Eating Our Feelings

[FLASHBACK, FEBRUARY 28, 2009]

DMZ Part II

In memory of uncle Tom...

My uncle Tom was a Vietnam Vet who unfortunately died just a few months ago.  He was a marine, and among other things, a history buff.  At family get-togethers, we used to play Trivial Pursuit, and it would be Uncle Tom playing again the entire rest of the family.  They would still lose.  David remarked once or twice during this DMZ trip how much Tom would have liked this, which he would have.  He would not, however, liked our tour guide.  Tom was a bit of a stickler for details, and our tour guide, when asked questions, would either not give any details, or give us the wrong ones.

Operation Paul Bunyan

For example, other people on the tour had asked a couple of times if we would be able to see "the tree", and they were told "No".  I had no idea what they were talking about, and when we asked our tour guide what The Tree was, he said something like, "South Korea cut the tree down every year, except for one year when the North Koreans killed two Americans who were trying to cut the tree down."  Uncle Tom would have gone nuts if he heard this version.  We were able to read more about The Tree later, and below is slightly abbreviated but much more correct version.

Engineers from the United Nations routinely trimmed a poplar tree that was in the line of sight of a checkout point in the DMZ.  One day, 30 North Korean soldiers surrounded the engineers, ordered the engineers to stop the tree cutting, and at the command "Kill the Americans!" attacked the engineers and the few supporting un-armed UN troops with the axes that were supposed to be used to trim the trees.  Two people were killed, both Americans.  Here was North Korea's version:

"The American imperialist aggressors sent in 14 hoodlums with axes into the Joint Security Area to cut the trees on their own accord, although such a work should be mutually consented beforehand. Four persons from our side went to the spot to warn them not to continue the work without our consent. Against our persuasion, they attacked our guards en masse and committed a serious provocative act of beating our men, wielding murderous weapons and depending on the fact that they outnumbered us. Our guards could not but resort to self-defense measures under the circumstances of this reckless provocation."

The only problem was that the whole incident was captured on camera, and clearly showed that this was not how it happened.  Kim Il-Sung (President of North Korea) later expressed "regret" at the incident.

In response to "The Axe Murder Incident", the UN decided that the tree should be cut down with the aide of force.  In the following three days, Operation Paul Bunyan was planned and carried out.  It included a convoy of 23 American and South Korean Vehicles which included teams of military engineers and heavily armed security forces.  A US infantry company in 20 utility helecoptions and 7 Cobra attack helicopters circled behind.  Behind them, B-52 bombers escorted by US F-4 fighter jets and ROK F-5 fighter jets were visible flying across the sky at high altitude.  And just in case they were needed, F-11 fighters were armed and fueled and waiting at an airbase nearby, and the aicraft carrier Midway had been moved to just offshore.  The convoy moved in, and cut the tree down.  North Korea did not respond, except for shooting at one of the helicopters, but no one was hurt.

The tall stump was deliberately left as a reminder.

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After an exhausting day, David and I needed some comfort food.  I read on Frommer's that the best burgers in Korea were in a little place called The Smokey Saloon located right by our hotel.  We waited outside for over an hour (think Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown for you MN folks) staring through the windows at the people inside, mentally willing them to eat a little faster, and groaning and rolling our eyes when someone would order seconds.  How selfish can they be, knowing hungry people are standing outside in the cold?

When we finally were able to make it inside, we saw the reason for the wait.  There were only six small tables...

David couldn't resist the Ambulance Burger.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but the burger was topped with a cheese, hash browns, bacon, and a fried egg.  And it was worth the wait.