In popular culture, the depiction of the United States military is typically that of an absolute good. Often showcasing the American forces as the police force of the world stepping into major conflicts and saving the day from tyranny. For example , World War II was believed to a losing battle for the Allied forces until the bombing of Pearl Harbor provoked the Americans into a bloodthirsty frenzy. In which mass amounts of both boys and young men willingly volunteered to go and fight and defend their freedom and country. In many cases, including World War II, the United States entry and deployment of troops has been the deciding factor for victory. With this image of absolute good it is hard to believe that those men who we typically regard as heroes of our nation and the bravest of us to do anything that we could consider remotely evil. However, today I will prove to you that this is simply not the case. While the popular depiction of the United States military is that of prudent police officers of the world, fighting for justice for those who cannot fight for it themselves. The truth is that our American military is not free from blemish and in fact, is guilty of committing war crimes that would be considered absolutely appalling by the public and the allies of the United States. During the Korean war, the United States military committed war crimes that have been lost in time. Therefore I come to bring to light the truth that is the fact that during the Korean War, the United States perpetrated war crimes due to the inadequate training of troops, poor leadership, and fighting in unknown territory.
The United States has managed to create the image of their military as a force for good in the world. Coming to the aid of those who are under the subjugation of greater forces that they themselves are unable to fend off. This image has been cultivated through a string of victories for democracy against the tyranny of communism brought by the Russians. After the end of the second World War, the Soviet Union began spreading its agenda of communism to neighboring countries. In order to stop the spread of communism into countries that would not be able to fight it off themselves, President Harry Truman of the United States created the Truman Doctrine which included a policy of containment. Truman stated,
“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.“ ().
The primary outside pressure that President Truman was speaking of was the Soviet Union who the United States would remain in a Cold War with from 1947-1991. The Soviet Union was determined to spread communism to Asia, and they succeeded in China and in North Korea. The 38th Parallel was the defining border between the democratic and United States backed South Korea and the USSR backed communist North Korea. The leader of North Korea at the time, Kim il Sung, received permission and support from the Russians to cross the 38th Parallel and invade South Korea in the hopes of conquering it in the name of communism. On June 25, 1950 Kim il Sung’s troops and tanks crossed the 38th Parallel into South Korea. Overall, however, the United States was not going to let this happen without a fight and in short, the Korean War was sparked.
The United States population reacted to both the policy of containment and the entrance into the Korean war negatively. American taxpayers were furious that their tax dollars would be going to support another war that they believed the United States had no reason to be fighting in instead of improving their lives on American soil. Yet, the policy continued as it created the image of a global force fighting for democracy for the United States, and increased America’s reputation amongst the United Nations and other countries. The young men who fought in the Korean War were primarily drafted with 1.5 million being drafted and 1.3 million men volunteering in the name of the defense of democracy. Many of these young men were inspired and motivated by the presence of United States propaganda that encouraged them to volunteer to fight in the war. Regardless of whether or not one was interested in fighting in the war, the existence of the draft required all men ages 18 and up to be placed in a lottery to see who was required to fight. The majority of those selected were sent off to boot camp while those who were considered conscientious objectors, or those with pre-existing medical conditions that exempted them from combat such as blindness or some sort of crippling illness or disorder. Others who were exempt from combat
One of the main reasons for the atrocities that occurred during the Korean War was the unpreparedness and lack of sufficient training for the newly enlisted troops. The average G.I. received just a mere two weeks of training at boot camp prior to being sent off to Korea to fight. With many of these men and boys never having a single taste of what combat was really like, they were completely unprepared for what was going to come their way in Korea. Today, the average infantry soldier receives at least 14 weeks of boot camp before being sent off to battle. A lack of training results in a general lack of both combat intelligence and discipline. Many times friendly fire casualties occurred amongst American troops because the soldiers could not figure out who or what they were shooting at most of the time. Also, with both the North and South Koreans being Korean in ethnicity, the American troops were not able to differentiate the two at first glance and this often resulted in the casualties of innocent Korean refugees and even South Korean soldiers. Inadequate training also left the troops scared and uncertain of their abilities in combat. The fear and paranoia that the soldiers experienced significantly impacted their judgment usually causing them to make rash decisions that would otherwise have not been made if the soldier was not under such pressure. The lack of training received by the young men resulted in many friendly fire deaths. The constant fear of death that lingered over the troops left them trigger-happy and unable to differentiate between their own platoon and the North Korean soldiers. This confusion coupled with the unknown territory and landscape of Korea, left troops separated from their platoons and often the sight of any motion was deemed as an enemy and fired upon. Sadly, many times it turned out that the dead body would be revealed to be one of the members of the platoon. The American soldiers were fed a steady diet of stories of North Korean soldiers sneaking past enemy lines by masquerading as refugees and killing G.I.s in their sleep or ambushing them. Due to these horror stories, the American troops were increasingly more skeptical and paranoid about the constant flow of refugees trying to flee the war zone. Within the war zone, the soldiers were instructed to fire upon anything wearing white. The refugees were wearing white. Therefore, the inability of the United States to properly train its newly enlisted troops resulted in the formation of an army of untrained, frightened, inexperienced, and trigger-happy young men who were bound to make both mistakes and unreasonably rash decisions.
The United States itself was even unprepared for war. Riding on the heels of the end of World War II, the Americans needed a break from fighting. However, the Truman Doctrine and the Russian-backed North Korean invasion of South Korea at the 38th Parallel thrust the United States into an all out war against the communist forces in Korea. One of the first signs of the US’s unpreparedness for this war became apparent right after the invasion of South Korea. In response to the invasion, President Truman ordered a naval blockade on North Korea however he was shocked to find out that this command could only exist on paper because there were not enough warships available to blockade North Korea. In addition to the lack of naval fighting power available, there was also a lack of land weaponry for the troops to use. There were cases of officers having to recover already used tanks from former World War II battlefields to be reconditioned so that they could be used to fight against the North Koreans. The shortage of weaponry was so extreme that even the tanks and weapons on display at military bases were removed from their pedestals and reconditioned so that they could be used in battle. For the air force, there was a lack of jets that could be used in combat so the military resorted to reusing propeller powered aircrafts. Some pilots reported having to use duct tape in order to fix broken propellers and helicopter rotors as resources and spare parts were so scarce. The American infantry was also left unprepared for battle as they were found to be lacking “nearly everything needed to repel the North Korean forces: artillery, ammunition, heavy tanks, ground-support aircraft, even effective anti-tank weapons such as the M20 3.5-inch (89 mm) Super Bazooka” (Korean War, Wikipedia). Also, these troops were sent to Korea with firearms that were way below proper operating condition. The inherent lack of proper resources needed to fight in this war was apparent and significantly impacted the odds of the United States winning the war. Soldiers who were sent out to fight with guns that were prone to jamming or breaking were at an increased chance of death on the battlefield. Ambushes could happen at any second and without the assurance of a reliable rifle, the American troops were standing ducks to the North Koreans. The Marine Corps were the only ones who kept their World War II surplus of supplies in good condition which allowed them to be adequately prepared to fight in Korea. Therefore, the United States military was completely unprepared for the Korean War and this nearly led to the defeat of the United States in Korea.
Next, the troops were not the only ones who were not trained properly. In addition to the already unprepared troops, the leadership intended to be giving the soldiers direction was absolutely miserable. Similar to the troops, the platoon leaders were not given ample time to train for war. This inexperience led to poor decision making which often resulted in casualties whether they be his own troops or innocent civilian refugees. A prime example of this occurred at No Gun Ri in which 400 Korean refugees were gunned down due to rash decision making made by the lieutenants and other officers of the 7th Calvary. Both the troops and officers were trained in the United States which has a landscape and terrain completely different from that of Korea. The North Koreans utilized their home field advantage, frequently ambushing the Americans who were often finding themselves lost in the Korean forests. The American soldiers and officers, disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings, could find themselves separated from their platoons and battalions at any moment. The officers, who were already paranoid about the possibility of ambush at any moment, ordered their troops to fire upon these unknown figures in the distance. But one too many times the corpse was revealed to be one of their own men who got separated from the platoon and was just trying to return. In some cases, soldiers reported that they could not distinguish who their platoon leaders even were sometimes, essentially having to lead themselves in a completely unknown land and with minimal to no training at all. As one can imagine, this lack of leadership only led to disaster and atrocity with American troops firing on innocent civilians because their officers were also unable to distinguish North and South Koreans. Therefore, the lack of discipline, prudence, and training of the American officers during the Korean War resulted in poor leadership for the troops.
A culmination of the mistakes made by the United States in the preparation of its army for the Korean War, The No Gun Ri massacre is the only one of the 61 war crimes perpetrated by the United States reported by South Korean authorities that the United States recognized. One day, a large influx of refugees were attempting to cross the American line to flee the dangerous war zone. At this point the improperly trained troops were extremely uneasy about the refugees and were paranoid that at any moment a surprise attack could take place and ambush their platoons. The 7th Cavalry was in charge of monitoring the refugees walking down the train track through the American line. One of the soldiers noticed that this line of refugees did not look right as they were “marching in line like an army” (Kill ‘em all) instead of being the unorganized mass of refugees that they were used to. However, the refugees were merely walking along the railroad track and therefore stayed close together to keep moving. The Americans who were increasingly paranoid about the possibility of the North Koreans hiding within this mass of refugees were given orders by their leadership to halt the refugees and stop them from crossing the line. In doing so, they hoped to eliminate the chance of the North Koreans ambushing or killing the Americans in their sleep. American leadership sent an order to the troops to send a warning artillery shot that they hoped the sound of would stop the refugees in their tracks and convince them to turn around. However, this is when all hell broke loose. Instead of the round going off into the distance as expected, the artillery round landed right in the middle of the mass of refugees, instantly killing a group of them and causing panic throughout the entire line of refugees. The refugees then began to run, afraid of the possibility of another round coming and killing them just as the first had done to their fellow refugees. The soldiers were immediately startled by the round and figured “Enemy” and began firing.” The American lieutenants, who were absolutely shocked by what they had just witnessed and unsure of what to do sent a single order to the troops. “Kill them all” (Kill ‘em All). The American troops who had no choice but to follow the orders of their superiors opened fire killing men, women, and children. One vet stated
“I shot too. I shot at the people. I don’t know if they were soldiers or what it was. If it was children it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if they were 8, 80, blind, crippled, or crazy we shot them all” (Kill ‘em All).
Once the firing stopped, the survivors fled to the train tunnels nearby where 400 Korean refugees were held up for 3 days. The American troops periodically fired into the tunnels, killing several daily. In one particular account, a man had his baby boy with him. The child was both starved and scared and would cry often. Each time the baby cried, the Americans would fire into the tunnels in the direction of the crying. The man tried his best to keep his baby from crying but soon realized it would be no use. He took matters into his own hands and drowned his own baby in one of the puddles in the tunnel so that the others around him would not be killed by the constant gunfire caused by the crying. On the 3rd day an American aircraft, instructed to fire upon anything in white in the war zone, flew by and dropped a bomb nearby the tunnels. The explosion resulted in mass panic and hysteria and the refugees began to run in the hopes of escaping a second explosion. In response, the American troops gunned all of them down, and all 400 Korean refugees that were holed up in the tunnels were killed.
In response to the senseless killings perpetrated by the United States such as what occurred at No Gun Ri, the world essentially forgot about it. It was not until 1991 that an FBI investigation into what went on at No Gun Ri took place. However, while the United States acknowledged that what happened there was tragic, they deemed the actions taken to be necessary as they stated that the soldiers were provoked. This outraged many of the survivors and families of these survivors as well. These people demanded an apology and compensation for their suffering at the hands of the United States military. No Gun Ri is not the only instance of war crime that took place during the Korean War. In fact, there were 60 others that went uninvestigated by the United States government and unacknowledged by many of the world’s governments. The victims of which have attempted for years to have their stories heard and for a movement to be made to have the US pay reparations for their crimes. However, none of this has ever come to fruition. As stated before, it took 50 years for the United States to accept some blame for what they did in Korea and still they brushed it off and made excuses as to why it occurred. In all, while the Koreans were outraged about what occurred in places like No Gun Ri, the Americans have not and most likely will never admit their guilt as they are too embarrassed to have their reputation tarnished.
The Korean War was a bloody war with over one million Korean citizens dying over the course of just three years. The total amount of these citizens that were killed by the Americans will likely never be known and the United States refuses to look further into investigating the events that occurred during the war. America failed the Korean people by perpetrating senseless war crimes against the innocent refugees who were just trying to escape the brutal warzone. America also failed its own troops. The lack of proper training and experienced soldiers resulted in the formation of an army that was completely unsuited for battle. By receiving just a mere two weeks of training, weapons that were already in poor condition, and being thrust into a completely unknown territory, America sent its young men to their impending doom. Along with the unpreparedness of soldiers, the nation itself was not prepared for war. Coming off of the heels of World War II the United States was lacking the resources needed to sufficiently fight another war. It got drastic enough that they were even taking the show weapons that were placed on pedestals on military bases to be reconditioned for use in Korea while the Communists were well prepared with tanks from Russia and China. The leadership during the Korean War was also miserably flawed. The officers and lieutenants were both inexperienced and trigger-happy. Unable to distinguish North Koreans from South Koreans, they ordered their troops to fire on pretty much anything that moved. This even included their own men when they happened to get separated from the platoons while traversing the unfamiliar Korean terrain. The inexperience of both the officers and the men they were supposed to be leading was a nasty combination that resulted in massacres such as the one that occurred at No Gun Ri. The United States is likely to never investigate any of the other atrocities that they are accused of committing while in Korea. The only reason for their investigation of No Gun Ri was so that it could not be said that the United States completely overlooked the war crimes that took place in Korea although they might as well have. In all, the events that took place in Korea that took place during the Korean War were preventable, however it is apparent that the United States is not the symbol of absolute good that it is depicted as.
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