These naval aviators, who were operating from carriers located in the Tonkin Gulf, were flying frequent missions, the targets of which varied from ammunition dumps, bridges, trucks, and troops, to gun and missile sites.
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In contrast to the USS Pueblo crew, who had been captured as a group, the naval aviators that were shot down while flying combat missions over North Vietnam were captured singly from 1964 until January 1973. The absence of shredding devices or effective destructive mechanisms made the task of completely destroying the electronic equipment and classified material aboard the ship impossible. "Thus the USS Pueblo became the first United States warship captured without a fight since June 22, 1807, when HMS Leopard forced the USS Chesapeake to surrender off the Virginia capes and impressed four of its crew into the British Navy." (Brandt, 1969)ĭuring the attack one Pueblo crewman was killed and seven others sustained shrapnel wounds - two of which were serious. On Januthe USS Pueblo (AGER-2), Auxiliary General Electronic Research Ship, was attacked, boarded and captured by North Koreans in International waters and taken to Wanson Harbor in North Korea. In order to appreciate fully the stresses encountered by these two groups of men, it seems appropriate to discuss:Ī) background information regarding their capture Both groups, however, were imprisoned for variable periods of time in Oriental countries.
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The RPWs were captured singly and imprisoned, in most cases, in separate cells. The Pueblo crew was captured as a group, incarcerated as a group, and released as a group. Demographically, the two groups of men were different (See Table 1) and their experiences during capture and incarceration were also different. Navy during the Vietnam crisis are included among the RPW group since the author's personal experience was limited to this population. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast experiences reported by crew members of the USS Pueblo and returned prisoners of the Vietnam War (RPW). A personal impression will be offered regarding the most important factors of the captured Americans' success. The methods of coping with these variable stresses will be discussed. A composite profile will be presented including the stresses encountered with capture, imprisonment, and repatriation.
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The duration of incarceration was variable, lasting from over eight years to several months. The American prisoners of war imprisoned in Vietnam were for the most part career officers, trained as pilots. Men in the group defined as handling the stress poorly were more limited in the number of ego-defense mechanisms utilized. Those who did well tended to use a variety of ego-defense mechanisms, particularly faith, reality testing, denial, rationalization, and humor. A group of men defined as coping with the stress well was compared to a group who tolerated it poorly.
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Slightly more than half of the crew admitted to experiencing significant anxiety or depression during captivity. The 82 crew members of the USS Pueblo were evaluated psychiatrically 48 to 72 hours after their release from 11 months of imprisonment in North Korea.