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Show the Pueblo never wavered,giving us Memorial Day “T told him there was a God, and Colonel Specs asked, ‘Do you see Him?” Rosales testified during the Navy court of inquiry into the Pueblo’s seizure. “I told him I see Him every day in the flowers, in the trees. God waslife.” The Communists were equally unsuccessful in efforts to destroy the crew’s unity. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April 1968, the North Koreans made a show of extending sympathy to one of the Negrosailors, commiserating with him over the fate of his downtrodden people. The sailor was not taken in and told them that he, too, was an American and that Negroes in the United States were making considerable progress. The attempt to drive a wedge between him and his white cellmates failed. A symbol of both their faith and their unity was the “Pueblo Bible,” scraps written out from memory and jotted down on toilet paper or on pieces of paper that had been given the men to write the “confessions” their captors beat them to obtain. The “Bible” was kept by Lieutenant Harris, who found it safest to keep the pieces of paper in his pockets so they wouldn't be found. Once there was a body search, and the papers were taken from Harris and destroyed. He was knocked around for his trouble. But as soon as he got his hands on some more paper, Harris wrote it all down again. In remembering the names of the books of the Bible and many verses, he was aided particularly by Donnie Tuck, 31, Richmond, Va., a civilian oceanographer, and Radioman Charles Crandell, 24, El Reno, Okla. Other members of the crew chipped in fragments from time to time, sometimes passing them back and forth and comparing notes while on the ball field, despite the constant presenceof their guards. Harris was beaten severely on manyoccasions and told the Navy inquiry at Coronado, Calif., that he had wanted to take his life while a prisoner to escape the brutality that finally wrung from him a “confession” that the Pueblo had intruded into Korean territorial waters. (The ship's logbook showed it had not.) Theofficer said it was only “the help of the Lord” that saw him through his captivity. “It seeme that when the going got hardest, when the hour was blackest, the greatest comfort would come,” Harris related after his release. “In an unexplainable way, we would feel that God was taking care of us. Others felt this strongly,too.” Hesaid that in the prison camp,freedom seemed completely remote. “Before October, the Koreans acted as though we would be released soon,” he said. “We couldtell by their actions. Face-saving was a big thing for them. They were concerned about not bruising us. But in October, the negotiations fell through. And in December, they were no longer concerned atall about not hurting us. “We went through ‘Hell Week’ in December. I felt our release had to fa Crewman Duane Hodges,killed in the North Korean attack, is buried withfull military honors. be nowornever. I prayed intensely, I asked the Lord to let the men get home for Christmas. The prayer seemed so absurd at the time, but I felt I should pray for that. The phenomenal note is that when things seemed blackest, the sun shone through. We weretold that we would be released ‘soon.’ The next day we were repatriated.” Most of the men shared Harris’ conviction that God had answered their prayers. But this did not sit well with the Korean guards, and when the men thanked God for setting them free, an officer told them: “This is a matter between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and third parties are not welcome. The commanding general of the People’s Army is in charge, and he can handle“this.” Nonetheless, as soon as the men were turned over to the Navy Escort Team at Panmunjom, many of the Pueblo crew asked to see a chaplain so they could properly give thanks. A rabbi was found for the two Jewish members of the ship’s company, and a minister and a priest administered to the remainder of the crew. The following day, an ecumenical Christmas Eve service was held at the U.S. Army 12ist Evacuation Hospital at Ascom, South Korea, attended by every member of the Pueblo’s crew. It included a memorial service for the only crewman not present, Damage Controlman Duane D. Hodges, Creswell, Ore. Hodges had died in captivity of the wounds he received when the North Koreans fired on and boarded the Pueblo at sea. In the prison camp, Hodges had been remembered privately by his shipmates in their prayers, but the Communists had not allowed services for him. Navy chief of chaplains, Rear Adm. James W. Kelly, fittingly sums up the experience of the Pueblo’s every effort to take away their faith in God only caused tnem to movein thedirection of God. Every effort to subvert their faith only caused them to reaffirm it. I am certain that the menof the Pueblo would want to give full credit for this to Almighty God.” # Family Weekly, May 25, 1969 5 If your hemorrhoids need something more effective than Pazo’... maybe it’s surgery. Pazo not only shrinks hemorrhoids in most cases, but actually starts relieving throbbing pain on contact— and for hours. In fact, this soothing relief begins within seconds after you finish applying Pazo. In moments, Pazo’s anesthetic formula starts to ease the pain, quiets the itching and irritation. And, Pazo lubricates the sensitive area thoroughly—in most cases, provides continuingrelief for hours. Try Pazo,in suppository or ointmentform. If your hemorrhoids need something more effective than Pazo...maybe it’s surgery. |