Today, Saturday, June 8, marks the 57th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. It was a spy ship positioned offshore of the Sinai Peninsula in international waters observing the Egyptian Israeli conflict known to history as the Six-Day War. I own a special edition of a book about it titled The Assault on the USS Liberty by James M. Ennes who was the cryptology officer on the ship.
The reason this is today's subject of the “Happenings on the Way to Heaven” column, is my parents were friends of his. For those who don't remember this attack, it lasted two hours and killed 34 Americans and wounded 171 others including the ship's Captain. When the Navy surveyed the vessel in dry dock, they discovered 831 rocket and machine gun holes in addition to the 40-foot gaping hole caused by the Israeli torpedo. The ship was disabled from the air by jets dropping napalm, aircraft cannon, and rockets, then torpedo boats came in for the kill. The ship did not sink, but it had to be scrapped.
USS Liberty was built as a Technical Research Ship. Sailors referred to them as Spook ships. Liberty sailors were nicknamed "spooks."
Ennes says that details about this attack were hushed up in both countries. Instructions were given from the highest officials in our government to other US vessels in the area NOT to render aid until the Israelis finally called off the attack.
My special edition book contains a color photograph pasted into the book by the author with a note to my mom. Mr. Ennes wrote, "Dear L--, This is the shot described on p. 118. It is probably the only photograph ever taken of a Navy captain actually in the act of winning a Medal of Honor. The man who took the photo is still on active duty and was commissioned an ensign in mid-1980 from Chief Cryptologic Technician. He remains convinced that he will never get another promotion if he cooperates with my book in any way and will not give me permission to use this picture--even though I invited him to seek official permission from the Navy.
Ennes continues, “Notice the tourniquet still in place on McGonagle's leg. It should have been removed, of course, when the bleeding stopped, but it was forgotten, and he was too sick to be aware it was there. With very best wishes, Jim Ennes. "
The picture shows the captain of the ship after he was injured still commanding the ship and is included in the photo essay below. Lt. Cdr. Ennes writes about Capt. McGonagle, "He sat stubbornly in the chair, a paper cup in his right hand, drinking black coffee. His khaki trouser leg had been torn away above the right knee to reveal the abuse it had suffered." The abuse he had suffered was so bad that you could not tell the leg was a leg.
My mother helped Ennes get an interview on the Larry King show which helped Ennes enormously to promote the book. In those days, the Larry King Show was a radio program that aired nationally and focused on politics.
Lessons Learned
I mention this because everyone should know about the assault on the USS Liberty. I love Israel, and I am not anti-Israel in any way, but this is an event that everyone should remember.
Next, the book author is a courageous example of someone standing up for truth. He waited until he was out of the service to tell his story until 1979, but it tells the truth of what he and his men experienced on that ship and as much as he could learn about why Israel attacked them in the first place.
There are still no conclusive answers. The Israelis say it was an honest mistake of misidentification. Others are not so sure. What is certain is that our American sailors died and should have been given aid much more quickly. The first ship to arrive with medics came seventeen hours after the attack ended.
Finally, everyday people can make a difference. My mother was an ordinary person determined to help her friend get an interview on the Larry King show. She kept calling into the show and telling Larry King about the book until he became curious enough to investigate the story and then he had James Ennes on the show.
In sum, we can all do SOMETHING for truth, for country, and for the glory of our savior. What follows are the photos taken from the book. In this photo essay, I hope you will take time to study them and reflect on why this happened, why aid was not rendered quickly, and why this has been covered up. There has never been a conclusive investigation and no one on this earth has ever been held accountable.
Our Savior will hold those accountable in the end. In Proverbs, it teaches, “Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—both are detestable to the LORD.” (17:15) and “The wicked are crushed by disaster, but the godly have a refuge when they die.” (14:32). These are assurances that everyone ultimately receives their due.
An innocent Christ was wrongly condemned on the cross, but God raised him from the dead, promising to do the same for us, if we only believe. Open our eyes to truth. We must never live in lies.
Note: Most of the captions are legible within the photo essay. Where they were hard to read, I retyped them. If you see arrows and handwriting, recall Lt. Cdr. Ennes hand annotated my mama's copy of the book. Most photos are courtesy of the US Navy unless otherwise noted.
See the Mirage jet in the lower right of the photo above? Two men died in the gun barrel in the top right. The black spots are holes from air cannons.
President Johnson called his advisors to an emergency meeting while the ship was still under attack, but White House intervention. prevented any timely rescue attempt. (Official White House photo by Yoichi Okamoto). The Inset photo was a solid mass of flame from direct napalm hits. That's why it's blackened. (Photo by Bill Ray, Life Magazine C.1967 TIME, Inc.
Look between the railing and the ladder and you can see the torpedo boat approaching.
The USS Liberty was taken to drydock in Malta. This shows the extent of the torpedo damage. US NAVY photo
The torpedo tore a 40 foot hole on the starboard side and caused USS Liberty to have a nine-degree list. US NAVY photo.
The crew worked for several days to remove bodies and clean up the torpedoed compartment. US NAVY photo
When bulkheads near the flooded compartment threatened to collapse, they were supported by a sturdy complex of timber and steel braces. Ensign John Scott, shown here, supervised the ship's damage control teams. US NAVY photo
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