After six weeks on a diet nearly devoid of vitamins and protein, the crew began to exhibit signs of severe malnutrition. The ship’s cook, Harry Lewis, estimated they were surviving on only 500 calories per day—the equivalent of three unbuttered English muffins. Most of the men were rapidly wasting away—Bucher alone had lost forty pounds—and many suffered from debilitating diarrhea. What began as mild illnesses soon worsened; bouts of flu turned into pneumonia, and minor cuts festered into dangerous infections.
Continue reading “USS Pueblo: Starvation and Desperation in Captivity, Part 5 of 19”
After nine days confined in the Barn (prison), Commander Lloyd “Pete” Bucher still wore the same bloodstained, dirt-caked uniform he had been captured in. The stench of his own unwashed body nearly made him gag. It was a miracle, he thought, that his wounds had not become infected in such squalor. Rats scurried freely through the latrine, and whenever he lay down, swarms of tiny gray bugs emerged from his rice-husk mattress to bite him raw.
Continue reading “USS Pueblo: CDR Bucher, The Captive Skipper of USS Pueblo, Part 4 of 19”
By far the most harrowing punishment inflicted on any member of the Pueblo crew was that endured by Korean linguist Marine Sergeant Bob Hammond. He later was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism.
Continue reading “USS Pueblo: SGT Hammond, USMC — The Limits of Endurance, Early 1968, Part 3 of 19”
On December 6, 1941, three sailors were photographed while having a drink at a bar in Pearl Harbor. Clifford Olds (right), was on board USS West Virginia when it was sunk during the Japanese attack the next morning. When salvage workers found his remains in a compartment several months later, a marked calendar revealed that he and two other shipmates had lived for 16 days trapped within the ship.
Source: USNI
Matthew B. Ridgway stepped into a freezing Korean command bunker in January 1951, looked at a wall map covered in retreat arrows, and made a decision that stunned every officer in the room. The United Nations forces were outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and collapsing, yet Ridgway calmly said the collapse would end tonight. Then he clipped a grenade to his chest harness and walked toward the front.
Continue reading ““No Sailor’s life is expendable. No mission justifies waste.””
By Admiral Charles Richard, U.S. Navy (Retired)
“Man Battle Stations! Dong Dong
Dong Dong! Man Battle Stations!”
Everyone who has served on board a ship, submarine, or squadron can remember being jolted out of the rack by that announcement, knowing almost instinctively what to do. For most, that knowledge never leaves. More than 20 years later, I am still pretty confident I could execute the Battle-stations Firing Point Litany in Control on board a submarine, at least as it was at the time, from any watch station in the room. I don’t think I’m unusual.
Continue reading “How Do You Know You Are Ready for Battle?”
Station HYPO 