News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Andersonville

Date: April 28, 2001

"Andersonville honors POWs
Elliott Minor - Associated Press

Andersonville --- Crew members of the USS Pueblo, denied prisoner-of-war status for years even though they were held captive by North Korea for 11 months in 1968, were to be honored at the National Prisoner of War Museum today.

The Pueblo's captain, retired Navy Cmdr. Lloyd M. ''Pete'' Bucher, and other crew members were to place a Pueblo plaque on a wall at the museum during today's ceremony.

''We want them to remember that Andersonville is the national memorial for prisoners of war,'' said Fred Sanchez, the National Park Service's chief ranger at the museum. ''This is where their story is told and where their legacy is.''

One crewman was killed and 13 were wounded when North Korean gunboats opened fire on the surveillance ship Jan. 23, 1968, while it was in international waters.

The North Koreans jailed the 81 surviving crew members for 11 months. They were tortured, endured public humiliation and resisted efforts by the North Koreans to use them for propaganda before they were released in December 1968.

The Navy considered a court-martial for Bucher for letting the Pueblo fall into enemy hands without firing a shot and for failing to destroy much of the ship's classified material. But he was never brought to trial.

At first, the crew also was denied POW status because the United States was not at war with North Korea. They were finally declared POWs in 1989 and awarded POW medals in 1990.

''I think any time you're involved in a tragic situation, if you have had an open mind, you benefit in the long run,'' said Bucher, now 73, of Poway, Calif. ''In my own case, it helped me a lot to understand what life is all about. As long as you don't let it embitter you, it ends up being a plus for you.''

In Andersonville, where the POW museum was opened at a former Civil War prison camp in 1998, the Pueblo plaque will be mounted on a wall outside the museum. The museum and the Andersonville National Historic Site are operated by the park service.

F.C. ''Skip'' Schumacher Jr. of St. Louis, leader of the U.S. Pueblo Veterans' Association, said he hopes the Andersonville ceremony highlights ''the real danger and risks we're putting our sailors and airmen at.''

China's recent detention of 24 crew members from a U.S. Navy surveillance plane that had to make an emergency landing on a Chinese island brought back vivid memories for the crew of the Pueblo, Schumacher said.

Both crews were gathering intelligence on the capabilities of foreign navies.

''The freedom Americans enjoy today was won by a lot of people out there doing this kind of stuff,'' said Schumacher.

Andersonville, located about 150 miles south of Atlanta, was one of the largest Confederate prison camps during the Civil War. More than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined here and nearly 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding and exposure.

The museum was created by Congress to interpret the role of prisoner of war camps and to commemorate the sacrifices of the estimated 567,000 Americans who have been POWs since the Revolutionary War."