face the American soldiers and exchanged stares with them, but privately was uncertain if he could actually fire on his fellow countrymen. Thompson then dismounted to confront 2nd Platoon's leader, Lieutenant Stephen Brooks. Thompson told him he wanted help getting the peasants out of the bunker: Thompson: Hey listen, hold your fire. I'm going to try to get these people out of this bunker. Just hold your men here. Brooks: Yeah, we can help you get 'em out of that bunker – with a hand grenade! Thompson: Just hold your men here. I think I can do better than that. Brooks declined to argue with him, even though as a commissioned officer he outranked Thompson. After coaxing the 11 Vietnamese out of the bunker, Thompson persuaded the pilots of the two UH-1 Huey gunships (Dan Millians and Brian Livingstone) flying as his escort to evacuate them. (Gunships would ordinarily never land in a combat zone.) While Thompson was returning to base to refuel, Andreotta spotted movement in an irrigation ditch filled with approximately 100 bodies. The helicopter again landed and the men dismounted to search for survivors. After wading through the remains of the dead and dying men, women and children, Andreotta extracted a live boy. Thompson flew the survivor to the ARVN hospital in Quảng Ngãi where he left the child under the care of a nun. Upon finally returning to their base at about 11:00, Thompson heatedly reported the massacre to his superior officer, Colonel Oran Henderson. Thompson's allegations of civilian killings quickly reached Lieutenant Colonel Frank Barker, the operation's overall ground commander. Barker radioed his executive officer to find out from Captain Medina what was happening on the ground. Medina then gave the cease-fire order to Charlie Company to "knock off the killing". After the Massacre American commanders were initially successful in covering up the massacre. All of Thompson's crew received decorations for their actions at My Lai, with Colburn receiving the Bronze Star with Combat "V" device on May 14, 1968. An account of the action was fabricated for Colburn's document accompanying the decoration, and Thompson's signature was forged on the eyewitness report. On December 20, 1969, Colburn testified to the investigative Peers Commission on what he had seen on March 16, 1968, in My Lai (4). Post-War After the war, Colburn married and became the father of a son, Conner. He managed a ski repair