On This Day in History: March 16

The My Lai Massacre

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On March 16, 1968, American soldiers did their best to exterminate a village filled with Vietnamese women and children in the Mỹ Lai massacre. Approximately 500 unarmed people were murdered by U.S. troops, but helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson risked his own life, defying orders, to save as many as he could from his rampaging fellow soldiers. And he paid the price for it.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: March 16, 1968--

It was a horror. Green troops expecting to find enemy Viet Cong decided that instead of leaving this peaceful village alone, let’s kill everyone. Oh, wait. We can do some raping first. Yeah, that happened. While the boys in Company C were displaying the worst of humanity, Thompson was flying a small observation helicopter with two other crewmen. He witnessed the massacre taking place and rather than say “None of my business,” he made it his fucking business.

Thompson landed his craft and confronted the heavily armed American soldiers who were in the process of raping and murdering the civilians. He confronted the lieutenant who said he was “Just following orders.” Thompson replied with “Whose orders?” and the lieutenant said “It ain’t your concern,” and told Thompson to get in his chopper and fuck off. At that point, one soldier began to open fire on wounded civilians lying in a ditch to kill anyone still moving.

In disbelief at what he was witnessing, Thompson went to look for any civilians he could save. He found 11 people and called in a gunship to transport them out. He and his two crew members stood guard over the terrorized civilians until evacuation arrived. He told his crew that if any Americans tried to shoot the civilians they were protecting, that they were to open fire on their fellow Americans. As a small mercy, the evacuation was successful.

When they returned to base, Thompson saved many more lives by reporting the massacre to his superiors. The operation-turned-mass murder was to include forays into many more hamlets that likely would have suffered a similar fate, but a halt was commanded.

Thompson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions and he threw it away because the commendation said it was for rescuing a child caught in a crossfire, with no mention of the massacre. When the story broke the following year, Thompson was summoned to appear before congress where they ripped him apart, saying he was the one who should be court-martialed for pointing his weapon at fellow soldiers.

Thompson became an outcast, saying people thought “I was a traitor. I was a communist. I was a sympathizer . . . that went on for about 30 years.” There were death threats and dead animals left on his porch. In terms of “justice,” the man leading the massacre, Lieutenant William Calley, was the only one punished. He was sentenced to life in prison, but President Nixon intervened, and he only served three-and-a-half years’ house arrest.

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