What Would Hegel Say?

My Lai War Hero Hugh Thompson Dies
By VOA News
07 January 2006


An American soldier honored for protecting Vietnamese civilians from
U.S. troops in the infamous My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war
has died.

Hugh Thompson was 62. He succumbed to cancer Friday.

As an Army helicopter pilot in 1968, Mr. Thompson saw the bodies of
women and children lying outside the village of My Lai. When he
realized that US troops were shooting civilians, he landed his
helicopter in the line of fire and ordered his two crew members to
train their guns on the Americans.

Mr. Thompson threatened to shoot the U.S. troops if they did not
stop, helping end one of the worst atrocities of the war.

His role in what became known as the My Lai massacre of hundreds of
civilians was not widely known until years later. In 1998, Mr.
Thompson and his crew were awarded the Soldier's Medal for their
bravery.