Glenn Andreotta - After My Lai

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 Wall on slab 48E, line 50. In 1999, his name was among nearly a million sent aboard the Stardust spacecraft.