EXCERPTS FROM "THE BRIDGE OF NO GUN RI," THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE VERSION OF "DAS MASSAKER VON NO GUN RI," AN HOUR-LONG DOCUMENTARY AIRED ON GERMANY'S ARD TV NETWORK IN 2007. PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY MARC WIESE.
chung koo-ho: you can't imagine it unless youve been through it yourself. one child was sucking at the breast of its dead mother. it was dreadful. ... they weren't just shooting at us. it was an absolute hail of bullets, and I could hear the screams and moans of the dying all around me.
yang hae-chan: there were bodies everywhere. some who were still alive but burrowed into the sandy soil and pild the corpses up in the front of them to hide themselves.
marvin daniel: i would say it ws probably a thousand (refugees). the road was clogged as far as the eye could see.
art hunter: (tells of old man, old woman) at 10:10
yang hae-chan: sudenly the soldiers disappeared and a plane flew over. the first plane just observed us and then suddenly bombers flew over and opened fire without warning,. they cme back again again firing at us an aboslutel hail of buellets. chaose broke out among the refs. we ran around wildly trying to get away. but in that first attack veyr many people were hit and killed.
koo-ho: suddenly it was all over. i looked up and saw a lot of bodies lying on the embankment. a baby was sucking at the breast of its dead mother. everywhere were corpses with severed heads.
hae sook: re eye (at 15:00)
tom hacha: all of a suden they started walk faster even jog, all of a sudden the whole group moved from my left to right in that direction, say the tunnel's down here.. and a mchine gun burst in front of them swept across in front of them. they all turned around , went screaming and ran back. i cudn't unstan why they wudn't let these people through, because they could have, there was time. as far i was concerned i thought they just wanted to get out of here.
marvin daniel: one of the refs broke and run toward the troops and they began to fire and finally they hit him and brought him down and it ended up being a 12 or 13 year old kid, and you can't tell.
hacha: girl... rifle fire
daniel: it's a ref running from a group and you wanted to keep him from advancing any further and you do what you have to do.
park sun yong: when we got there there was firing again and again. many people were killed. the dead bodies lay around like stones in front of the tunnel. we had to stand on them to get into the tunnel
hacha: i cud hear the people screaming. it had to be a heavy machine gun a water cooled machine gun because the bursts was long and they were sustained.
koo-ho: i'd already written my life off... i saw all the dead bodies around me... i was just waiting to die.
sun yong: ... it was like being in a beehive. children were screaming in fear and the adults were praying for their lives and the whole time they never stopped shooting.
HACHA: THIS MG OPENED UP FROM MY RIGHT... FIRING ACROSS INTO THE TUNNEL FOR SEVERAL BURSTS . I CUD SEE THE TRACERS SPINING AROUND INSIDE THE TUNEL AND I CUD HEAR THE REFS SCREAMING AND YELLING. IT WAS NOT A GOOD THING. I CUD NOT SAY HOW LONG THAT LASTED BUT THERE WERE SEVERAL SUSTAINED BURSTS THAT WENT IN THERE, AND THEY WERE DYING DOWN THERE. I CUD HEAR THE PEOPLE SCREAMING.
hae-chan (at 21 MIN): (pregnant woman gave birth; newborn baby; confusing it with koo-ho story of drowned baby?) there was a pregnant woman who gave birth in the tunnel
hae sook: we spent thee days and nights in the tunnel and i was dreadfully thirsty the hwole time
hae-chan: we were terribly thirsty espy the wounded. but whenever anyone whent out ot the tunnel for water they were shot. (blood in puddle)
HOMER GARZA: I GOT ASSIGNED POINT MAN AND WE WENT DOWN BY THE RR TRACKS, THE UNDERPASS AND THAT'S WHERE WE SAW A BUNCH OF DEAD KOREANS... MAYBE TWO OR THREE HUNDRED PILED UP THERE... it was pretty bad
hae chan: they built a wall of the corpses of their families and friends
chung eun-yong: they claim the people weren't killed deliberATELY AND THERE WAS NO ORDER FROM ABOVE. THEY;RE LYING. AFTER ALL THIS TIME THEY PRODUCE A REPORT FULL OF LIES. THEY'RE ALL LIES.
HACHA: it was just awful. these people they were civilians and they were screaming down there and here they were. it was a shock that this was happening and i couldn't stop it.