The death march began in October 1950 when around 180 prisoners of war who had survived the Tiger Death March from Seoul to Pyongyang[2] were loaded onto railcars by the Korean People's Army (KPA) and transported deep into North Korea.

The climate was very harsh and many of the POWs, who were unprotected and given no food, water, or medical treatment, died during the trip.

They were divided into groups of 40 and marched to the ravine, where the KPA mowed the Americans down en masse with submachine guns.

[7]: 661–3 The massacre was documented by Charles E. Potter in the Subcommittee on Korean War Atrocities.

[8] In 2024 the remains of US Army Sgt Raymond Hall who was among those killed in the massacre were identified[9]