Published: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 09:13:08 +0000

UPDATE: The US media has once again joined the Korean media in the No Gun-ri myth making. Here is the headline on the front-page of Yahoo:
South Korea Plans No Gun-ri Massacre Memorial
Notice once again the word “massacre”. Remember what I said before that when reporting something untrue, that if you keep repeating it [...]
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Amazing. I personally knew the guy who was the central figure in all of this ... Ed Daily. Daily made it all up. He wasn't there, and also claimed to be an officer, which he wasn't.

I read a great book by a serving Army officer, Robert L. Bateman, about the No Gun Ri incident not too long ago. He concludes that yes, some innocent folks were killed, but it wasn't a massacre deliberately directed by the U.S. Army. Indeed, the total number is at question as well. Bateman holds the AP and Daily as the biggest culprits in what has been proven to be a completely specious story.

Daily is what he is described to be in the Bateman book ... a glad handling, back slapping rube who was great at working a crowd. He used to live by my inlaws in Paris, TN. His property had 1st Cav patch decorations all over his fence, and above the entrance to his property was a sign which referred to the "I&R" platoon of the 7th Cavalry, which they didn't have in 1950 (I found this out later). Bottom line is the AP fell for a complete line of BS, hook, line and sinker, and never recanted their story despite documented evidence. Again, read the Bateman book. It's very enlightening.

Daily spent time in prison for defrauding the government in terms of veterans benefits. Apparently, he'd received treatment over the years for the "trauma' caused by his No Gun Ri experience. Of course, he wasn't there, and the government charged and convicted him of fraud. Last I heard, he was living somewhere around Fort Campbell, KY.

I think the official US Army report of findings is fairly definative.