"We survived by being together." (Audio interview, 43:12).

Richard J. Rogala

War: Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Branch: Navy Unit: USS Pueblo Service Location: Japan; North Korea Rank: Storekeeper Third Class POW: Yes Place of Birth: IL

Enlisting in the Navy Reserves in 1966, Storekeeper Third Class Richard Rogala had no idea that he would eventually find himself in the center of one of the Cold War’s major incidents. Assigned to the deck crew of the USS Pueblo, he worked on ship maintenance; he was unaware that the main role of the Pueblo was intelligence gathering. Captured by the North Koreans in January 1968, he, along with the rest of the Pueblo crew, spent the next eleven months in captivity before US officials negotiated their release. Subsisting on a diet of turnips, rice, and bread, he lost 40 pounds; he credits his youth (he was twenty-one at the time he was captured) and the camaraderie of his crew for his survival.