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{{Short description|
{{pp-move-indef|small=yes}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| 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,
| location = Hill 303, [[Waegwan]], [[First Republic of
| 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 =
| fatalities = 42 prisoners executed
| publisher =
| injuries = 4–5 prisoners wounded
| perps = [[Korean People's Army|North Korean army]] soldiers
| motive =
}}
{{Campaignbox Pusan Perimeter}}
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=== Military geography ===
Hill 303 forms an elongated oval {{Convert|2|mi}} long on a northeast–southwest axis with
== Massacre ==
The exact details of the massacre are
=== North Korean advance ===
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=== Execution ===
[[File:Hill 303 Survivors.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Hill 303 survivors 17 August 1950]]
At 14:00 on August 17, a UN air strike took place, attacking the hill with [[napalm]], bombs, rockets and machine guns.{{Sfn|Alexander|2003|p=143}} At this time, a KPA officer said that US soldiers were closing in on them and they could not continue to hold the prisoners.{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=349}} The officer ordered the men executed, and the KPA then fired into the Americans in the gully.{{Sfn|Millett|2010|p=161}} One of the KPA who was later captured said all or most of the 50 guards participated,{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=349}}{{Sfn|Chinnery|2001|p=25}} but some of the survivors said only a group of 14 KPA guards, directed by their [[non-commissioned officers]], fired into them with [[PPSh-41]] "burp guns".{{Sfn|Walker|1950}}{{Sfn|McCarthy|1954|p=4}} Before all the KPA soldiers left the area, some returned to the ravine and shot survivors of the initial massacre.{{Sfn|Walker|1950}}{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=349}} Only four{{Sfn|Bell|1950}}{{Sfn|McCarthy|1954|p=4}} or five{{Sfn|Walker|1950}}{{Sfn|Ecker|2004|p=16}}{{Sfn|Alexander|2003|p=144}} of the men in this group survived, by hiding under the dead bodies of others.{{Sfn|Bell|1950}} In all, 41 US prisoners were killed in the ravine.{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=349}} The bulk of these men—26 in all—were from the mortar platoon but prisoners captured elsewhere were also among them.{{Sfn|Ecker|2004|p=17}}
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=== North Korean response ===
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
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
[[File:Hill 303 Memorial.jpg|thumb|alt=Soldiers lay roses at a large monument|U.S. and ROK soldiers lay roses at the foot of the memorial established on Hill 303.]]
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=== Monument ===
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}}
== See also ==
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* {{Cite book
| last = Appleman
| first = Roy E.
| year = 1998
| title = South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu: United States Army in the Korean War
| publisher = [[Department of the Army]]
| isbn = 978-0-16-001918-0
| url
| access-date = December 22, 2010
| archive-date = November 2, 2013
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131102112322/http://www.history.army.mil/books/korea/20-2-1/toc.htm
| url-status = dead
}} {{PD-notice}}
* {{Cite magazine
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| first = Hank
| date = September 4, 1950
| title = What the
| magazine
| volume = 29
| issue = 10
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|publisher = [[Eighth United States Army]]
|url = http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/20090619-tribute-PFCLucas.asp
|access-date
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120327145823/http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/20090619-tribute-PFCLucas.asp
|archive-date = March 27, 2012
|url-status = dead
}}
* {{Cite news
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| first = Franklin
| date = August 22, 2003
| title = Army honors three Koreans with Good Neighbor awards
| work = Stars and Stripes
| url = http://www.stripes.com/news/army-honors-three-koreans-with-good-neighbor-awards-1.10701
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|first = Megan
|date = June 24, 2010
|title = US, Korean Soldiers remembered at Hill 303
|publisher = [[Eighth United States Army]]
|url = http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/19thESCnewsletter%20-%20June%2024,%202010.pdf
|access-date
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120327145830/http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/19thESCnewsletter%20-%20June%2024,%202010.pdf
|archive-date = March 27, 2012
|url-status = dead
}}
{{Refend}}
== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline}}
{{Portal bar|North Korea|South Korea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill 303 Massacre}}
[[Category:Battle of Pusan Perimeter]]▼
[[Category:1950 in South Korea]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:August 1950 events in Asia]]▼
▲[[Category:Battle of Pusan Perimeter]]
[[Category:Korean War prisoner of war massacres]]
[[Category:Massacres committed by North Korea]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1950]]▼
[[Category:Military scandals]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:War crimes in South Korea]]
[[Category:North Korea–United States relations]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:August 1950 events in Asia]]
▲[[Category:Massacres in 1950]]
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