Don’t Forget the USS Liberty’s Dead and Wounded

 

Don’t Forget the USS Liberty’s Dead and Wounded

By Wayne Stiles
Medium

June 10, 2024

 

 

 

Reader’s celebrating and remembering veterans on Memorial Day and on D Day should not overlook the sacrifices of the dead and wounded on board the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967.

I am grateful to those that have read my previous stories about the sneak attack made on the USS Liberty by Israel, an attack which killed 34 and wounded 171 Americans. I am continually surprised at the number of people that are not aware of Israel’s duplicity and treachery visited on an unarmed, plainly marked and neutral ship of the United States while it operated in international waters. My earlier stories are listed as follows:

https://medium.com/@wfspi/the-day-israel-attacked-the-usa-f2165b231102

https://medium.com/@wfspi/did-israel-and-the-u-s-collude-in-the-6-day-war-9169a5acc8d6

https://medium.com/@wfspi/uss-liberty-survivors-fight-back-dd3916e6fd70

The dead and wounded of the USS Liberty didn’t go down fighting in the sense that they were in a war with a known adversary. Yes, many went down fighting while defending their ship against a false-flag,

intentional attack by their supposed ally, Israel.  On the Psychology of M... Dixon, Norman F Best Price: $22.90 Buy New $22.99 (as of 08:55 UTC - Details)

I piloted the first helicopter evacuation (rescue) mission to the USS Liberty the morning following the attack. The ship which had been hit below-decks by an Israeli torpedo, also showed over 1100 hits from rockets and burn marks from the napalm Israel dropped on the ship the previous afternoon. Nowhere to land so we hovered, bringing up wounded with our hoist. While over the ship I had the continuous view of blood sloshing back and forth in the forward gun tub as the ship rolled. Evacuation went on all that day.

Survivors reported that all their radio transmissions were jammed, including the international distress frequencies, in violation of international law. They also reported that napalm was dropped on the ship causing fires. Firefighters were then fired upon by Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats. Medical personnel administering to the wounded were also fired upon as they frantically treated bullet and burn wounds. The outrages didn’t stop there-when the captain ordered life boats to be launched in fear of the ship’s sinking, the Israeli attackers strafed them, sunk them and then fired and damaged life boats still in racks on the ship.

For their efforts at reporting what they saw, the surviving crew members were labeled antisemites and racists by Israel and its supporters, many in the United States.

The Liberty did manage to get out a distress signal from an antenna strung by a brave crewman while under fire by Israeli aircraft. The USS America (my ship) and the USS Saratoga launched support aircraft, some of which were armed with nuclear missiles. Since Israel had led us to believe that it was Egypt that attacked the Liberty, we were ready to use nuclear weapons on that country. When the Liberty refused to sink, the Israelis cried mea culpa and said it was a terrible “mistake”. The aircraft were recalled by President Johnson, who said, “I don’t care if the ship goes to the bottom, I won’t embarrass our ally.” The planes were recalled when only 6 minutes away from Cairo, while the Liberty was still under attack.

And so the coverup began with the United States in full cooperation with Israel. Survivors and their families were threatened with military justice and imprisonment if they spoke of the incident. Media coverage was curtailed and crafted to support the “mistake”. The ship was forced to steam half-way across the Mediterranean to Malta so repairs could be made in secret, away from the prying and questioning eyes of the media. And all done to deceive the American people as to the actions of their “ally” Israel. The nature and duration of the attack was minimized. The “investigation” was minimized and excluded the accounts of most of the witnesses. Remember the Liberty!:... Phillip F. Nelson, Ron... Best Price: $12.75 Buy New $10.00 (as of 07:20 UTC - Details)

What is hard to imagine is that Israel then enshrined the wheel and the bell of the torpedo boat, the one that almost sank our ship and killed 25 NSA personnel below decks, into their naval museum. Even harder to understand is our asking the Israeli ambassador whether Israel minded if we awarded the USS Liberty’s heroic Captain McGonagle the Congressional Medal of Honor. Captain McGonagle, though severely wounded in one of his legs, stayed on what was left of the ship’s bridge until he guided it safely to the Malta shipyard.

Alas, the coverup has continued for 57 years. The anniversary is tomorrow. Please remember these guys. Support their continued calls for an investigation that is required under U.S. law.

Visit their website: usslibertyveterans.com for information, survivor accounts, photographs and to donate to the fund they use to contact their elected representatives. On behalf on my USS Liberty colleagues and veterans, thanks for reading.

This originally appeared on Medium and was reprinted with the author’s permission.