The Medal of Honor No President Has Named — USS Liberty, 1967

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]June 8th, 1967 2:00 in the afternoon the Eastern Mediterranean off Sinai Two Israeli Mirage jets strafed the deck of the American intelligence ship USS [music] Liberty.

[00:00:13]Six hours later, Liberty will be barely afloat.

[00:00:17]34 American sailors [music] will die.

[00:00:20]The official explanation will be mistaken identity.

[00:00:23]The surviving [music] crew will spend 58 years disputing it.

[00:00:27]USS Liberty was a US Navy electronic intelligence ship.

[00:00:32]She had been on station off Sinai for two days monitoring radio traffic during the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arabs.

[00:00:39]Liberty was flagged [music] with a US ensign 5 by 8 ft.

[00:00:43]Her hull number was painted on both sides.

[00:00:47]She had been identified by Israeli [music] reconnaissance at 6:00 in the morning.

[00:00:51]Israeli Mirages attacked at 1400.

[00:00:54]Their cannon fire killed nine.

[00:00:57]Three Israeli torpedo boats arrived at 1435.

[00:01:01]One torpedo blew a 40-ft hole below the waterline.

[00:01:05]Commander William McGonagle was wounded in the leg at 1407.

[00:01:10]He kept the ship afloat.

[00:01:12]He remained on the bridge [music] for 17 hours.

[00:01:15]Defense Secretary Robert McNamara recalled the Sixth Fleet [music] rescue aircraft.

[00:01:20]Israel apologized within four hours.

[00:01:23]Israel paid $13 million in compensation.

[00:01:27]The American government accepted it.

[00:01:30]McGonagle received the Medal of Honor on June 11th, 1968, not at the White House, but at the Washington Navy Yard in a private ceremony.

[00:01:39]No president has publicly mentioned it.

[00:01:42]Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Thomas Moorer wrote in 1989, "I have never believed the attack was [music] an accident."

[00:01:49]34 Americans died.

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