On this day, 26 July 1950

the No Gun Ri massacre began, when the US military murdered up to 300 South Korean civilians, in one of the biggest mass killings by US ground forces.

A large group of refugees were travelling south after being ordered to leave their villages by US troops, consisting primarily of women, children and the elderly. First they were strafed by US military aircraft, possibly killing around 100, then as they sought refuge under a bridge ground troops attacked for three nights.

One GI, Norman Tinkler, later reported to the Associated Press "We just annihilated them"; another, Hermann Patterson, recalled "It was just wholesale slaughter". One of the survivors, Chung Koo-ho, later recounted her experiences: "People pulled dead bodies around them for protection… Mothers wrapped their children with blankets and hugged them with their backs toward the entrances… My mother died on the second day of shooting."

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Northwest · M

In 2001, the United States Army conducted an investigation and, after previously rejecting survivors' claims, acknowledged the killings, but described the three-day event as "an unfortunate tragedy inherent to war and not a deliberate killing". Then-President Bill Clinton issued a statement of regret, adding the next day that "things happened which were wrong", but survivors’ demands for an apology and compensation were rejected.

South Korea disputed the report. There seems to be plenty of evidence indicating that the 7th Cavalry commanders, responsible for this and other incidents, deliberately ordered it.

The 7th Cavalry was put in charge of exterminating Native Americans. Custer was one of its commanders.

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Northwest · M

@SatanBurger I suggest you read-read my comment. This was buried until the AP uncovered it in 1999.

The US is not going to admit guilt. That would mean monetary consequences.

Clinton protested the Mai Lei massacre, back when it happened, but as President he was willing to go as far as allowing the details to be released, but not admitting guilt.

He’s a politician. For example, while he agreed that homosexuality is not abnormal, he did not challenge the Brass, he came up with the “do not ask do not tell” policy.

SatanBurger · 36-40, F

@Northwest I did re-read it and I appreciate the extra context. Also, multiple soldiers gave testimony about being ordered to fire on civilians, and survivors described calculated, prolonged attacks.

The U.S. government has a long history of minimizing or sanitizing its wartime atrocities. Possibly because as you say monetary compensation.

And yes, the 7th Cavalry’s history of brutality goes back to its role in massacring Indigenous people. That's too weird of a pattern for it not to be recognized that the use of the 7th Cavalry and its meaning. I dunno why it's still around if it is. Seems like it was created to be that way not that it was but it seems like it

Northwest · M

@SatanBurger It really doesn't take much effort. Google "7th Cavalry", and here's what you get:

During the Korean War the unit committed the No Gun Ri massacre, in which between 250 and 300 South Korean refugees were killed, mostly women and children.

And it also tells you about the unit's history during the American-India wars.

It's still there, but the current 7th has nothing to do with its bleak history.

I'll accept that the US has a history of minimizing wartime atrocities, but I've yet to see a single government that doesn't do that. I was hoping we've evolved, but we've taken a turn.

Today, it's primarily about financial liability.

Take the Canadian government, it wasn't until recently that Canada started talking about the thousands of indigenous children buried in mass graves in what could be best described as "assimilate or be killed "schools".

missyann · 56-60

I am not condoning, bad behavior, but have any of you been in a war? As devastating ass Hiroshima was, the Japanese government that Killed Their own civilians when they attacked Pearl Harbor

Sadly, there are casualties of war. This is because evil governments don’t care about its people and put their own civilians on the front line. There have been times when putting them on the front line is literal.

Maybe you guys should move to a country that doesn’t have the greatest military in the world protecting them

Liberals always seem to search and want to find anything wrong with US policies

swirlie · 31-35

@missyann
The US government did the same thing when it got involved in the Vietnam War back in 1958.

The US government didn't care about it's own US Citizens because they drafted young men against their will and put them as you say, "on the front line" to fight a war 6000 miles away that literally had no consequence to America's future survival or imminent safety, even if nobody showed up to fight that war in the first place.

I think we can safely call the US government an "evil government" based on your criteria alone.

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SatanBurger · 36-40, F

@Manofoz probably not but there should be

Manofoz · 61-69, M

@SatanBurger yes i agree

Stephie · F

Just wait a few more decades until the world finds out what happened in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Panama and other places where the US troops performed their horror after classified documents are released.

300 people are nothing compared to what will come out...

swirlie · 31-35

What about the 210,000 Japanese that Americans killed when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked with atomic bombs following a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which harbored about 6 American warships that were parked in dry dock for maintenance which didn't actually have any people on them at the time of the attack?

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Northwest · M

@swirlie

You're obviously having difficulty today Northwest. Have you taken your meds on time?

But enough of your confessions.

Perhaps we should talk about that incident that never happened, where a woman left her two toddlers in a hot car and one of them died, or how there is no such thing as a car that's designed to shut down the A/C?

You see when all you do is spin fantastical tales you mark yourself.

swirlie · 31-35

@Northwest
I haven't had need to confess anything you speak of.

The truth is, there is NO car that's designed to shut down the AC after a pre-determined period of time. There's a system that will shut down an idling engine after a pre-set time, but not just the AC system alone without shutting down the engine as well.

You need to go out and do some homework for a change instead of relying on your failing gut feelings when your respond to a post.

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