n August 1950, in the early chaotic months of the “forgotten war,” Hill 303 (elevation: 950 feet), sitting about 15 miles northwest of Taegu, was a critical terrain feature controlling the main Pusan-Seoul railroad, a highway crossing of the Naktong River, and Waegwan, a small city on the edge of the hill’s southern slope. On August 14, a North Korean regiment crossed the Naktong six miles north o
f Waegwan. Some NKA troops and tanks headed south toward Waegwan, on what is Route 907 today, while others went around north of Hill 303, thus encircling the hill. By 0830 on August 15, North Koreans had surrounded G Company, 5th Cavalry Regiment, as well as a supporting platoon of H Company mortarmen. A relief infantry column supported by a platoon of tanks tried to reach G Company but failed. During this fighting, Waegwan became a no-man’s land, almost totally deserted. Refugees had fled to Taegu. B Company and the tanks made new attempts on August 16 to retake Hill 303 from a battalion of 700 North Koreans. But all attempts were repulsed. To soften the resistance, enemy positions were shelled throughout the day with howitzers. During the early morning of August 17, troops from the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 5th Cavalry, supported by A Company, 70th Tank Battalion, moved toward the hill again. This time heavy mortar fire stopped them at the edge of Waegwan. Artillery was brought in later in the morning, followed by Air Force planes dropping na**lm and bombs, firing rockets, and strafing enemy positions. Immediately afterward, the men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions moved forward again, and this time the assault succeeded. Although Hill 303 was recaptured, the victory was made bitter by news of a massacre of U.S. Forty-two mortar men of H Company were found in a gulley on the hill, packed tightly, shoulder to shoulder, and lying on their sides with their hands tied behind their backs. Miraculously, five soldiers survived. They said that when the U.S. troops started up the hill after the air strike, they had been grouped together and shot with burp guns by North Korean soldiers. (In June 1999, on the 49th anniversary of the Korean War, two of the three survivors still alive revisited Hill 303 and prayed at the site of the massacre. soldiers at Camp Carroll sponsored the visit by former PFC Roy Manring and Pvt. Frederick M Ryan, both now 67 years old.) Although Hill 303 was retaken, the safety of Taegu was being jeopardized. On August 18, the Korean Provincial Government ordered the city’s evacuation, and President Syngman Rhee moved his capital from there to Pusan, 55 miles away. Panicked refugees poured from Taegu, clogging the roads. Because this exodus threatened to stop all military traffic and to undermine the morale of the troops defending the city, the U.S. 8th Army pressured the Korean government and finally halted the evacuation. The rest is history. In what came later to be called the Naktong Bulge, UN forces desperately held firm at the Pusan Perimeter. Only with great difficulty, however, was the communist drive halted and the NKA eventually driven back across the Naktong River. In the years following the Korean War, the U.S. Army established a permanent garrison in Waegwan, Camp Carroll, which is located near the base of Hill 303. The incident was largely forgotten until Lt. David Kangas read about the incident in the book "South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu" while stationed at Camp Carroll in 1985, and after checking with various US Army and local sources he realized that the location of the massacre was unknown. He then obtained battle records through the National Archives to pinpoint the actual location of the POW massacre and then began a quest to find the whereabouts of the remaining survivors. The original memorial for the POWs was emplaced in 1990 in front of the garrison headquarters, although none of the American survivors were located by Kangas until 1991. In 1999 Fred Ryan and Roy Manring, two of the three surviving POWs, were invited to attend a ceremony at the ex*****on site. Both Ryan and Manring as well as James Rudd, the third surviving POW, had long been denied VA compensation claims for their severe injuries incurred during the ex*****on because they had never been officially designated as Prisoners of War by the US Army. Later the base garrison at Camp Carroll raised funds to construct a much larger memorial at the actual massacre site on Hill 303. South Korean military and civilians around Waegwan contributed to the funds for this memorial. The original memorial was placed on the hill on August 17, 2003. In 2009 soldiers of the U.S. 501st Sustainment Brigade began to gather funds for a second, larger monument on the hill. With the assistance of South Korean veterans, politicians and local citizens, the second monument was flown to the top of the hill by a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter on May 26, 2010, in preparation for the 60th anniversary of the event. An annual memorial service is held on the hill to commemorate the deaths of the troops on Hill 303. Troops garrisoned at Camp Carroll scale the hill and place flowers at the monument as a part of this service.
