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[KOREAN-WAR-L:11396] Re: Books
Mr. Wallis continues to rant wildly about the book, "The Bridge At No Gun Ri".
Mr. Wallis says, "IF MY RANT IS WILD, IT IS BECAUSE THE WHOLE NGR STORY AS
AIRED DEFAMES MEN WHO ARE BETTER THEN THEIR DEFAMERS." If he were to read the
book, Mr. Wallis would find that the authors do not defame the enlisted GI's in
any way. They site and meticulously document the command and leadership
failures during that period, and rightly cite these failures as being
responsible for what happened at No Gun Ri. If Mr. Wallis would read the U. S.
Army NGR Review, he would find that the Army Inspector General Report
acknowledges that a large number of civilian regugees died at No Gun Ri. But it
denies these command and leadership failures and absolves field commanders of
all responsiblity. In doing so, the Army let the blame fall on the enlisted
GI's in the foxholes. In short, it was a whitewash of the Army brass. So, if
Mr. Wallace wants to point his finger at the defamers, he should point his
finger at the Pentagon. However, I would caution him that in today's political
climate, in so doing, he risks being defamed himself. Heaven forbid!
As for Major Bateman's book on NGR, it is a book that is clearly dedicated to
attacking the Associated Press 1999 article on NGR and the authors of The Bridge
at No Gun Ri. The pursuit of the truth is not the object of this book. Bateman
totally dismisses the Korean survivors. He never even talked to them. Reading
Bateman is somewhat analgalous to listening to Rush Limbaugh's monologue to his
right wing dittohead audience, telling them just what they want to hear.
Mr. Wallace (in a previous posting), referring to teenage infantrymen panicking,
stated , "THEY DID THE BEST THEY COULD AGAINST THE FORCE AGAINST THEM, (no
argument) AND THEY HELD UNTIL I GOT THERE TO TAKE OVER. THERE WERE SOME OTHERS
WITH ME, OF COURSE." (Hmm, sounds like Mr. Wallace took over the defense of the
Pusan Perimeter almost single handed with the help of a few others.)
Mr. Wallace states (below), " I SUSPECT THAT MY KNOWLEDGE OF THE BOOK AND THE
SUBJECT ARE AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE MORE THAN EITHER OF THE CO-AUTHORS OR TOM AND
JANET'S KNOWLEDGE OF LANDING IN A STRANGE COUNTRY AND RUSHING TO THE FRONT TO
STEM THE TIDE OF UNBRINDLED ( I think he meant unbridled) FEROCITY." (Hmm,
order of magnitude? That's interesting since Mr. Wallace has not read any of
the three publications and he certainly does not know my knowledge of the
subject.
Based on what Mr. Wallace has stated (at least recently), any resonable person
would conclude that Mr. Wallace was a brave warrior and a courageous leader of
men.
However, regarding No Gun Ri, let's set the record straight:
Mr. Wallis was not at No Gun Ri. I was.
Mr. Wallis did not see men, women, old and young and children, trying to get
to
safety,only to receive machine gun fire to drive them back. I did.
Mr. Wallis did not see the machine gun tracers streaming into the railroad
underpass. I did.
Mr. Wallis did not hear the cries and screams of the refugees as they died
while
the tracers ricocheted through the tunnel under the railroad bridge. Idid.
Does Mr. Wallis have any idea what happened at No Gun Ri? HE DOESN'T HAVE A
CLUE.
Tom Hacha
"Walter E. Wallis, P.E." wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tom & Janet Hacha" <thacha@adelphia.net>
> To: <KOREAN-WAR-L@listproc.cc.ku.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2004 3:11 PM
> Subject: [KOREAN-WAR-L:11387] Re: Books
>
> > It seems obvious that Mr. Walter E. Wallis has not read "The Bridge At No
> Gun
> > Ri" or Bateman's book on the same subject or the No Gun Ri Review
> released by
> > the Army Inspector General in January 2001.
> > I suggest that Mr. Wallis do so before he continues to wildly rant about
> this
> > subject.
> > Tom Hacha
>
> I suspect that my knowledge of the book and the subject are an order of
> magnitude more than either the coauthors or Tom and Janet's knowledge of
> landing in a strange country and rushing to the front to stem a tide of
> unbrindled ferocity. I am aware of the earlier discussion of No Gun Ri, and
> my statements are based on personal knowledge of the situation as it existed
> a week after No Gun Ri. If my rant is wild it is because the whole No Gun Ri
> story as aired defames men who are better than their defamers. I declared my
> passion - criticize if you can my assertions and observations. You people
> are kinda like the folk who, after the firemen save their house, bitch about
> the water damage. Feather Merchants - Blech!
>
> Walter E. Wallis
> Inspire 28
>
> >
> >
> > "Walter E. Wallis, P.E." wrote:
> >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: <charlesjh@att.net>
> > > To: <KOREAN-WAR-L@listproc.cc.ku.edu>
> > > Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2004 8:37 AM
> > > Subject: [KOREAN-WAR-L:11379] Books
> > >
> > > > An offering in response to Jeff McLaughlin's query about good Korean
> War
> > > books:
> > > >
> > > > ``The Bridge at No Gun Ri,'' published by Henry Holt and Co., NY. (For
> > > excerpts, reviews and relevant, historically important documents, see
> the
> > > websites http://www.henryholt.com/nogunri/index.htm and its link
> > > http://www.henryholt.com/nogunri/documents.htm )
> > > > Here's one brief review:
> > > > ---
> > > > The Providence Journal-Bulletin (Providence, RI)
> > > > September 30, 2001
> > > > BOOKS - HOW THINGS CAN GO VERY WRONG IN WARTIME
> > > > BYLINE: LUTHER SPOEHR Special to the Journal
> > > > HIGHLIGHT:
> > > > * THE BRIDGE AT NO GUN RI: A Hidden Nightmare from the * Korean
> War,
> > > > by Charles J. Hanley, Sang-Hun Choe, and Martha Mendoza. Henry Holt.
> 313
> > > > pages. $26.
> > > >
> > > > BODY:
> > > > Based on the reporting that won its three authors, all of them
> > > > Associated Press reporters, the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative
> > > > Reporting, The Bridge at No Gun Ri uses a familiar formula to tell a
> > > > powerful story about an unfamiliar war. It is also a timely cautionary
> > > > tale of what can happen when civilians are trapped between two armies.
> > > >
> > > > The formula, perfected by Stephen Ambrose and imitated by countless
> > > > others, involves following a small military unit as it comes together,
> > > > goes through the crucible of combat, and emerges wounded, changed, and
> > > > sobered, but generally triumphant at the end. Think Band of Brothers
> and
> > > > The Wild Blue.
> > > >
> > > > It's the history of ordinary Americans _ the grunts, not the
> generals
> > > _
> > > > in extraordinary circumstances, and as applied to World War II, ''the
> > > > good war,'' at its best it is vivid, moving, and ultimately
> reassuring:
> > > > ''we'' did the right thing.
> > > >
> > > > Hanley, Choe, and Mendoza apply the formula to a horrific incident
> in
> > > > a more ambiguous war, the Korean ''police action.'' They not only
> follow
> > > > an American unit into action, but also tell the story of the Korean
> > > > villagers whose lives were shattered by those soldiers.
> > > >
> > > > The unit is the famous 7th Cavalry Regiment (Custer's outfit),
> which,
> > > > as the North Korean army threatened to overrun the entire Korean
> > > > peninula in the summer of 1950, was hustled into action from its cushy
> > > > base in Japan. Like the rest of their division, they were flagrantly
> > > > unready, "raw teenagers led by too few sergeants in the ranks and by
> men
> > > > past their prime at the top." Jittery, with nerves rubbed raw by lurid
> > > > rumors, lack of sleep, constant movement, and unexpected contacts with
> > > > the enemy, they were a disaster looking for a place to happen. AND
> YET
> > > THEY HELD ENOUGH SPACE FOR US TO LAND - AT A PRICE THIS BOOK DEMEANS.
> > > >
> > > > They found that place near the village of No Gun Ri, where,
> panicked
> > > > by the possibility [AWARE OF THE CERTAINTY] that a column of refugees
> had
> > > been infiltrated by
> > > > North Korean troops and convinced that [ALLOWING INFILTRATERS TO PASS
> > > THROUGH WOULD GET THEM KILLED AND THE WAR LOST] their orders covered
> their
> > > > actions, the 7th Cav pinned down several hundred villagers beneath a
> > > > railroad trestle and for more than three days days replete with
> > > > ''screaming children, ricochets in the concrete underpasses, bodies
> > > > piling up in the entrances'' shot and killed as many as 400 civilians,
> > > > including many women and children. PERHAPS THE CIVILIANS CHOULD HAVE
> GONE
> > > AWAY FROM THE POSITION?
> > > >
> > > > A half-century later, the effects of that massacre still shape the
> > > > lives of the survivors, Korean and American alike. When the Cold War
> > > > ended, villagers petitioning the American government for redress got
> the
> > > > attention of the Associated Press. Reporters interviewed more than 500
> > > > people and delved deeply into military records, including some showing
> > > > that high-ranking officers had authorized firing on civilians. THIS
> WAS
> > > NEVER "NEWS" AND HARDLY A SECRET UNCOVERED BY BRILLIANT DETECTIVE WORK.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks to its careful documentation, The Bridge at No Gun Ri surely
> > > > refutes the 2001 Pentagon report that termed the incident ''an
> > > > unfortunate tragedy inherent to war and not a deliberate killing.''
> > > >
> > > > But Hanley, Choe, and Mendoza, whose writing is measured, clear,
> > > > to-the-point, and remarkably rhetoric-free, do not demonize the men
> who
> > > > pulled the triggers, whose tortured postwar lives give grim meaning to
> > > > the term ''post-traumatic stress disorder.'' If there are villains,
> they
> > > > are higher in the chain of command. OH, THEY DON'T DEMONIZE, THEY
> SIMPLE
> > > LABEL THEM AS STUPID AUTOMATONS INCAPABLE OF "ESTIMATING THE SITUATION"
> [THE
> > > TRAINING PHRASE AT THAT TIME FOR MAINTINING BATTLEFIELD AWARENESS]
> > > >
> > > > Because it graphically describes the violence of the encounter at
> the
> > > > bridge and its agonizing aftermath, this is not an easy book to read.
> > > > But it is an important one, especially now, as we prepare to go to war
> > > > again. We need to think hard about how things can go wrong when
> fighting
> > > > for the right. IT MIGHT ALSO BE HELPFUL TO EXAMINE THE LIFE IN NORTH
> > > KOREA DURING THE NEXT 53 YEARS TO SEE WHAT WE SAVED SOUTH KOREA FROM,
> AND
> > > ASK THE LOCALS IF THEY WOULD TRADE THEIR LIVES FOR THUSE UP NORTH.
> > > >
> > > > Luther Spoehr teaches a course on America Since 1945 at Brown
> > > > University. AND I AM CONFIDENT HIS STUDENTS ARE MADE AWARE OF EVERY
> BAD
> > > THING EVER PERPETRATED BY EVIL AMERICA.
> > > >
> > > > ---
> > > >
> > > > As one of the authors of the above book, I felt compelled to offer
> this as
> > > an antidote of truth to the posting last Wednesday, in response to the
> > > McLaughlin query, of a review of a book that is nothing more than a
> > > small-minded and mean-spirited slapping together of baseless
> ``theories,''
> > > fabrications and fantasies about No Gun Ri.
> > >
> > > > Thank you.
> > >
> > > > Charlie Hanley
> > > >
> > > > AS AN EARLY ON COMBATANT FROM 7 AUG 50 AND AS ONE WHO HAS CRITICIZED
> THE
> > > LACK OF TRAINING OF THE OCCUPATION TROOPS I CATEGORICALLY REJECT THE
> IMAGE
> > > OF THEM AS SCARED TEENAGERS PANICKING. THEY DID THE BEST THEY COULD
> AGAINST
> > > THE FORCE AGAINST THEM, AND THEY HELD UNTIL I GOT THERE TO TAKE OVER.
> THERE
> > > WERE SOME OTHERS WITH ME, OF COURSE. IF ANYTHING, THEIR TRAINING DID NOT
> > > EQUIP THEM FOR GRACEFUL RETREATING, A NECESSARY SKILL IN ANY COMBAT
> > > SITUATION.
> > > CIVILIANS DO NOT BELONG IN A COMBAT ZONE. CIVILIANS SHOULD NOT ADVANCE
> INTO
> > > AN ARMED POSITION AFTER RECEIVING WARNING SHOTS. WHEN CIVILIANS SHIELD
> > > BELLIGERENTS AND PROVIDE COVER FOR THEIR ADVANCES THEY BECOME CANNON
> FODDER
> > > FOR THE SIDE UTILIZING THEM.
> > >
> > > WALTER E. WALLIS
> > > INSPIRE 28
> > > [YES, I KNOW I AM YELLING BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH]
> >