Hugh Thompson, Vietnam Hero, Dies

Hugh Thompson, an army pilot who helped stop the My Lai massacre, landing his helicopter between American soldiers and the Vietnamese civilians they were murdering and then helicoptering survivors to safety, died early Friday.

For his actions at My Lai, which included he and his crew pointing their guns at the Americans doing the killing, Thompson received nasty letters and death threats and feared he would be court martialed. Eventually, in 1998, he and his crew, door-gunner Lawrence Coburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta, received the Soldiers medal for their actions, Andreotta, killed in action in April 1968, posthumously.