Today is the 39th anniversary of North Korea's seizure of the spy ship USS Pueblo and it 83-man crew, triggering an international confrontation between the United States and North Korea in the tumultuous year of 1968. The Pueblo was a World War II-era freighter that had been outfitted as an electronic eavesdropping ship for the National Security Agency. Commissioned in May 1967 and named for the city of Pueblo, the ship was under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Lloyd "Pete" Bucher when it set out to patrol the North Korean coast in January 1968. Cutting in and out of North Korean waters while eavesdropping, the Pueblo's crew had expected to be harassed by North Korean warships but on Jan. 23, the spy ship was surrounded by patrol boats and raked with machine-gun and cannon fire. Crewman Duane Hodges was fatally wounded in the attack. (more)
