Thompson (My Lai) has died

[James]

My Lai War Hero Hugh Thompson Dies
By VOA News
07 January 2006

An American soldier honored for protecting Vietnamese civilians from U.S. troops in the infamous My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war has died.

Hugh Thompson was 62. He succumbed to cancer Friday.

As an Army helicopter pilot in 1968, Mr. Thompson saw the bodies of women and children lying outside the village of My Lai. When he realized that US troops were shooting civilians, he landed his helicopter in the line of fire and ordered his two crew members to train their guns on the Americans.

Mr. Thompson threatened to shoot the U.S. troops if they did not stop, helping end one of the worst atrocities of the war.

His role in what became known as the My Lai massacre of hundreds of civilians was not widely known until years later. In 1998, Mr. Thompson and his crew were awarded the Soldier's Medal for their bravery.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/lib...60107-voa05.htm (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/01/mil-060107-voa05.htm)

[Janus]

My Lai was only one of the massacres that was actually noticed. There were many other accounts that soldiers told about massacres in which they participated in but they weren't verified. Supposedly, there were many incidents of large body kills with few weapons captured that were recorded and noticed but there were no follow up investigations.

The My Lai massacre had pretty much ended by the time this man helped to stop it so his effect on the incident was minimal at best.

[WUOrevolt]

Almost every regiment had its own MyLai, but not every regiment had a Hugh Thompson

[BuyOurEverything]

Ya, My Lai was hardly 'the worst' attrocity of the Vietnam war, it was simply one of the few that were documented. Nonetheless, I certainly respect the courage it must have taken to do what Thompson did. RIP.

[Red October]

i just did a report on my lai for a history class. that was basically what the nazis did in WWII. but one of the guys who was mainly responsible for the massacre got 3 years of house arrest and now works in a jewelry shop in florida. along with all the other my lai type massacres there was also the massive bombing on cambodia and north vietnam that killed countless civilians.

[BuyOurEverything]

that was basically what the nazis did in WWII

How do you figure?

[Ownthink]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 02:01 PM

that was basically what the nazis did in WWII

How do you figure?
I dunno, maybe the "rounding up people (civilians) and executing them for no reason" part. ;)

[BuyOurEverything]

Well there was a reason, just not a justifyable one, likewise with the holocaust. They were, however, very different reasons. Unjustified slaughter of civilians is as old as civilization itself. I'm just sick of everyone yelling 'Hitler!' when they see something that is unjust, with no understanding of the cause of either the holocaust or the thing they are comparing it too.

[Ownthink]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 07:18 PM
Well there was a reason, just not a justifyable one, likewise with the holocaust. They were, however, very different reasons. Unjustified slaughter of civilians is as old as civilization itself. I'm just sick of everyone yelling 'Hitler!' when they see something that is unjust, with no understanding of the cause of either the holocaust or the thing they are comparing it too.
Nobody is saying "OMG THE US GOVT IS FASCIST BECAUSE OF MY LAI". They are saying the activities performed at My Lai mirror many of the murderous things the Nazis did. Nobody yelled "Hitler!". They simply compared the activited of the Nazi thugs and American Thugs at My Lai.

And that was basically the activities the Nazis did during World War 2. They rounded up groups of innocent civilians and murdered them. I do not see a difference between what the Nazis did to their "enemies" and what happened at My Lai. The only difference was the Nazis did the same thing on a much bigger scale, en masse, but it was the same type of shit: Murdering innocents at gunpoint and piling their bodies up.

I hope I didn't come off sounding like a dick. I was only trying to be precise.

[BuyOurEverything]

Nobody is saying "OMG THE US GOVT IS FASCIST BECAUSE OF MY LAI".

I never said they did. I'm saying the Hitler comparison is vastly overused and in most cases, such as this one, is inappropriate.


And that was basically the activities the Nazis did during World War 2.

Not really. I suppose the actions of German soldiers in WWII may be similar to this, but the same could be said for any army anywhere in any war. The actions of the German government were an attempt to eliminate certain 'races' and other types of people completely, as well as to suppress political dissidents. The Americans in My Lai were trying to root out enemy guerillas and didn't give a shit if they killed innocents. Nobody was trying to ethnically cleanse Vietnam of Vietnamese.


I do not see a difference between what the Nazis did to their "enemies" and what happened at My Lai.

I hope that cleared it up for you.

[Ownthink]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 10:04 PM

Nobody is saying "OMG THE US GOVT IS FASCIST BECAUSE OF MY LAI".

I never said they did. I'm saying the Hitler comparison is vastly overused and in most cases, such as this one, is inappropriate.


And that was basically the activities the Nazis did during World War 2.

Not really. I suppose the actions of German soldiers in WWII may be similar to this, but the same could be said for any army anywhere in any war. The actions of the German government were an attempt to eliminate certain 'races' and other types of people completely, as well as to suppress political dissidents. The Americans in My Lai were trying to root out enemy guerillas and didn't give a shit if they killed innocents. Nobody was trying to ethnically cleanse Vietnam of Vietnamese.


I do not see a difference between what the Nazis did to their "enemies" and what happened at My Lai.

I hope that cleared it up for you.
Whatever. I jut think you're overanalyzing the sentence just a tad :) When someone sees shitloads of dead bodies piled up, they may think "what the nazis did in world war 2" automatically.

And for good reason! ;)

[Janus]

That is why we must avoid simplifying things to that degree.

Now, I definitely don't think that the My Lai masscre was justified in any way but look at it from this perspective. Villages were the foundations of the Viet Cong movement in the South. Not only did they provide logistics, supplies, intelligence but also manpower. Now, you've got many young and inexperienced American soldiers who are taking casualties everyday and unable to come into contact with an elusive enemy. But one day, intelligence tells you that you get your chance to get back at the enemy and that they're in the My Lai hamlet. They tell you that everyone inside the village is either VC or a sympathizer. But when you get there, all you see are just regular civilians and no combatants. Well, your pent-up rage reveals itself and is driven by an inexperienced platoon leader named Calley. I absolutely don't think that these factors justify this horrible massacre. I'm just trying to say that fear+anger and frustration+guns=some bad results. I only pointed these things in order to contrast them with the Holocaust. The Nazis had no reason whatsoever to kill the Jews and weren't driven by rage but by their ideology that they must wipe out the Jews. The My Lai massacre was also horrendous but there were some factors involved in it that weren't in the Holocaust.

[timbaly]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 07:18 PM
Well there was a reason, just not a justifyable one, likewise with the holocaust. They were, however, very different reasons. Unjustified slaughter of civilians is as old as civilization itself. I'm just sick of everyone yelling 'Hitler!' when they see something that is unjust, with no understanding of the cause of either the holocaust or the thing they are comparing it too.
I'm glad you called this one out. I too can't stand it when the US governemnt or any other government or military is compared to the nazis simply because of a massacre. Massacres happen in war, the nazis did not start the trend. I too don't see My Lai as something on par with the holocaust. The situation had some similarities but has a great many differences as well.