"Thank you for making me proud to be an American.... I remember the My Lai massacre all too vividly, and I remember the trial, but unfortunately, the part of it all that represents what this country stands for was left untold until now."

– John Aiken
Irmo, S.C.

"Your heroism in the face of that terrific evil has renewed my faith in mankind... Thank you also for showing all of us that man can perform moral and courageous deeds even if threatened by terrible and evil danger. You have given us all an inspiring lesson in how to live."

– Jim Gustin
Bridgewater, Conn.

Letters such as these began arriving in Hugh Thompson's mailbox in March of 1998, shortly after the American public learned of his heroic actions as a U .S. soldier in Vietnam some 30 years earlier. People all over the world had heard the dark and horrible side of the story of the My Lai massacre, in which some 500 women, children, babies and old men had been slaughtered by out-of-control U.S. ground troops in March of 1968. But they had never heard the part about how Hugh Thompson and his crew set their helicopter down in the midst of the madness and risked their lives to save nine unarmed civilians from a sure death. Nor were they aware that it was Thompson's loud and angry protest over the airwaves that brought about the cease-fire that put an end to the massacre. Had it not been for this singular act of courage and compassion on the part of Thompson and his crew, many more South Vietnamese civilians would have died.

In a startling revelation, the author points out My Lai was only the starting point of the search-and-destroy mission designed to rid the area of Viet Cong and suspected Viet Cong sympathizers. The target area included six different communities with a total population of 10,000 people, mostly civilians. The Forgotten Hero of My Lai is the true story of a U.S. Army helicopter pilot who resisted the incredible peer pressure to go along with the butchers of My Lai, or at least to look the other way while his fellow soldiers committed horrific war crimes. The book explains where Thompson got the moral courage to do what he did at My Lai. This biography traces Thompson's life from his birth in Atlanta in 1943, through his adolescence in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and his 20 years in the U.S. military. It provides a detailed account of the stress-filled role he played as a key witness for the prosecution in the My Lai massacre trials – despite pressure from fellow soldiers and others to be silent. The old adage is true: Evil prevails when good men do nothing. And the converse is equally true: Evil is defeated when people of courage and goodwill stand up for what is right, regardless of the consequences. This book is about one such person, and the two honorable men who stood with him.

© 2006 Acadian House Publishing