re: Operation Paul Bunyan: when North Korea murdered 2 Americans and we called their bluff

A little more context:





On August 18, 1976, a group of 11 American and South Korean soldiers went into the JSA to trim the tree (the officers included Captain Arthur Bonifas and First Lieutenant Mark Barrett). No one in the working group was wearing sidearms.

After the trimming began, 15 soldiers of the Korean People's Army (KPA) led by Senior Lieutenant Pak Chul, nicknamed "Lt. Bulldog" due to a history of confrontations, appeared to observe the trimming. After 15 minutes, Pak abruptly demanded trimming of the tree to be stopped as he claimed that "Kim Il Sung personally planted it and nourished it, and it's growing under his supervision". Captain Bonifas turned his back on Lt. Pak and ignored him.

After being ignored by Bonifas, Lt. Pak sent a messenger across the Bridge of No Return. Minutes later, a North Korean military truck loaded with about 20 KPA soldiers armed with crossbars and clubs came to the site via the bridge. Lt. Pak again demanded the working group to stop. When Cpt. Bonifas ignored him, he ordered North Korean troops to attack the working group. Cpt. Bonifas was knocked to the ground and beaten to death by at least 5 KPA soldiers, while Lt. Barrett jumped over a wall and fell into a 4.5-meter depression after being attacked. The fight lasted for 20 to 30 seconds before UNC guards dispersed the KPA soldiers and recovered the body of Bonifas.

However, Lt. Barrett wasn't found until 90 minutes later during which he has been attacked by KPA soldiers in the depression and sustained fatal injuries. A rescue group was dispatched to recover him but unfortunately, he died en route to a hospital in Seoul. The attack was captured by UNC officers at CP NO.3 and OP No.5 using a black-and-white camera and a movie camera.