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A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

latimes.com

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Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#11

Post by qubax »

It's a bit strange that we are remembering the "hero" but not the 500 or so innocent vietnamese men, women, children and infants who were raped, tortured and/or killed. Strange how we always have to make ourselves the good guys. The "heroes".

If you look at the war photos. You'll see infants. Such a horrific war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

It's also strange that we say this is the worst event in vietnam war, when we dropped napalm on people ( chemically burning them to death ) and more than 4 million people were killed in that terrible war. God knows how many vietnamese women and children were raped. My Lai was one of thousands of my lai incidents in vietnam.

Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#12

Post by romwell »

I wouldn't call him forgotten - while I'm bad with remembering names, when I saw "My Lai", the first thing that came to mind was "that badass helicopter pilot who landed his helicopter between civilians and US soldiers, and threatened to open fire to protect the civilians".

What I didn't know was that he took so much flak for that - from statements that he should be the one punished to death threats and dead animals on his porch. Unsurprising, yet sad.

His name was Hugh Thompson, and today, let's remember that name[1].

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson_Jr.

Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#13

Post by maxxxxx »

elboru wrote: post #5
maxxxxx wrote: post #2

Most people would find it easier to just go along or look the other way. These guys were true war heroes and had courage under fire. They should be held up as examples what soldiers should be.

That’s scary, we all like to judge others’ actions in order to feel morally superior, but what percentage of people would actually do something when they see their peers, friends, colleagues and superiors doing bad stuff? It’ll be always easier to go along and just fool yourself and say “I’m just following orders”

"what percentage of people would actually do something when they see their peers, friends,"

The history of genocides, war crimes and dictatorships clearly shows that most people will go along.

Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#14

Post by mc32 »

qubax wrote: post #11

It's a bit strange that we are remembering the "hero" but not the 500 or so innocent vietnamese men, women, children and infants who were raped, tortured and/or killed. Strange how we always have to make ourselves the good guys. The "heroes". If you look at the war photos. You'll see infants. Such a horrific war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre It's also strange that we say this is the worst event in vi…

Isn’t that how it usually works. Japan remembers its war dead, we remember ours. They rember their heroes, we remember ours. Same for Soviets, Germans, British, French, Spanish, Philipinoes, Indians, Pakistanis, etc..

Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#15

Post by hluska »

qubax wrote: post #11

It's a bit strange that we are remembering the "hero" but not the 500 or so innocent vietnamese men, women, children and infants who were raped, tortured and/or killed. Strange how we always have to make ourselves the good guys. The "heroes". If you look at the war photos. You'll see infants. Such a horrific war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre It's also strange that we say this is the worst event in vi…

I see what you're saying here. But unfortunately, civilians get massacred in wars. If you laud the people who stop the massacres as heroes, you hopefully increase the odds of someone stopping the next massacre.

Finally, Hugh Thompson absolutely is a hero. Your quotes around that word are unnecessary.

Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#16

Post by baddox »

qubax wrote: post #11

It's a bit strange that we are remembering the "hero" but not the 500 or so innocent vietnamese men, women, children and infants who were raped, tortured and/or killed. Strange how we always have to make ourselves the good guys. The "heroes". If you look at the war photos. You'll see infants. Such a horrific war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre It's also strange that we say this is the worst event in vi…

See also: people who claim that the atomic bombings of Japan saved lives, and the people who claim that white people deserve credit for being the people who ended slavery in the United States.

Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#18

Post by 1ceaham »

Some of you may find the recently-staged monodrama focused on Hugh Thompson with the Kronos Quartet of interest. The NYT wrote it up [1], but excerpts can also be found elsewhere. I found it a fitting tribute to his memory.

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/arts/music/my-lai-review-...

Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#19

Post by [deleted] »

pessimizer wrote: post #4

He wasn't "forgotten", he was energetically smeared and condemned by the most right-wing, racist and nationalist elements of the government, media and US population; and all of the people who committed the massacre were acquitted but one, and that one was ordered released from jail by the POTUS during trial with his life sentence ultimately commuted to 3 1/2 years of house arrest.

[deleted]

Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago

#20

Post by Bluestrike2 »

squarefoot wrote: post #17

"Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. ..." So much for the World Wide Web. Someone give me back the web 1.0 before 2000, please.

https://outline.com/pvdxgM

And 100% agreed, particularly for a major newspaper.

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