Thursday, September 30, 1999
Local veteran saw 'people shot up'
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MITCHELL — Gene Hesselman was 21 years old when he arrived in Korea in 1950. It's been a long time since the incident under a bridge at No Gun Ri, when Korean civilians were killed under a bridge, but he remembers it.
“I just remember there were a lot of people under there shot up,” said the 70-year-old man from Fort Mitchell. “They got in the line of fire there, I guess.
“That's war though.”
The Associated Press has reported that 30 survivors and relatives of those killed called it an unprovoked, three-day carnage and asked the government for compensation in 1997. Their claim was rejected by the South Korean government on a technicality, the AP reported.
Mr. Hesselman is one of a dozen or so veterans who have corroborated parts of the story.
When asked whether the U.S. government should do anything about the killings, Mr. Hesselman said the dead people's families don't deserve anything.
“I don't think they should give them a penny, one earthly penny,” he said. “Just because people get killed in the war doesn't mean they should get compensation.
“How about all the guys that were sent over there that were supposed to be here that never came back?
“A war is a war. They ought to be damn glad we came over there to help them.”
Mr. Hesselman, who lives in Fort Mitchell, drives a truck and has a daughter who lives in Columbus.
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