Comments on: Controversies of the Korean War: The Tragedy at No Gun-ri – Part #4

By: No Gun Ri Movie Finally Comes Out | The Marmot's Hole

No Gun Ri Movie Finally Comes Out | The Marmot's Hole — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:08:27 +0000

[...] so prominently on the poster. After all, it was supposedly said by Edward Daily, who it turned out wasn’t even at No Gun Ri. Easy AdSense by Unreal VN:F [1.8.5_1061]Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: [...]

By: civilwarrior

civilwarrior — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:14:48 +0000

The thing that always puzzled me about how the No-Gun-Ri thing got blown all out of prportion was the way the story was treated ass some sort of "revalation" , as though everyone had kept it all hush, hush…as though it were a closely guarded secret. I was stationed at Casey nearly 20 years ago, and we knew then that things like this had occured. The important difference between then and now is that then we all knew whay it had happened, and so did the Korean people. Nobody liked it, but it was just understood that the North Koreans were the bad guys who caused it to happen, and that we Americans WHO WERE NOT EVEN BORN WHEN THIS STUFF WAS GOING ON were properly penitent. what the hell happened?

By: GI Korea

GI Korea — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:13:21 +0000

You are absolutely right, in Batemans book he provides examples of articles in the New York Times and other newspapers during the period of the Korean War that talk about the killing of civilians due to incidents such as Nogun-ri and also strafing by aircraft. This wasn't a news revelation but the AP reporters had to make it seem like the US was covering it up to cause an air of scandal to get public attention. This is what Pulitzer Prizes are made of.

By: usinkorea

usinkorea — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:13:01 +0000

There was a similar case in the mid-1990s of a former US soldier telling about nerve gas used in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Too bad it turned out the guy had actually given some of his interviews by phone in prison where he was being held for flim-flam scams.

That was one of the final nails in the coffin of the press for me. I used to swollow hook line and sinker the idea that it was a noble profession and that the mainstream press was objective and sought the truth above a good story.

Horsehockey…

By: GI Korea

GI Korea — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 12:17:41 +0000

lirelou, I don't think I'm demeaning the service of those who served during Vietnam by saying the volunteer military of today is different. What I mean by that is that the volunteer force of today is better educated and more professional than the force was 30 years ago due to enlistment requirements. I think General Tommy Frank's book provides a good look at life during the Vietnam and post-Vietnam years compared to the all volunteer era of the military today.

By: Haisan

Haisan — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 12:03:41 +0000

So far, the press material for the NO GUN RI movie makes the film sound just like the AP book. From the press kit:

In July 1950, the early stage of the Korean War, at the Jugok Village in the middle of the Korean Peninsula, Chang-yee and his friends grow excited over the amateur singing contest knowing nothing about what is going on around them. At the time, the US Army keeps losing and are pushed back to the village, evacuating all villagers to head south.
The villagers took refuge like going on a picnic believing that the US Army is protecting them, they just follow their orders moving south bound. (But word is circulating among the US forces that Northern soldiers may be hiding among the civilian refugess.) As the villagers approach Nogunri, an American airplane suddenly swoops in and bombs the villagers and the US soldiers who were in a defensive position begin firing at them. The villagers fall to the ground NOT knowing why they are shot by the US soldiers.
In the end, among the 300 refugees who escaped to the cave, only 25 miraculously survive the massacre, the fierce 4-day battle.

(sic for all the grammar mistakes in there).

By: Lirelou

Lirelou — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:32:58 +0000

Today's volunteer Army is no more motivated than the Vietnam era draft Army was. If you believe that it was, then you have bought the stereotype you criticise. Yes, we had "MacNamara's 100K" (i.e., the Cat IVs who were allowed to enlist or be drafted under the (mistaken) theory that their military service would both educate and socialize them.) But we had a lot of good, hard-working troops who did their very best to soldier under some very hard conditions. Living in WWII barracks, paid far less than our civilian counterparts, socializing during off-duty hours within a civilian population which included a certain percentage of youth who detested us, and another certain percentage of youth who simply spurned us as "uncool". Living an on-base existence that at times turned ugly (an occasional race riot, high crime). And yet the majority retained their sense of dedication and duty, even as they counted the hours and days until their discharge. I was a platoon leader and company commander in a Basic Training Company and two tank companies stateside during that period, and served in Vietnam with Special Forces. Those were two markedly different realities, especially since the SF crowd were both volunteers (even if Draftees) and self-motivating. (Kids who wanted combat. To run through the jungle leading bands of tribal irregulars.) I'm here to tell you that I had as much respect for the young soldiers in the "faceless green machine" as I did for my SF brothers. Those kids were no less dedicated and motivated than those serving today.

By: GI Korea

GI Korea — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:30:15 +0000

I have no doubt the movie will be an anti-US hatefest because that is what sells. Let me know what your thoughts on it are after seeing it.

By: mike mcstay

mike mcstay — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 02:41:05 +0000

Great article sir.

I do the movie reviews for the Daejeon Korea ex-pats site. http://www.socius.or.kr/ . I have the "FICTION" film, of this event, as a Summer 2007 film to see on opening day.

I will be following this film as it unfolds. I will probably be the only American in the audience. My gut feeling states this will be a huge hate fest vs. USFK, because of this film. Should make for one interesting review.

Once again, great work!