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From Frank Clynes, Jul 12, 2015
Linda Ellerbee, a national tv anchor, once received a fan letter from a young admirer. She wrote; "Dear Ms. Ellerbee, when I grow up, I want to do just what you do. So please, do it better." My inspiration was the Greek mathematician Archimedes, who laid down the laws of leverage. "Give me a place in space to stand, and I could move the world." Television news was such a place, and I hoped someday to apply it. In November 1970, that opportunity came. I was assigned to WTEV's Washington bureau when I learned of an incident at sea, near Marthas Vineyard. Simas Kudirka, a Lithuanian radio operator on a Soviet factory ship, had made a leap of faith onto the USCG Cutter Vigilant, seeking political asylum. The commander granted it, but was then ordered to hand him back to the Russians by his superiors in Boston. They wished to avoid an international incident, and they slapped a top secret lid on it. Kudirka committed the most heinous crime that a Soviet citizen could commit. He had yearned to breathe free, and now the KGB had him. A southern congressman tipped me off about it and said, "This ain't right. Somebody ought to do something.'' Nobody trusted the telephones in the U.S. Capitol... This was the Nixon era. I flew back to the district, leaving my reporter in the dark. When I got to the station, Jack Delaney was furious. He forbade me from exposing it. It was not the news media's role to second guess our nation's leaders. If they wanted it kept secret, WTEV would not leak it. Now Go Home! When I got to the corner of County and Union, I could see the masts of the USCG Vigilant at the state pier in the distance. It was their tv station and their news department, but that sound camera belonged to me. Commander Ralph Eustis was in his quarters, regretting his actions the day before. You can't un-ring a bell, but if he could relive that day over, he would surely do it different. No one ever gets a second chance in life. The phone rang and his sentry at the gangplank said a tv reporter with a camera was asking permission to board. I was escorted to the wheel house. Eustis told me to set up my camera and he would tell me everything. He believed the KGB would kill Kudirka and throw the body overboard, unless we could stop them. He told me of the gag order and believed this interview would end his military career. My career was finished too. I returned to the studio to hand in my resignation. I would offer the interview to WJAR-10. Delaney had left for the day, but Truman Taylor said he would air it. He got Vance Eckersley's backing, then made two copies. I took them to the airport and sent them to ABC and CBS. That evening the Secretary of Transportation, John A. Volpe watched it on TV. He called the White House, who contacted the Kremlin. They in turn contacted the Soviet ship and issued orders that Kudirka was not to be harmed. Simas was later freed from a Siberian prison under intense pressure from the U.S. State department and deported to the USA. Later he would later write of his adventures in his book, "For those still at sea.'' Volpe turned his attention to the officers responsible. Admiral Ellis and Captain Brown were fired. Commander Ralph Eustis lost his command, but was allowed to remain in the service. Ralph had gotten his second chance. He had done the right thing at the end of the day. Years later he would retire to Marion, Massachusetts. The little station that nobody watches, had used their leverage and moved the world. I lost my cushy Washington assignment, but Vance let me create a new Boston bureau. It was only a matter of time before Delaney would get me, so I accepted a position at WPRI-12. Would I do it the same way again, if I had a second chance? Absolutely. For Simas Kudirka, and for all those still at sea. Frank | |
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(Previous Version)
From Frank Clynes, Jan 5, 2001
There is a book available through the local library with the title you see above, written by Simas Kudirka. In the early seventies, WTEV exposed a story that eventually led to his being freed from a Soviet prison. Today Simas is living somewhere in the Los Angeles area, and I'm trying to locate him. Kudirka had jumped from a Soviet trawler onto the deck of the New Bedford-based USCG Cutter Vigilant, while the two ships were along side each other on the high seas, off the coast of Massachusetts. He was a Lithuanian radio operator and was seeking asylum. Initially Commander Ralph Eustis, the captain of the Coast Guard cutter, granted it and hid him on his ship. But then his superior officers back in Boston learned of the incident, and ordered Eustis to turn the man back to the Russians. They feared that an international incident would jeopardize the secret fishing treaty negotiations, which representatives from both ships were currently engaged in. At first Eustis refused, but both Admiral Ellis and Captain Brown issued a direct order and reluctantly he complied. The Soviet political officers were allowed to board the American ship where they found Kudirka, beat him unconscious with blackjacks, then dragged him back to the Russian ship. Commander Eustis was then ordered by his superiors not to talk to anyone about this, in the interest of national security. While working in the Washington bureau for WTEV-6, I had learned about it from a South Carolina Congressman who had somehow obtained a copy of a radio message between Boston Search & Rescue and the US State Department. When he showed it to me, he said "This ain't right. Somebody ought to do something." I returned to New Bedford and informed the news director, Jack Delaney. But Delaney told me to forget it. He said it wasn't the job of the news media to second guess the decisions of our nations leaders. They had far more information than we did, and could be counted on to do the right thing for the country. He said that if I had been in the military like he had, I'd know that. Well, I didn't know that, but there wasn't much else to do at that point, but go home. When I got to the corner of County and Union Streets, I could see the masts of the USCG Vigilant at the bottom of the hill, now tied up at the state pier. The ship had just returned to port that morning. Everyone had written this man off: the Coast Guard, the US State Department, the Soviets, and now even the news media. At this intersection, Simas Kudirka's last hope was waiting at a red light, trying to figure out which way to turn. But I knew that if I went the wrong way here, I'd be doing it for the rest of my life. It was certainly Delaney's news department and he could do whatever he wanted with it, but that camera belonged to me. In the Commanders quarters onboard the Vigilant, Ralph Eustis was in a depressed mood. Twenty-four hours earlier, he had made a fateful decision which cost Kudirka his freedom and possibly his life. The KGB had been known to kill political prisoners without benefit of a trial. Kurderka had committed the most serious crime imaginable in the USSR; he had yearned to breathe free. Although Eustis had followed his orders and allowed the Soviets to board his ship, he now wished he had not. Like Lord Jim, he had made the wrong decision and couldn't undue it. He couldn't unring a bell. Then the phone rang, and the Guardsman posted at the foot of the gangplank told him a television photographer was asking permission to come aboard. Eustis told him to escort me to his quarters. I set my camera up and started rolling, and he gave me the whole story. It was only at the end of the interview, that he told me he was under a gag order from his superiors. He had knowingly scuttled his own career when he let me onboard his ship. But in doing so, got what few men ever get in this life; a second chance. And now Simas had one too. I had also disobeyed a direct order when I covered this story, and now returned to the station to turn in my resignation. I'd have to find another TV station that would air it. But the news director had gone home for the day, and Truman Taylor decided to run the story on his show. At Truman's suggestion, we made two videotaped copies and flew them out to ABC and CBS. When the networks ran the story that evening, John Volpe, the Secretary of Transportation saw it and immediately fired the Admiral and the Captain. Ralph Eustis lost his command, but because he had the courage to stand against the wind, was allowed to remain in the service. President Nixon ordered the State Department to begin high level negotiations to get Simas freed. It took nearly two years, but they finally got him out of prison and out of the USSR, along with his family. The Soviets deported Kudirka for harboring and spreading dangerous ideas. Simas Kudirka later wrote a book about his experience, with the help of a writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer. But he never learned that it was Commander Eustis who was directly responsible for his freedom. I would like to find him, wherever he is today, and tell him. Ralph Eustis is now retired and living in Marion, Massachusetts. If I had it to do over, would I do the same thing again? | |
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For Simas Kudirka, and for all those still at sea. yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse from your teeming shore. Send these, the hungry, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my torch before the golden door. =====================================
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