Due to increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula, the 2nd Infantry Division returned to the Republic of Korea in July of 1965.  North Korea increased border incursions and infiltration attempts and the 2nd Division was called upon to help halt these attacks.  On 2 November 1966, six Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry were killed in an ambush by North Korean forces.  In 1967 enemy attacks in the demilitarized zone increased resulting in the death of 16 American Soldiers.                                                 

     In 1968 North Korea continued to probe across the DMZ but by 1970 the North had decided that their efforts against the 2ID were not worth the cost and most organized attacks stopped that year.  By March of 1971 ROK forces had assumed the responsibility for the defense of all but a mile of the DMZ, allowing the 2nd Infantry Division to maintain combat readiness in case of any eventuality.                                                                                        

    On 18 August 1976, during a routine tree trimming operation within the DMZ, North Korean border guard’s bludgeoned two American officers to death in a melee in the Joint Security Area, what resulted is known as Operation PAUL BUNYAN.  The 2nd Infantry Division was chosen to spearhead the United Nations Command response to this incident and on 21 August, Task Force Brady, a group of ROK Soldiers, American Infantry and engineers, swept into the area, and cut down the now infamous “Panmunjom Tree.”  The 2nd Infantry Division delivered an unmistakable message to the North Koreans, as well as to the world.                                  

                    Soldiers of the 2nd Engineer Battalion cut down the “Panmunjom Tree.”  

   Throughout the 1980s, Soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division continued to patrol along the DMZ.  With the end of the Cold War, 2ID Warriors left the DMZ in 1991, but remained forward deployed along the most heavily defended frontier in the world.  In 1994, the death of the North Korean leader, Kim, Il Sung, created increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula, this time the North was threatening nuclear development.  In 1994, and again in 1999, the 2nd Infantry Division received their 4th and 5th Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations.                                                                  

   On 29 March 1995, the 3rd Brigade 2nd Infantry Division was reactivated at Fort Lewis, Washington as part of I Corps.  It gained the fame of becoming the Army’s first Stryker Brigade Combat Team in May of 2000.  The brigade deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.                       

           Stryker Brigade Combat Team Soldiers conduct a patrol in Samarra, Iraq, 2004.