This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Thirty years after the infamous massacre at My Lai, three Vietnam veterans received the U.S. Army's highest award for non-combat bravery for their role in helping to stop it. David Egan '62, professor emeritus of architecture at Clemson University, conducted a letter-writing campaign that secured official recognition of these forgotten heroes.
Egan had served a two-year tour of duty in France after being commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army following ROTC at Lafayette. He began his letter campaign in the late 1980s after watching a documentary on My Lai. The program highlighted the bravery of Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, along with gunner Lawrence Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta, as Thompson landed his helicopter in the line of fire and ordered his crew to shoot should ground troops under Lt. William Calley continue firing at unarmed civilian Vietnamese. Egan correctly assumed that the three soldiers had not been properly honored for their brave actions that day.
“We should be forever grateful that on March 16, 1968, Hugh Thompson, Larry Colburn, and Glenn Andreotta were at My Lai,” Egan says. “They saved innocent lives, they reported the atrocities, and they testified to Congress and at the trials. These shining examples of service to our country must not be forgotten.” Egan adds that it was important to recognize these heroes to help correct the stigma attached to Vietnam veterans as a result of the massacre. “The vast majority had answered their country's call to duty by serving honorably,” he says.
Egan wrote more than 120 letters to military leaders and politicians over an almost 10-year period, rallying the support of journalists, U.S. Congressmen, former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, and retired military officials, including General William C. Westmoreland.
At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on March 6, 1998, Thompson, Colburn, and Andreotta (posthumously) were awarded the Soldier's Medal. For his “extraordinary tenacity, indefatigable determination, and sense of moral outrage,” Egan was presented with Connecticut College's President's Award of Merit. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Clemson University for his “dedication to public service and justice” and many academic contributions.
Egan, who majored in civil engineering at Lafayette and earned a master's degree from MIT, has authored six major textbooks for architects and engineers and is a leading acoustics consultant. He and his wife are now working on a book tentatively titled Les Ricains: The American Military in Cold War France.
David Egan '62 (left) received an honorary doctorate from Clemson University for his work securing recognition for Lawrence Colburn (right) and two other Army soldiers who stopped the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.