European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday May 31, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 9 Over Here Pueblo Sailor Learned Freedom s value by Ron Mckinney staff writer Mannheim West Germany some people have bad Days. Steven j. Robin knows what it s like to experience a bad year. Robin was a Crew member of the Pueblo an american spy ship captured by North korean forces on Jan. 23, 1968. The Crew of 82 was held captive for 11 months then released a few Days before Christmas. I enjoy life a hell of a lot More now than i did when i was younger Robin said this week after receiving the prisoner of War medal. Once you be been put in a situation of having your Freedom taken away from you you Don t take for granted your  Robin now a civilian ammunition Quality Assur Ance specialist with the 191st Ord in in Mannheim received his medal from it. Gen. William s. Flynn commander of the 21st theater army area come. It was presented More than two years after Congress authorized the medal in 1988 for All pos except those from the Pueblo. The Navy initially classified the Pueblo Crew As detainees and not prisoners of War making the Crew ineligible for pow medals. Robin called it a slap in the  he also won dered Why the pow medal was not introduced ear Lier. Why did it take so Long to recognize these people from world War i i Only waited two years but How about these people who waited Over half a Cen Tury Robin asked. An amendment signed by president Bush in de Cember reversed the eligibility of the Pueblo Crew. Sixty three Crew members received the medal in a ceremony at san Diego on May 5. Robin said he could t afford the flight to California to participate in the ceremony. On that frigid january Day in 1968, North korean boats surrounded the Pueblo and fired on it wound ing 11 of the Crew. Robin a 22-year-old Communia i once you be been put in a situation of having your Freedom taken away from you you Don t take for granted your  Steven j. Robin tons technician third class suffered superficial flesh wounds from shrapnel during the attack. The Pueblo radioed for help but none came. Robin said that two .50-caliber machine guns were stored below deck but were under Frozen tarps. The gun positions on the boat were completely exposed. The Captain cmdr. Lloyd Pete Bucher decided that human life was More important than going Down with the ship Robin said explaining Why they gave up the vessel without fighting. I was very scared not knowing what was going to happen next Robin said. The Crew members were blindfolded and tied with their hands behind their backs and their chins against their chests so they could not communicate with each other while being moved to a pow Camp. For the next few Days they were held in a room while the North koreans took turns interrogating them. When the guards came in if you were looking up or looking around you d get your head bashed in Robin said. The first couple of Days were  the first few weeks at the Camp Robin said they expected a retaliation by american forces. We expected a big mushroom Cloud or a big John Wayne like group coming Over there helping us out he said. Is Ron Mckinney when nothing happened they realized they herein for a Long stay. As time passed Robin said the Crew gave each other language and geography lessons played cards and conveyed messages by tapping Morse code on the water pipes. When they realized there was a centralized Bath room they left messages scribbled on toilet paper. We established a toilet comm Center that Way he said smiling. That was enough for us to find out what was going on with the rest of the  on dec. 22, 1968, the Crew members were re leased. It was still one of those very iffy things until we All got across the Border said Robin who lost 50 pounds during his Captivity. We were met by what i d have to say was the most Beautiful sight in the world a . Army my standing on the Side of the Bridge we were supposed to be on. I wanted to kiss his boots. It was a Symbol of America standing True and  n. Korea offers to release 5 More gis remains Seoul South Korea a North Korea has offered to release the re Mains of five More . Soldiers killed in the korean War and has pinpointed the location of an additional 1,000bodies, a veterans group said wednes Day. There is also a Good possibility that . Prisoners of War from the 1950-53 conflict Are still alive in communist nations said the officials of the korean War veterans association Cit ing eyewitness accounts. The group s comments came two Days after a . Congressional delegation accepted the remains of five . Soldiers from communist North Korea the first return of . War dead from the North since 1954. The return was widely seen As a Ges Ture by reclusive North Korea to improve relations with Washington an the state department said it was a step in that  the two nations have no diplomatic ties. Blaine p. Friedlander of Falls Church va., congressional Liaison for the veterans group said the return of the War dead has increased Public awareness that thousands of . Bod ies have not been recovered and that prisoners May still be alive. Friedlander and Warren g. Avery of North Haven conn., National director of the 5-year-old organization said they were notified tuesday that North Korea has five More bodies anytime we want  they said to Jong North Korea s observer at the United nations relayed word of the additional remain through a trusted third  any repatriations will be coordinated wit the state department they said. Official records show 8,172 Ameri cans missing in action from the korean War and another 389 still Lis Tedas prisoners. Five million americans served in Korea and fought with the South after North Korea invaded in june 1950. Friedlander said to Jong told him during a four hour meeting last year that the North could pinpoint the Loca Tion of 1,000 . Bodies. Why not deliver them All Fried Lander recalled saying in Surprise. To Jong said he would like to but  that he needed to talk to . Con Gressman  he also said the cos of excavating Graves was enormous Friedlander said. If approval is obtained from Bot governments Friedlander said Veter ans will go to North Korea later this year to excavate bodies. When the Issue of the dead is Deal with we expect to petition for the re lease of live prisoners he said. Many doubt the possibility that an of the 389 americans listed As prison ers of War can still be alive. Diplomat say the notion is often a fantasy held by grieving friends and family. At first i did t believe there were americans there anyplace said Friedlander. But a study of the Eye witness accounts of the literature of documents seems to indicate that americans May be held in North Korea or have been taken to the soviet Union or  Raoul Wallenberg did t die in 47, report says new York a Raoul Wallenberg definitely did not die in 1947 As the soviet Union claims and May have been alive in the 1980s, says a new inquiry into the Fate of the swedish Diplomat. Soviet authorities say Wallenberg who is credited with saving tens of thousands of hungarian jews from the nazis during world War ii died in a soviet prison two years after he was arrested in Budapest Hungary on spying charges. But that claim is widely disputed. Wallenberg s relatives contend he is still alive. If so he would be 77 years old. A 1,200-Page report on the inquiry was issued tuesday in Ottawa Canada shortly before the Arri  of soviet president Mikhail s. Gorbachev. The report incorporates All available evidence from archives and from witnesses disputing the so Viet Union s claim said Irwin Cotler a Law professor at Canada s Mcgill University who participate Din the inquiry. I can t claim there s anything new in the re port Cotler said in a Telephone interview. But he said the report the first comprehensive outside collection of evidence in the Case presents a preponderance of evidence against the soviet claim. The report has incontrovertible evidence tha Wallenberg did not die in 1947, compelling Evi Dence that he was alive in the 1950s and credible evidence that he was alive in the 1970s and 1980s, Cotler said. Some of the most notable evidence came from eight former inmates of the soviet Union s Vladimir prison Cotler said. After their release the inmates separately told foreign consulates that a swedish prisoner named Wallenberg in the 1950s had asked them to Tell authorities about him Cotler said. Although they presented remarkably similar Tes Timony none of the former prisoners knew each other he said. Cotler said he had hoped the soviet Union s re cent admission of responsibility for the Katyn Mas Sacre in 1940 was a sign that the Kremlin would soon make full disclosure about Wallenberg. The study commission also consisted of Elie Wie Sel who won a Nobel prize for his writings about the holocaust Guy von Dardel Wallenberg s half brother Gideon Hausner the israeli prosecutor of nazi War criminal Adolf Eichmann and soviet Jurist Mikhail Chelnov