Courtesy of Rick Juergens
Oceanographer Harry Iredale, whose presence was intended to reinforce the Pueblo’s cover story as a scientific research vessel.
Courtesy of Harry Iredale
Two days before the Pueblo seizure, North Korean commandos tried to storm the Blue House, South Korea’s presidential residence, and decapitate President Park Chung Hee.
Wikimedia.org
South Korean forces killed most of the Blue House raiders, but captured Second Lieutenant Kim Shin-jo. The attempt to murder their president left many South Koreans clamoring for revenge against the north.
Korea Daily
North Korean patrol boats attacked the Pueblo on January 23, 1968. In this frame from a North Korean propaganda film, a communist torpedo boat races past the American vessel.
Joong Ang Ilbo
A North Korean SO-1 submarine chaser, similar to the one that blasted the Pueblo with cannon fire.
U.S. Navy
After their capture, Bucher and his men were paraded before an angry crowd of North Korean civilians. Some Pueblo veterans say this scene was a propaganda reenactment.
Korean Central News Agency
A CIA pilot flying the top secret A-12 aircraft spotted the captured Pueblo in Wonsan Bay. Here an A-12 refuels during a training exercise.
Central Intelligence Agency
A photo from the A-12 shows the Pueblo in Wonsan Bay. “Black Shield” was the code name for the January 26, 1968, reconnaissance flight that located the spy ship.
Central Intelligence Agency
A close-up of a North Korean torpedo boat guarding the Pueblo. A smaller service craft is nearby.
Central Intelligence Agency
President Lyndon Johnson hoped to avoid a second Korean War over the Pueblo. At a White House meeting in February 1968, he was flanked by Secretary of State Dean Rusk (left) and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara (right).
LBJ Library
Diplomatic troubleshooter Cyrus Vance (center) struggled to restrain South Korea’s Park Chung Hee (left) from attacking North Korea after communist infiltrators tried to assassinate him. At right is William Porter, U.S. ambassador to South Korea.
National Archives and Records Administration
Langenberg in prison. The North Koreans often added homey touches like potted plants to propaganda photos, hoping to persuade the world that their captives were being treated humanely.
Korean Central News Agency
North Korean doctors performed surgery on ship’s fireman Steve Woelk without giving him any anesthetics. The communists later re-created the operation for propaganda photographers.
Korean Central News Agency
Woelk smiles at a communist doctor after his Lazarus-like recovery.
Korean Central News Agency
The sailors deliberately extended their middle fingers to ruin propaganda pictures. After Time magazine explained the derisive gesture, the humiliated North Koreans brutally beat the crewmen.
Korean Central News Agency
More finger salutes from communication technicians Brad Crowe (center) and John Shilling (right).
Korean Central News Agency
Marine Sergeant Robert Hammond fiercely resisted his torturers. He later was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism.
Korean Central News Agency
Lieutenant Edward R. Murphy points out fabricated intrusions by the Pueblo in communist waters during the “international” press conference in September 1968.
Korean Central News Agency
The sailors found many exhibits at the Sinchon “genocide museum” hard to believe. In this 2009 tourist photo, a guide points to a depiction of a U.S. soldier torturing a boy during the Korean War.
Courtesy of Raymond K. Cunningham Jr.
Under Secretary of State Nicholas Katzenbach oversaw the frustrating secret talks with North Korea to free the crewmen.
White House
Army Major General Gilbert Woodward (right) signed the “prerepudiated” U.S. apology that finally convinced the North Koreans to let the sailors go.
U.S. Navy
Walking twenty paces apart, sailors cross the Bridge of No Return to freedom on December 23, 1968.
Stars and Stripes
Taking off his Mao cap in a final act of defiance, an emaciated but smiling Bucher reaches the allied side of the Bridge of No Return.
U.S. Navy
Gene Lacy, Steve Harris, and Skip Schumacher (left to right) enjoy a meal at the United Nations advance camp shortly after their release.
U.S. Navy
After eleven months of sadistic imprisonment, Bucher reunites with his wife, Rose, on Christmas Eve 1968.
U.S. Navy
Marine Sergeant Bob Chicca hugs his wife, Ann Marie, as the news media records the crew’s homecoming at Miramar Naval Air Station near San Diego.
U.S. Navy