Tuesday, June 8, 2010

In Memoriam - June 8th 1967 - June 8th 2010

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:

Anonymous said...

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.

Philip Munger said...

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."

Anonymous said...

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????