April 7, 1999

Hugh Thompson, ‘Hero Of My Lai,’ To Speak At Ramapo College

(Mahwah) -- Hugh Thompson, who has come to be known as "the forgotten hero of My Lai," will speak on the topic, "Human Responsibility in the Midst of a Massacre," Thursday, April 22 at 7 p.m. at Ramapo College of New Jersey in the Mansion York Room. Thompson, a scout helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, is credited with putting a stop to the My Lai Massacre, in which 504 Vietnamese civilians were killed at the hands of U.S. soldiers.

On March 16, 1968, the helicopter flown by Thompson and two crew members came upon American ground troops killing Vietnamese civilians. They landed their helicopter between the firing American troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians and pointed their guns at the soldiers to prevent more murders. Thompson then coaxed the remaining civilians out of a bunker to enable their evacuation. Leaving the area after requesting and overseeing the civilians’ air evacuation, his crew spotted movement in a ditch filled with bodies south of My Lai. Thompson again landed his helicopter and covered his crew as they retrieved a wounded child from the pile of bodies. He flew the child to the safety of a hospital at Quang Ngai.

Thirty years later, Thompson and crew member Lawrence Colburn, along with their fellow soldier Glenn Lanfreotta, who was killed in battle three weeks after the massacre at My Lai, were awarded the Soldier’s Medal, the highest award for bravery not involving conflict with an enemy.

This talk is the last in Ramapo College’s year-long series, "Human Rights: Human Responsibilities," commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For more information on Ramapo College events, please call (201) 684-7050.