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   SHIPMATES BID QUIET GOODBYE
   TO HERO CAPTAIN OF WOUNDED SHIP

   by Jerry Jonas
   BUCKS COUNTY COURIER TIMES --
   Sunday 4/18/99


   Last Friday, on a hill at Arlington National
Cemetery, as his former shipmates tearfully
rendered him their final salute, and four Navy jet
fighters roared overhead, an American hero was
laid to rest.  His name was William L. McGonagle,
a retired U.S. Navy Captain who had spent nearly
three decades in the service of his country
(including WW II and Korea) and had been awarded
its highest military tribute, the Medal of Honor.

   McGonagle's death went almost unreported in the
nation's press. A few newspapers carried a brief
obituary, but most either chose to ignore or were
unaware of his passing.

   Dignitaries, including the President and Vice
President, the Secretary of the Navy, The Director
of the National Security Agency, and several
senators and congressmen had been invited to his
funeral, but few showed up.  Their absence was yet
another slight to a man who had given so much for
his country.

   McGonagle was the Captain of the U.S.S.
Liberty, an American Intelligence gathering ship
which had been involved in the most con-
troversial incident in U.S. naval history.

   On June 8, 1967 (Day 4 of the 6-Day Arab
Israeli war), in inter- national waters in the
eastern Mediterranean, the Liberty was attacked
and severely damaged by Israeli jet aircraft
firing rockets and machine guns and dropping
napalm.  Sailors were gunned down and incinerated
as they ran for cover.  Israeli patrol boats fired
5 torpedoes -- one blasting a 40-ft. hole in the
ship's side.  According to survivors, when the
ship stubbornly remained afloat, torpedo boat
personnel machine-gunned their life rafts, and
troop-carrying helicopters arrived to finish the
job.

   The unprovoked assault resulted in the deaths
of 34 young Americans and the wounding of another
171.

   On the ship's badly damaged bridge during the
first napalm attack, Captain McGonagle was
severely burned by the flaming jelly, and his legs
were ripped open by shrapnel.  Despite his life
threatening injuries and extensive bleeding, he
refused to leave his battle station.  Under
continuous exposure to hostile fire, he maneuvered
the ship, directed its defense, supervised the
control of flooding and fire, and saw to the care
of casualties.  For 17 hours, he calmly exercised
command until American assistance finally arrived.

   Within days, the Israeli government apologized,
claiming that the American ship had been
misidentified as an Egyptian freighter. President
Lyndon Johnson accepted the excuse, but numerous
high ranking government officials insisted that
the attack was no accident.  Some claimed that it
was an attempt to conceal Israel's planned seizure
of Syria's Golan Heights from the Americans.

   A U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry determined that
the Liberty was in international waters in clear
weather, was clearly marked as to nationality (its
U.S. flag was flying in a stiff breeze), and had
suffered an unprovoked attack.  Survivors insisted
that it had been overflown and carefully observed
by Israeli aircraft for 8 hours before the attack.
Yet a much requested Congressional inquiry was
never initiated.

   In the following weeks, the crew was dispersed
and forbidden by the Navy to ever discuss the
incident, and 6 of the dead crew members were
buried in a common grave in Arlington National
Cemetery.

   McGonagle was eventually awarded the Medal of
Honor for his heroic actions, but even that was
presented in a backhanded manner that would
generate the least amount of publicity.

   "It irked the hell out of me when McGonagle's
ceremony was rele- gated to the obscurity of the
Washington Navy Yard instead of the White House,
and the medal was presented by the Secretary of
the Navy instead of the President," an irate
Admiral Moorer complained.

   For nearly three decades, McGonagle, torn
between loyalty to the Navy and the love of his
crew, refused to discuss details of the incident.
Crew members who did, were often labeled
anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.

   Then, less than 2 years before his death, in
his first public statement concerning the attack,
McGonagle finally broke his long silence.

   "I think it's about time that the state of
Israel and the United States government provide
the crew members of the Liberty and the rest of
the American people the facts of what happened,
and why the Liberty was attacked," McGonagle
pleaded tearfully. Although it's now too late for
McGonagle, we as a nation, owe his surviving
shipmates at least that much.

                             -----------------

JERRY JONAS' column appears every Sunday.  You can
leave a message for Jerry at 949-0376, or write to
him c/o Life Department, Bucks County
Courier-Times, 8400 Rt. 13, Levittown, PA 19057.
E-mail jjonas@philly.infi.net

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___________________________________________________________
  John
  http://www.magicnet.net/~gidusko/ o__ _.>/)_
  I'll tell you the truth about the USS LIBERTY,
  visit (_) \(_)
  http://www.magicnet.net/~gidusko/liberty.html
  ___________________________________________________________