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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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 Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:34 pm Post subject: A true hero died today |
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A true hero died today.
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NEW ORLEANS - Hugh Thompson Jr., a former Army helicopter pilot honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from his fellow GIs during the My Lai massacre, died early Friday. He was 62.
Thompson, whose role in the 1968 massacre did not become widely known until decades later, died at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Alexandria, hospital spokesman Jay DeWorth said.
Trent Angers, Thompson's biographer and family friend, said Thompson died of cancer. |
Full Article Here
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After coming across the dead bodies of Vietnamese civilians outside My Lai on March 16, 1968, Thompson set down their OH-23 and the three men began setting green gas markers by the prone bodies of the Vietnamese civilians who appeared to still be alive. Returning to the helicopter however, they saw Captain Ernest Medina run forward and begin shooting the wounded who had been marked - and the three men moved their ship back over the village where Thompson confronted Lt. Stephen Brooks who was preparing to blow up a hut full of cowering and wounded Vietnamese; he left Andreotta and Colburn to cover the company with their heavy machine guns and orders to fire on any American who refused the orders to halt the massacre. (Needless to say, none of the officers dared to disobey him, although as a mere warrant officer, Thompson was outranked by the commissioned lieutenants.)
Thompson: Let's get these people out of this bunker and get 'em out of here.
Brooks: We'll get 'em out with hand grenades.
Thompson: I can do better than that. Keep your people in place. My guns are on you.
Thompson then ordered two other helicopters (one piloted by Dan Millians) flying nearby to serve as a medevac for the 11 wounded Vietnamese. While flying away from the village, Andreotta spotted movement in an irrigation ditch, and the helicopter was again landed and a child was extracted from the bodies, and brought with the rest of the Vietnamese to the hospital at Quang Ngai.
Thompson subsequently reported the massacre, whilst it was still occuring, to his superiors. The cease-fire order was then given.
.... Kept in the dangerous OH-23 Raven Helicopter missions, which some considered punishment for his intervention and the subsequent media coverage, Thompson was shot down a total of five times, breaking his backbone on the last attack. He suffered psychological scars from his service in Vietnam through out the rest of his life.
Exactly thirty years later, the three were awarded the Soldier's Medal (Andreotta posthumously), the United States Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson%2C_Jr. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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the very definition of heroism
r.i.p. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:32 am Post subject: Re: A true hero died today |
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| JacktheCat wrote: |
| Needless to say, none of the officers dared to disobey him, although as a mere warrant officer, Thompson was outranked by the commissioned lieutenants. |
He was a hero--don't get me wrong--but the writer has obviously never served. There is no such thing as a mere warrant officer, especially to lieutenants. The more experienced warrant officers serve as a mentor to the young lieutenants. For that reason, warrant officers reserve the right to deliver a swift kick in the ass of any lieutenant who's out of line, commissioned or not. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:13 am Post subject: |
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| And so many these days don't have the balls to step in when a man is beating hell out of his wife/girlfriend... |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
| And so many these days don't have the balls to step in when a man is beating hell out of his wife/girlfriend... |
Probably happens, but certainly not very often. For one, how would they know if the soldier lives off base? Think about it. It's safe to say you meet people everyday who have done some terrible things, and yet you're none the wiser. |
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Alias
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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Has Anne Coulter commented on this yet?  |
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riley
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Location: where creditors can find me
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| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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EFL Trainer wrote:
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| And so many these days don't have the balls to step in when a man is beating hell out of his wife/girlfriend... |
Have you stepped in to stop the man beating on his wife?
I'm a little confused as to who you mean by so many. Would you clarify please?
Oh, yes, I have stepped in to stop that from happening around me. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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