March 16, 2008 will mark the 40th anniversary of the killing by US Armed Forces of close to 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians in the Village of My Lai. Authors James Olson and Randy Roberts write, “Not every member of Charlie Company participated in the slaughter. Some fired only when they were given direct orders to fire, others simply refused to fire at all. All the men were presented with a difficult moral choice: to follow what they believed were their orders or to do what their consciences told them was right.” On the morning of March 16, 1968, helicopter pilot Hugh Thomson, Jr., age 25, discovered the massacre while flying a routine reconnaissance mission. With the aid of his comrades, 18 year-old Larry Colburn and Glenn Andreotti, age 23, he intervened to stop the continuing slaughter. It would be 30 years before their heroism would be formally recognized with the presentation of the US Army’s Soldiers Medal in 1998. Prior to the start of the war in Iraq, University of Delaware Professor of History Guy Alchon invited the two surviving patriots, Thompson and Colburn, to come and tell their story to the University community and the larger public. Hugh Thompson died of cancer in 2006. Larry Colburn continues to travel around the US speaking to young people and is returning to My Lai for the 40th anniversary commemorations. This excerpt is part of a Hearts and Minds Film documentary project that will further examine the My Lai massacre, and the moral and ethical …
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@Noodles37UK That’s what I heard. He had supposedly been recycled throught the OCS at Fort Benning 3 times. He shouldn’t have been an officer period.
Wasn’t Calley one of those hated ” rushed – release ” Lieutenants? He’d only been over there a few months with about 10 weeks’ training?
@shadoww1000 These men became the beacons of Jesus, Buddha, tied to the collective unconsciousness that informs us never to do contra survival acts to innocent human beings, children, babies, I salute these true hero acts that risked their own lives, reputations, to see that true mercy, justice was done.
Jesus said, “WHAT YOU DID NOT DO FOR THE LEAST OF THEE, YOU DID NOT DO FOR ME”
Buddha said “LOVE THE WHOLE WORLD AS A MOTHER LOVES HER ONLY CHILD”
these men give me hope
@wovkanarchy Get over yourself. There isn’t ONE nation on earth that hasn’t been forged out of terrible cruelty to / within / among ‘indigenous’ people. Everything the USA stands for AT ITS BEST was on show from these guys at M Lai. And THAT’S the opinion of the people who still live there.
@penroseworld Bullshit. They are true humans. If they were ‘true Americans” they would have allowed the massacre to continue. My Lai was just a continuation of what occured to the American Indians in the 1800s.
amazing people these guys ..they are all thats good about humanity
God bless everyone involved in this….what a precious gift of goodness
there is nothing like getting people so pissed off at you and have so much power over them they take it out on others just how it was planned
These mens actions will give hope for future generations. Some men can preserver their dignity.
What is this music? A great tune fitting to the mood. Thanks for posting.
you know so much my fav show for now its on the net watchmercy streaming-dot -com
“If you see somethin’ thats not right, you have to take action to stop it.” – Hugh Thompson Jr.
I wonder how Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh would have dealt with My Lai-probably blame it on Osama Bin Laden; more likely turn the dead into “Communist infiltrators”; how would Obama and Holder have dealt with it? Probably like their buddy the Great Black Hope (and Company Man) Colin Powell did in fact deal with it–cover it up.
colburn and thompson….angels on earth! i wish there are more of you.
I agree, just look at the way they talk, theyre kinda slow
the fact that these guys were chastised for what they done shows the true ridiculous spirit of the leadership of our military..as it continues today with other incidents.
as though pointing guns at your own men is some how some type of thing you can never do regardless of how brutal and savage they are.
to hell with that. I would’ve had zero problems at all wasting those murderers…doesn’t matter what team they’re on, what country or whatever. You don’t treat a huge atrocity as a small problem
This video had 1529 views in 13 months !
3,8 per day ! Worldwide ! During wartime !
In which world do we live ?
Such institution already exists.
We call it the UN.
The two kids joining the military are pretty scary , yes they should be able to judge people without being there otherwise if they dont know the difference between right and wrong when their there they will go along with it .
I feel pathetic that I never truly understood what Mr. Colburn did for our country. I have known his my entire life because he is a close family friend and it shows me how lucky we are to have such brave men in our day to day lives but never even know it.
You make some good points. But ya know, once the nuclear bombs start flying or the oceans rise, forcing millions to invade other countries, we’re going to start coming together fast. We already have global governance in the form of worldwide trade. Oh, it’ll happen. It’s not a dream at all. Time for us to start steering it by western values (well, the good ones) while we still are the superpower, which, as we all can see, won’t be for much longer.
In 1968 I was 27, my son was a few months old and the My Lai massacre was showing on TV. What kind of world had I brought this child into, I wondered.
A world much like ours today. Thank God for the few, like Hugh Thompson and Larry Colburn who give us hope and set a shining example of human courage and personal integrity.
You should take some political science classes, because you live in a dream world. No country is going to give up their Sovereignty to an international police. Your also forgetting about what laws this international police would follow… hmm??? Sharia law, British Common Law, French Napoleonic Code and lets not even get into asia. Some states in America follow common law while others follow the civil law. If you can’t get America to follow one set of rules, it’s not going to work for the world.
In these days of video games, it’s important that the young see they can have a conscience in war, like these brave men did. I personally think war should be outlawed by world law — international police can be organized to catch wrongdoers, instead of blasting whole nations — and civilians — to hell!
These three guys were awesomely brave. True Heroes. True Patriots. True Americans.
Their bravery and honour should be celebrated forever.