So Says Lloyd Bucher

On Jan. 23, 1968, Cmdr. Lloyd M. Bucher, USN, under attack by North Korean gunboats, surrendered the U.S. intelligence-gathering ship Pueblo. After 11 months in a North Korean prison, he and his crew were released. A U.S. court of inquiry voted that Bucher be tried by general courts-martial. Higher naval authority recommended a letter of reprimand. Secretary of the Navy John H. Chafee, however, ordered all charges dropped. Bucher, 58, retired from the Navy in 1973 and lives with his wife, Rose, in Poway

Q: You’ve had 18 years to think about the attack. Is there anything you would have done differently? A: My orders and instructions--together with the built-in incapacity for the Pueblo to protect itself and the circumstances of the attack--dictated my response. I can think of very little else we could have done. Ordering my crew to certain death for no purpose--suicide, in fact--was never a consideration. I was promised help if needed. I asked for it. None was provided.

Q: Is it true the Pueblo was ill-prepared to defend itself and that your earlier requests for more safeguards were denied?

A: Had my recommendations and requests for destruct equipment and devices been approved, I could have and would have destroyed the ship.

Q: During your imprisonment, controversy was fierce. The public generally regarded you as heroic, while some military brass intimated cowardice. How do you respond to those views?

A: Throughout our imprisonment I urged my crew to do whatever we could to discredit our captors and give the lie to their claims. Cowardice has never been part of my makeup.

Q: Thinking back on the court of inquiry, what is your feeling now?

A: In retrospect, the court of inquiry, purposefully or not, failed to address a myriad of the most significant failures of Navy and government actions relative to the Pueblo tragedy. Our country has since repeatedly suffered from that failure. As was told by Pogo, “The enemy is us.”

Q: You once likened your situation to that of Gen. Jonathan Wainwright in the Philippines during World War II. Do you recall those words?

A: Yes. I said that Gen. Wainwright, in his defense of Corregidor in the spring of 1942, was faced with wholesale slaughter if he continued his struggle with the Japanese. His troops still had ammunition and a defensible position. He chose to surrender his army and was awarded high honors for his common sense.

Q: What were your thoughts after Secretary of the Navy Chafee cleared you and your crew of all charges?

A: It was beginning to dawn on me that perhaps the court’s charges and the way they had de-escalated from a general courts-martial to a letter of reprimand to nothing had been the only way for the Navy to close the matter to avoid further repercussions. After all, the Navy and other agencies had been under investigation.

Q: Any bitterness toward the Navy?

A: I have never permitted bitterness into my life. I do not excuse my own shortcomings. I was and continue to be disappointed and astounded by the demonstrably unsatisfactory performance of Navy and government leadership. We can and must do better.

Q: What about your personal life as of now?

A: It’s great. Rose and I bought this house in 1970. I’m sure we couldn’t afford it at today’s prices. My two sons, Mark and Mike, are grown and away from home. Rose works two days a week, and I sell my watercolor paint-ings. Including my Navy retirement, it all adds up to my former Navy pay. We’re comfortable. I get mail from my crew. My only worry is that root-rot is destroying my avocado trees.

Q: Are you a professional painter?

A: I think so now. I’ve sold about 275 paintings at prices ranging from $50 to $750. I studied illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles for a year. Commuted on weekends.

Q: You make several paid speeches a year around the country. What is your message? A: An expression of what is right with America. My travels with the Navy and a year of imprisonment in North Korea enabled me to put in bright perspective and sharp contrast our blessings as opposed to our faults. By comparison with any form of human existence, past or present, America stands taller by half.

Q: ABC-TV made a movie about you, featuring actor Hal Holbrook. How much did you make from that?

A: Not a penny. I was never contacted by ABC in any way. They didn’t ask permission. They didn’t check for accuracy or advice. Nothing. They ran it on the network twice. The second time they opened with Holbrook’s face, a close-up. He said, “I am Lloyd Mark Bucher.” I said to Rose, “Bull----, I’m Lloyd Mark Bucher.”

Q: Eighteen years ago your name was in headlines around the world. Can you sum up how you view your life up to now? A: I’ve been more fortunate than unfortunate. For which I’m daily thankful.