The Bridge at No Gun Ri
Sang-hun Choe
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Martha MendozaFollow this author
Published by Henry Holt and Co.
The untold story of Korean civilians massacred by American soldiers during the Korean War, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists who uncovered it.
In the fall of 1999, a team of Associated Press investigative reporters broke the news that US troops had massacred a large group of South Korean civilians early in the Korean War. On the eve of that pivotal war’s 50th anniversary, their reports brought to light a story that had been suppressed for decades, confirming allegations the US military had sought to dismiss. It made headlines around the world.
In The Bridge at No Gun Ri, the team tells the larger, human story behind the incident through the eyes of the people who survived it: on the American side, the green recruits of the “good time” US occupation army in Japan made up of teenagers who viewed unarmed farmers as enemies and generals who had never led men into battle; on the Korean side, the peasant families forced to flee their ancestral village caught between the invading North Koreans and the US Army. The narrative looks at victims both Korean and American; at the ordinary lives and high-level decisions that led to the fatal encounter; at the terror of the three-day slaughter; at the memories and ghosts that forever haunted the survivors. The story of No Gun Ri also illuminates the larger story of the Korean War—also known as the Forgotten War—and how an arbitrary decision to divide the country in 1945 led to the first armed conflict of the Cold War.
Praise for The Bridge at No Gun Ri
“A sobering testament to the ravages of combat.” —The New Yorker
“A fascinating but gut-wrenching account of a tragedy.” —Booklist (starred review)
“The authors have done their research and tell an excellent tale one that the U.S. Army tried to forget.” —Library Journal
In the fall of 1999, a team of Associated Press investigative reporters broke the news that US troops had massacred a large group of South Korean civilians early in the Korean War. On the eve of that pivotal war’s 50th anniversary, their reports brought to light a story that had been suppressed for decades, confirming allegations the US military had sought to dismiss. It made headlines around the world.
In The Bridge at No Gun Ri, the team tells the larger, human story behind the incident through the eyes of the people who survived it: on the American side, the green recruits of the “good time” US occupation army in Japan made up of teenagers who viewed unarmed farmers as enemies and generals who had never led men into battle; on the Korean side, the peasant families forced to flee their ancestral village caught between the invading North Koreans and the US Army. The narrative looks at victims both Korean and American; at the ordinary lives and high-level decisions that led to the fatal encounter; at the terror of the three-day slaughter; at the memories and ghosts that forever haunted the survivors. The story of No Gun Ri also illuminates the larger story of the Korean War—also known as the Forgotten War—and how an arbitrary decision to divide the country in 1945 led to the first armed conflict of the Cold War.
Praise for The Bridge at No Gun Ri
“A sobering testament to the ravages of combat.” —The New Yorker
“A fascinating but gut-wrenching account of a tragedy.” —Booklist (starred review)
“The authors have done their research and tell an excellent tale one that the U.S. Army tried to forget.” —Library Journal
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