American vet attends ceremony for My Lai killings

American Lawrence Colburn stood out among the Vietnamese gathered for the 40th
anniversary of the My Lai Massacre Saturday.

He reminisced with several survivors about his colleague, deceased helicopter pilot
Hugh Thompson Jr., who had risked his own life to stop the massacre and save innocent
Vietnamese lives.

Colburn said he was sad that Thompson couldn’t be there with him.

He said that when the two had returned to My Lai seven years ago, they had promised
to see each other again at the 40th anniversary, and even the 50th or 60th.

But Thompson died of cancer two years ago.

Over 500 peasants in Son My Village’s My Lai Hamlet were brutally murdered by US
army forces 40 years ago in the central province of Quang Ngai.

Some 40 monks presided over the official remembrance ceremony Saturday.

Early in the morning of March 16, 1968, Thompson, door-gunner Lawrence Colburn
and crew chief Glenn Andreotta came upon US ground troops killing unarmed
Vietnamese civilians in and around My Lai.

They landed their helicopter in the line of fire between US troops and fleeing
Vietnamese civilians and drew their guns on their own compatriots to prevent more
killings.

Colburn and Andreotta provided cover for Thompson as he confronted a US

commander.

Thompson later coaxed civilians out of a bunker so they could be evacuated, and then
landed his helicopter again to pick up a wounded teenager who they then transported to a
hospital.

Their efforts led their superiors to order a cease-fire at My Lai.

In 1998, the US Army honored the three men with the prestigious Soldier’s Medal,
America’s highest award for bravery not involving conflict with an enemy.

It was a posthumous award for Andreotta, who had been killed in battle three weeks
after the My Lai Massacre.

The role of Thompson in ending the My Lai atrocity was not widely known until the
late 1980s, when professor emeritus at Clemson University David Egan heard the story
and launched a letter-writing campaign that eventually led to the awarding of the medals
in 1998.

Colburn said he wanted to express his and Thompson’s desire to heal the wounds of
the war not only for the My Lai villagers but also for the entire country.

Though the scars of the massacre still remain in My Lai, its villagers are hoping for a
better future.

My Lai resident Do Hoa, 49, said he was rebuilding his life from scratch after many
ups and downs.

He is the teenager that Thompson and Colburn had saved from the atrocity.

Since then, Hoa has seen his share of trials and tribulations.

He was in jail when Colburn and Thompson made a visit in 1998.

They asked about him but were unable to meet him.

Thanh Nien then petitioned for Hoa’s release, which was granted in 2000.

Hoa is now a family man with an 18-month-old child, who was at the ceremony
Saturday.

During their reunion, Colburn said he was very happy to see Hoa’s life was turning
over a new leaf with a beautiful wife and child.

My Lai was located in the province of Quang Ngai, an area believed to be a

stronghold of the Viet Cong and thus a focus of the U.S. military. After receiving word
that Viet Cong were in the hamlet, a company of U.S. soldiers was sent there on a search-
and-destroy mission. Although no armed Viet Cong were found, the soldiers nonetheless
killed all the elderly men, women, and children they could find; few villagers survived.
The incident was initially covered up by high-ranking army officers, but it was later
made public by former soldiers. In the ensuing courts-martial, platoon leader Lieutenant
William Calley was accused of directing the killings, and in 1971 he was convicted of
premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison; five other soldiers were tried and
acquitted. Many, however, believed that Calley had been made a scapegoat, and in 1974
he was paroled. The massacre and other atrocities revealed during the trial divided the
U.S. public and contributed to growing disillusionment with the war.