Power and Primacy: The History of Western Intervention in the Asia-Pacific
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Power and Primacy: The History of Western Intervention in the Asia-Pacific
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‘As if All Koreans Were the Enemy’: When the U.S. Military Brutally and Systematically Massacred Innocent Refugees Across South Korea
Extract from the book Power and Primacy: The History of Western Intervention in the Asia-Pacific. Pages 323 to 327. Full references and further context provided in the book itself.
The fact that many Korean women in the villages were often raped in front of their husbands and parents has not been a secret among those who experienced the Korean War. It was known that several women were raped before being shot at No Gun Ri. Some eyewitnesses say that U.S. soldiers played with their lives like boys sadistically playing with flies.
— 1993 Report in the Journal of Genocide Research by Professor Kim Dong Choon of South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Committee on the conduct of the U.S. Military
‘It looked like the Americans were shooting us out of boredom.’
— Koo Hun, survivor of the American massacre at No Gun Ri
"On July 25, 1950, the U.S. 5th Air Force Advanced Headquarters reported: ‘The army has requested that we strafe all civilian parties that are approaching our positions. To date we have complied with the army request.’ The following day the 25th Infantry Division reported: ‘General Keene directed that all civilians moving around in the combat zone will be considered as unfriendly and shot.’ It later became increasingly clear that what was considered the combat zone was far from limited to the frontlines of conflict.
British author Elizabeth Comber accompanied American forces in the early stages of the war and observed much of their conduct towards and massacres against the South Korean population. She wrote in her diary on July 14, 1950, regarding U.S. forces in Korea: ‘they think every Korean is an enemy, firing at, and sometimes killing refugees.’ Two weeks later she described a more serious situation, writing of the U.S. military: ‘Day after day with their aircraft the Americans are laying waste towns and cities, killing fifty civilians for every one soldier.’
One of the most notorious massacres of South Korean civilians was that at the village of No Gun Ri. Survivor, Suh Jong Gap, recalled in an interview: ‘The Americans forced us out of our village. We didn’t know anything, so we just followed them because they said they would take us to safety.’ The civilians were forced onto a railway line overlooked by the 7th Cavalry’s main positions. Suh Jong Gap recalled: ‘I was at the head of a long line of people. I could see the American soldiers standing with rifles, trying to keep us on the tracks. They seemed to make sure that we couldn’t move at all.’ Troops then withdrew and left the refugees on the railway line. ‘Just after 1 o’clock I could see a reconnaissance plane circling above us. Then the Americans seemed to talk to each other on the radio.’ Planes from the U.S. Air Force appeared overhead, ‘and then they dropped bombs on the contained group of people.’ Survivor Cho Soo Jaoc recalled of the same event: ‘I crawled out from under my mother and climbed on top of her. I shouted “mum, mum” but she was dead. When I stroked her head with my hand, I found my hand sliding inside. I didn’t know what hit my mother, but the back of her head was blown off.’
One South Korean survivor, Yang Hae Chan, recalled when inter- viewed: ‘American soldiers broke into our house with rifles and bayonets. They didn’t even take off their boots. They searched inside the house with a torch, found us and ordered us out. I was young and scared. I hid behind my mother and father clinging to them. My father said the Americans had come to evacuate us, and we should pack up and leave our home.’ He and his family too, along with those of Suh and Cho, were intentionally targeted by U.S. personnel and aircraft. Chan then recalled: ‘After the strafing and bombing everything went quiet. Then I saw the American soldiers reappear. They started checking through the dead and the living, poking the bodies lying on the railway line with their bayonets. Those who were still alive were forced to get up at gunpoint. The Americans herded us further down the railroad tracks, so those of us who survived the bombing were made to move on again.’ Many of the survivors of the bombing were badly wounded, but they were all herded on towards the village of No Gun Ri, directly beneath the guns of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry. They were then exterminated by small arms fire from U.S. forces.
Joe Jackman from the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry 2nd Battalion recalled of the targeting of civilians near No Gun Ri that his unit were ordered in regards to the Korean civilians to: ‘“kill them all.” Then of course there was a lieutenant who was screaming like a mad man “fire on everything, kill them all” [...] There was a hell of a lot of fire going. Hell of a lot of shooting. A hell of a lot of shooting. Because I know the infantrymen, the infantrymen, we used to carry 10–15 bandoliers of ammunition, and even help machine gunners carrying ammunition. There was a hell of a lot of expenditure of ammunition.’ Regarding the nature of the targets he recalled: ‘Kids, there was kids out there. It didn’t matter what it was. 8 to 80, blind, crippled or crazy they [U.S. personnel] shot them. It just seemed like all Koreans were the enemy.’
George Early of the 7th Cavalry’s heavy mortar company recalled the situation as follows: ‘Everybody just ceased moving. No one was moving over there. They either were dead, or so seriously wounded they couldn’t move, or if there were alive they weren’t moving. Because if they move they know they’re gonna be fired at some more.’ Early later recalled: ‘I remember seeing this woman on her hands and knees. She was crawling. You could just see the bullets bouncing... bouncing around her. She kept crawling, crawling. And finally I guess she was just hit. And that was it. And she just stopped, just, just like that. Just like she was hanging on the side of this hill with her fingers.’ Buddy Wenzel, another serviceman from the 7th Cavalry, also testified to his role in the No Gun Ri massacre. Wenzel, recalling the orders he received, stated: ‘Word came through the line, open fire on them. They were running toward us and we opened fire. ... We understood that we were fighting for these people, but we had orders to fire on them and we did.’…"
Power and Primacy is available in paperback, Kindle and ebook formats.
https://www.ebooks.com/en-ms/book/209664887/power-and-primacy/a-b-abrams/
A. B. Abrams' upcoming book focusing specifically on American intervention in Korea is scheduled for release on October 1st, 2020
https://www.claritypress.com/product/immovable-object-north-koreas-70-years-at-war-with-american-power/
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