European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 05, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday february 5, 1969 the stars and stripes Page 5 but no boarding attempt was made Navy ordered destroyer to be ready to recover the Pueblo corona5do, Calif. A after the capture of the Pueblo the Navy ordered a destroyer to prepare to go into a North korean Harbor Board it and Tow away if necessary an Admiral said  Admiral however was not allowed to say whether higher authorities ordered action after forces were told to take position for a possible Entrance to won san  adm. George l. Cassell who at the time of the Intelli gence ship s capture was chief of staff for operations for the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet testified before Anavy court of inquiry investigating the Pueblo s  said that neither ships nor planes were close enough to help the Pueblo when it was seized by North korean gun boats a year ago and taken into won san but the Navy could have taken action to try to re cover her the next . John Hyland com Mander in chief of the Pacific Leet and i directed the 7th Fleet to dispatch a destroyer Toa position off won san Harbor in International Waters and to pro vide air cover and to prepare to recover the Pueblo. By going into the Harbor and boarding the ship if necessary or to Tow it i necessary Cassell said. Stars find stripes stale sidelights capt. William Newsome counsel for the court Saidt you were positioning you ships then with a View toward retaliation yes Cassell said retaliation and what we could have done the next morning As far As recovering the ship was concerned. Let me say we began positioning our forces to carryout whatever higher authority ordered. Whether that Wouldhave been retaliation i could t  asked after the forces were positioned was an action taken. To either attempt to effect recovery or to assist her before Cassell could reply Newsome was called to the Bench for a whispered Confer ence with the president of the court vice adm. Harold  or. Newsome then asked a differ ent question Admiral were any other actions taken by Youat commander Pacific Fleet Headquarters no Cassell said. Left unanswered was the question of what action if any superiors of the Pacific flee commander might have taken. There was no attempt to remove the Pueblo from North korean  next higher level of a Public protests grow columnist publisher Mcgill Dies Atlanta a Ralph my Gill 70-year-old columnist and publisher of the Atlanta Constitution and Long time Champion of civil rights died Here monday night of a heart attack. Mcgill who won the 1958 pulitzer prize for editorial writing suffered the heart attack about10 . As he was leaving a Din Ner party at the Atlanta Home of John a Lawhorn. He was dead on arrival at holy family hos Pital. Survivors include his widow Mary Lyn and a son Ralph e. Jr., of Richmond a. Rescue committee to Honor Clay new York a Willy Brandt vice Chancellor and foreign minister of West Germany will be the main speaker at the 1969 Freedom award dinner of the International Rescue committee Here feb. 24. The inc Freedom medal will be presented to Gen. Lucius d. Clay new York banker and former military governor of Germany. Brandt received the Freedom award in 1959 for his refugee work while he was mayor of West Berlin. Jersey City teachers of pact Jersey City . Up striking teachers voted overwhelmingly monday to accept the Board of education s offer of wage increases averaging$1,300 per year and return to the classrooms in the City s 36schools. Demonstrators protest hangings new York a an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 persons demonstrated in front of the iraqi . Mission monday night to protest the hanging of 14 persons As spies for Israel. Police said 12 persons were seized by patrolmen during the demonstration. The protest began with a memorial service at which Rouben Horesh brother of one of the executed iraqis said the tragedy of the thing is that my brother Charles considered himself to bean iraqi first and a jew second. Never at any time in his life did he have anything to do with politics in any  sex banned from classified ads the teachers were on strike for a total of five Days during the past two weeks. The 1,200union teachers had taught school last thursday and Friday during a two Day Cooling off period while negotiations continued. Washington up the Federal government monday officially banished sex from the classified ads. From now on unless you want a Bunny for your nightclub or a tackle for your football team it s against the Law to specify sex in Job advertise ments. Texas murder suspect surrenders Houston Tex. A Pete Chavez jr., 20, of Houston charge with murder in the shooting death of a norwegian Seaman Mon Day gave himself up at police station. Arne Olsen 23, ship radio operator from Bergen Norway was shot last aug. 30 As he walked with companions near the port of Houston police Are still seeking Ronald Lee Rodriguez 17, of Houston who is also charged with murder in the slaying. Fund drive nets $6,9 million the amount was an increase of 11,852,000 Over 1997, Cham Pion said the Money is used by private negro member colleges for teachers salaries equipment and scholarships for needy Stu dents Champion said. New York a the United negro College fund s 1868 Campaign netted the record sum of $$,943,773, George Cham Pion Board chairman of Chas Manhattan Bank and last year s National Campaign chairman announced. H All your brass off Bucher men9 Washington up Cal your brass off commander Bucher and his men a Man i Oakland Calif., demanded in a Telegram to his senator. The wire was typical of growing volume of protests which lawmakers Are receiving from the folks Back Home who think the Navy is trying tomake cmdr. Lloyd m. Bucher the fall Guy for the capture of the spy ship Pueblo. A spot Check of senators offices indicated almost All of the mail on the Pueblo incident was sympathetic to Bucher. Little taste the country apparently has Little taste for the go Down with the ship Brand of  my son been serving on this Man s ship i would fee that he had done the right thing to bring my son Home woman in Seattle wrote to sen. Henry m. Jackson  ship did not leave As a possible suicide  letters Are mostly hand written and originally com posed. Words like Scapegoat and subs Virginia Parker 10,reads a copy of her favorite Magayne the late saturday evening Post. Because the fam ily was Cut front the subscription list a few months before the Magazine folded thus pre venting Virginia and family from keeping posted he Mother has sued the company for 19,4 mul Tott us persecute turn up Over Andover again but there Are few of the identical messages which signal an organized Campaign. The letters express indignation at the Navy s warning to Bucher that he faces a possible court martial for surrendering his ship to the North korean without a fight. The Navy has since insisted that the warning was routine and that no court martial i presently planned. Routine or not the suggestion that Bucher might face naval discipline on top of almost year in communist Captivity struck a chord with the  have never written to my representative before a woman in Seattle wrote. For this Man to be treated As a criminal instead of a hero because he saved his men and did t Godown with his ship is completely beyond my  woman in Carlsbad Calif., wrote in a satirical vein to  Murphy a Calif of course if the entire Crew had died gallantly we could All have had a glorious time mourning them and blaming the North  of the Senate armed services committee reported receiving the most mail on the subject. Most said they were getting a dozen or so letters a Day. Letters sympathetic a spokesman for chairman John Stennis d-miss., said the Pueblo had provoked a great Deal of  Stennis declined to say whether his Mai was for or against Bucher. But other committee members said their letters were overwhelmingly sympathetic to the Pueblo s skipper. Murphy s Pueblo mail up to100 letters a Day is the heaviest in Congress. He is member of the armed services committee and the ship s Home port is in his state. Most of the letters were simply angry at what the writers considered  am so incensed Over the persecution of cmdr. Lloyd  by the Navy that i wish i could use some Good old Johnwayne language a woman wrote. Hority was the Pacific com Mand of Natac in Hawaii under Hyland i want to make it Clear that there could be no launch of air Craft no reprisal or retaliatory attack without c1ncpac authority Cassell said. He added that due to the Dis Tance of . Forces i Don t think we could have gotten off onsan until the next after  because the risk of attack against the Pueblo was consid ered minimal he said air Force planes weren t ready to provide Quick help and simply could not have gotten there in  Cassell said the 5th air Force would have had to change the armament configuration an that would have taken an hour and a half and then launch an then taking into consideration the flight time. It would have taken an hour and 45 minutes or perhaps two hours to reach the Pueblo Cassell said he was at the Home of adm. Hylod when they got word of the Pueblo slight at 7 30 . Adm. Hyland and i proceeded to our operational control Cen Ter four or five minutes fro the Admiral s Home and As soon As we got there the duty office was already on the hot line to commander of naval forces i Japan he said. He had ascertained that As parts crash in Illinois Paris do. Up two three Story buildings on the West Side of Paris town Square collapsed temporarily blocking two state highways. There was no one inthe buildings and there were no injuries. Rear adm. George Cassell. Retaliation planned distance had already been re Quested from the 5th air Force and had ascertained what units we had or could have been  said intelligence ships like the Pueblo were expected to react to hostility by identifying themselves saying they were i International Waters withdraw ing and if necessary using an Means available to defend them selves. Use of sidearms this he said included use of sidearms. He said he Felt the Pueblo was ready for her Mission when she left Hawaii in route to Japan and ultimately to Waters off North Korea. He was concerned that her steering mechanism had failed some 60 times he said but it was repaired in a  said he did not discuss armament with the Pueblo skipper cmdr. Loyd Bucher be cause at that time such ship were designed to sail without guns As part of a Navy concept of unarmed Small intelligence  two hours on the stand Cassell was excused