Former US Army Chief of Staff John Wickham, Jr. / Newsis,
, ‘John Wickham Jr., former Chief of Staff of the US Army, passed away at the age of 95 in Oro Valley, Arizona on the 11th, according to a delayed announcement. The deceased, who served as the Commander of US Forces Korea and the Combined Forces Command from 1979 to 1983, witnessed the turbulent times of modern Korean history, including the October 26 Incident, the December 12 Coup, and the May 18 Democratic Uprising.’,
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, ‘General Wickham was born in New York in 1928 and graduated from the United States Military Academy. He served as an infantryman in conflicts such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and in 1979, he became the commander of the Combined Forces Command with operational control in both wartime and peacetime. He was criticized for not intervening when the 20th Division of the US Army, stationed in Seoul, was deployed to suppress the Gwangju Uprising, which led to the perception that he tacitly approved the actions of the new military regime that left a stain on Korean democracy. In an interview with a US media outlet in August 1980, he gained fame for predicting that General Chun Doo-hwan was likely to become the president and commenting, “People from all walks of life in Korea are following him like lemmings.”‘,
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, ‘In his memoir “Korea in Crisis,” published in 1999, General Wickham acknowledged the reality of military rule by Chun Doo-hwan and his associates, stating, “We had to acknowledge the reality of the domination by Chun Doo-hwan and his group” and “Although the ultimate goal is clearly complete power acquisition, since we are not in a position to force Chun Doo-hwan and his organization to step aside, we must accept the reality of Chun Doo-hwan’s rule and cooperate with it.” He also opposed economic sanctions against South Korea, citing reasons such as deterring war on the Korean Peninsula and responding to North Korean threats by strengthening the US-ROK joint military forces.’,
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, ‘In 2007, ahead of the release of the Korean movie “May 18” based on the May 18 Democratic Uprising, General Wickham sent an email to the film distributor CJ Entertainment, stating, “The new military regime did not inform in advance that combat troops were being deployed, and when it became clear that the military was using force against civilians, I immediately protested to senior Korean military officials.” He also said, “(May 18) left an unfortunate historical scar, but it forever impressed upon Korea’s military and political leaders that the military should never use excessive force to suppress the people.” After his service in Korea, General Wickham was appointed as the Chief of Staff of the US Army by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and retired in 1987.’,
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