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biography
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Bucher, Pete
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popular name of Lloyd (Mark) Bucher
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1929– )
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| biography:
| US naval officer, born in Pocatello, Idaho, USA. Orphaned as a child, he spent his early boyhood being shuffled between adoptive parents in Idaho and relatives in California until he went to St Joseph's Children's Home in Culdesac, ID (1938). During 1941–5 he attended the famous Boys Town (near Omaha, NE), then left to spend two years in the navy. He returned to graduate with his class (1948), then went on to the University of Nebraska, where he majored in geology. In 1953 he was commissioned in the US Navy Reserve and spent most of his career as a submarine officer. His first command of a surface ship was the Pueblo (May 1967), a small intelligence-gathering ship. While on its first tour of duty, off the coast of North Korea, he surrendered the ship (23 Jan 1968) when it came under fire from the North Korean navy (four Americans were wounded, one later died). He and his crew were imprisoned until 22 December 1968, during which time Bucher and many of his men were forced to sign a letter asking the USA to admit the ship had been inside North Korea's waters, with the clear implication that they had been spying. In 1969 a naval court of inquiry recommended that Bucher and one other officer be court-martialled, but this was cancelled by the secretary of the navy. Bucher was never given a major command and he retired from the navy in 1973. It was 1990 before he and all others on the Pueblo were awarded the medals given to other POWs. In his retirement he enjoyed a new career as a painter. |
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