The USS Liberty

[River Rat 1]

A interesting read of a story that's not always told in the history books.

http://www.usslibertyveterans.org/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

[aerialbridge]

Yeah. I put that up there with what happened to USS Panay. Getting away with murder and "with friends like that who needs....."

[uniformcollector]

If you ever get a chance to visit Michigan's Military and Space Heroes' Museum, they have an entire display honoring those who served on the Liberty. They have the XO's medals, uniform, etc., a battered flag from the ship, a piece of the hull that was hit and they were the first museum to ever erect a monument to it.

[mvmhm]

We have some Liberty items on display as well....

 

 

Mark sends

[FFZFlyer]

This is actually a rather well-known incident. The CO received the MoH, but the presentation was low key in order to avoid insulting the Israelis. Those of us who were around in 1967 and in uniform well remember the concern that we'd be fighting in the Middle East. Israel ultimately paid off the casualties' families. This was a completely avoidable incident yet our government tried to sweep it under the rug and we still give billions of dollars every year to Israel. Go figure. Several excellent books on the incident are available.

[Dave]

I was able to photograph both a PH and SS/PH posthumous group from the USS Liberty for my upcoming book (Volume 2) about posthumous Purple Hearts (both groups are still with the families. I had the option to photograph a third, but passed as they're well represented with the two previous groups).

[hink441]

This picture of the bloodied and battered USS Liberty Skipper on the bridge just after the attack is truly a great picture. Notice he has a cup of coffee and he looks really pissed!!

 

[Twillie2]

Thanks for the info. And it really is an interesting story. I had heard about the USS Liberty when I was in high school. It shocked me that Israel mistakenly thought she was not a U.S. ship. What? You didn't see the U.S. flag? By the way, did any of the sailors aboard the USS Pueblo receive any awards? R/ Twillie2

[uniformcollector]

I also believe that U.S. fighters were sent, but turned around before taking action.

[cw1979]

Thanks for the info. And it really is an interesting story. I had heard about the USS Liberty when I was in high school. It shocked me that Israel mistakenly thought she was not a U.S. ship. What? You didn't see the U.S. flag? By the way, did any of the sailors aboard the USS Pueblo receive any awards? R/ Twillie2

The Captain received the Medal of Honor; the XO received the Navy Cross and the ship received the Presidential Unit Citation.

 

I know there were Silver Stars; Bronze Stars & Navy Commendation Medals issued but I don't know how many of each.