Crisis Resolution: Presidential Decision Making in the Mayaguez and Korean Confrontations by Richard G. Head

Author:Richard G. Head [Head, Richard G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Censorship, Political Science, Political Freedom, General
ISBN: 9780429726378
Google: h7uZDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-05-20T07:56:06+00:00

After twenty minutes, North Korean lieutenant orders the workers to stop trimming the tree. Note the number of branches that have been cut and the North Korean reinforcements. (U.N. Command photo)

The fight begins—North Korean soldiers attack. (U.N. Command photo)

The fight ends—Captain Arthur G. Bonifas lies dead on the road. (U.N. Command photo)

iron pipes. He was beaten severely and thrown over a low wall near the tree. The U.N. guards attempted to put up a group defense, but several were isolated and beaten badly, while the South Korean workers were left unmolested. Several pictures show clubs, axe handles and axes themselves being swung in the immediate vicinity of Captain Bonifas, as he lay on the ground. Only the two officers were knocked to the ground, although all the guards were attacked. One Korean enlisted man was beaten by six to eight North Koreans but never went down. About 11:07, one of the South Korean workers got into the security force's truck, drove it around the body of Captain Bonifas, picked up the rest of the Korean workers, and left the area via the south road. Captain Kim and the U.S. driver then jumped in Captain Bonifas' jeep, which had been parked nearby, picked up his body, and followed the Security Force truck. At the same time another U.S. guard got into the UNC 3 truck, drove it into the assembled North Koreans, dispersed them, picked up the remaining U.N. guards, and attempted to leave the area past the North Korean checkpoint (KPA 5) when he saw the illegal drop gate in the down position. He immediately backed up, turned around and departed down the south road at 11:10. Meanwhile, the remainder of the duty platoon, which had been stationed 660 yards away at UNC 4, attempted to reinforce the U.N. contingent, but their truck was blocked by the same North Korean drop gate at KPA 5. The U.S. guards got out, raised the gate, and drove to the vicinity of the tree. Finding the fight had already ended, these men then proceeded to a blocking position at the east end of the Bridge of No Return, where more of the North Koreans had reassembled. These U.N. guards left the area in their truck at 11:10. The Quick Reaction Platoon had been alerted about 11:06, and had moved to UNC 2 by 11:10, when they saw the two trucks and the jeep retreating from the tree. Within five or ten minutes, it was determined that Lieutenant Barrett was missing; the Quick Reaction Platoon then proceeded to the tree, found Lieutenant Barrett amid scrub brush behind the wall, and brought him out. Captain Bonifas, Lieutenant Barrett, and the most severely injured South Korean guard were immediately evacuated to a Seoul hospital, but the two U.S. officers were pronounced dead on arrival. The results on the U.N. side were two U.S. officers killed, one wounded, four enlisted men wounded, and four South Korean guards wounded. North Korea claimed at a subsequent Military Armistice Commission meeting that five of their guards had been injured.

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