Its Veterans Day, so I would like to salute a particular group of veterans: those who served on the USS Liberty. On June 8, 1967 the USS Liberty, a virtually unarmed ship, was attacked in international waters off the coast of Egypt. The commander of the Liberty, Captain William L. McGonagle, would receive the Medal of Honor a year after the attack. The words that began the description of his service during this attack are an understatement: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Despite receiving critical wounds and loss of blood, Captain McGonagle not only refused to leave the bridge of the Liberty throughout the attack, he remained there for a full 17 hours, until the Liberty could rendezvous with a US ship. Then, after the rendezvous, still refused medical attention for himself until he was convinced that every one of his critically wounded men had received medical care. Attacked by both Air Force fighters and torpedo boats -- which managed to blow a large hole in the side of the Liberty -- and with literally no weaponry to fight back with, Captain McGonagle and his crew managed to keep the ship afloat through what would turn out to be a nearly two hour attack. Captain McGonagle and his crew displayed inspiring bravery throughout the ordeal. And now (as Paul Harvey used to say) for the rest of the story. Captain Mcgonagle would be awarded the Medal of Honor, but in a startling break in tradition, President Lyndon Johnson refused to take part in the ceremony. Johnson did not want the press aware of the ceremony, so he moved it to the DC Naval yard, and stayed at the White House to hand out diplomas to graduates, instead. Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations, expressed his disgust at this slight by saying, The way they did things, Im surprised they didnt just hand it to him under the 14th Street Bridge. Johnson did not want to bring any attention to the awarding the the nations highest honor to this incredibly brave man because of which country had attacked the USS Liberty. The scene of the attack on the USS Liberty was the Six-Day War. The country that attacked the Liberty was Israel. The Liberty was a spy ship, listening off the coast of Egypt for Soviet communications. Her presence there was not secret. She flew an enormous US flag. After the attack, Israel was quick to apologize, claiming the attack was a tragic case of mistaken identity. Despite the testimony of the men on the Liberty that showed the attack was clearly not a case of mistaken identity, Johnson accepted Israels explanation, then quickly covered up the entire affair. Before returning to the US, the Liberty was docked in Malta, where welders covered all traces of the attack to underplay the severity of what had happened. For years there has been controversy over whether Israel could have simply made such a mistake. The men on the ship testified that Israeli planes flew reconnaissance for hours over head, coming so close that the men on the deck even waved to pilots, and the pilots waved back. They also testified that during the attack Israel flew unmarked planes (a war crime), intentionally shot lifeboats that were deployed for the possibility of needing to abandon ship (another war crime), jammed emergency communications channels to keep the Liberty from sending a distress signal (yet another war crime), and dropped napalm onto the deck of the Liberty. All of this was covered up by the US government. Today, there is no longer any doubt about whether Israel knew the Liberty was a US ship. We have the recordings of communications between pilots and ground control. In those recordings, we can clearly hear the pilots identify the ship as American, and even read out her hull identification: GTR5. By the end of the attack, 34 crew members were dead, and 171 were wounded...all the result of a deliberate attack by Israel, covered up by the US government. Take a moment this Veterans Day to remember and honor the men of the Liberty, and to learn more about this attack, why it happened, why it was covered up, and how that event still effects us to this day. https://youtube/watch?v=aVwndkAEDms https://youtube/watch?v=h5b3BdRLCqc https://youtube/watch?v=OxJlgEPh2uI
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 01:39:40 +0000
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