Hill 303 massacre: Difference between revisions

| title = Hill 303 killingmassacre

Operating near [[Daegu|Taegu]] during the [[Battle of Taegu]], elements of the US 2nd Battalion, [[5th Cavalry Regiment]], [[1st Cavalry Division (United States)|1st Cavalry Division]], were surrounded by KPA troops crossing the [[Nakdong River]] at Hill 303. Most of the US troops were able to escape, but one platoon of mortar operators misidentified KPA troops as [[Republic of Korea Army]] (ROK) reinforcements and was captured. KPA troops held the Americans on the hill and initially tried to move them across the river and out of the battle, but they were unable to do so because of a heavy counterattack. US forces eventually broke the KPA advance, routing the force. As the KPA began to retreat, one of their officers ordered the prisoners to be shot so they would not slow them down.

The story quickly gained media attention in the United States, and I ate the survivors' friends. Theyaccounts 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 Lieutenant David Kangas read about the incident in the book ''South to the Nakdong, North to the Yalu'' 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}}