A Memoir of the Old Places of My Military Service in Late 1979

During the two and half years of my military service, I spent the first 7 months in Yeoncheon, northern Gyeonggi Province, surrounded by the snake shape, crystal blue Imjin River as a second lieutenant, from late 1970's to early 1980's. The military bases where I served were actually located northern part of Buksam-ri village which was located in the so-called 'civilians are not allowed to trespass without getting approval from the regional military authority'. Recently, I was able to take time to visit the Buksam-ri Ferry site which is one of the places that brings back some particular memories that were scorched into my brain many years ago.

In retrospect, the period of my military service can be said as a 'convulsive historical events', including the assassination of president Park, Jung-Hee on October 26, 1979 and the following military coup on December 12, 1979. I experienced the whole events as a platoon leader of the 80th Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division. I was on watch (officer) at the company headquarter located at Ssuggol in the night of October 26, 1979 when I got a phone call from my boss, Lieutenant-colonel Lee Seong-geun around midnight to check if everything was ok in my unit. There was an 'Jindotgae' watchdog alert issued from the authorities an hour before, therefore I just finished to take subsequent actions to my soldiers through the line of command. As an answer to my personal question about the nature of the alert, he just mentioned that it's probably a normal watchdog alert for the soldiers to be fully prepared for any possible attack or happening in the frontier. Based on the facts, accordingly, he didn't know what actually had happened in the center of Seoul on that day; the assassination of the president by his close staff.

From early in the morning of the following day, October 27, 1979, however, the situation was changed dramatically as sad and solemn pieces of music were broadcasted continuously from the radio without any explanation or comment. And soon the back-to-duty order for all officers and/or noncommissioned officers who resided outside barracks was released from the regiment headquarter as well. Personally I had to visit a small farmer's house near the Buksam-ri Ferry site in which one of my fellow platoon leaders in the company, lieutenant Park, lived with his newly-wed wife by renting a room to address the order to come back immediately.

For about a month and half from that day to December 12, 1979, security was pretty tight throughout the military bases across the nation. All military officers and soldiers should wear war attires with light military equipments during the period of time. From time to time, I was able to hear news about the progress of trial for Kim Jae-gyu, ex-KCIA chief, who had assassinated President Park from radio or TV. I can clearly remember a particular situation in my unit during the night of December 12, 1979. My unit was posted at the 'Gunja' mountain bunkers due to an RCT(Regiment Combat Training) at that time. Late in the evening near midnight, I just started to fall a sleep in my sleeping bag after a hard day of maneuvering with my soldiers when I heard a siren, signalling an immediate gathering on the ground outside of the bunkers. Interpreting it as another harsh training, we were prepared to get a following order soon.

On the supply road below the ridgeway, dozens of trucks were ready to accommodate our units and move to somewhere else. It turned out later that we were destined to move to someplace near Seoul to put down the military coup, headed by general Jeon Doo-whan. Fortunately, however, the maneuvering schedule was cancelled at once and we were ordered to return to our base as soon as possible to wait following orders there. And a shortcut to our base in Ssukgol where our company headquarter was located and 157 OP where my platoon HQ was located from the Gunja Mountain bunkers was crossing the river by a ferryboat at Buksam-ri Ferry. It took about an hour for our troops to reach the Gunnam ferry by marching over the mountains and through Hwangji-ri. It's very cold early in the morning (around 2 o'clock) on December 13, 1979, but not enough to freeze the river. My soldiers were severely tired after a day-long maneuvering and the lack of sleep for a couple of days since the start of the R.C.T. which is the abbreviation for the Regiment Combat Training.

Though the river was covered by ice, it's not thick enough to cross the river by walking on the ice. The small ferryboat, therefore, should made round trips several times to carry my platoon soldiers to the other side of the river completely. The big tree shown on the picture was there on site 30 years ago to witness everything, as well. I was there at 157 OP until late March of the following year before moving to the frontier between the South and the North Korea to do the mission of defending the DMZ, by switching the mission with the 81st Regiment, as a platoon leader of the same 2nd Battalion of the 80th Regiment.