USS Pueblo Patch

[Bones]

What do you guys think of jacket patches? Some of them are quite colorful and fun. This is one I have had for a couple of years. It is from the USS Pueblo recovery team. They were not successful as I have seen not too long ago the government of North Korea has made this ship a museum. It is 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Japanese or Korean made.

[GLM]

What do you guys think of jacket patches? Some of them are quite colorful and fun. This is one I have had for a couple of years. It is from the USS Pueblo recovery team. They were not successful as I have seen not too long ago the government of North Korea has made this ship a museum. It is 4 or 5 inches in diameter. Japanese or Korean made.

 

Having grown up in Pueblo, CO, the namesake city for USS Pueblo, and keeping up with all the news and efforts to get the ship back from 1968 on, I don't believe there ever was a recovery effort or attempt. I'm guessing and pretty sure about it too that your jacket patch is strictly novelty and had nothing to do with an actual recovery team, which never existed as far as I know. Plain and simple, our government rolled over and never attempted to get her back. Several days after the ship's capture, the Tet '68 Offensive began in Vietnam, so Pueblo and her crew were soon forgotten about for the most part. Your patch looks like a Japanese made patch to me and was most likely sold as a novelty "liberty jacket" patch in one of many tailor shops serving the US Navy in Japan or Okinawa.

 

Here's my contribution to this thread. One of the shoulder flashes in my collection from the USS Pueblo's short 2 year life as AGER-2. The flash is cut edge, so most likely made shortly after the ship's commissioning as USS Pueblo in 1966.

 

Also, a recent photo of USS Pueblo, serving as an anti-American museum in Pyongyang Harbor, DPRK.

 

Gary

[M60 Driver]

I agree that the patch is a novelty patch used to display a certain political sentiment. By chance I once lived for a few months close to one of the survivors of the Pueblo incident. He remained a great admirer of his Commander, Lloyd Butcher. For the younger members of this forum, it is well worth to read some of the books about this still highly controversial incident, including Butcher's book Bucher: My Story.

[gwb123]

Getting back to your original question, there are a lot of collectors that specialize in novelty patches. Some of them are pretty funny and reflect the humor of our GI's, Airmen and Sailors. Some of them were literally ordered while having "a night on the town", with their meanings becoming obscured the very next morning, let alone 30 years later.

 

I've seen others that expressed political views, or less than positive views about military service. It is generally accepted that all GI's have the right to complain.

 

This is a tough patch to look at. There was a lot of frustration when the USS Pueblo was seized. We had drawn down our units in Korea as part of the build up in Vietnam. As I recall, there was no stand-by air cover available that could have gotten to them in time, even from South Korea.

 

I had a USS Pueblo tab at one time, and I believe I sold it through Manion's. Of all things, I found it in the $2 box at a surplus store in Hawaii in the mid 1980's.

 

BTW... Bucher's leather jacket with original USS Pueblo patch is on display at the musuem at Boys Town, NE. He was a graduate of that school, and they proudly have it as part of their collection. There are many people who feel he never got the proper recognition for bringing his crew home.

 

As for the photo of the USS Pueblo shown above... look close and you will see a uniformed North Korean guard standing on the dock right at the center point of the ship.

[vintageproductions]

 

Here is a shot of my small collection of USS Pueblo items. The larger patch for the USS Brooke is Japanese made, while the smaller REMEMBER THE PUEBLO patch is Korean made.