Here are the names of those killed in action aboard the U.S.S. Liberty, 43 years ago today.
LCDR Philip McCutcheon Armstrong, Jr. Navy Cross
LT James Cecil Pierce
LT Stephen Spencer Toth, Silver Star
CT3 William Bernard Allenbaugh
SN Gary Ray Blanchard
CT2 Allen Merle Blue
QM3 Francis Brown
CT2 Ronnie Jordan Campbell
CT2 Jerry Leroy Converse
CT2 Robert Burton Eisenberg
CT2 Jerry Lee Gross
CT1 Curtis Alan Graves
CTSN Lawrence Pasul Hayden
CT1 Warren Edward Hersey
CT3 Alan (NMN) Higgins
SN Carl Lewis Hoar
CT2 Richard Walter Keene, Jr.
CTSN James Lee Lenau
CTC Raymond Eugene Linn
CT1 James Mahlon Lupton
CT3 Duane Rowe Marggraf
CTSN David Walter Marlborough
CT2 Anthony Peter Mendle
CTSN Carl Christian Nygren
SGT Jack Lewis Raper, USMC
CPL Edward Emory Rehmeyer, III, USMC
IFCN David (NMN) Skolak
CT1 John Caleb Smith, Jr.
CTC Melvin Douglas Smith
PC2 John Clarence Spicher
GMG3 Alexander Neil Thompson, Jr.
CT3 Thomas Ray Thornton
CT3 Philippe Charles Tiedke
CT1 Frederick James Walton
The day these U.S. servicemen were murdered I was on leave from the U.S. Army. My best friend, Dave Halford, was on leave from the U.S. Navy. We were camping on the shore of Hood Canal in Washington state. We'd been trolling for early salmon and diving for oysters in beautiful, sunny weather.
We had brought a portable radio with us to the camp site, so had been listening to the beginnings of the Six-Day War on the news. When we heard the early news of the attack on the U.S.S. Liberty, which was immediately being portrayed as an awful mistake, Dave turned to me and said, "This was NO MISTAKE!" He was visibly shaking.
3 comments:
Phil-
First, I think it would be helpful to explain this issue a bit more. Tell us about the U.S.S. Liberty and what it was doing there.
Then I think it would also be helpful to remember, for example, the massacres of thousands of Palestinians by the Jordanians in the early 1970's (Black September) the massacre of thousands in the "Muslim Brotherhood" by the Syrians in the city of Hamas (in the same period of time)- which is where the political organization gets it's name.
As we recognize the unacceptable acts of the Israeli gov't, a context must be established to understand the complexity of the region and it's history and unacceptable acts of other governments there as well.
asnon @ 7:11,
I've explained the Liberty here before. I link to articles from both sides (at the wikipedia entry). Nobody is stopping you from starting your own blog to "remember, for example, the massacres of thousands of Palestinians by the Jordanians in the early 1970's (Black September) the massacre of thousands in the "Muslim Brotherhood" by the Syrians in the city of Hamas (in the same period of time)- which is where the political organization gets it's name."
Reposted from the Helen Thomas/Sarah Palin thread:
Hey Phil, the Palingates website alleges that the Alaska fund trust(AFT)legal defense fund was a fraud, did RAM talk about that with you, or did she just talk about her loathing of Rahm Emmanuel????
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