By NICK BUDD
Hays Post
Fortunately for most us, we won’t ever have to experience the encounters Alvin Plucker has lived. Plucker, 68, was one of 82 American sailors captured by the North Koreans in 1968 onboard the USS Pueblo.
The American spy ship was intercepted by North Korean ships approximately 16 miles off the shore of North Korea Jan. 23, 1968.
Plucker recounted his ordeal at the local Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter No. 939 annual dinner this month at the Hays American Legion.
“The captain at the time said, ‘I’m not going to sacrifice my crew. I’ve got no way to scuttle the ship, destroy the classified information or man the guns,’ ” Plucker recalled.
Plucker joined the Navy after running away from his Nebraska home. Following training, he was sent on a mission on the USS Pueblo, an intelligence-gathering ship. Plucker was the ship’s quartermaster.
After crew members were captured, they were transported to a prisoner of war camp in Pyongyang, North Korea. There, the men withstood 11 months of torture and interrogations.
“If you ever know what fear and cold is, you just stand there and shake uncontrollably,” Plucker said. “We’d been briefed to say that we were in international waters — and we did.”
North Koreans believed the vessel was in its territory when it was intercepted. The Pueblo crew members were tortured because they would not admit to this.
“They would come and tie you up and bind you to a 2-by-4 in a crouch-like position,” Plucker said. “They’d lay on your back for a little while and, if that didn’t work, they’d sandwich your head in a 2-by-4, but we never gave in.”
Plucker also spoke of “Hell Week,” an 11-day period during their stay when the captured men faced even more extreme torture from the guards.
“They worked us all day and night and made us write all new confessions,” Plucker said. “(As a form of punishment), they made me hold two heavy wooden chairs with a bayonet at my throat and said, ‘We’ll see how long you’ll last now.’
“After a little while, they had tortured you so much that you just became numb.”
The USS Pueblo crew members were released from the North Korean camp on Dec. 23, 1968, approximately 11 months after capture.
Plucker now resides just north of Denver near Fort Collins, Colo.