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August 18, 1976
In the Joint Security area (in the Korean DMZ) there was a 100 ft poplar tree that blocked the line of sight between a checkpoint and an observation point.
The Koreans claimed that tree was planted by Kim Il-Sung himself.
Long story short, two US Army officers, who were party of a work group tasked with trimming the tree, were killed (axe-murdered) by North Korean soldiers.
August 21, 1976
As a "dare you to pull that shit again, motherfuckers" show of force the US launched Operation Paul Bunyan to take down that tree.
- 23 US and SK vehicles went into the JSA without warning - 16men had chainsaws to get the tree.
- Those 16 men were accompanied by two 30-man security platoons.
- A 64-man "unarmed" task force from the South 1st Korean Special Forces Brigade also joined... and after they parked their trucks they started pulling sandbags out of the trucks to build a defense then handing out M-16s and M-79s that were hidden underneath the sandbags
- Several of the SF guys had Claymore mines strapped to their chest with detonators in their hands taunting NK troops to come across the bridge.
- A US infantry company in 20 helicopters, along with 7 Cobra attack helicopters, circled behind them
- Behind the helicopters came B-52s from Guam, escorted by US F-4 Phantom IIs from Kunsan Air Base and SK F-5s and F-86s.
- Additional aircraft deployments included F-4E'S from Osan AB, South Korea. F-111 bombers of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing out of Mountain Home Air Force Base, and F-4C and -D Phantoms from the 18th TFW Kadena Air Base and Clark Air Base
- The USS Midway task force was moved to station just offshore
- On the edges of the DMZ were the 71st Air Defense Regiment with Improved Hawk Missiles and armor
- Bases near the DMZ were prepared for demolition if shit went real sideways
- 12,000 additional troops were ordered to Korea including 1,800 marines from Okinawa
- Nuclear-capable strategic bombers circled the JSA this whole time
In response the NKs sent two buses full of troops to the line and for a while they all just sat in the buses. After a bit they got out to setup machine gun positions, but never did anything. 42 minutes later the tree was down, save for a 20 ft stump that was left on purpose.
In the Joint Security area (in the Korean DMZ) there was a 100 ft poplar tree that blocked the line of sight between a checkpoint and an observation point.
The Koreans claimed that tree was planted by Kim Il-Sung himself.
Long story short, two US Army officers, who were party of a work group tasked with trimming the tree, were killed (axe-murdered) by North Korean soldiers.
August 21, 1976
As a "dare you to pull that shit again, motherfuckers" show of force the US launched Operation Paul Bunyan to take down that tree.
- 23 US and SK vehicles went into the JSA without warning - 16men had chainsaws to get the tree.
- Those 16 men were accompanied by two 30-man security platoons.
- A 64-man "unarmed" task force from the South 1st Korean Special Forces Brigade also joined... and after they parked their trucks they started pulling sandbags out of the trucks to build a defense then handing out M-16s and M-79s that were hidden underneath the sandbags
- Several of the SF guys had Claymore mines strapped to their chest with detonators in their hands taunting NK troops to come across the bridge.
- A US infantry company in 20 helicopters, along with 7 Cobra attack helicopters, circled behind them
- Behind the helicopters came B-52s from Guam, escorted by US F-4 Phantom IIs from Kunsan Air Base and SK F-5s and F-86s.
- Additional aircraft deployments included F-4E'S from Osan AB, South Korea. F-111 bombers of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing out of Mountain Home Air Force Base, and F-4C and -D Phantoms from the 18th TFW Kadena Air Base and Clark Air Base
- The USS Midway task force was moved to station just offshore
- On the edges of the DMZ were the 71st Air Defense Regiment with Improved Hawk Missiles and armor
- Bases near the DMZ were prepared for demolition if shit went real sideways
- 12,000 additional troops were ordered to Korea including 1,800 marines from Okinawa
- Nuclear-capable strategic bombers circled the JSA this whole time
Five minutes into the operation, the UNC notified its North Korean counterparts at the JSA that a UN work party had entered the JSA "in order to peacefully finish the work left unfinished" on August 18. The attempt at intimidation was apparently successful, and according to an intelligence analyst monitoring the North Korea tactical radio net, the accumulation of force "blew their fucking minds."
In response the NKs sent two buses full of troops to the line and for a while they all just sat in the buses. After a bit they got out to setup machine gun positions, but never did anything. 42 minutes later the tree was down, save for a 20 ft stump that was left on purpose.
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