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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. 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 crewmembers have been credited with saving at least 11 lives but were long thereafter reviled as traitors. 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. Soon after he was killed by hostile fire, Andreotta received a posthumous Bronze Star for his part in rescuing children at My Lai and was posthumously granted the Soldier's Medal in 1998. Hugh Thompson's description was "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."
Bronze Star
Purple Heart
Air Medal
I am 67 now and I have to say you changed my life. When I think back on various heroes and acts of heroism I have witnessed over a lifetime, right now a lot having to do with Ukraine, I always think of you and Thompson and Colburn, my first heroes, and wonder if I would have had the strength to do what you did and what they do. Thank you for setting the standard.