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For Bucher, the grillings never let up. Brought before Super-C on his first day of captivity, he was told that he had two minutes to sign a confession or he would be shot. An officer held an automatic pistol to the back of his head. On the verge of total collapse, Bucher would only moan, "I love you, Rose. I love you, Rose." After the two minutes, and two clicks of the pistol, Bucher realized that his inquisitors were bluffing. As part of the softening-up process, he was then driven to a nearby prison to inspect a captured South Korean who had been gruesomely tortured. Bucher fainted at the sight of the mutilated prisoner. But he still refused to sign the false confession.
Ultimate Threat. Finally, in desperation, the Communists used the ultimate threat. Unless he signed their text, they insisted, they would shoot all of Bucher's crew members one by one before his eyes, starting with the youngest. "I was convinced they would do it," Bucher testified. "I was convinced they were animals. I told them I would sign the confession. And I did sign it." Even as he did so, he carefully added false information, such as an incorrect serial number, in a last-gasp effort to show that the document was a lie. After he had signed it, the Koreans rewarded Bucher with a huge plate of eggs. He could not eat them. Crushed, Bucher tried to drown himself in a bucket of water in his room.
When they were not being quizzed or beaten, Pueblo's men were continually subjected to Communist propaganda. They were told early in June, for example, that Robert Kennedy had been killed—by President Johnson. In time, the crew was afforded slightly better treatment. They were occasionally allowed to exercise together, most often by trimming the grass around their prison building with pocket knives. But the beatings and terror never ended until
Dec. 23, when they were finally released.
While last week's court of inquiry focused on Bucher, his testimony cast a dismal light on the entire U.S. military chain of command. Even the White House was fully informed in advance about Pueblo and her mission, and must have been cognizant of the serious risk of provoking retaliation from the belligerent North Koreans. Yet the ship's dangerous, unprecedented mission was approached with extraordinary nonchalance.
Why, for example, was Bucher given as his first command so highly sensitive an assignment? And why, once he had been given command, was he not allowed access to the classified material for which he might ultimately be responsible? Why was an ancient rust bucket like Pueblo chosen for conversion into a spy ship? Why were Bucher's requests for essential gear and weaponry repeatedly turned down? Why, if the Navy lacked the money to equip the ship properly, was Pueblo stationed off North Korea in the first place? Why no air cover? And why did the Navy steadfastly assume that North Korea, which is not a naval power and has no strategic reason for respecting the freedom of the seas, would never attempt to pirate a U.S. spy ship in international waters?