Hugh Thompson Jr. died yesterday, January 6th, in Louisiana. He had had cancer for a long time and was 62 years old. Thirty- eight years ago as a young warrent officer in Vietnam, Thompson landed his helicopter between US Army troops and the injured Vietnamese civilians they were murdering in the village of My Lai. Though outranked by the officer leading the massacre Thompson gave his men orders to shoot his own countrymen if they pursued the attack. Thompson and his crew then evacuated wounded Vietnamese villagers.

You can read more about Hugh Thompson on these web sites, and there are others as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson%2C_Jr.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/Myl_hero.html#HUGH%20THOMPSON:

If I had ever heard of Hugh Thompson I had long ago forgotten him. Hearing his story yesterday- of one American who wouldn't go along- was incredibly moving and I though that it needed to be passed along.

Happy New Year!

Ed