OhMyNews talked with two Korean War vets with the U.S. anti-war group Veterans for Peace who plan to attend a rally in Seoul on Sunday opposing the expansion of U.S. military facilities in Pyeongtaek.
The veterans in question were Charles Atkins (78), who fought with the Army here from 1950 to 1952, and Wilson Powell (74), who spent 1952-1953 in Korea with the Air Force. Atkins even received the Silver Star.
Since leaving the service, however, the two have actively engaged in anti-war activities.
Noting his opposition to the Pyeongtaek base expansion, Atkins said it was a mistake to use good land for producing food for working people to build a U.S. base. He also said the U.S. government has conquered some 14 countries, not to help people, but to build bases. He added that the construction of U.S. bases around the world was to create an empire and control the world (tm).
Their inspiration for joining with anti-war groups in Korea comes from their own horrible wartime experiences, they said.
Powell, who was stationed in Daegu during the war, said the conflict destroyed everything and created a lot of orphans. He said he was very sorry to those orphans, and that he was ashamed. He noted that during the war, old couples in the countryside worked hard to feed the orphans, despite not having enough food to eat.
Atkins said they believed that they’d come to Korea to fight for Korea (during the war), but that was not the case. He also said that Koreans wanted to reconcile and live together, and it was for that reason that they’d now come to Korea to fight against the base expansion.
7 Comments
Did I miss something here? I was under the impression that few South Koreans wanted to “reconcile and live together” at this time. This guy is horribly naive and needs to go back to the U.S. and work for a non-profit consumers group if he really wants to do some good.
…the U.S. government has conquered some 14 countries, not to help people, but to build bases. …the construction of U.S. bases around the world was to create an empire and control the world ™.
1. Spend billions conquering nations and constructing regional bases around the world.
2. …????!!!!….(?!)
3. Profit!
Only two American liberal nutcases are willing to march in the protest? We can send you a few state’s worth of them if Korea wants. At least they will learn the Korean-art of how to neatly break-up the sidewalk to make smartly sized projectiles to throw.
I hope that these closet communists are willing to renounce their U.S. citizenship while abroad too.
–Remort
Well, I guess that everyone agrees then. When the Americans leave, the two Koreas will “reconcile and live together”.
Re: ‘Atkins said … that Koreans wanted to reconcile and live together, and it was for that reason that they’d now come to Korea to fight against the base expansion.’
Yeah, still ’soft in the head’ … and after all these years.
I doubt that even a visit to Yodok Re-education Camp would take the tint off of his rose-colored glasses.
Well, I guess we all have our parts to play, don’t we.
Proof that veterans are not a political bloc, and come in all shades of political opinion. Remember that both Korea and Vietnam were fought during periods in which the draft was active, which may have made for a more politically diverse body of troops. In 1969 I had a card carrying communist in my company, who had been drafted. Ironically, his political status required his being given an assignment limitation against service in the Republic of Vietnam. Perhaps he is still manning the barricades, or more likely, now considers himself a neocon. During the anti-School of the Americas histeria, there were two Medal of Honor recipients, one a catholic priest and one a former Army chaplain, among the protestors.