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How did helicopter crews help civilians escape the My Lai Massacre?

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A group of frightened Vietnamese women and children stand close together outdoors during the My Lai Massacre in the Vietnam War. — My Lai Massacre Vietnamese citizens photographed during the My Lai Massacre, March 16, 1968.

During the My Lai Massacre, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson and his helicopter crew took courageous action to protect Vietnamese civilians from U.S. soldiers. While flying over the village, Thompson observed wounded civilians and initially attempted to assist them by marking their locations with smoke grenades and radioing for medical aid.1

Upon realizing that the soldiers were killing the civilians he had tried to help, Thompson took direct intervention. He landed his scout helicopter between a squad of U.S. soldiers and a group of more than a dozen women and children to prevent further violence. While his door gunner, Lawrence Colburn, and crew chief, Glenn Andreotta, kept their weapons trained on the soldiers, Thompson hailed other helicopters to join him in ferrying the civilians to safety.1

For these acts of extraordinary bravery, Thompson, Colburn, and Andreotta were later awarded the Soldier’s Medal.1