Glenn Andreotta Glenn Urban Andreotta ( October 30 , 1947 – April 8 , 1968 ) was an American helicopter crew chief in the Vietnam War noted for being one of three who intervened in the My Lai Massacre , in which at least 300 unarmed children , women and men were murdered . Early life and enlistment . Glenn Andreotta was of Italian descent . He was born in Newton , New Jersey , and raised in St . Louis , Missouri . He dropped out of high school in his junior year and enlisted in the United States Army . He then served a one - year tour of duty in Vietnam as a radio repairman . Beginning his second tour on November 12 , 1967 , he was assigned to the 161st Assault Helicopter Company , holding the rank of Specialist Four . Serving as a crew chief aboard an OH - 23 Raven observation helicopter , his pilot was Warrant Officer One Hugh Thompson , Jr . and his door - gunner was Specialist Four Lawrence Colburn , both of whom would also be acclaimed for their heroism at My Lai . The massacre . In the early morning hours of March 16 , 1968 , Andreotta ' s OH - 23 encountered no enemy fire over My Lai 4 . Spotting two possible Viet Cong suspects , Thompson forced the Vietnamese men to surrender and flew them off for a tactical interrogation . He also marked the location of several wounded Vietnamese with green smoke , a signal that they needed help . Returning to the My Lai area at around 0900 after refueling , the crew noticed that the people they had marked were now dead . Out in a paddy field beside a dike 200 meters south of the village , they marked the location of a wounded young Vietnamese woman . Thompson and his crew watched from a low hover as Captain Ernest Medina ( C Company Commander , 1st Battalion , 20th Infantry Regiment ) came up to the woman , prodded her with his foot , and then shot and killed her . Thompson then flew over an irrigation ditch filled with dozens of bodies . Shocked at the sight , he radioed his accompanying gunships , knowing his transmission would be monitored by many on the net : " " It looks to me like there ' s an awful lot of unnecessary killing going on down there . Something ain ' t right about this . There ' s bodies everywhere . There ' s a ditch full of bodies that we saw . There ' s something wrong here . " " Movement from the ditch indicated to Thompson that there were still people alive in there . Thompson landed his helicopter and dismounted . David Mitchell a sergeant and squad leader in 1st Platoon , C Company , walked over to him . When asked by Thompson whether any help could be provided to the people in the ditch , the sergeant replied that the only way to help them was to put them out of their misery . Second Lieutenant William Calley ( 1st Platoon Leader , C Company ) then came up , and the two had the following conversation : Thompson took off again , and Andreotta reported that Mitchell was now executing the people in the ditch . Furious , Thompson flew over the northeast corner of the village and spotted a group of about ten civilians , including children , running toward a homemade bomb shelter . Pursuing them were soldiers from the 2nd Platoon , C Company . Realizing that the soldiers intended to murder the Vietnamese , Thompson landed his aircraft between them and the villagers . Thompson turned to Colburn and Andreotta and told them that if the Americans began shooting at the villagers or him , they should fire their M60 machine gun s at the Americans : " " Y ' all cover me ! If these bastards open up on me or these people , you open up on them . Promise me ! " " : Thompson then dismounted to confront the 2nd Platoon ' s leader , Stephen Brooks . Thompson told him he wanted help getting the peasants out of the bunker : 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 . 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 , and handed him up to Colburn and Thompson . As Thompson described it : " Glenn Andreotta — if there was a hero , I don ’ t like that word , but if there was a hero at My Lai — it was Glenn Andreotta , because he saw movement in that ditch , and he fixed in on this one little kid and went down into that ditch . I would not want to go in that ditch . It ’ s not pretty . It was very bad . I can imagine what was going through his mind down there , because there was more than one still alive — people grabbing hold of his pants , wanting help . “ I can ’ t help you . You ’ re too bad [ off ] . ” He found this one kid and brought the kid back up and handed it to Larry , and we laid it across Larry and my lap and took him out of there . I remember thinking Glenn Andreotta put himself where nobody in their right mind would want to be , and he was driven by something . I haven ’ t got the aircraft on the ground real stable . He bolted out of that aircraft into this ditch . Now he was a hero . Glenn Andreotta gave his life for his country about three weeks later . That ’ s the kind of guy he was , and he was a hero that day . " Thompson flew the survivor to the ARVN hospital in Quang Ngai . Upon returning to their base at about 1100 , Thompson heatedly reported the massacre to his superiors . His allegations of civilian killings quickly reached Lieutenant Colonel Frank Barker , the operation ' s overall 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 My Lai . Andreotta was killed shortly after the events at My Lai while serving in B Company ( the " " Warlords " " ) of the 123rd Aviation Battalion of the Americal Division ( the 161st Assault Helicopter Company had been reorganized into the 123rd Battalion in January 1968 ) . On April 8 he was serving as the door - gunner aboard OH - 23 helicopter 62 - 03813 , along with crew chief Specialist Five Charles M . Dutton and pilot First Lieutenant Barry Lloyd . Viet Cong activity was reported 10 kilometres southwest of Quang Ngai City , and their scout helicopter was ordered to accompany two gunships to that location and flush out and destroy the enemy . Andreotta was killed outright by small - arms fire from the ground , a single shot to his head . Then a Vietnamese 12 . 7 mm anti - aircraft machine gun began firing on the scout , destroying both the swashplate and control panel . Dutton was covered in burning Avgas when the craft finally hit the ground , and a Vietnamese soldier ran towards the wreckage and shot him , before retreating — leaving a wounded Lloyd lying in shock where he had been thrown from the impact . He was rescued by Warrant Officer One Michael Banek ' s UH - 1 Huey and taken to Chu Lai . The helicopter was officially declared " Destroyed by Fire " by the US Military on April 11 , although both Andreotta ' s and Dutton ' s bodies were recovered . Soon after he was killed by hostile fire , Andreotta received a posthumous Bronze Star for his part in rescuing children at My Lai . The citation falsified what happened at My Lai by saying the children had been " " hiding in a bunker located between friendly forces and hostile forces engaged in a heavy firefight . " " It went on to say " " Andreotta ' s willingness to risk his life for innocent children and his bravery in action reflect great credit upon himself , his unit , the Americal Division , and the United States Army . " " Hugh Thompson ' s signature was forged on the eyewitness report . Andreotta was posthumously granted the Soldier ' s Medal in 1998 for his bravery in stopping the My Lai Massacre , along with Lawrence Colburn and Hugh Thompson , Jr . . Since his mother was in ill health at the time , she accepted his award at her home at a later date . " " It was the ability to do the right thing even at the risk of their personal safety that guided these soldiers to do what they did , " " then - Major General Michael Ackerman said at the ceremony . The three " " set the standard for all soldiers to follow . " " Additionally on March 10 , 1998 , Senator Max Cleland ( D - GA ) entered a tribute to Thompson , Colburn and Andreotta into the record of the U . S . Senate . Cleland said the three men were , " " true examples of American patriotism at its finest . " " His name appears on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on panel 48E , line 50 . In 1999 , his name was among nearly a million sent aboard the Stardust spacecraft .