On June 8, 1967, a Navy intelligence ship, the USS Liberty, was mistaken for an Egyptian warship and attacked by the Israeli military during the Six-Day War. The strafing and torpedo attack left 34 Americans dead and 171 wounded. The Liberty still managed to reach another U.S. vessel despite suffering heavy damage (including a 40-foot wide hole in its side) and was later escorted to Malta for repairs. Captain William McGonagle was later awarded a Medal of Honor for his leadership under fire in an unconventionally secret ceremony. The Israeli government quickly apologized for the incident and paid compensation to the victims and their families. A report conducted by Clark Clifford, then on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and later Secretary of Defense, concluded that “The unprovoked attack on the Liberty constitutes a flagrant act of gross negligence for which the Israeli Government should be held completely responsible, and the Israeli military personnel involved should be punished.”
To this day many are skeptical that the attack was accidental and have even theorized that the attack was carried out to prevent the Liberty's collected intelligence from being inadvertently picked up by the enemy. Three Israeli investigations blamed human error and poor communications from both sides on the attack. President Johnson accepted the Israeli explanation. William Dale was Deputy Chief of Mission in Tel Aviv during the attack. He was interviewed by Dr. Henry E. Mattox on September 19, 1988. Arnold Schifferdecker was a staff aide at the time; he was interviewed by C. Edward Dillery in 1996.
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