UpDate:  This is a re-post of an article I wrote several years ago and today, 08 June, is the 43rd anniversary of this incident

USS Liberty Incident

Recently I visited a local Naval Retirement Home with the hopes of interviewing some WWII vets and to get some interviews for a piece I was working on about the feelings the vets had after the war was over and if there were any problems readjusting to civilian life.  There were 4 vets at the home, two were away visiting family, 1 was in the hospital and the last did not want to talk.

My try was a bust!  I was sitting in the on property “food court” having a sandwich and coffee and trying desperately to think of another topic to write on.  About halfway through my meal a guy approached me and asked me what ship I served on.  Well, I was surprised at first and then told him I had served in the Army.  Then jokingly ask me, “what the hell is a grunt doing here?”  I smiled and told him about my idea for an article.  He thought for a few minutes, then said “that’s bullshit, boy”.  “Ever heard of the USS Liberty attack?”  I thought and thought, but could not come up with a good answer other than no, when was that?

He started his story and told me to take notes.  I did as I was told.

The gentlemen had been a bridge officer on the USS Liberty, a sigint ship.  A ship used to intercept signal intel and process it.  The date was 8 June 1967 and the ship was in international waters off the Sinai.  On 8 June the ship was flown over by Israeli recon planes and according to the officer when the crew on deck saw it was Israeli they began to wave and as the plane flew over it dipped its wings in recognition.  Next they were approached by several Mirage III jets, the French jets that only Israel flew at the time and they fired on the ship and then the ship was attacked by three Israeli gunboats with torpedoes.  The ships leadership did not fire back and the ship was flying a large American flag and has its ship’s ID clearly posted.

The gentleman told me that 34 sailors had died and that the crew received orders to not discuss the situation or the attack under threat of courts martial.  He said that the inquiry into the attack had found that it was an accident and was regrettable.  He laughed and said, “The SOBs knew exactly what they were doing and the bullshit about being missed ID as an Egyptian ship was an outright lie.”  I ask him what about the other ship.  He said the ship in question was about half the size of the Liberty and had Arabic ID, not in English.

He told me to this day he hated Israel, not because of some religious bullshit (his term) but because the assholes (his term) killed some very good friends and good sailors.  He said the sooner someone squashes the worthless fuckers (his term),  the better he will sleep.

We talked a bit more and he gave me two websites he said for me to check out and then make my decision.  He then abruptly stopped talking and said “gotta go, the ladies are waiting”.

http://www.ussliberty.com/

http://www.usslibertyinquiry.com/

This is an extremely interesting case–I have read as much as I could digest on this attack and I prefer to believe the sailors that experienced the hell……..

But I say check it out for yourself and decide who is right and who is wrong.

22/12/04

Postscript–I thought about this piece and decided to show it to the gentleman I had talked with;  when I went to talk with him I was told he had died from a stroke.  I spent most of January 07 deciding whether to publish the story or just let the whole thing go.  I decided to tell the part that I got from the aged sailor and let the reader decide for themselves.