General of the Army George C. Marshall
Army Chief of Staff, World War II

Personal courage—whether physical, moral, or a combination of the two—may be manifested in a variety of ways, both on and off the battlefield. On March 16, 1968 Warrant Officer (WO1) Hugh C. Thompson, Jr. and his two-man crew were on a reconnaissance mission over the village of My Lai, Republic of Vietnam. WO1 Thompson watched in horror as he saw an American soldier shoot an injured Vietnamese child. Minutes later, when he observed American soldiers advancing on a number of civilians in a ditch, WO1 Thompson landed his helicopter and questioned a young officer about what was happening on the ground. Told that the ground action was none of his business, WO1 Thompson took off and continued to circle the area.

When it became apparent that the American soldiers were now firing on civilians, WO1 Thompson landed his helicopter between the soldiers and a group of 10 villagers who were headed for a homemade bomb shelter. He ordered his gunner to train his weapon on the approaching American soldiers and to fire if necessary. Then he personally coaxed the civilians out of the shelter and airlifted them to safety. WO1 Thompson’s radio reports of what was happening were instrumental in bringing about the cease-fire order that saved the lives of more civilians. His willingness to place himself in physical danger in order to do the morally right thing is a sterling example of personal courage.

A battalion in a newly activated division had just spent a great deal of time and effort on weapons qualification. When the companies reported results, the battalion commander could not understand why B and C Companies had reported all machine gunners fully qualified while A Company had not. The A Company Commander said that he could not report his gunners qualified because they had only fired on the 10-meter range and the manual for qualification clearly stated that the gunners had to fire on the transition range as well. The battalion commander responded that since the transition range was not built yet, the gunners should be reported as qualified:  "They fired on the only range we have. And besides, that’s how we did it at Fort Braxton."

Some of the A Company NCOs, who had also been at Fort Braxton, tried to tell their company commander the same thing. But the captain insisted the A Company gunners were not fully qualified, and that’s how the report went to the brigade commander.

The brigade commander asked for an explanation of the qualification scores. After hearing the A Company Commander’s story, he agreed that the brigade would be doing itself no favors by reporting partially qualified gunners as fully qualified. The incident also sent a message to division:  get that transition range built.