Lawrence Colburn

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Lawrence Colburn is a United States Army veteran who, while serving as a helicopter gunner in the Vietnam War, earned a place in history for being one of three servicemen who intervened in the March 16, 1968 My Lai Massacre.

Born in Coulee City, Washington, Colburn grew up in Mount Vernon, with his father (a veteran contractor from World War II), mother and three sisters, where he would serve as an altar boy for four years while attending Immaculate Conception Catholic School.

He joined the army in 1966 and was assigned to train at Fort Lewis, followed by a stint at Fort Polk. He volunteered for the Aerial Scout Unit and was assigned to Task Force Barker, which had the mission of flying over Vietnamese forests and attempt to draw enemy fire, thus pinpointing the location of troops. Serving as a door-gunner, his Crew Chief was Glenn Andreotta and his pilot was Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, Jr., both of whom would later also draw claims of heroism for their role at My Lai, though Andreotta was killed in battle three weeks after the event.

[edit] The Massacre

After coming across the dead bodies of Vietnamese civilians outside My Lai, Thompson landed their OH-23 and the three men began setting green gas markers by the prone bodies of the Vietnamese civilians who appeared to be still alive. Upon returning to the helicopter however, they saw Captain Ernest Medina run forward and begin shooting the wounded who had been marked. The three men then flew their helicopter back over the village where Thompson confronted Lt. Stephen Brooks who was preparing to blow up a hut full of cowering and wounded Vietnamese. Thompson left Andreotta and Colburn to cover the company with their heavy machine guns and ordered them to fire on any American who refused orders to halt the massacre. (In the following exchange, it should be noted that although Thompson was outranked, the officers obeyed his order):

Thompson: Let's get these people out of this bunker and get 'em out of here.

Brooks: We'll get 'em out with hand grenades.

Thompson: I can do better than that. Keep your people in place. My guns are on you.

Thompson then ordered two other helicopters (one piloted by Dan Millians and the other by Brian Livingstone) flying nearby to serve as a medevac for the 11 wounded Vietnamese. While flying away from the village, Andreotta spotted movement in an irrigation ditch—the helicopter turned back for another landing, a child was extracted from the bodies and brought with the rest of the Vietnamese to the hospital at Quang Ngai.

[edit] Since the War

After the war, Colburn married and became the father of a son, Conner.

Exactly thirty years later, Colburn and Thompson were awarded the Soldier's Medal, United States Army's highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. At the same time, a posthumous medal was also awarded to Andreotta.

In 1998, Thompson and Colburn returned to the village in My Lai, where they met with some of the villagers saved through their actions—including Do Hoa, the then-8-year-old pulled from the irrigation ditch. They also dedicated a new elementary school for the children of the village.

During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Colburn expressed a "bad feeling" for what he felt may touch off a much larger war than intended. Today he runs a medical-supply company outside Atlanta. He was at Hugh Thompson's bedside when the latter died on January 6, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Interview January 18, 2006