It was June 8, 1968, a date that should live in infamy but doesn’t, that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara pulled back U. S. air support to allow Israeli fighter jets to spend hours attacking a nearly unarmed Intelligence ship of the U. S. Navy. The plan to sink the ship and blame it on Egyptian forces — thereby getting U. S. military backing for Israel in the Six-Day War — went awry when the ship just would not go down. Crewmen were silenced under threat of court martial, imprisonment “and worse” for three decades until the intimidation wore off and a few came forward. Officials now have to ignore the whole case rather than continue to lie and attempt to cover up the obvious facts.
(details at http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ussliberty.html)
by JOE MEADORS
USS Liberty Veterans Association
Suppose you gave a memorial service
for Americans killed in action during an
attack on a U.S. Navy ship by an enemy of
the United States and nobody came.
Suppose you gave a memorial service
for Americans killed in action during an
attack on a U.S. Navy ship in which that
shipwas ordered to be abandonedwhile it
was still under attack and calling for help
and nobody came.
Suppose you gave a memorial service
for Americans killed in action during an
attack on a U.S. Navy ship in which
among the awards won by the officers
and crew of that ship are the Medal of
Honor, two Navy Crosses, 11 Silver Stars,
20 Bronze Stars, nine Navy Commendations,
208 Purple Hearts, 294 Combat Action
Ribbons and the Presidential Unit
Citation, which makes it among the most
decorated ships for a single action in U.S.
Navy history, and nobody came.
Impossible, you say? Not so. In fact it
happens every year. On June 8 of every
year—the anniversary of the Israeli attack
on the USS Liberty—USS Liberty survivors
and our families gather to hold a
memorial service inWashingtonD.C. This
year it was held in the Navy Memorial.
Members of Congress were invited to
send an official representative to honor
our fallen shipmates as were the Department
of Defense and Navy Department,
the American Legion, the Navy League
and the Veterans of ForeignWars.
These are all organizations who never
miss an opportunity to honor the American
military especially those who have
been Killed in Action during an attack by
an enemy of the United States. Well, almost
never.
The Department of Defense was a noshow.
The Navy Department was a noshow.
The American Legion was a noshow.
The Navy League was a no-show.
Congress was a no-show.
This is nothing new. We’ve been holding
an annual memorial service in Washington
for decades. They’re always invited,
but they never attend a memorial service
for sailors killed on the USS Liberty. At
most, it’s a 10-minute drive from their offices
to honor American fallen sailors, and
none of those organizations could be
bothered to send a single official representative.