主题：【收集整理】美军朝鲜战争老兵回忆-写在前面的话 -- pxpxpx

During late July 1950, Korean civilians were caught between withdrawing U.S.

forces and attacking enemy forces. As a result of U.S. actions during the Korean War in

the last week of July 1950, Korean civilians were killed and injured in the vicinity of No

Gun Ri. The U.S. Review Team did not find that the Korean deaths and injuries

occurred exactly as described in the Korean account. To appraise these events, it is

necessary to recall the circumstances of the period. U.S. forces on occupation duty in

Japan, mostly without training for, or experience in, combat were suddenly ordered to

join ROK forces in defending against a determined assault by well-armed and welltrained

NKPA forces employing both conventional and guerilla warfare tactics. The U.S.

troops had to give up position after position. In the week beginning July 25, 1950, the

1st Cavalry Division, withdrawing from Yongdong toward the Naktong River, passed

through the vicinity of No Gun Ri. Earlier, roads and trails in South Korea had been

choked with civilians fleeing south. Disguised NKPA soldiers had mingled with these

refugees. U.S. and ROK commanders had published a policy designed to limit the

threat from NKPA infiltrators, to protect U.S. forces from attacks from the rear, and to

prevent civilians from interfering with the flow of supplies and troops. The ROK National

Police were supposed to control and strictly limit the movements of innocent refugees.

In these circumstances, especially given the fact that many of the U.S. soldiers

lacked combat-experienced officers and Non-commissioned officers, some soldiers may

have fired out of fear in response to a perceived enemy threat without considering the

possibility that they might be firing on Korean civilians.

Neither the documentary evidence nor the U.S. veterans’ statements reviewed by

the U.S. Review Team support a hypothesis of deliberate killing of Korean civilians.

What befell civilians in the vicinity of No Gun Ri in late July 1950 was a tragic and

deeply regrettable accompaniment to a war forced upon unprepared U.S. and ROK

forces.