User talk:LemonSoother

The DMZ and The Poplar Tree

The morning of August 18, 1976 in the Joint Security Area has often been referred to as “Murder in the Demilitarized Zone” and more familiarly as “The Poplar Tree Incident”. On that August morning, several South Korean and American security details headed to Check Point 3 of the Joint Security Area at Panmujom to cut down a poplar tree. This particular poplar tree obstructed the view between two guard posts located between Check Point 3 and the bridge of no return, both manned by American and the Republic of Korea soldiers. The men began to cut down the poplar tree and as the work got under way, two North Korean officers and several other North Korean guards made their way down to the poplar tree. At first the North Korean’s approved of the cutting down of this tree, or it appeared as such. Then the commander of the North Korean army ordered the cutting to stop. Tensions were already high between these two powers and believing the North Korean commander was bluffing, the senior American officer on the scene, Captain Arthur Bonifas, ignored the demands. The North Koreans send for more men and within moments the American and South Korean security detail were surrounded by the Korean People’s Army. Bonifas still believed the KPA commander was bluffing and he would not harm those cutting the tree, however he was wrong. Within moments the commander of the KPA ordered his men to kill Bonifas. The fighting ended when the United States Quick Reaction Force appeared on the scene, however by this time the North Koreans had already turned to their lines. The security cameras within the JSA provided crucial evidence to prove the KPA at fault for the incident and the deaths of the two Americans. Bonifas and Lieutenant Mark Barrett, the other American officer, were beaten to death. The deaths of Bonifas and Barrett were the first deaths in the Joint Security Area since its establishment at the end of the Korean War. After much debate as to how to respond to the North Korean’s actions, the United States sent in a convoy of American and South Korean soldiers into the JSA, without warning to the North, to commence the largest tree cutting operation in the history of the United States military: Operation Paul Bunyan. A memorial is now erected where the poplar tree once was in memory of the two American soldiers that were killed by the North Korean army. Due to the barbaric actions of the North Koreans in the Joint Security Area, the Joint Security Area is now divided at the demarcation line. The KPA guards remain to the north of the military demarcation line and the American and South Korean guards remain to the south, in efforts to prevent another murder in the demilitarized zone.