The Power of Leadership

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

The Evil = The Massacre at My Lai

The Good Man = Hugh Thompson

Leadership is a powerful thing. Strong, moral leadership is even more powerful. Powerful enough to stop bad things from happening and to right wrongs.

Hugh Clowers Thompson Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1943. He enlisted in the Navy in 1961 and served until 1964. He headed back to Georgia in hopes of a quiet life. Then the Vietnam War broke out, compelling Hugh to serve his country again. He enlisted in the Army in 1966 and with a strong desire to fly, completed the Warrant Officer’s Flight training program.

In December of 1967 25-year old Thompson received orders to Vietnam. He served in Company B, 123rd Aviation Battalion, 23rd Infantry Division. He was assigned as an OH-23 Raven Helicopter Pilot. The OH-23 was a multi-purpose light observation aircraft and often the eyes and ears for the combat troops on the ground.

On March 16, 1968, Hugh and his crew, Specialists Lawrence Colburn and Glenn Andreotta, were supporting Task Force Barker’s Search and Destroy Operations. The mission of Task Force Barker was to find and kill the enemy, the Viet Cong, in the villages in the Quang Ngai province. Specifically a group of villages called Song My.

Song My consisted of four hamlets, one being My Lai, also called “Pinkville.” My Lai was a very small community of mostly women, children, babies, and older men. Charlie Company from the 11th Infantry Brigade, were making their way through My Lai while Thompson and his crew flew above.

During flight operations, they started noticing very large numbers of bodies down below. Piled up in large numbers. They first thought it may have been due to the bombardments. There was no enemy fire. They noticed a female, about 20 years old, lying down and clearly injured and unarmed. As they were descending, only 6 feet above her and 20 feet away, a US Army Officer, Captain Ernest Medina (Commander of Charlie Company), approached the girl, kicked her, then shot and killed her. As Thompson would later report, he “finished her off.” That’s when it all made sense to him and his crew. They understood why there were so many bodies. Charlie Company was killing everyone.

Thompson immediately radioed back to HQ stating, “It looks to me like there’s an awful lot of unnecessary killing going on down there. Something ain't right about this. There's bodies everywhere. There's something wrong here.”

Thompson noticed a large irrigation ditch full of bodies including women, children, and babies. He maneuvered his chopper over with hopes of rescuing some of the victims. Lt William Calley approached him and told him and his crew to mind their own business. As Thompson and Calley were talking, a US Soldier started firing into the ditch full of people.

LET'S SAVE WHO WE CAN!

Thompson and his crew took off to scout the area for anyone they could save. They found a group of women, children, and older men fleeing from a group of advancing US soldiers. Thompson knew the soldiers’ intentions. He quickly landed his chopper between the civilians and the soldiers and ordered Colburn and Andreotta to train their weapons on the advancing Americans. His orders to his crew:? fire on them if they started firing on the civilians. He then got the group of Vietnamese civilians to follow him to a safe location where he had them rescued by two UH-1 Huey Pilots who were friends of his.

Thompson was low on fuel so had to head back. Before they departed, they noticed movement in the irrigation ditch. Thompson quickly landed and Andreotta went over and pulled out a live child. They quickly flew the child to a hospital before returning to base.

Thompson and his crew returned to base and he angrily reported the killings to his superiors. The report quickly reached Lt Col Frank Barker, Task Force Commander, who put the word out immediately to “cease the killings.” Charlie Company stopped. Just like that. The killings stopped.

Thompson made an official report and later, a US Senator tried unsuccessfully to have him court-martialed. Thompson was vilified, called a traitor, and even faced death threats but never wavered away from doing the right thing. He went on to serve as an Instructor Pilot and earned a direct commission, ultimately retiring as a Major in 1983.

In 1998, Thompson and his crew received Soldier’s Medals, the Army’s highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. Specialist Andreotta, who was killed in action less than a month after My Lai, was awarded the medal posthumously.

In 2006, at age 62, Thompson died of cancer in Pineville, Louisiana. He was a hero to many, including, as you can imagine, the people of Vietnam and especially the survivors of My Lai.

COVER UP AND AFTERMATH

Almost immediately after the reports of the massacre, a coordinated military cover up began. The problem was there were too many men involved. The Army brass tried to keep them engaged in the field but the soldiers of Charlie Company were still talking. They were hyped up about what they had done, and many were feeling guilty about it. Ron Ridenhour, a helicopter gunner assigned to the 11th Brigade, starting hearing talk of Pinkville and what had happened there. He started asking questions of those who were there and once he had enough corroboration, wrote letters to several high-ranking officials in Washington, DC, including President Nixon. The letters triggered an investigation and resulted in six courts martial for four officers and two enlisted. Only one of them was found guilty. Lt William Calley, one of Charlie Company's platoon commanders, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor. His sentence was later reduced on appeal. In the end, he only served three and a half years on “house arrest” at Fort Benning, Georgia, before being released on parole in 1974.

WHY IT MATTERED

US Soldiers from Charlie Company brutally murdered over 500 Vietnamese civilians on that dreadful March Day in 1968. Many of them tortured, raped, and mutilated before being executed. Some may say, "hey, bad things happen in war." Or, "they were probably supporting the Viet Cong and had it coming to them." It was even rationalized that the drive for "high body count" by the higher echelon leadership may have drove Charlie Company to this madness. All wrong. At the end of the day, you are still left with the fact that these were women, children, babies, and senior citizens. That fact doesn't go away. These were citizens of a country we had committed to fight for to secure democracy. They deserved our care and support, and at a minimum, due process.

These people woke up, like any other day, expecting to live their lives. They certainly never expected to be the victims of a massacre before finishing breakfast. The Americans that had come through My Lai before Charlie Company had been friendly to them, often times giving candy and food to the children. Actions you would expect from “the good guys.” As Americans, we are better than the savages who take part in these types of atrocities. This could never, ever happen again.

LESSONS FROM MY LAI

I’m sure there are many lessons from My Lai but the main one, in my opinion, is the power of leadership. Good leaders who stand up, speak up, and do something can stop bad things from happening or reverse the course towards good.

All it took to stop the killings at My Lai was for a leader to speak up. Thompson could just as easily ignored what was happening. Took the position of “we fly our mission and head back to base” or “let the soldiers do what they do, and we do what we do.” He didn’t. He recognized wrong when he saw it and stood up, spoke up, and did something. The body count didn’t have to get that high. There were leaders on the ground. Any one of them, had they spoken up and acted, could have stopped the killing. Medina? Calley? Others? We also know there were quite a few soldiers who refused to participate. They recognized wrong when they saw it but did nothing about it or were, unfortunately, powerless to stop it.

My Lai was not the only plan for that day and the days ahead. Task Force Barker’s mission included all the villages in that area. Hugh Thompson's report and actions resulted in the cancellation of Task Force Barker's remaining missions. Can you imagine the carnage had Thompson not acted that day? The power of his leadership stopped the massacre from growing into the thousands.

Hugh Thompson, a good man, didn't allow evil to triumph that day. Unfortunately, his actions, while implemented as soon as he recognized evil, were a little too late to save the hundreds who suffered and perished. His strong, moral courage set a standard for everyone to strive for the greater good. His leadership and action, along with the actions of Colburn and Andreotta, forged a path towards accountability and serve as a reminder to us all to speak up when things aren't right.

The power of leadership made a difference on March 16th, 1968.