My Lai Hero Balks at Format for His Medal Ceremony

A dispute is threatening plans to honor the unsung hero of the 1968 My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.

Hugh C. Thompson Jr. is scheduled to receive the Soldier’s Medal for heroism at a private ceremony Wednesday in the office of Army Secretary Togo West Jr. But Thompson, who as an Army helicopter pilot saved the lives of My Lai villagers and alerted superiors to the carnage, prefers a public ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Thompson, who lives in Louisiana, said he did not know what will happen if the ceremony is kept private.

He is also requesting that the two crew members with him that day, Larry Colburn and the late Glenn Andreotta, receive Meritorious Service Medals, signifying outstanding noncombat achievement.

“I think Larry deserves a medal,” Thompson said, adding that Andreotta, who was killed in Vietnam, should receive one posthumously. “We were a team.”

Should the Army refuse to award Colburn a medal, Thompson said, he would ask that his former gunner--not West--pin on his Soldier’s Medal.

Asked whether he intended to turn down the invitation to West’s office if his requests were not met, Thompson said: “I haven’t done that yet.” He added that he expects an answer today.

Dove Schwartz, an Army spokesman, would say only that Army officials are completing details for the ceremony.

The My Lai massacre occurred March 16, 1968, when an Army platoon led by Lt. William L. Calley Jr. went on a rampage against a village of Vietnamese civilians suspected of collaboration with the Viet Cong. Calley was convicted of 22 murders and served three years behind bars. Estimates of civilians killed range as high as 500.

Thompson, a warrant officer, was flying his helicopter over My Lai when he saw a trench filled with bodies.

He landed his aircraft, confronted the more senior Calley, and was later credited with saving more than a dozen villagers huddled in a bunker. Returning to headquarters, he told his superiors what was happening, and they ordered a cease-fire.

Lt. Gen. W.R. Peers, who led the official inquiry into the massacre, wrote of Thompson: “If there was a hero at My Lai, he was it.”

Thompson’s efforts to save the villagers and end the killing were largely unknown at the time of the massacre. The Army approved the Soldier’s Medal for him in August 1996, but the presentation was stalled by internal Army politics.

Thompson said that if he is the only member of his helicopter crew to receive a medal, he may leave it at the Vietnam memorial.

“I’ll bring the medal to the Wall and tape it on Andreotta’s name.”