USS Pueblo

[A4sForever]

The U.S. Navy is a small world, indeed:

The Pueblo was converted from a light auxiliary transport (formerly mothballed) into an 'auxiliary general environmental research' ship right across the Sound from where I was living & breathing and I was clueless as to her very existence at the time .... although the USN originally envisioned '40' -- that's as in @ FORTY -- AGER's in the Fleet ... mebbe' someone was tryin' to keep up w/ the Rooskies ubiquitous AGI's .. ???

... one of my NROTC instructors was on a 'U-Boat' w/ CDR Bucher when they were still drivin' diesel boats ... for the record, he didn't 'like' Bucher and stated that Bucher was a 'poor officer' ... sorry, guys, but that's what he said ... but in any case, I didn't like 'him' (my NROTC instructor), for whatever that's worth, and it had nothing to do w/ the PUEBLO.

... one of my CWEST instructors was QM1 Charles B. Law who was drivin' the Pueblo @ GQ and was a rock in captivity by all accounts ... the tough, no nonsense Charlie Law died way before his time in 2001 ... as his CWEST STUDs we got a LOT of 'stuff' from him about his view of the 'incident', the illegal incarceration, and the subsequent events of the fallout and Court of Inquiry that came after the crew was repatriated ....

QM1 Charles 'Charlie' Law, 2nd row, far right ...



Oh, yeah ... my great aunt Sylma was from Pueblo, CO.

 

[A4sForever]

I was a Senior Chief Cryppie on COMSEVENTHFLT Staff when the USS Pueblo sailed out of Yokosuka, Japan that dreary day, Jan 5, 1968. I had volunteered for the 2 month mission .....

Master Chief: does the following sound 'familiar' to you ... ??? From the PUEBLO Veteran's Association:

"God Bless all of you, I think of you all often, and there but by the grace of God go I.

I was scheduled to ride the Pueblo for that mission, however, Dave Ritter came back to the Yokosuka Detachment early enough to go. Do you remember the joint crew party at the PO club in December of 67? That is where I cornered Capt. Clark and Capt Bucher, questioning them about submarine life, because I was due to be transferred in a few months to my choice of duty.

I was TAD to Kamiseya with a few of the CTs in early December. Thats where I got to know some of the guys. All of the detachment felt so helpless and sorrowful on 1/23/68 as we copied the transmissions to and from Kamisya.

And angry as hell when all we did for the next three weeks was to sit out there and wait for the bombers to come, that never came...."

Initials 'A.S.' .... "CT(T)3 (in the old days)"

Just curious ... thanks.

 

[A4sForever]

For HuggyU2 and/or any of the rest who might be interested in the A-12 flyin' spooks of the period ....

19 February 1968: A-12 overflight of North Korea during Pueblo incident with CIA pilot Frank Murray (about 1/2 way down the page) ...

Blackshield Mission BX6853

 

[Karl Hildebrand]

In 1970 while stationed at Winter Harbor ME at NSGA Winter Harbor I met a crew member of the Belmont who had friends on the Pueblo. He told me that the reason the Government went so hard after CDR Bucher was that he had refused to scuttle the ship before the North Koreans boarded. He said the ships had explosives rigged to blow the communications gathering section of the ship and blow the bottom out, however Bucher was not aware of it until he was informed by the Security Officer at the time of the incident. He refused because all those men would have died below decks. This CT sailor had seen this equipment on the Belmont and had been briefed as to what it was for and how it was used. The idea was to set all the incidiary devices on the classified files and then vacate the security area and blow it. On the Pueblo, several things went wrong and the only way to keep the NKs from getting top secret information was to blow the spaces with CTs in it and Bucher refused.