The Brave and the Scorned

Back when John Kerry was running for the Presidency and being portrayed by the Republican lie machine as a war criminal and traitor, I got into a dispute with the chairman of my county Republican Party, a former Colonel who fought behind a desk at the Pentagon during the Viet Nam conflict.

John Kerry, said the man, was to be compared with Benedict Arnold because of his actions in the US Navy. Not only did the young Kerry disgrace the military and his country, but John Kerry was responsible for the only crimes committed by US forces during that long, unsuccessful and bloody enterprise. Not long before this astonishing announcement, some details of investigations concerning the “Tiger Force” and its atrocities had been made public. Many details of the My Lai massacre had been known for over 30 years and once can still find the photos of the ditch filled with dead women and children and the elderly of My Lai, but of course in a country where nothing but sports statistics remain in the public memory, one can depend upon that public to embrace any fiction that suits them; facts be damned.

I wonder if Colonel W, as I shall call him, noted the death last Friday of Hugh Thompson Jr., the former U.S. Army helicopter pilot honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from his fellow soldiers engaged in their slaughter. Early in the morning of March 16, 1968, according to CNN, Thompson, door-gunner Lawrence Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta came upon U.S. ground troops killing Vietnamese civilians in and around the village of My Lai. Thompson landed his helicopter in the line of fire between American troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians and pointed their own guns at the U.S. soldiers to prevent more killings. According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped and then killed.

Under cover of his aircraft’s guns, he confronted the leader of the ground troops, saw to the evacuation of civilians and flew a wounded child back to a hospital. Although shunned by many of his fellow officers, although it was proposed by a congressman that he alone should have been punished for his actions, and not those killing civilians, although Lieutenant Calley’s life sentence was reduced to three years by Richard Nixon and support for him was loud and passionate, Thompson remained in the military and in 1998, the Army honored him and his crewmen with the prestigious Soldier's Medal, the highest award for bravery not involving conflict with an enemy. There was of course an enemy and there remains an enemy and the nature of that beast is to support any and all actions “in time of war.” Swift Boat Veterans, who take money to lie about people they never met, Republican Party leaders who promote war as an instrument to increase their power are the ever present enemy.

Thompson is now recognized as a hero, yet the lesson has not been learned by the criminals, traitors and war mongers who have insinuated themselves into power and continue to deny responsibility for their actions. As a nation, we continue to side with mindless and brutal aggression. We continue to be skeptical of “Liberal” people like Seymour Hersh who broke that story in 1969. We continue to be obsessed with the flag and remain scornful or ignorant of the few and the brave like Hugh Thompson who sometimes give it dignity.