Korean axe murder incident
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The Korean axe murder incident was the killing of two United Nations Command officers, Captain Arthur Bonifas and First Lieutenant Mark Barrett, by North Korean soldiers on August 18, 1976, in the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The officers, from the United States Army, had been part of a work party cutting down a poplar tree in the JSA.
Remains of the tree that was the object of the 1976 axe murder incident, as seen in 1984. Deliberately left standing after Operation Paul Bunyan, the stump was replaced by a monument in 1987.
North Korean and UNC forces during the 1976 axe attack
OP No. 5 from which the pictures of the axe murder were taken
View from KPA No. 7 (near CP No. 2) towards CP No. 3, January 1976. Also visible in the picture (left to right) are KPA No. 4 across the Bridge of No Return, KPA No. 8 and KPA No. 5 (partially obscured behind the tree). This picture was taken early in the morning, before the North Koreans opened this checkpoint for the day.
The 2nd Engineer Battalion is an engineer battalion in the United States Army which can trace its lineage back to 1861.
Image: 2 Eng Bn DUI