On June 4, 1989 several hundred civilians were killed and more were injured by The Peoples Republic Army as tanks rumbled through the square filled by millions of protesters.

The protests began with a march by students in the memory of former party leader Hu Yao Bang who had passed away just a week prior. As the days passed there were  millions of citizens from various walks of life that had joined in that were angered by widespread corruption in government and demanding democratic reform.

After several attempts failed requesting the protesters to disband the central government top officials warned it would do whatever they felt was necessary to clamp down on what they felt was "social chaos". This resulted in using the army to quell this "social chaos" which was viewed on television sets all over the world. The world was in shock and several world leaders responded with very negative comments such as President George Bush and UK's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.





































The most unusual outcome of this very distasteful military operation was the issuance of a military "campaign" type ribboned medal and commemorative bar which was issued to all the armed forces involved. Rumor has it that this award was not quite appreciated amongst certain ranks in the army.