Americans Make Bittersweet Return To My Lai Protectors Meet Rescued, But Have No Answers

For two Americans who tried to protect villagers from fellow U.S. soldiers 30 years ago, returning to My Lai meant struggling to explain the inexplicable. It also provided great joy.

There were the highs from meeting two women that Hugh Thompson and Lawrence Colburn helped save from the soldiers’ massacre. And there were the lows of being asked why it happened - questions they could not answer.

“It was very humbling,” said Thompson, of Lafayette, La. “You think about all the people who perished. You bring back images of people and places.”

And many of those images are ugly: Americans killing as many as 504 unarmed civilians, then relaxing in the shade not far from piles of bloody bodies.

Just a few days ago, former helicopter pilot Thompson, gunner Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta - who was killed during the Vietnam War three weeks after My Lai - belatedly were awarded the Soldier’s Medal, the highest U.S. military award for bravery not involving conflict with the enemy. They were honored for putting down their scout chopper between U.S. soldiers and a group of fleeing Vietnamese to prevent more killings.

On Sunday, Thompson was making his second sojourn back to My Lai for today’s 30th anniversary commemorations. It was the first return for Colburn, who lives in Woodstock, Ga.

Both were energized and drained at the same time. And both clearly were affected deeply by the experience.

“The happiest day of my life was the birth of my son. The second-happiest was today. It goes to show that one person can make a difference for generations,” Colburn said.

He added that he hopes to return to help with fellow GI Mike Boehm’s efforts to help My Lai’s 12,000 residents: “We have a chance to reunite and establish brotherhood between completely different cultures.”

The two men said it was not just an emotional meeting with the survivors - “A lot of tears,” Thompson said - but with their children and even grandchildren, who would not have been born had the three-man helicopter crew decided against making a stand.

The two women were among about nine people saved by gunships called in by Thompson. One is in her 70s. The other was but a child clinging to her mother’s leg 30 years ago.

But the highs were balanced by the questions: Why did the soldiers come and kill so many people?

“I issue Lt. Calley a personal challenge to face the women we faced today who asked the questions they asked, and look at the tears in their eyes and tell them why it happened,” Colburn said.

William Calley, today a jeweler in Georgia, was the only soldier convicted for the massacre at a March 1971 court-martial. He refuses to talk about My Lai.

For Thompson, the reward was knowing that Vietnamese know that “not everyone went crazy that day.” The downside was realizing he still has trouble facing his own ghosts.

“I think after being here that I have to talk to somebody,” said Thompson, who counsels veterans in Louisiana. “I thought before today that I was in total control.

“If I had acted immediately, I might have saved more people. That’s what I carry with me.”

There also is concern that the tale of My Lai might fade from memory, that no lessons have been learned to prevent future massacres. “Look at the (American) school books,” Colburn said. “It’s not taught.”

Added Thompson: “It is history. You’re supposed to learn from history.”