My Lai, Hugh Thompson, Eddie Gallagher

My Lai

 P atriotism, heroism, toughness, American exceptionalism have got a lot of ink and on line time lately.

Consider the case of Hugh Thompson, Lawrence Colburn and Glenn Andreotta in their actions at the village of My Lai, Vietnam in 1968 and then consider Eddie Gallagher, who President Trump hailed as a true American hero, a tough soldier who fought for freedom and the American way in Iraq.

Charlie Company, led by Captain Ernest Medina and his subordinate Lt. William Calley,  swept through the village of My Lai, which was thought to be at the center of a Viet Cong brigade, but in fact was occupied by mostly women, children, infants and old men.  Calley, who spent much of his time in Vietnam trying to prove his toughness to his captain (Mediina), rounded up villagers, forced them into a drainage ditch just outside the village and started mowing them down with his M-16.

As Calley was murdering women and children in the ditch, a helicopter crew, Hugh Thompson, landed. Thompson demanded to know what Calley was doing and watched, horrified, as he fired into children in the ditch:

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!

Hugh Thompson

Thompson, not an officer,  got his crew back on the helicopter and started searching for villagers he could save and soon enough saw fleeing villagers pursued across a field by soliders from Charlie company. He landed his helicopter and ordered his two door gunners, Andreotta and Colburn to position themselves between the villagers who were diving into a bunker and the approaching soldiers.  He wasn't sure whether his crew would be willing to fire on American soldiers, but they promptly agreed.  Members of Charlie company approached and later testified they were pretty sure the gunners would have shot them and they backed off.

Lawrence Colburn

The helicopter crew flew as many villagers out of My Lai as they could.
Thompson reported the slaughter by radio up the chain of command and a Col. Barker ordered a cease fire, one of the few higher officers to take action that day to halt the war crime. Thompson reported Calley and Charlie Company to his superior officer who prompted buried the report.  As word filtered up the chain of command, a cover up was promptly initiated and Captain Medina, who had shot the head off a woman as Thompson watched, reported they had killed 123 Viet Cong with "light casualities" among villagers. Over 500 women and children were dead.

When initial reports hit the press, the Army dismissed it as "Communist propaganda."   In 21st century Trump era lingo: "Alternative facts."

Glenn Andreotta

An Army photographer happened to be present that day and eventually he sold his photos to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Some time later, after the story had been buried by the Army chain of command, and Charlie company sent off into the jungle far from reporters or inquiring officers,  a cub reporter heard of the massacre, interviewed whoever he could find, and sent his report to 30 Congressmen and a year later a full investigation by the Army actually did pursue the war crime. Had those photos not been taken. Had those photos not been published, we might never have heard of My Lai.

 Calley was put on trial, convicted but pardoned.  No other soldier or officer was ever punished.


But three American soldiers who had intact consciences tried to intervene, did manage to save some villagers and later had the courage to testify against their fellow soldiers. The "fog of war" argument was dispelled by the very fact that 3 American soldiers were able to do the right thing, the most obvious indictment of all those Americans who murdered defenseless women and children that day. American exceptionalism was nowhere to be seen that day, as those American soldiers looked no different to Vietnamese villagers that day than the German soldiers who locked villagers into churches and burned them down, or who marched people out into the woods, had them dig a ditch and then mowed them down. Just following orders, American style did not look much different from similar crimes American jurists had tried and judged guilty at Nuremberg following the Nazi reign.

All three of these soldiers, who refused to "just follow orders" died of malignancies in their 60's. Colburn was at Thompson's bedside when he died. 

Gallagher celebrating his pardon

When American SEALS testified against Eddie Gallagher for committing murder of innocent civilian girls. No photos of the dead girls were ever published in American papers.

"We're going to take care of our warriors. I will always stick up for our great fighters," Mr. Trump said of Gallagher.  
"He's toxic," a SEAL testified about Gallagher. "He just murdered innocent people."

 President Trump pardoned him. Trump's voters still shout their approval of their strong leader at MAGA rallies today.