What was going on when I was born?

''When asked what I thought should be done if the people were guilty, I said I thought they should be shot, though I supposed hanging is the preferred method.'' - Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, discussing those who spy in peacetime. [B8:5.]

As the train from China crosses the Yalu River, there is no mistaking the legacy of war. A hundred yards downstream stands a second bridge, with all six supports on the North Korean side of the river missing, blown away by American bombing. Nearly 32 years after the armistice that ended the Korean War, the first thing a traveler sees on arrival in this tightly sealed nation is a reminder of the destruction wrought by American forces under Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur. In October 1950 United States troops approached within a few miles of the Yalu, prompting the Chinese to enter the war. The evidence is even starker where the express from Peking halts, beside a red-and-white barrier manned by a soldier in the olive green uniform of North Korea's army. Between the shoreline and the first of the concrete bridge pontoons is a tangled mass of rusted steel. On shore, workmen are busy clearing it away for scrap.

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said today that a way should be found to execute people who passed military secrets to hostile powers in peacetime. He said that John A. Walker Jr. and three associates, facing trial on charges of spying for the Soviet Union, ''should be shot'' if convicted. Mr. Weinberger said that a committee had been formed to determine whether the Uniform Code of Military Justice should be changed to allow execution of military personnel in peacetime. Under present military law, conviction in a military court on espionage charges carries a mandatory death sentence only in wartime.

A music listing in The Guide Sunday gave an incorrect date for the singer Tim Strong's engagement at the Silver Lining, 349 West 46th Street. He will perform Friday.

Four members of a Harlem gang that deals in heroin and routinely kills competitors have been arrested on murder, drug and conspiracy charges, the Manhattan District Attorney said yesterday. The gang members were seized Tuesday night, three of them as they left to carry out a contract murder on upper Broadway, according to the District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau. The arrests culminated a 19-month investigation by the District Attorney's office in cooperation with the 28th Precinct detectives and the Police Department's Narcotics Division.

Americans are enjoying the lowest interest rates they have seen in five years or more. Mortgage rates are down. Car loan rates are down. The cost of business borrowing has fallen. Even the Treasury Department's borrowing costs have plunged. The decline has come relatively quickly and spread pretty much across the board. The rates paid on three-month Treasury bills, for instance, are now less than 7 percent - more than three percentage points below a year ago and less than half of what they were as recently as 1981.

Trans World Airlines Inc. agreed in principle last night to be acquired by the Texas Air Corporation, parent of Continental Airlines and New York Air, for $793.5 million, according to sources close to the companies. T.W.A. has been up for sale for several weeks as an alternative to a hostile takeover attempt by Carl C. Icahn, the New York investor. Texas Air's offer amounts to $23 a share in cash and debt securities, exceeding a $22 package offered by Resorts International Inc., the sources said. In trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, T.W.A.'s stock closed at $19.625, down 25 cents.

The smile of Anne Frank - perhaps as much as her famous diary - has become a symbol of the power of the human spirit over evil. To picture the gifted girl who died 40 years ago at the hands of the Nazis is to see a pretty, dark-haired child doing children's things - sunning on the beach, jumping rope, playing with a pet rabbit and, most strikingly and consistently, smiling. Yesterday, the day that would have been Anne Frank's 56th birthday, the Union Theological Seminary began an exhibition of of newly released photographs - images of her world. Her view of this world was summed up in a line from the diary: ''In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.''

The head of the International Business Machines Corporation retracted a two-month-old prediction today that I.B.M. would post ''solid growth'' this year. It was the latest and most serious indication that the computer industry's downturn was worsening. The assessment came from John F. Akers, I.B.M.'s president and chief executive, in a meeting for analysts and reporters at the company's main research facility here. The news sent I.B.M. stock plummeting $5.25, to $120.75, on the New York Stock Exchange. I.B.M. was the most actively traded stock, with consolidated volume of more than 2.5 million shares, and it led a 7.50-point downturn in the Dow Jones industrial average, to 1,306.34.

A Public Broadcasting Service program that will offer a conservative group an unusual chance to criticize the network's prize-winning series on Vietnam has touched off a dispute over whether PBS has given in to pressure from the Reagan Administration. The two-hour program, which will be available to PBS stations beginning June 26, will include a 57-minute film prepared by Accuracy in Media, the conservative organization. It will be shown on WNET/Channel 13 in New York on June 27 as part of that station's ''Intercom'' series of first-person documentaries. Accuracy in Media, which terms itself a media watchdog group, is headed by Reed Irvine, who strongly supported Gen. William C. Westmoreland in his libel suit against CBS and views PBS as a network ''with a long history of putting on left-wing programs.'' Among the members of its advisory board are Clare Boothe Luce, Edward Teller and William E. Simon, the former Treasury Secretary.

United Airlines and its 5,000 pilots have reached a tentative agreement to end the pilots' 26-day-old strike, the National Mediation Board announced yesterday. The key provision is a formula for settling back-to-work issues that were the last major obstacles to a new contract. The economic issues that precipitated the walkout were resolved three weeks ago. The economic package provides for a two-tier wage scale under which newly hired pilots would initially receive much lower pay than provided in the current contract.

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 1985 International The House voted aid to the rebels seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government. The representatives voted 248 to 184 to send the rebels $27 million in nonmilitary aid over the next nine months in an action marking a major victory for President Reagan. [Page A1, Columns 4-6.] President Reagan praised India and warmly welcomed Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to the White House, saying the United States sought to ''broaden the understanding and deepen the cooperation'' between the two countries. [A3:4-6.] North Korea still has wide damage from the Korean War nearly 32 years after the armistice. The country is tightly sealed, but a few American reporters are being allowed in for brief visits, and officials guiding them seem anxious not to make too much of the war. For North Korea, the policy marks a major change. [A1:3-5.] National United Airlines and its pilots agreed tentatively to terms for ending the pilots' 26-day-old strike, the National Mediation Board announced. The pact provides for a two-tier pay scale under which newly-hired pilots would initially receive much lower pay than those now employed. [A1:3.] Import curbs on shoes were recommended to President Reagan by an advisory panel that called for a a five-year program that would lead to price increases for both imported and domestic shoes. [A1:1-2.] A peacetime death penalty for people who sell military secrets to a hostile power may be restored. Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said a panel had been formed to determine whether the Uniform Code of Military Justice should be changed to allow the execution of military officials for spying in peacetime.