Hill 303 massacre: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|War1950 crimeNorth duringKorean theWar KoreanCrime WarMassacre}}

| title = Hill 303 massacre

| image = Hill303.png|alt=Several rows of dead bodies lie side by side with bullet wounds to the back

| caption = Bodies of massacre victims gathered near Waegwan, Republic ofSouth Korea, many with their hands still bound

| location = Hill 303, [[Waegwan]], [[First Republic of South Korea|Republic ofSouth Korea]]

| coordinates = {{Coord|36.0124|N|128.4115|E|region:KR-47_type:event|display=inline,title}}

| target = [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[prisoners of war]]

| date = {{Start date and age|1950|08|17|mf=yes}}

| time = 14:00

| timezone = [[Korea Standard Time|KST]]

| type = Mass [[executionSummary executions]]

| fatalities = 42 prisoners executed

| publisher =

| injuries = 4–5 prisoners wounded

| perps = [[Korean People's Army|North Korean army]] soldiers

| motive =

Hill 303 forms an elongated oval {{Convert|2|mi}} long on a northeast–southwest axis with ana extremepeak elevation of {{Convert|994|ft}}. It is the first hill mass north of Waegwan and its southern slope comes down to the edge of the town. The hill grants observation of Waegwan, a network of roads running out of the town, the railroad and highway bridges across the river at that point, and long stretches of the river valley to the north and to the south. Its western slope terminates at the east bank of the Nakdong River. From Waegwan a road runs north and south along the east bank of the Nakdong, another northeast through the mountains toward Tabu-dong, and still another southeast toward Taegu. Hill 303 was a critical terrain feature in control of the main Pusan-Seoul railroad and highway crossing of the Nakdong, as well as of Waegwan itself.{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=345}}

The exact details of the massacre are sketchy,unknown and based on the accounts of four US soldiers who survived the event. Three captured KPA soldiers were pointed out by the survivors as participants in the killings, and these three also gave conflicting accounts of what happened.{{Sfn|Ecker|2004|p=14}}

Historians agree there is no evidence that the KPA High Command sanctioned the shooting of prisoners during the early phase of the war.{{Sfn|Fehrenbach|2001|p=136}} The Hill 303 massacre and similar atrocities are believed to have been conducted by "uncontrolled small units, by vindictive individuals, or because of unfavorable and increasingly desperate situations confronting the captors."{{Sfn|Alexander|2003|p=144}}{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=350}} [[T. R. Fehrenbach]], a military historian, wrote in his analysis of the event that KPA troops committing these events were likely accustomed to torture and execution of prisoners due to decades of rule by oppressive armies of the [[Empire of Japan]] up untilthrough [[World War II]].{{Sfn|Fehrenbach|2001|p=137}}

On July 28, 1950, General Lee Yong Ho, commander of the KPA 3rd Division, had transmitted an order pertaining to the treatment of prisoners of war, signed by [[Choe Yong-gon (army commander)|Choi Yong-kun]], Commander-in-Chief, and [[Kim Chaek]], Commander of the KPA Advanced General Headquarters, which stated killing prisoners of war was "strictly prohibited.". He directed individual units' [[Political commissar|Cultural Sections]] to inform the division's troops of the rule.{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=350}}

The story quickly gained media attention in the United States, and the survivors' accounts received a great deal of coverage{{Sfn|Ecker|2004|p=15}} including prominent magazines such as ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''{{Sfn|Bell|1950}} and ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]''.{{Sfn|Walker|1950}} In the years following the Korean War, the US Army established a permanent garrison in Waegwan, [[Camp Carroll, South Korea|Camp Carroll]], which is located near the base of Hill 303. The incident was largely forgotten until Second Lieutenant David Kangas read about the incident in the Korean War history book ''South to the Nakdong, North to the Yalu'' by [[United States Army Center of Military History]] while stationed at Camp Carroll in 1985, and after checking with various US Army and local sources, he realized that the location of the massacre was unknown. He obtained battle records through the National Archives to pinpoint the location and then began to search for the remaining survivors. The original memorial for the POWs was emplaced in 1990 in front of the garrison headquarters, although none of the American survivors were located by Kangas until 1991. In 1999, Fred Ryan and Roy Manring, two of the three surviving POWs, were invited to attend a ceremony at the execution site. Both Ryan and Manring as well as James Rudd, the third surviving POW, had long been denied VA compensation claims for their severe injuries incurred during the execution because they had never been officially designated as prisoners of war by the US Army. Later, the base garrison at Camp Carroll raised funds to construct a much larger memorial at the massacre site on Hill 303. South Korean military and civilians around Waegwan contributed to the funds for this memorial.{{Sfn|Fisher|2003}} The original memorial was placed on the hill on August 17, 2003. In 2009, soldiers of the US [[501st Sustainment Brigade (United States)|501st Sustainment Brigade]] began to gather funds for a second, larger monument on the hill. With the assistance of South Korean veterans, politicians and local citizens, the second monument was flown to the top of the hill by a US [[CH-47 Chinook]] helicopter on May 26, 2010, in preparation for the 60th anniversary of the event.{{Sfn|Garcia|2010}} An annual memorial service is held on the hill to commemorate the deaths of the troops on Hill 303. Troops garrisoned at Camp Carroll scale the hill and place flowers at the monument as a part of this service.{{Sfn|Lucas}}

| first = Roy E.

| title = South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu: United States Army in the Korean War

| publisher = [[Department of the Army]]

| url = http://www.history.army.mil/books/korea/20-2-1/toc.htm

| title = What the corporalCorporal sawSaw...

| magazine = [[Life (magazine)|Life]]

|access-date = July 13, 2010

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120327145823/http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/20090619-tribute-PFCLucas.asp

|url-status = dead

| title = Army honors three Koreans with Good Neighbor awards

|title = US, Korean Soldiers remembered at Hill 303

|access-date = July 11, 2010

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120327145830/http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/19thESCnewsletter%20-%20June%2024,%202010.pdf

|url-status = dead

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[[Category:Mass1950 murdermurders in 1950South Korea]]

[[Category:Massacres20th-century inhistory Southof Koreathe United States Army]]

[[Category:PrisonerHistory of warNorth massacresGyeongsang Province]]

[[Category:Korean War prisonerscrimes in ofSouth warKorea]]