Bucher: My Story

While watching a rerun of Dick Cavett, Captain Bucher was the guest being interviewed. During that interview it was mentioned that he wrote a book about his experience. This book goes into detail but does not drag. Instead, the details are interesting and the story moves along well. The statements that Capt. Bucher made while in North Korean captivity at the end of the book are amazing. The print is very small, and some words did not print fully. Have a good reading light available and enjoy.

When this incident went down I was in OCS. It's a story of a capture and surrender of an American spy ship, the torture, degradation, starvation of American POW's. It's a story how the commander did his best to save the lives of his men, even to the point of surrendering his command to avoid a wholesale slaughter. Our ship was severely outgunned, out maneuvered and sent in harms way.The commander entered his 1st surface command from the silent device. Its a story how our military attempted to make him, his officers, and his crew scapegoats to cover up there own missteps. It's a story of the brutal treatment of American POW's, starvation, torture. whether you agree with his personal perspective or not, one cannot deny he did tho the best of his ability to save the live of his crews, even in the face of being tortured to death.

Should be on the Navy’s list for mandatory leadership training/reading. I can’t imagine any skipper doing a better job than he, for his crewmen, in such an intractable situation. I hope that Bucher had a chance to recognize the admiration during his lifetime.

Even though Commander Bucher is no longer with us, his book, detailing the capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo, and the subsequent imprisonment of the crew by the North Koreans, can still send chills up your spine. I remember when this happened, and I remember the crew's release, and the court martial proceedings in its wake. This is a history we should never allow to be repeated. The Pueblo remains in Wonsan Harbor, a blatant poke in our eye by that regime, and still the only active United States vessel to have been captured on the high seas. It's a great sea story with a horrific ending.

I saw Bucher interviewed by Dick Cavett (rerun) a few weeks ago. From the interview, I gathered that this book would make for interesting reading.

He was a personal friend. When he came to my restaurant in the late 70's and I introduced him to all the diners,all the veterans in attendance stood up and saluted! We both had a few tears in our eyes. In 1944 when Boystown played Loyola Hi in Los Angeles we were both captains of our respective football teams.,he with Boystown and myself with Loyola Hi. Even though it rained much of the day, stopping at 5pm and during the game, starting again after everyone got home at about 11pm. We had about 13,000 people at the old Gilmore Stadium in LA. Loyola won 25 to 6, but the game was really to help raise money for Boystown especially after the big movie hit in 1938 with Spenser Tracy and Mickey Rooney! Great crowd in those days when two high schools might only get a couple of thousand people! A few years later "Pete" [his nickname]Bucher brought me a signed painting with a PS. "For Mickey and Lea,you guys cheated"! L.M.Bucher

I didnt think I could find this book in print anywhere. This is the first time I used amazon to find anything old. They had different options all the way up to a collectible copy! It was a good book from captain butchers point of view tho he was in solitaire isolation. The previous book I read was by 5 crew members which was from a different point of reference. Butchers book had more about the actual ship and he's tormented thoughts of his responsibilities, anger, and loyalty to the united states , and the navy itself. What alot for one man to carry! An in-law relative was on the pueblo when it was captured and I hadn't wanted to read the books until now.I would recommend this book to others to read. If only to give people the real lowdown on what really goes on, both while captured and with our own government.

This book was written by the Commander of the USS Pubelo, which is a US Navy recon ship that was seized by the North Koreans on January 23, 1968. The ship is still sitting in a North Korean harbor and is used as a propaganda museum. One of the 83 sailor crew was killed in the attack and the remaining crew was taken prisoner and only released after 11 months of torture and mistreatment. It's a testament to the risks our military people take every day but are usually not given credit for.

I remember when it happened. It opened my eyes about how bad it was for the sailors etc. It opened my eyes to the higher naval command lake of understanding of what accurately happened and making the Captain look like the bad guy, and they absolving themselves of all responsibility..