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Ex-POW wants ship releasedCrewman applauds demand North Korea return USS PuebloBy ED SEALOVERTHE GAZETTEAs images of the growing crisis in Asia flash across television screens, Alvin Plucker doesn’t have to wonder what’s going through the minds of the North Korean military — he has seen it up close.Thirty-five years ago this month, the Fort Lupton resident and 81 fellow crew members of the USS Pueblo were captured in international waters by North Korea, and tortured before being released 11 months later.Plucker, 56, will never get that year of his life back. But he wants the ship back — or at least a little piece of it.Wednesday, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell,R-Colo., reintroduced a resolution demanding North Korea return the ship it has kept and exhibited as propaganda since 1968.A similar bill died in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year becausecongressmen did not want worsen already touchy relations with North Korea. Since then, North Korea has revealed it has the capability to make nuclear weapons and is involved in a standoff with the United States.With much of the worldwatching the developments,Plucker doesn’t believe Congress will pass the resolution. But he wishes something could happen to ease his anger over his ordeal.“We would like to get it returned mainly for peace of mind because it was something we had taken away from us,” he said in a telephone interview. “They have no reason to keep it over there except that it’s a great mockery to the United States.The Pueblo was an intelligence vessel, its crew collecting communications between North Korea, the Soviet Union and China.On a frigid January after-SEE USS PUEBLO • PAGE 4(Thl(/FlA7(ttl*STEVEN R. NICKERSON, ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWSHOSTAGE SHIP: Retired Petty Officer 1st Class Alvin Plucker shows a picture of his ship, the USS Pueblo, before it was seized and its crew taken prisoner by North Korea in 1968.
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Gazette
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Thu, Jan 30, 2003
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Los A.
CA, USA 26 Jun 2019
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