CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea — Five years ago Wednesday, seven military engineering vehicles moved east on Highway 56 in Yangju, north of Seoul and southwest of Dongducheon.

Around 10:45 a.m., Sgt. Mark Walker drove his M60 armored vehicle launched mine clearing line charge over the narrow, two-lane highway and up an S-curved hill.

Walker saw a convoy of five Bradley fighting vehicles traveling westbound.

But the bulky vehicle obstructed his view of a sliver of shoulder on the right, where 13-year-old girls Shin Hyo-sun and Shim Mi-son walked.

Sgt. Fernando Nino, the vehicle commander, sat on the right side of the 12-foot wide vehicle.

He saw the girls and yelled to Walker to stop.

The radio blared with chatter from a mock battle at nearby Twin Bridges training area. The 12 military vehicles on the road created their own din.

Walker couldn’t hear Nino until it was too late. The vehicle struck the girls and crushed them under its tracks.

Nationwide protests followed.

Some business owners posted signs barring U.S. servicemembers. Soldiers in uniform were accosted at Seoul station and the 8th Army spokesman was stabbed while using a pedestrian underpass to cross a major road just outside the Yongsan Garrison fenceline. Protesters “declared war” against the U.S. military and staged “raids” on facilities.

Anger festered further after the U.S. military found Walker and Vino not guilty of negligent homicide at November courts-martial.

The deaths and resulting reaction led the 2nd ID to take numerous steps toward improving safety and repairing community relations that continue today, officials said.

“It not only influenced the (South Korea)-U.S. relationship, it also rearranged the political landscape,” said Lt. Col. Todd Goehler, 2nd Infantry Division civil-military operations officer.

The division tries to show sympathy toward the Shin and Shim families without smothering them, Goehler said.

Second ID soldiers have helped harvest crops at the girls’ family farms each year since the deaths.

Soldiers recently cleaned up the soldier-donated memorial and grounds near the accident site, Goehler said. They also regularly include the fathers of the two girls when sending gifts to dignitaries and high-ranking officials, he said.

“It’s bittersweet,” Goehler said. “On one hand they’re appreciative of the gesture, but it brings back the memory of losing their daughters.”