The Korean War nearly restarted because of a poplar tree.

In a terrible tragedy that could have reignited a war, two U.S. Army officers lost their lives to axe-wielding North Korean troops in the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ), a three-mile-wide buffer zone was that created between North and South Korea after the Korean War ended in 1953. By the 1970s, there were still 42,000 Americans in South Korea, and conflicts continued near the DMZ. On August 18, 1976, the two officers accompanied South Koreans and UN personnel into the DMZ to prune a poplar tree that was hindering a view between two UN checkpoints. This group was met by a contingent of North Koreans, who demanded that the tree-trimming be stopped. This demand was refused. After a truckload of North Korean reinforcements arrived, violence erupted and the two American officers (Captain Arthur Bonifas and Lieutenant Mark Barrett) were killed with axes that were being used to trim the tree.

When he was killed, Captain Bonifas was packed and ready to return to his family in three days. Lieutenant Barrett had been in the area for only a matter of weeks.

Later, in what was called Operation Paul Bunyon, 300 U.S. and Korean troops reentered the DMZ (accompanied in the skies by twenty-six helicopter gunships, three B-52s, and multiple fighter jets). They finished the work on the poplar tree--but deliberatley left a twenty-foot stump. The North Koreans did not retaliate.

President Gerald Ford condemned the event as "vicious and unprovoked murder." North Koreans accused America of provoking war, and some Americans felt that the North Koreans' attack was not spontaneous but premeditated. Responsibility for the incident is still contested. What is clear is that if something so simple as a poplar tree can potentially restart a war, the tensions that exist between nations after a war are palpable.

A memorial at this location reads: "On this spot was located the yellow poplar tree which was the focal point of the axe murders of two United Nations Command officers, Captain Arthur Bonifas and First Lieutenant Mark Barrett, who were attacked and killed by North Korean guards while supervising a work party trimming the tree. On 18 August 1976."

(On alternate lines is translation in Korean)

Credits and Sources:

Frontline: World. “An Axe Fight Nearly Triggers War.” Accessed December 11, 2015. http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/northkorea/1976.html.

Gauthier, Brandon. “When Two Americans Were Axed to Death by N. Korean Soldiers.” NKNews.org. August 20, 2013. Accessed December 11, 2015. http://www.nknews.org/2013/08/when-two-americans-were-axed-to-death-by-n-korean-soldiers/.

Slavin, Erik. “Former Commander Honors Victims of Dmz Ax Murders.” Stars and Stripes. August 20, 2007. Accessed December 11, 2015. http://www.stripes.com/news/former-commander-honors-victims-of-dmz-ax-murders-1.67847.

Images and memorial text courtesy hmdb.org