Pilot who stopped My Lai
massacre
says Kerrey should demand investigation
By Franklin Fisher, Taegu bureau chief
AP file photo
Army Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson speaks with reporters at the Pentagon on Dec. 4,
1969, after testifying before a board looking into the original investigation of the My
Lai massacre in South Vietnam. |
The Army
helicopter pilot credited with stopping the My Lai massacre in Vietnam three decades ago
said he’s bewildered that former Sen. Bob Kerrey has failed to mount a furious
offensive against accusations that he ordered his subordinates to murder civilians in
Vietnam.
"Something’s
not right with this picture," said Hugh C. Thompson Jr. The former pilot is a
counselor with the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs.
On March
16, 1968, Thompson landed his scout helicopter and halted American GIs from slaughtering
unarmed men, women and children. Thompson ordered his door gunner to machinegun the GIs if
they persisted. He radioed two other helicopters and with them evacuated about a dozen
civilians to safety. He also reported the massacre to his superiors.
Later
investigations revealed that GIS rampaged for four hours, raping, mutilating and murdering
the civilians, in and near the hamlet of My Lai in coastal Quang Ngai Province.
Kerrey’s
raid took place about a year later, in another part of Vietnam. Kerrey has acknowledged
that an elite Navy SEAL team he led killed about 13 civilians "by mistake" after
they were shot at during a nighttime raid on Feb. 25, 1969.
Kerrey made
the statements after one former member of the team, Gerhard Klann, told the media that
Kerrey ordered the civilians herded together and shot.
The
Associated Press quoted Kerrey telling CBS News that while his recollection of the Thanh
Phong raid differed from Klann’s, he would nevertheless not dispute the allegations.
"Gerhard,
I will not contradict," Kerrey was quoted as saying. "I will not contradict the
memory of any of the six people that were on the operation that night," he said.
"So if that’s his view, I don’t contradict it, it’s not my memory of
it …"
Thompson
said he thinks there should be an investigation into the allegations.
"Get
to the bottom of it, and hopefully he’ll come out clean as anything. If it was me, I
would demand an investigation to clear my name. I just think it’s human nature to
defend oneself, and to me he doesn’t appear to be defending himself very eagerly.
"And I
do find it a little strange that he’s not a little bit more aggressive. I would prove
that I was innocent and I would sue that person for everything he has and everything he
ever has in the future."
Thompson
was also puzzled that some people, including many prominent politicians, said that because
the incident happened 30 years ago, it should be left in the past.
"I
can’t understand why some people are indicating, ‘It’s … a long time
ago. We shouldn’t even bring things like this up.’ If something happened, it
should be investigated — the truth be told, and hopefully it would vindicate and show
that Senator Kerrey didn’t do anything wrong.
"And
the only way I can personally see to clear the air would be if Senator Kerrey called this
guy (Klann) up and said, you know, ‘Let’s sit down here with a bunch of
disinterested people and let’s take some polygraph tests.’
"If
somebody comes after me, I’m going to get it straightened out."
Five of
Kerrey’s former SEAL team members have since backed his version.
Kerrey, a
former Democratic governor and senator from Nebraska, ran for president in 1992.
He was
awarded a Bronze Star for the raid, which was made in hopes of capturing or killing
Communist Viet Cong officials believed to be meeting in Thanh Phong that night.
He later
received the Medal of Honor for directing an attack on a Viet Cong island base and losing
part of his right leg to a grenade explosion.
Thompson
said, "I would love … for Senator Kerrey to completely clear himself. Because I
respect the man — I respect anybody who received the congressional Medal of Honor. I
want him to be innocent. I do not want any of our American soldiers to be guilty of
anything. And I hope that his story is correct. If that’s what happened, he did
right, as an honorable soldier.
In 1998,
Thompson and his former door gunner, Lawrence Colburn, were awarded the Soldier’s
Medal. Former crew chief Glenn Andreotta received the award posthumously. He died in a
helicopter crash three weeks after My Lai.
Kerrey
recently became president of the New School University in New York. He has not ruled out a
run for president in 2004.
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