Deadly violence on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was not unknown prior to 1966, in fact 29 American soldiers had lost their lives serving on the DMZ in the 10 years prior. For example on July 29, 1963 two US soldiers were ambushed and killed while driving their Jeep near the demilitarized zone:

However, in 1966 a steady trickle of American casualties on the DMZ began; by November, eight US soldiers had lost their lives that year while serving on the Demilitarized Zone. The reason for the upward trend in violence was unclear, but on November 2, 1966 violence would come to the DMZ unlike anything seen before.

On October 31, 1966 US President Lyndon Johnson flew into South Korea for a summit with Republic of Korea President Park Chung-hee. American and Korean forces on the peninsula led by newly installed USFK Commander General Charles H. Bonesteel III were on a heightened state of alert due to the US President’s arrival in the country. However instead of staging an attack against the US President, the North Koreans decided to launch a major ambush operation against a US patrol on the DMZ.

In the early morning darkness on November 2, 1966 while President Johnson slept in Seoul’s Walker Hill Hotel, a eight man US infantry squad was conducting their regularly scheduled patrol of the DMZ . The soldiers were from the 1-23 Infantry Regiment and they were not novices when it came to patrolling. However, even this seasoned patrol was not able to detect the North Korean commando team that was tailing them. The North Korean commandos determined that the best time to ambush the squad would be when their guard is down. The North Koreans set up an ambush a full kilometer south of the DMZ.

US & ROK soldiers guard a DMZ outpost.

As the US squad walked back to their camp satisfied that they had finish their patrol they were nearly instantly gunned down and hit with grenade by a well executed North Korean ambush. Only one soldier was not wounded in the initial attack, PVT Ernest D. Reynolds and he launched an unsuccessful counterattack against the North Korean attackers. Once he was gunned down the North Koreans proceeded to bayonet and mutilate his body. PVT Reynolds was 19 years old and had only been in country for 17 days. Only one soldier survived the attack and in his own words explains how he did it:

Pfc. David L. Bibee, a 17-year-old, was the sole survivor. Wounded by shrapnel in the leg and shoulder, he survived by playing dead. “The only reason I’m alive now is because I didn’t move when a North Korean yanked my watch off,” he told reporters. “And he almost took my hand off getting the watch.” [Fighting Brushfires on Korea's DMZ]

Six Americans and one Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) soldier died in the attack. The ambush of the patrol had become by far the biggest incident to happen on the DMZ since the end of the Korean War. The name of the Americans killed in the attack and their home state are listed below:

Johnny W. Brenton - Vermont
Robert W. Burrell - Vermont
Morris L. Fischer - Wisconsin
Leslie L. Hasty - Virginia
James Hensley - Washington
Ernest D. Reynolds - Virginia

I could not locate the name of the deceased KATUSA soldier. If anyone reading this knows the name of the deceased KATUSA please leave a comment and let me know because his life deserves to be recognized and not forgotten just as much as the American soldiers killed that day on the DMZ.

This killing of the six Americans and the KATUSA soldier caused front page headlines in the American newspapers that day. As President Johnson boarded his airplane back to the US, the media ran stories such as this about the incident:

“A few hours before President Johnson left Seoul for home today at the end of his Asian journey, six American soldiers and one South Korean of a United Nations Command patrol were killed by North Koreans. . . .This is undoubtedly the gravest incident in the series of clashes near the uneasy zone . . . it was believed to be the most; brutal incident since I953.”(2) “. . . the Communists charged into the United States sector lobbing grenades, using submachine guns, and finally coming to grips in a brief but savage hand-to-hand combat….”(3) “. . . the Communists fired 40 to 50 bullets into the bodies of the dead Americans and mutilated and bayoneted the corpses.

. . .The patrol ambushed by the North Koreans fought back so fiercely until it was wiped out that one of its members ., . PFC [Private First Class] Ernest D. Reynolds . . . who had been in Korea only 17 days . . . will be nominated posthumously for the Congressional Medal of Honor. The only survivor of the patrol was PFC David L. Bibee . . . 17 years old. He was wounded but escaped death by playing dead. “The only reason I’m alive now is because I didn’t move when a North Korean yanked my watch off my wrist.”(4) [New York Times]

Though Reynolds was nominated for the Medal of Honor he was ultimately post-humanously awarded the Silver Star for his action. However, what was lost in the headlines was the rationale behind North Korea’s strongman leader Kim Il-sung to authorize such an ambush. As it turned out the ambush during the US President’s stay in Seoul would be the first in a series of major provocations by North Korea between 1966-1969 in order to test the commitment of the US-ROK Alliance during the height of the Vietnam War. The ultimate goal of the North Koreans was to create a communist insurgency within South Korea using specially trained soldiers of the notorious 124th and 283rd Army Units to infiltrate the DMZ and recruit sympathizers in South Korea.

The bloodiest shootout on the Demilitarized Zone was just the first of more blood spilled yet to come for US & ROK units stationed on the DMZ in a conflict that would become known to those who fought in it as the “Second Korean Conflict“.

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