Warrant Officer (later Major) Hugh Thompson Jr. of the
23rd Infantry Division. Thompson saved the lives of dozens of Vietnamese civilians during the My Lair Massacre, when he put his OH-23 helicopter between the civilians and soldiers of the 20th Infantry Regiment.Thompson was awarded the Soldier’s Medal in 1998 for his
intervention.Twenty-six of some 160 soldiers were charged with criminal offenses after My Lai, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given a life sentence, but served only three-and-a-half years under house arrest. He is still alive today.