USS Pueblo crewman hopes documentary fundraiser will spur activity at Venice VFW Post 8118

VENICE – Richard Rogala, one of 48 surviving crew members of the USS Pueblo, hopes that a Feb. 10 fundraiser featuring a documentary based on the vessel's plight, will help spur a resurgence of Tamiami Trail Memorial VFW Post 8118 in Venice.

The 832 E. Venice Ave. post is one of 10 active in Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties operated under the auspices of Veterans of Foreign Wars – the oldest major veterans organization and the largest organization of war veterans in the nation.

Rogala has already watched as the local chapter of American Ex-Prisoners of War dwindled in membership from as many as 75 in 2012 to just a few, while Fleet Reserve disbanded last year its membership fell to nine, one shy of the minimum.

Last September, he attended the final reunion of USS Pueblo survivors as only 15 of the 48 survivors were able enough to travel.

He worries the same fate may await his beloved VFW Post as soon as this summer.

“I want to keep the doors open,” said the 76-year-old Rogala.

“I’m hell-bent on keeping the place open and I’m hell-bent on appealing to people −anybody that can − to help us out over there,” he added.

The latest significant attempt is a planned dinner-and-a-movie showing of “Pueblo: A Year of Crisis in America,” a 54-minute documentary by Bill Lowe released in 2023 that is based in part on the survivors' stories – including from Rogala, who will answer questions afterwards.

Doors open at 5 p.m., with a cash bar at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m., and the movie at 7 p.m.

For information and tickets, call 941-303-6671.

Rogala called the documentary factual and interesting, then added it “really gave a good picture of what happened on that day.”

Pueblo illegally seized in international waters

On Jan. 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo, a 345-ton, 177-foot Navy spy ship, was conducting an electronic surveillance mission for the National Security Agency in international waters – roughly 14 miles off the coast of North Korea, well outside the 12-mile limit – when it was attacked and illegally seized by gunboats and airplanes.

Ten crew members were wounded and one killed.

Rogala was among the 81 crew members who were imprisoned for 11 months by the communist regime.

Rogala and most of his shipmates were beaten and fed stale bread and soup.

This was at the height of the Vietnam War. The crew was eventually released in December 1968 after America was forced to admit to committing “war crimes.”

The Pueblo is currently moored along the Taedong River in Pyongyang used as a propaganda tourist museum – attempts to barter for her return have been fruitless.

The Pueblo crew wasn’t officially granted POW status until 1990, with the crew receiving military health care benefits.

In 2017 President Donald Trump named North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, which allowed more than 100 crew members and their relatives to file suit in federal court against North Korea under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and collect compensation.

In 2021, they were awarded $2.3 billion in damages, which they were eligible to collect through a fund established by Congress in 2015 as the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism (USVSST) Fund. 

That same fund, which uses money from sanctions against terrorist countries, is also used to pay claims upon the behalf of the victims and immediate family members of the 911 Terrorist attacks and the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 by Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists.

Rogala said the Pueblo survivors and their heirs have received less than one half of the 1% awarded in 2021.

He and other survivors have been lobbying Congress to “fund the fund.”

Seasonal VFW attendance

Between veterans and auxiliary members, VFW 8118 has roughly 600 members, but only in the past year or so had it been taking advantage of a permitting process that allows it to open up the VFW hall for outside use.

VFW Post 8118 Commander Debra Trebesch said the post hopes to encourage more members or outside visitors.

“We’re trying to get out to the public to tell them, 'we're here,'” Trebesch said.

The VFW always has had strict membership rules, specifically with respect to having served on foreign soil.

Relatives can join the auxiliary.

The current hope is that the public will come in to enjoy live music, card games, karaoke, fish fry dinners and other open events, especially during snowbird season.

VFW District 10 Commander Richard Betrosian – a Member of the William A Garvey VFW Post 8203 – is less concerned about the future of Post 8118, saying that within the district “all 10 are still doing alright.”

He added that the VFW plans on recruitment drives at upcoming events such as Thunder By the Bay and the Sarasota County Fair.

Once the summer hits, VFW activities diminish based on funding.

“It’s always been cyclical like that down here,” Betrosian said.

Nationally, there is an ebb and flow, too, noted Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States national spokesman Randi Law.

“Simply put, some posts are growing while others are shrinking,” Law said in an email. “Geography and Post priorities are factors, but we must remember the veteran population isn’t what it once was in terms of numbers, now with an all-volunteer force comprised of less than 1% of the American population.

“With that however, our projections indicate in fact the VFW is showing organizational growth and will conclude this membership year with significantly more members than the last.”

That projection feeds off a robust 2019, when the organization added almost 25,000 people to end a 27-year decline in membership.

Back then, the VFW had almost 1.2 million members – still a million short of its peak in 1992, but significant.

Then, the growth was attributed in part to the growth in awareness through the internet and social media.

That type of projected growth would please Rogala, who does not want to see the VFW follow in the footsteps of the other two, admittedly smaller veterans groups that no longer meet.

He does not want to lose the connection that the VFW affords.

“That’s what this is all about,” he said. ”My camaraderie with other veterans and being with them to share stories.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice VFW Post to show USS Pueblo documentary as part of fundraiser