Show ION" s 57i1 by LLOYD SHEARER CORONADO CALIF month the US Navy's court of investigating the North lioast capture of our spy ship — the Navy prefers to call it an Auxiliary Oceanographic Environmental Research Craft—ended here It was the most publicized hearing of its type in the 194 years of American Naval history which began in 1775 when George Washington ordered officers and men from his Army to man five schooners and a sloop to prey on inbound English supply vessels The Pueblo court of inquiry was covered by every major radio and television network in this country plus 68 journalists representing the domestic and foreign press One result of this intensive press coverage and almost daily TV exposure is that Comdr Lloyd "Pete" Bucher skipper of the Pueblo is today in the eyes n and most of the public the identifiable man in the US Navy best-know- Ask anybody I If you doubt that statement stop any ten pedestrians or as many as you like ask them if they can identify two prominent Navy officers one named Moorer the other named Bucher Adm Thomas Moorer Chief of Naval Operations and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the Navy's highest he is ranking officer But publicity-wis- e match for no understandably enough Pete Bucher Like it or not and he doesn't particularly Bucher at 41 but looking 55 has become a public idol Circumstances have launched him into a celebrity orbit where he is trying to maintain a "standard" bearing—standard is one of his favorite adjectives—in what is for him a strange environment of congratulatory telegrams supportive letters and admiring phone calls all numbering in the hundreds He is also via his civilian attorney Miles Harvey the recipient of many lucrative offers for books articles TV radio and club appearances none of which he can presently accept without Navy clearance His wife Rose has already received $27500 from Mc Catis magazine for an n article largely describing her wifely and frustrating efforts to free the Pueblo and its crew While Bucher if he resigns from the Navy can easily in the opinion of one top Hollywood agent "earn a million bucks or more from the film rights to his life story "Bucher's biography" claims agent Red Hirschorn "has all the ingredients for a great motion picture: adventure humor tragedy love danger and best of all a happy ending "What I would like to see him do is to play the leading film role himself I'm sure he can do it He's intelligent articulate photogenic As an actor he could lend authority to the part Even more important we could probably get him a percentage of the profits which I feel would be more than sizabie If lucky he might earn as much as $2 million" Pete Bucher has 18 years of Navy service to his retirement credit He can retire at the end of 20 or 30 years The choice is his If he retires at the end of 20 years he draws 50 percent of his salary or about $503 a month If he retires at the end of 30 years he draws of his commander's salary There is little doubt that Bucher can probably earn more money outside the Navy than inside But if there was a man who loved the service with unflagging dedication it's Pete Bucher Friends say it would take more than money for Bucher to resign his commission "A bum rap" says an old shipmate "a serious reprimand by higher authority might do it Otherwise I'm sure Pete will pull his 20 or 30 years" Bucher has described the Navy as two-thir- "my whole life" and has reportedly requested a submarine command But he probably will have a lengthy wait before he learns of his next assignment The court of inquiry studying thousands of pages of transcript will first send its findings and recommendations unannounced to Adm John J Hyland Commander in Chief of the US Navy in the Pacific who originally ordered the court to convene Admiral Hyland's review and recommendations will then be bucked along to Admiral Moorer in Washington Moorer in turn will pass his recommendation to Secretary of the Navy John Chaffee Review by Nixon That ends the Navy's immediate chain of command But Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird will probably take a good hard close look at the findings and then pass them along to President Nixon who has declared publicly that he will review the entire Pueblo affair not only on the basis of the innocence or guilt of Bucher but on- - the basis of preventing any other such ship loss In addition the Pueblo skip- will have to testify before the Senate Armed Committee and will probably submit to further questioning by Deputy Defense Secretary David Packard also charged with investigating the cause cetebre - 4 int 1 T ' ' ' '11 Al L i 0 l' to ttl ) ILA‘' 1 S'1 emotion-charge- Thurs- d day morning when his brown eyes welled up with tears and a lump formed in his throat It was the morning during which he told the court in cracked voice of how when he thought the North Koreans were about to blow out 1)is brains "I repeated over and over again the phrase 'I love you Rose' I thought this would keep my mind off what was going to happen" The two questions the public as well as Bucher are most interested in at this point are (1) will he be for having violated Navy regulations Article 0730? It states: "The commanding officer shall not permit his command to be searched by any person representing a foreign state nor permit any of the personnel under his command to be removed from the command by such person so long as he has the power to resist" (2) Will he be given command of another US Navy ship? During the course of the Pueblo court of inquiry I polled four separate groups on these two questions They consisted of 38 journalists covering the hearing 18 retired Navy officers 30 enlisted Navy merlon the amphibiots comm:Ind base and 12 Navy wives court-martial- These groups agreed almost unanimously for a variety of reasons that Comdr Lloyd Bucher would never again command a Navy ship And of the 98 persons questioned only 11 thought that the admirals of the court of inquiry for would recommend a court-martithe Pueblo commander Most thought he would be exiled to a safe shore job in al H 43 4 4471kr1— some quiet -- illt memorable New command doubted IiipAps j "Jr- In fact Bucher is likely to spend most of this year responding on a number of occasions to the same questions put to him by Capt William Newsome and the five scrupulously fair admirals who conducted the court of inquiry le answered these questions in detail — honestly forthrightly factually with a minimum of melodrama until that '' ' i ghost-writte- Bucher before the Navy court of inquiry with his counsel E Miles Harvey and Capt James E Keys Two Navy legal officers are shown with backs to camera Navy instal- lation rarely visited by journalists There he would be permitted to languish until retirement "My guess" said one Navy wife "is that Pete Bucher will be assigned to a weather station in Key West Fla" "My feeling" cracked a reporter "is that they will send him back to Boys continued 7 IIMEEMI MEMI1UWr |