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Jamie Henry was not anti-war; he was anti-atrocity.
Henry — a Vietnam War veteran who came home with a Bronze Star with V for valor — was “called a liar and treated like a traitor” when he went public with a massacre that he witnessed while serving as an Army medic.
And he was disappointed when his efforts to hold the military accountable for war crimes went nowhere — or so he thought.
Henry served in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, and eventually moved to Nevada County, where he spent more than 30 years working as a foreman and equipment operator for Robinson Timber.
Henry died July 12 of cancer; his funeral service is at 2 p.m. today at Hooper & Weaver.
Henry was “blown away” when two reporters working on a series of articles for the Los Angeles Times contacted him in 2005, said his son, Joshua Henry. He had not known the U.S. Army conducted a 3 1/2-year investigation into his charges, corroborating nearly every incident.
Thirty-seven years later, investigative reporter Nick Turse found his account while researching recently declassified records having to do with the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group.
“My dad didn't know, all those years, that the Pentagon had so many files,” Joshua Henry said. “When Nick called him out of the blue, he was blown away.”
Turse partnered with investigative reporter Deborah Nelson at the Times, who still recalls Henry's reaction to those Pentagon files.
“At first, he was in shock,” she said.
As he pored through them, he was stunned that so many members of his company had confirmed his account, Nelson said.
“Finally, (his reaction was) anger that, in fact, all this investigation was done but nothing came of it,” she said.
The case eventually was closed, Nelson said. Even though suspects were identified, no action was ever taken.
Henry — a Vietnam War veteran who came home with a Bronze Star with V for valor — was “called a liar and treated like a traitor” when he went public with a massacre that he witnessed while serving as an Army medic.
And he was disappointed when his efforts to hold the military accountable for war crimes went nowhere — or so he thought.
Henry served in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, and eventually moved to Nevada County, where he spent more than 30 years working as a foreman and equipment operator for Robinson Timber.
Henry died July 12 of cancer; his funeral service is at 2 p.m. today at Hooper & Weaver.
Henry was “blown away” when two reporters working on a series of articles for the Los Angeles Times contacted him in 2005, said his son, Joshua Henry. He had not known the U.S. Army conducted a 3 1/2-year investigation into his charges, corroborating nearly every incident.
Thirty-seven years later, investigative reporter Nick Turse found his account while researching recently declassified records having to do with the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group.
“My dad didn't know, all those years, that the Pentagon had so many files,” Joshua Henry said. “When Nick called him out of the blue, he was blown away.”
Turse partnered with investigative reporter Deborah Nelson at the Times, who still recalls Henry's reaction to those Pentagon files.
“At first, he was in shock,” she said.
As he pored through them, he was stunned that so many members of his company had confirmed his account, Nelson said.
“Finally, (his reaction was) anger that, in fact, all this investigation was done but nothing came of it,” she said.
The case eventually was closed, Nelson said. Even though suspects were identified, no action was ever taken.
Massacre of 19 civilians
On Feb. 8, 1968, Henry was an Army medic in B Company of the 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division; B Company was patrolling in the Quang Nam province of South Vietnam.In the days leading up to Feb. 8, the troop had sustained some heavy casualties, Henry told the two reporters.
They had lost five men in a firefight the day before, and that morning brought unwelcome orders to resume a sweep of the countryside.
“They met no resistance as they entered a nondescript settlement in Quang Nam province,” Nelson and Turse wrote. “So Jamie Henry, a 20-year-old medic, set his rifle down in a hut, unfastened his bandoliers and lighted a cigarette.”
Over a radio, Henry heard a lieutenant say he had rounded up 19 civilians — women, children, babies and two old men — and wanted to know what to do with them.
“He said that higher said to kill anything that moves,” Henry told Turse and Nelson.
The murder of the 19 civilians took place a month before the infamous My Lai massacre, when about 500 Vietnamese civilians were slaughtered.
Henry reported that incident, as well as other atrocities, when he returned to the United States.
“He was one of the only people there who was horrified at what was going on,” Joshua Henry said. “He tried to handle it within the military and they told him to go away.”
He published his account of the massacre in 1970, holding a news conference the same day at the Los Angeles Press Club.
“He appeared on a TV show and they tried to discredit him,” Joshua Henry said. “The Fondas schmoozed him … But it just fizzled out after a year or so.”
No statute of limitations on truth
Jamie Henry didn't speak of the atrocities he witnessed in the decades that followed, his son said.“I didn't know any of this,” Joshua Henry said. “He never told me a single thing, until the last year or so.”
And, in fact, Henry initially felt ambivalent about revisiting the Vietnam War when Turse and Nelson called him in 2005.
“After we left, he wondered whether he should fight the battle again,” Nelson said. “He had locked it in the closet, as he put it … He wondered if he should open it again after all these years. But he finally realized there's no statute of limitations on the truth. What was right then, is right now.”
And by all accounts, honesty was the cornerstone of Henry's personality.
“I've interviewed many people over the years, but I've rarely met anyone as fiercely moral or as committed to the truth as Jamie Henry,” Turse wrote The Union in an e-mail. “He was a rare and remarkable individual. Out of dozens of men who witnessed some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, only Jamie Henry spoke up and spoke out on behalf of helpless, voiceless people. He did what many individuals might hope they would have the moral courage to do in such a situation, but few are actually willing to do when it comes time to act.”
Both Turse and Nelson made the trip back to Nevada County today to honor Henry.
Nelson called Henry a “great example of people who served the country once, and then again by trying to make things right.”
Henry, an avid Civil War historian, definitely believed that some wars were necessary, his son said.
“He was against the Vietnam War because it was stupid,” Joshua Henry said.
For Henry to speak out about the atrocities he witnessed in Vietnam, even 38 years later, was vital, said Nelson, who featured his story prominently in her 2008 book, “The War Behind Me.”
“I think it's important to tell the truth about war, so people understand what war is about,” she said. “These atrocities were a part of the Vietnam War and I think it's important, first of all, to set the records straight, and second, to pass on the lessons learned.”
Nelson pointed to what she called a “dramatic change” in military policy that now places the protection of civilians as a top priority in managing counter-insurgencies.
“Jamie helped bring this out at a really opportune moment, when we were in a war in Iraq and Afghanistan,” she said. “There was a lot to be learned in Jamie's situation, about what led to the violence against civilians and how that could be prevented.”
To contact Staff Writer Liz Kellar, e-mail lkellar@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4229.
