50 years after the ax murders: Families say US-South Korea alliance 'remains strong'

Behind the marker stone where a poplar tree once stood in the Joint Security Area near Paju, Gyeonggi Province, the flags of the UN Command, South Korea and the United States were raised Tuesday morning. About 50 meters to the west, at a South Korean guard post on the left side of the Bridge of No Return, one South Korean and one US soldier stood watch facing north. In front of the marker, 17 armed soldiers formed four columns and, at the command of a US noncommissioned officer, called out the names and ranks of two men three times. A salute followed.

Tuesday marked exactly 50 years since Maj. Arthur Bonifas — then a captain — and 1st Lt. Mark Barrett were killed by North Korean soldiers wielding axes while supervising the trimming of a poplar tree that had been obstructing the view from a UN Command observation post.

The 50th anniversary memorial, organized by the UN Command, drew about 130 guests, including the families of the two officers, retired Maj. Kim Mun-hwan, UN Command Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Scott Winter of the Australian Army, JSA Security Battalion commanders Lt. Col. Cha Min-ho and Lt. Col. Michael Baker, and former South Korean Army Lt. Gen. Jeon In-beom. UN Command Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson was absent — he was visiting the Ministry of National Defense amid US President Donald Trump's directive to scale back US-South Korea military exercises — and Winter read the memorial address on his behalf.

The ceremony began Tuesday morning at the Gwanggaeto Gymnasium of the JSA Security Battalion with the playing of national anthems, a prayer and a historical overview, followed by the memorial address.

Kim served as a South Korean company commander at the JSA in 1976 and was present at the scene. He attended alongside Bae Jae-bok and other survivors who were wounded in the attack.

"On Aug. 18, North Korean forces violated the Armistice Agreement and launched a provocation, killing Bonifas and Barrett," Kim said. "The two countries exercised their right to self-defense and responded forcefully, and Kim Il-sung capitulated before the combined military strength of the US and South Korea and issued an apology."

He added that the two men were "warm people who loved their families and outstanding soldiers," and said he would "regard their families as my own, remember the two heroes and continue to honor their legacy."

"It is hard to believe that 50 years have passed since we lost our father. At the time, we were only 8, 6 and 3 years old," Beth Bonifas said. "Now, as adults, we have come to fully understand the value of his courage, his character and his noble sacrifice."

Winter, reading the memorial address on behalf of Commander Brunson, said: "On Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1976, a brutal and deliberate act of unprovoked violence shattered the silence of the JSA."

"Maj. Bonifas and Lt. Barrett were not conducting defensive operations," he said. "They were killed at freedom's frontier while carrying out a routine mission in the name of transparency, stability and peace."

"The world has changed in many ways, but the fundamental truth of the Demilitarized Zone has not," Winter said. "Peace is not a natural condition. It is fragile — something that must be defended and won, and sometimes paid for in blood."

An outdoor memorial followed at 11:20 a.m. at the site of the former poplar tree. Brady DeCore and Dylan DeCore, Maj. Bonifas's grandsons, took the podium holding letters they had opened and read for the first time just weeks earlier — letters written in Korea in 1976 and sent to his wife and three children in New York.

The two said their grandfather had tried to be present in his children's lives even from 7,000 miles away, recounting passages in which he told 8-year-old Beth to help around the house and 5-year-old Brian to do well in school.

In a letter to his wife that summer, Bonifas wrote: "I don't think we'll be able to let our guard down for even a moment. For some reason, they've been giving us a very hard time in June."

Beth Bonifas, visiting the site for the first time since 2015, met with reporters at the JSA visitor center. "It's hard to put into words," she said. "The roles of the South Korean and US militaries within the UN Command framework have changed somewhat, but the US-South Korea alliance remains strong, and the JSA is still a very imposing place."

Megan DeCore, who lost her father when she was 3, said most of her memories exist only in photographs. "I wish I'd had the chance to know him better, but I'm proud of him," she said. "I'm also deeply grateful to the US and South Korean militaries for honoring his legacy."

Stacy Adams, a niece of Lt. Barrett, said her mother felt deeply honored that South Korea had continued to remember and pay tribute to Bonifas and Barrett even 50 years on.

Asked about the future of the JSA, Adams said: "The road toward peace can be long and difficult at times. This incident bound the US and South Korea more firmly together under the shared goal of defending Korea and deterring North Korean aggression. I believe that, even if it takes time, peace can be reached."

On Aug. 18, 1976, North Korean soldiers attacked a UN Command work party at the Panmunjom JSA with axes and clubs as the group supervised the trimming of a poplar tree. Maj. Bonifas and Lt. Barrett were killed, and numerous US and South Korean soldiers were wounded. Three days later, US and South Korean forces felled the tree in Operation Paul Bunyan, and Defense Condition 3 — DEFCON 3 — was declared for the first time since the armistice. The South Korean base adjacent to the JSA was subsequently renamed Camp Bonifas in his honor.