Victims Of War

 

 

The director of the Bishops' National Reconciliation Committee gives the readers of the Catholic Times his thoughts on victims of war.
 

He introduces us to George M. Carroll (1906-1981) a Maryknoll missioner who experienced the war as a military chaplain.

George M. Carroll (1906–1981) was ordained a Maryknoll priest in February 1931. He came to Korea in August of the same year, and began his mission life in Anju, Unhyang, and Seopo, in the Pyongyang Province of North Korea.

When the Pacific War broke out in 1941, Monsignor Carroll was arrested by Japanese authorities and deported to the United States in June 1942. After re-entering Korea after liberation, he led the establishment of a military service system in the early stages of the Korean War.

The war he experienced as a military chaplain was indescribably harrowing. The following is a diary he wrote on December 12, 1950, describing the miserable situation of Seodaemun Prison, which was filled with "suspected servicemen" after the South Korean military restored Seoul.

"I visited the prison this morning with the representative of the International Red Cross. The situation was horrible. About 30 people would die every day starved to death packed together in small quarters. The hospital was the worst. The building was actually falling apart. I looked in the morgue where 12 bodies were thrown, piled one on another. Women were nursing babies in small cells. Two babies died in two cells a while ago, and the small bodies were still there. We talked to people awaiting execution. Many men and many women, most of the prisoners, were guilty of cooperating with the Communist Party. Many people have not yet been tried, and have been waiting for a trial for many months. The Red Cross representative was very angry. This is because there was a clear attempt by the prison authorities to cover up the facts."

The Ukraine war, which has no signs of ending, is still showing the bare face of a harsher war towards the poor in this 21st century. In last week's Christmas Eve Mass, Pope Francis condemned the endless war and said, "I think of all the children swallowed up by war, poverty, and injustice before all else."

Recently, several experts are concerned about military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. This is because the repeated "Tit for Tat" strategy in a situation where dialogue is cut off could lead to a larger military conflict. No matter how difficult it is, we cannot give up the path to peace. In the new year of 2023, the writer sincerely hopes that dialogue for peace can begin anew wherever there is a conflict.