker at the irrigation ditch where many were murdered. They also dedicated a new elementary school for the children of the village.<ref name="cnn.com"/>

Thompson later served as a counselor in the [[Louisiana]] [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Department of Veterans Affairs]], and gave a talk at the [[United States Naval Academy]] in 2003<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usna.edu/Ethics/_files/documents/ThompsonPg1-28_Final.pdf|title=Hugh Thompson|website=Usna.edu|access-date=2017-08-10|archive-date=2022-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204200327/https://www.usna.edu/Ethics/_files/documents/ThompsonPg1-28_Final.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> and at West Point in 2005 on Professional Military Ethics. He also spoke at the [[United States Air Force Academy]] and to [[United States Marine Corps]] officers at Quantico. Thompson gave his first lecture to a U.S. Army audience, discussing physical and moral courage, at the U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, in 1998.<ref>Robert Hathaway, CPT, MS, Faculty, U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School, Ft. Sam Houston, TX.</ref> Thompson and his crew's actions have been used as an example in the ethics manuals of U.S. and European militaries.<ref name=Angers />{{RP|221}} Thompson received an honorary degree from [[Emory University]] and The Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University holds a collection relating to the life and careers of Hugh Thompson and Lawrence Colburn.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/thompson1056/|title=Hugh Thompson and Lawrence Colburn collection, 1967-2006|last=Thompson|first=Hugh|date=6 July 2006|website=findingaids.library.emory.edu}}</ref> In 2005, he retired from Louisiana Veterans Affairs.

==Recognition for actions at Mỹ Lai==
In 1998, exactly 30 years after the massacre, Thompson, Andreotta, and Colburn were awarded the [[Soldier's Medal]] (Andreotta posthumously), the United States Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. "It was the ability to do the right thing even at the risk of their personal safety that guided these soldiers to do what they did", then-Major General Michael Ackerman said at the 1998 ceremony. The three "set the standard for all soldiers to follow". Additionally on March 10, 1998, Senator [[Max Cleland]] (D-GA.) entered a tribute to Thompson, Colburn and Andreotta into the record of the U.S. Senate. Cleland said the three men were "true examples of American patriotism at its finest".<ref name="resource1998" />

In 1999, Thompson and Colburn received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award. Later that year, both men served as co-chairs of STONEWALK, a group who pulled a one-ton rock engraved "Unknown Civilians Killed in War" from Boston to [[Arlington National Cemetery]]. In 2010, the Hugh Thompson Foundation was chartered in memory of Thompson's courage in halting the massacre.<ref>[http://www.hughthompson.org/ Hugh Thompson Foundation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718010108/http://www.hughthompson.org/ |date=2011-07-18 }} A (501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Lawrence Colburn in honor of Hugh Thompson).</ref> His biography ''The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story'' by Trent Angers<ref name="Angers" /> was included on the [[U.S. Army Chief of Staff]]'s professional reading list.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/105/105-1-1/CMH_Pub_105-5-1_2013.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-09-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927195009/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/105/105-1-1/CMH_Pub_105-5-1_2013.pdf |archive-date=2013-09-27 }}</ref>

Folk singer [[David Rovics]] wrote a song about the incident at Mỹ Lai titled "Song for Hugh Thompson".<ref>Haynes, Louise. [https://www.academia.edu/218303/From_Vietnam_to_Iraq_A_Content_Analysis_of_Protest_Music From Vietnam to Iraq: A Content Analysis of Protest Music] Academia.edu</ref> Ryan Costello of [[The Oaks (band)|The Oaks]] wrote a song commemorating Hugh Thompson's heroism in ''For Hugh Thompson, Who Stood Alone'' on the album ''Our Fathers and the Things They Left Behind''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.last.fm/music/The+Oaks/_/For+Hugh+Thompson,+Who+Stood+Alone.+My+Lai+Massacre,+Vietnam,+1968|title=The Oaks — For Hugh Thompson, Who Stood Alone. My Lai Massacre, Vietnam, 1968|website=Last.fm|date=26 May 2023 }}</ref> Thom Parrott (also known as Tom Parrott) wrote the song "Pinkville Helicopter" about the massacre that is included on the Smithsonian Folkways CD collection ''Best of Broadside''.<ref>[http://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?lang=en&id=10203 Tom Parrott. Pinkville Helicopter.] Antiwarsongs.org</ref> Jonathan Berger composed a piano concerto dedicated to Hugh Thompson. Commissioned by the [[National Endowment for the Arts]], it was premiered at the [[United Nations General Assembly]] on January 24, 2001.<ref>Nichols, Charles (Ed.). [https://ccrma.stanford.edu/files/papers/stanm107.pdf CCRMA Overview]. Stanford University: Center For Computer Research In Music And Acoustics Department Of Music, 2001.</ref> A subsequent solo piano work, ''Elegy for the Victims of My Lai'', adapted from the concerto was recorded and performed by pianist [[Saša Toperić|Sasha Toperich]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jonathanberger.bitnamiapp.com/works-for-solo-piano/|title=Works for solo instruments|date=4 May 2014|access-date=2017-08-10|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504141600/http://www.jonathanberger.bitnamiapp.com/works-for-solo-piano/|archive-date=4 May 2014}}</ref> The [[Kronos Quartet]] used Berger's music along with a libretto by [[Harriet Scott Chessman]] to compose a "monodrama" with tenor [[Rinde Eckert]]. Along with the strings of the quartet and various Vietnamese instruments played by the musician [[Vanessa Vo|Van-Anh Vo]], Eckert sang about Thompson's encounter with the massacre and the effect of the encounter on himself. The composition was presented at the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] in September 2017.<ref>{{Cite news |last= Oestreich |first= James R. |title= Review: Kronos Quartet Revisits Vietnam Horror in 'My Lai' |newspaper= The New York Times |date= 28 September 2017 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/arts/music/my-lai-review-vietnam-kronos-quartet.html?smid=pl-share}}</ref>

==Death==
At the age of 62, after extensive treatment for cancer, Thompson was removed from life support and died on January 6, 2006, at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in [[Pineville, Louisiana]]. Colburn came from Atlanta to be at his bedside. Thompson was buried in Lafayette, Louisiana, with full military honors, including a [[three-volley salute]] and a helicopter flyover.<ref name="Advertiser">{{cite news |date=9 January 2006 |title=Hugh C. Thompson Jr. obituary |work=Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, LA) |url=http://alt.obituaries.narkive.com/TbdDV2h9/hugh-c-thompson-jr-daily-advertiser-lafayette-la-obit |access-date=14 September 2018}}</ref>{{fv|date=December 2018}} On February 8, Congressman [[Charles Boustany]] (R-LA.) made a statement in Congress honoring Thompson, stating that the "United States has lost a true hero, and the State of Louisiana has lost a devoted leader and dear friend."<ref>{{Citation |title=Extensions of Remarks |url=http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/record/2006/2006_E00088.pdf |journal=The Congressional Record (House of Representatives) |year=2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229153345/http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/record/2006/2006_E00088.pdf |archive-date=2008-02-29 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Vietnam}}
*[[Seymour Hersh#My Lai massacre|Seymour Hersh]]
*[[Silas Soule]]
*[[William Calley]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Peers_inquiry.html Peers Inquiry: Report of the Department of the Army Review of the Preliminary Investigations into the My Lai Incident] (1969).

==External links==
{{wikiquote|Hugh Thompson Jr.}}
*[https://warrantofficerhistory.org/PDF/Forgotten_Hero_of_My_Lai-WO_Hugh_Thompson.pdf Forgotten Hero Of My Lai – The Hugh Thompson Story, about MAJ (then WO) Hugh Clowers Thompson, Jr. (Decd)]
*{{YouTube|hkFa2lSNAGc|Hugh Thompson Jr. about the My Lai massacre}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040830080800/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/Myl_hero.html The Heroes of My Lai (first-hand report by Thompson)] Linder, Douglas (1999). The My Lai Courts-Martial, 1970.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040803190453/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2002/0310/cover.html ''The Choices Made: Lessons from My Lai on drawing the line''] Bock, Paula (March 10, 2002), ''Seattle Times Magazine''.
*[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5133444 My Lai Pilot Hugh Thompson] via ''All Things Considered'', [[NPR]].
*[http://www.democracynow.org/2006/1/18/hugh_thompsons_crewmember_remembers_helping_to Hugh Thompson's Crewmember Remembers Helping to Stop the My Lai Massacre] on [[Democracy Now!]]
*{{Find a Grave|12922923|access-date=2008-07-13}}
*[https://rose.library.emory.edu/ Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library], Emory University: [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zz9b Hugh Thompson and Lawrence Colburn collection, 1967-2006]
 
{{Recipients of the Soldier's Medal}}
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