January 23, 1968, is an infamous day in US history. The USS Pueblo, a Navy intelligence vessel, was engaged in routine surveillance off the coasts of North Korea when it was captured by North Korean Forces who demanded the ship surrender. The U.S.S Pueblo attempted to escape which prompted the KPA to open fire on the ship wounding the commander and another soldier. The crew still persisted buying time for them to burn any intelligence documents on the vessel before KPA forces managed to board the ship and capture the crew. 

I recently interviewed a man who calls himself Earl at the local VFW in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. He was an Air Force jet mechanic who was deployed to South Korea in response to the USS Pueblo capture. He was stationed at an airbase in preparation for a possible operation to rescue the captured sailors. 

Despite the draft going on during the Vietnam War, Earl chose to join the Air Force rather than wait to be drafted into the US Military. After basic training, he was sent to tech school to become a jet mechanic. First deployed to an airbase in January of 1968, he and several others were on stand by until the higher-ups in command decided what to do. But to these men, as far as they were concerned, they were waiting for the confirmation that this was a rescue mission.  Murphy then proceeded to tell me the conditions of the base and area.

He described the harsh winters that they experienced in the year that they were stationed there, comparing them and the summers to be very similar to what he experienced in his youth in Pennsylvania. When asked what the conditions were at the base he stated that, ‘I went from living in a barracks that was heated and air-conditioned to living in tents in South Korea.’  

Thankfully, Murphy and everyone else at the base never did see any action.  On December 23, 1963, the entire crew was released, except for one soldier who had been killed in the initial attack on the ship. However, to arrange this release, the United States had to offer a written apology to North Korea, as well as admit that the USS Pueblo was on a spy mission, while also swearing to never conduct such missions again within Korea waters.