Act of War

by Jack Cheevers

CAClassified Annex to Record of Proceedings of a Court of Inquiry, Convened by Order of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet, to Inquire into the Circumstances Relating to the Seizure of the USS Pueblo (AGER 2) by North Korean Naval Forces Which Occurred in the Sea of Japan on 23 January 1968

  InqInquiry into the USS Pueblo and EC-121 Plane Incidents, Hearings Before the Special Subcommittee on the USS Pueblo of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, 91st Congress, First Session, 1969

  PROLOGUE

  The Russians buried Dunham: Larry Tart and Robert Keefe (The Price of Vigilance: Attacks on American Surveillance Flights, Ballantine Books, New York, 2001), 29.

  Reconnaissance aircraft were shot down: Figures on the shoot-downs are drawn from Tart and Keefe, ibid., and LBJ, “Memorandum for the Record,” 16 Feb. 1967, NSF, Country File, Asia and the Pacific, Korea, Pueblo Incident, Events Leading Up To, box 264.

  “Provocative incidents”: NA, “Encounters Between US and Soviet Ships and Aircraft,” RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Office of the Executive Secretariat, Korea Crisis (“Pueblo Crisis”) Files, 1968, Entry 5192, Lot 69D912, box 5, folder: Misc. Pueblo, 2/1/68-68, Book II of II (folder 1 of 2).

  Russian captain rushed: ibid.

  CHAPTER 1: SPIES AHOY

  He didn’t get drafted: Author interview with F. Carl (Skip) Schumacher Jr.

  “Where’d you come from?”: F. Carl Schumacher Jr. and George C. Wilson, Bridge of No Return: The Ordeal of the U.S.S. Pueblo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971), 46.

  “Intellectual barbarian”: Author interview with Lieutenant Commander Allen Hemphill, U.S. Navy, retired. Hemphill was a onetime shipmate and longtime friend of Bucher’s.

  Operation Clickbeetle: For a fuller account of Operation Clickbeetle, see Trevor Armbrister, A Matter of Accountability: The True Story of the Pueblo Affair (Coward-McCann Inc., New York, 1970), 81–87.

  “Pipe-smoking characters”: Lloyd M. Bucher and Mark Rascovich, Bucher: My Story (Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970), 14.

  462 mechanical and design deficiencies: Armbrister, op. cit., 149.

  “Overzealous”: Bucher, op. cit., 14.

  Fourth century B.C.: Author interview with Peter Langenberg.

  Steering engine had failed 180 times: Bucher, op. cit., 81.

  Missive found its way: Ibid., 30.

  Harrowing attack: For two very different views of the Liberty incident, see James M. Ennes Jr., Assault on the Liberty: The True Story of the Israeli Attack on an American Intelligence Ship (Random House, New York, 1979) and A. Jay Cristol, The Liberty Incident: The 1967 Attack on the U.S. Navy Spy Ship (Brassey’s/Potomac Books, Washington, D.C., 2002). Ennes, who was on board the Liberty when it was hit, concludes that Israel attacked deliberately. Cristol, a federal bankruptcy judge in Florida, argues that the attack was a tragic case of mistaken identity, as Israel maintained.

  “A little unfair of me”: Schumacher, op. cit., 47.

  “The Lonely Bull”: Author interview with Lloyd M. Bucher.

  Double-fingered whistle: Schumacher, op. cit., 58.

  Great Naked Art Heist: Details of the temporary theft of the painting are drawn from Bucher, op. cit. 105, and Ed Brandt, The Last Voyage of USS Pueblo (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1969), 18.

  “The captain of all captains”: Armbrister, op. cit., 154.

  Dropped out of Princeton: Langenberg, op. cit.

  A shy academic: Biographical details of Steve Harris are drawn from Schumacher, op. cit., 56, and Armbrister, op. cit., 107.

  “Wish you were dead”: Langenberg, op. cit.

  Lost electrical steering: Mitchell B. Lerner, The Pueblo Incident: A Spy Ship and the Failure of American Foreign Policy (University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 2002), 40.

  “Contingency plans . . . are written and approved”: Bucher, op. cit., 113.

  Despite his pique: Edward R. Murphy Jr. and Curt Gentry, Second in Command (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1971), 72.

  “Boosted morale about 600 percent”: Armbrister, op. cit., 162.

  Plunged into the frigid ocean: Murphy, op. cit., 15–16.

  Murphy sipped a ginger ale: Bucher, op. cit., 37.

  Pass on the mincemeat: Murphy, op. cit., 73.

  They were laughing: Bucher, op. cit., 121.

  CHAPTER 2: DON’T START A WAR OUT THERE, CAPTAIN

  “Put together like a plate of hash”: Trevor Armbrister, A Matter of Accountability: The True Story of the Pueblo Affair (Coward-McCann Inc., New York, 1970), 86.

  Destroyer steaming at 30 knots: Armbrister, ibid., 122.

  “All kinds of signals”: Author interview with Dick Fredlund.

  24 hours to lock on: Lloyd M. Bucher and Mark Rascovich, Bucher: My Story (Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970), 129.

  “Boom-yakle-yakle”: F. Carl Schumacher Jr. and George C. Wilson, Bridge of No Return: The Ordeal of the U.S.S. Pueblo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971), 51.

  Angry and embarrassed: Author interview with Lloyd M. Bucher.

  Landed an agent: Bucher, ibid.

  “I admired them”: Bucher, op. cit.

  Zech couldn’t reverse his decision: Armbrister, op. cit., 105.

  Stack the excess: Edward R. Murphy Jr. and Curt Gentry, Second in Command (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1971), 78.

  Electronic warfare policy: NA, RG 526, Records of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, box 13, folder: US6500, USS Pueblo, Feb 1–7, 1968.

  At least a dozen code machines: NA, RG 526, Records of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, box 13, folder: US6500, USS Pueblo, Jan 1–25, 1968.

  Told him to shape up: Armbrister, op. cit., 177.

  No time to replace them: Ed Brandt, The Last Voyage of USS Pueblo (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1969), 21.

  A presail briefing: Details of the briefing are drawn from Bucher, Bucher: My Story, op. cit., 138; Murphy, op. cit. 95; and Armbrister, op. cit., 203.

  “You’re not going out there to start a war”: Bucher, op. cit., 140.

  CHAPTER 3: ALONG A DREAD COAST

  “Sir, but I’ve got to puke”: Lloyd M. Bucher and Mark Rascovich, Bucher: My Story (Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970), 46.

  It wasn’t his fault: Edward R. Murphy Jr. and Curt Gentry, Second in Command (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1971), 110.

  “Jesus Christ, mister!”: Bucher, op. cit., 149.

  Terse language: The text of the sailing order can be found in Bucher, op. cit., 420–22.

  That delighted the quartermaster: Author interview with Charles Law.

  “A sailor first and foremost”: “Bremerton—An Anecdote,” online essay by Stu Russell, http://www.usspueblo.org/Background/Bremerton/Bremerton-P1.html.

  Movies were shown: The list of film titles is from NA, RG 526, Records of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, box 12, folder: Pueblo #2.

  “What the hell’s going on up there?”: F. Carl Schumacher Jr. and George C. Wilson, Bridge of No Return: The Ordeal of the U.S.S. Pueblo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971), 77.

  Black mountains: “Colder and Getting Colder—An Anecdote,” online essay by Stu Russell, http://www.usspueblo.org/Pueblo_Incident/This_is_Not_Real/Cold_colder.html.

  Crosshatch the navigation charts: Trevor Armbrister, A Matter of Accountability: The True Story of the Pueblo Affair (Coward-McCann Inc., New York, 1970), 24.

  “Unproductive”: Schumacher, op. cit., 72.

  “Eat our livers”: Stu Russell, op. cit.

  Slipped past soldiers from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 14, Telegrams to Seoul, tabs 20–22, box 33.

  A suspicious Seoul policeman: Daniel P. Bolger,
“Scenes from an Unfinished War: Low-Intensity Conflict in Korea, 1966–1969” (Leavenworth Papers No. 19, Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1991), 63.

  “Extreme tension”: Korea Times newspaper, Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 26, 1968.

  Decided to concentrate on the Blue House: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 15, Telegrams to Seoul, tabs 9–17, box 34.

  Only two were believed to have made it home: Joseph S. Bermudez, North Korean Special Forces (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 1998), 85.

  CHAPTER 4: SOS SOS SOS

  “Balmy winters”: Lloyd M. Bucher and Mark Rascovich, Bucher: My Story (Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970), 46.

  Unbeknown to the captain: The flight of the C-130 reconnaissance plane was described to the author by a former crewman who asked to remain anonymous because he’d signed a lifetime Air Force secrecy pledge.

  “We have approached the target”: Transcripts of this and subsequent radio messages from the North Korean gunboats are contained in LBJ, NSF, Country File, “Korea, Pueblo Incident, Vol. I, Part A (thru Jan.),” box 257.

  A searching look: Bucher, op. cit., 182.

  “I’ll be goddamned”: Bucher, op. cit., 184.

  “For God’s sake, stop!”: Edward R. Murphy Jr. and Curt Gentry, Second in Command (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1971), 131.

  “SOS. SOS. SOS. SOS. . . .”: Inq, 671.

  “Everybody on your feet!”: Bucher, Bucheri My Story, op. cit., 191.

  A sharp kick in the rear: Bucher, op. cit., 189.

  “Answer the fucking phones!”: Author interview with Lloyd M. Bucher.

  “I’m going to have to get busy”: Ed Brandt, The Last Voyage of USS Pueblo (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1969), 48.

  “A wild-eyed look”: Bucher, op. cit., 191.

  Three pounds of paper at a time: Murphy, op. cit., 139.

  A slab of human flesh: Bucher interview.

  “AIR FORCE GOING HELP YOU”: Inq, 671.

  Afraid he’d burst into tears: F. Carl Schumacher Jr. and George C. Wilson, Bridge of No Return: The Ordeal of the U.S.S. Pueblo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971), 99.

  Strike aircraft: Inq., op. cit., 898.

  “Creature-comfort admiral”: Reminiscences of Vice Admiral Kent L. Lee, U.S. Navy (Retired), Vol. II (U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, 1987–88), 479.

  Port city’s air defenses: Inq, op. cit., 916.

  “No overt action”: Inq, ibid., 1672.

  McKee fired question after question: Author interview with Seth McKee.

  But only four planes were available: It’s unclear exactly how many U.S. fighters were in Japan that day, and how many were flyable. Although General John McConnell, the Air Force chief of staff, told President Johnson there were 24 planes, General Earle Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put the figure at 77. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara told congressional leaders “40-odd” aircraft were in Japan at the time. General Seth McKee indicated in congressional testimony that, in any event, none of the planes were combat-ready and immediately available.

  Configured for nuclear bombs: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Office of the Executive Secretariat, Entry 5192, Korean Crisis (“Pueblo Crisis”) files, 1968, Lot file 69D219, stack 150/69/17/07, box 1.

  Tip South Korea into war: AMHI, General Charles H. Bonesteel interview, Senior Officers Oral History Program, 1973, Vol. 1, 342.

  “The goddamn Navy”: Author interview with John Wright.

  “What’s happening to them?”: McKee interview.

  CHAPTER 5: WE WILL NOW BEGIN TO SHOOT YOUR CREW

  “I protest this outrage!”: Lloyd M. Bucher and Mark Rascovich, Bucher: My Story (Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970), 208.

  “Tell your colonel”: Bucher, ibid., 213.

  “Share the wealth”: Ibid., 216.

  “Inside my rectum”: CA, Vol. III, 1312–29.

  He, too, bravely refused: Stephen R. Harris and James C. Hefley, My Anchor Held (Fleming H. Revell Co., Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1970), 13.

  “You have no military rights”: Bucher, op. cit., 220.

  “Compromised for ten years”: Author interview with John Wright.

  “Captain, you first”: F. Carl Schumacher Jr. and George C. Wilson, Bridge of No Return: The Ordeal of the U.S.S. Pueblo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971), 9.

  Sterile and lonely: Harris, op. cit., 16.

  “How you feel?”: Bucher, op. cit., 229.

  “You will be shot this afternoon!”: Details of the tribunal were drawn from memoirs by Bucher, Murphy, Steve Harris, and Schumacher.

  “Sign this confession!”: Bucher, op. cit., 237.

  “Without more unpleasantness”: Ibid., 239.

  No ejected dud hit the floor: Details of the mock execution are drawn from Bucher: My Story and the Bucher interview.

  A horrifying sight: Bucher: My Story, op. cit., 243.

  “I will sign”: Details of this scene are drawn from Bucher: My Story and the Bucher interview.

  CHAPTER 6: A MINEFIELD OF UNKNOWNS

  Bucher’s admission: The full text of the captain’s “confession” was published in the January 25, 1968, edition of The New York Times.

  “Look very closely at his record”: LBJ, Tom Johnson’s Notes of Meetings, Jan. 24, 1968, 1 p.m., Pueblo II, National Security Council, container #2. Johnson did not take verbatim notes of what was said at LBJ’s meetings, but instead paraphrased participants. The author has chosen to quote short sentences from his notes as the closest reconstructions of President Johnson’s otherwise unrecorded words during Pueblo crisis meetings that are ever likely to be available.

  “The only thing I could think to do”: “The Capture,” Naval History, Fall 1988, 54.

  “Drop the atomic bomb”: LBJ, National Security-Defense, ND 19, CO 151/1-30-68, box 205.

  “Coward”: LBJ, National Security-Defense, ND 191, 5-25-65, CO 151/1-28-68, box 205.

  “792 pounds of cargo”: LBJ, Tom Johnson’s Notes of Meetings, Jan. 25, 1968, 1:26 p.m., Pueblo 5 luncheon meeting, container #2.

  “The fullest justification”: LBJ, NSF, Files of Bromley K. Smith, Meeting of the Pueblo Group, 1/24/68, 10:30 a.m., box 1.

  “An act of war”: “U.S. Pressing Ship’s Release,” Washington Post, Jan. 25, 1968.

  “Putting prestige factors in the refrigerator”: LBJ, NSF, Files of Bromley K. Smith, op. cit.

  CIA pilot Jack Weeks: A number of published accounts credit another CIA pilot, Frank Murray, with locating the Pueblo after its capture. But a declassified CIA history of the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft program, “Finding a Mission,” says it was Weeks who discovered the ship in a small bay north of Wonsan on January 26, 1968. About four months later Weeks disappeared while flying a Mach 3–plus A-12 over the Pacific Ocean near the Philippines. His body was never found. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/a-12/finding-a-mission.html

  No concentrations of troops and tanks: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, “Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 4, Day to Day Documents, Part 5,” box 28.

  “Just crazy enough”: Author interview with John Denham.

  KGB agent in India: LBJ, NSF, Country File, Korea, Pueblo Incident, Vol. I, Part B, box 257.

  FBI men in Washington and New York: Information about the communist nations’ plans at the United Nations is taken from Lloyd Mark Bucher’s FBI file, File No. HQ 100-370055, Section 5, obtained by the author through the Freedom of Information Act.

  “We going to have to do something”: LBJ, Recording of Telephone Conversation Between Lyndon B. Johnson and Arthur Goldberg, Jan. 28, 1968, 11:38 a.m., Citati
on #12613, track 3, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, White House Series, WH6801.02.

  “Is that clearly understood?”: LBJ, Tom Johnson’s Notes of Meetings, Jan. 26, 1968, 7:29 p.m., Pueblo Backgrounder with Hugh Sidey, container #2.

  “I am neither optimistic or pessimistic”: Ibid.

  NIS men grilled hostesses: Details of the Naval Investigative Service probe of Bucher are contained in multiple documents located at NA, RG 526, Records of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, US6500, Jan. 26–27, 1968, box 13. In an interview, Bucher conceded that he “may have chased around a couple of those little girls over there in Yokosuka.”

  “Too involved with his men”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 4, Day by Day Documents, Part 5, box 28. The author obtained a partially redacted copy of the CIA profile of Bucher through the Freedom of Information Act.

  Nine submarines: NA, RG 218, Records of General Earle Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, box 29, tab 4.

  Men hastily built bunkers: AMHI, General Charles H. Bonesteel interview, Senior Officers Oral History Program, 1973, Vol. 1, 353.

  “A rather serious loss”: LBJ, NSF, Meeting Notes File, Jan. 31, 1968, meeting with congressional leaders, box 2.

  “I just don’t see any value at all”: Executive Sessions of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Historical Series), Volume XX, Ninetieth Congress, Second Session, 1968 (made public in 2010), 157.

  “When you send out a spy”: LBJ, op. cit.

  “Tension bouncing off the walls”: Author interview with Joseph A. Yager, former deputy director of the Korean Task Force.

  Ten possible courses of action: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files, 1967–1969, Political and Defense, Lot File 69D219, Stack 150/69/17/07, box 1.

  CHAPTER 7: SUICIDE IN A BUCKET

  Profound sense of shame: Author interview with Lloyd M. Bucher.

  Drenched and defeated: Author interview with F. Carl Schumacher Jr.

  “You must be aware of the tortures”: Lloyd M. Bucher and Mark Rascovich, Bucher: My Story (Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970), 263.