Few people know who he was. No one knows who Joe Darby is, either, but everyone knows about Lynndie Englund, so I suppose that’s just the way it goes.
Hugh Thompson (along with Lawrence Colburn and Glenn Andreotta) received the Soldier’s Medal in 1998, 30 years after Nixon commuted Calley’s life sentence for playing the lead role murdering hundreds of unarmed people, mostly women and children.
Anyhow. Hugh Thompson died yesterday, of cancer, at 62. I thought it should be mentioned here, someplace.
I can’t believe this is the only thread I’ve seen on the Dope about his passing. Or maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong sections. Regardless, “Mundane and Pointless” does this man a disservice. Mr. Thompson was a real hero and stands as a great example of how the excuse “I was only following orders” is really just a pack of sh*t.
He should be much better known than he is. Sadly, he was snubbed - and worse - by those in the military, although he and two others were awarded the Soldier’s Medal in '98.
The claim of snubbing and shunning is something that has always bothered me about this. I would not be much surprised is Mr. Thompson got the cold shoulder in the Americal Division – there was considerable and well founded speculation that the incident at MyLai (Pinkville Two) was both not an isolated incident and organized much further up the chain of command than Captain Medina’s infantry company. The death of the battalion commander effectively prevented tracing the criminality higher than the company commander. I suspect the people at the division, brigade and battalion were more than a little nervous about the whole thing and less than welcoming toward Mr Thompson.
Once he started talking to Congress and once the prosecutions of Lieutenant Caley and Captain Medina started, Thompson was a witness and you can bet that everybody was told to stay away from him for fear of giving the defense in those courts martial some excuse to claim command influence and interference with his testimony.
I can only speak for the attitude of the professionals in the Army criminal justice system. From the Judge Advocate General on down Mr Thompson was, at the time, admired and respected as a soldier who had done his duty and deserved the highest regard of all concerned. I have previously posted about the official attitude of the JAGC-Army, the unannounced mandatary conferences with Brigadier General Dort, the Deputy JAG, held in major overseas commands and his announcement, speaking for the JAG Army, the Army Chief of Staff and the Sec of the Army that the cases would be vigorously prosecuted no matter how far the thing went. One of my acquaintances ended up as the chief prosecutor in Caley’s case and did a bang up job of it – some may remember the mantra of his final argument: women, babies, children and old men.
The My Lai Massacre was a blot on the Army’s record. The prosecutions were a bright point of integrity. They solidified my personal contempt for Richard M. Nixon for his interference with the prosecutions.
Hugh Thompson was a good soldier who did his duty and is to be honored for that. I’m sorry to see him gone so young. He would have been welcome in any open mess where I was a member.
