Pueblo vet recounts his capture
Jilly sends us a link to the story of Mike Barrett, a veteran of the capture of the USS Pueblo by the North Koreans in January, 1968;
On Jan. 23, 1968, Barrett’s ship, the USS Pueblo, was attacked by the North Korean Navy.
Roy Stafford was 19 and was on board the USS Enterprise when that attacked happened.
“I said, ‘Mike, we could see you on the horizon,'” Stafford recalled.
Stafford says he thinks the Enterprise — an aircraft carrier — could have affected a rescue. But it was ordered to stand down.
“And that is something that bothers me to this friggin’ day,” Stafford said.
The Pueblo was captured and 82 crew members were taken prisoner.
A nearly forgotten chapter of our Cold War history and the heroes are still among us.
The 82 men were constantly beaten and tortured as the North Korean government sent photos to the US that portrayed humane treatment. The crew of the Pueblo kept up their morale by giving North Koreans with the middle-finger salute. They had convinced the guards it was Hawaiian for good luck. When Time magazine published the photo, the North Koreans learned what that gesture really meant.
“And they went through what they called Hell Week and were all severely beaten continuously,” Claudia Barrett said.
After 11 months, the 82 men were and forced to sign a full confession. Capt. Lloyd Bucher signed the document with his fingers crossed in an act of defiance.
On Christmas Eve 1968, Barrett returned to San Diego a changed man.
Category: Historical, Veterans Issues
Perhaps Mr. Stafford (the former USS Enterprise crewman) is misremembering things, or confusing dates. Best data puts the USS Enterprise well south of the USS Pueblo during her capture – figures range from 450 miles to over 500 NM. I’m pretty all of those are well over the optical horizon, both naked-eye and with binoculars/scopes.
http://usspueblo.org/Pueblo_Incident/US_Reactions/oxcart_pueblo.htm
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/navalbattles1900today/p/Cold-War-Uss-Pueblo-Incident.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_%28AGER-2%29
IMO there’s no excuse for the fact that neither the USS Enterprise nor USAF elements in Korea at the time had assets immediately available to assist the USS Pueblo when she was captured (the standoff/boarding/towing to Wonson took some time). But to say the USS Enterprise was within visual range at the time of the seizure and did nothing . . . doesn’t seem accurate.
Some additional background on the USS Pueblo incident – and a discussion of a possible proximate cause for same – can be found at http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=34188
From what I read a couple of months ago, the Enterprise had left port in Japan that morning and was headed for Vietnam.
Regarding USAF assets in Korea, I was an E-3 in the Comm Group at Osan AB at the time. Osan did maintain four or five F-105’s on 24/7 alert there. However, rumor had it that these aircraft could not respond because they were armed for nuclear strikes in case the big one broke out. By the time they could have been reconfigured for a convential strike it would have been too late.
Rumor also had it that when the ROK AF attempted to respond, the NORKs put enough stuff in the air that they were facing certain destruction if they had continued.
Korea was a backwater at the time as far as the Air Force was concerned. The USAF had almost no tactical aircraft there, and ROKAF was still flying F-86’s and the like as I recall.
That changed within a day or so, as F-4’s quickly moved in from Okinawa, and US Guard and Reserve units arrived not long (a week or two) later.
Frank, USAF 66-74
no reason that ship can’t be sunk at dock now when Pudge issues another threat and takes aggressive action. I’d make that my first target
My brother was a CT from 68-72. He served on one spyship like the Pueblo. He told me they were armed with 2 Ma duces, M1’s and Thompsons. I asked him what they were to do if attacked like the Pueblo. He said he was to destroy what he could but the likelyhood of capture was high. He also said he was never trained in the use of these weapons. These guys, like the Liberty, were in high danger because everyone knew who they were, and were not in a position to defend themselves. The Pueblo and the Liberty were very sad situations I will never forget, especially when I had a brother doing the same thing and a high school buddy of mine had a Liberty survivor as a Frat brother. I got to talk and drink with him a few times. Thanks for remembering these men.
During my Cold Warrior CT days, the only guys who made me nervous were the North Koreans. They are batshit crazy and we just never knew what they might do. The squadron I supported (VQ-1) lost one of its aircraft on 15 April 1969. Shot down by the NORKs. Whenever they were around, we always sat up and took notice.