83 US Sailors Tortured by North Korea for 11 Months - USS Pueblo Incident

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Did you know that 83 American sailors were tortured for nearly a year by North Korea and the US government couldn't do anything about it? January 23rd, 1968, the USS Pueblo was conducting routine intelligence gathering in international waters when North Korean patrol boats surrounded them. The crew thought it was just [music] intimidation. They were wrong. The North Koreans opened fire, killing one sailor instantly. Commander Lloyd Bucher faced an impossible choice.

[00:00:27]Fight back and watch his crew die or surrender. [music] He chose surrender. What followed was 11 months of hell. The sailors were beaten daily, forced to sign false confessions, and paraded in propaganda photos. But they found [music] ways to resist. In staged photographs, crew members secretly gave the middle finger, telling the world they were being forced to lie.

[00:00:48]The North Koreans called it the Hawaiian good luck sign. When they discovered the truth, the beatings got worse. The crew finally returned home in December 1968, but their nightmare wasn't over. Many suffered severe PTSD and some never recovered.

[00:01:04]>> [music] >> The USS Pueblo remains in North Korean hands today.