'No One Ever Apologized' (USS Liberty)

John Hrankowski will be miles away from Arlington National Cemetery this weekend, but he will be close in spirit as fellow crewmates from the USS Liberty gather to remember the 35th anniversary of an Israeli attack on an American intelligence ship.

The Greece man said his health is preventing him from attending the "No Greater Love Remembrance Ceremony" Saturday in Washington, D.C., where crewmates will pause to remember the 34 who died and 172 wounded during the June 8, 1967 air and sea attack. The attack occurred during the Six Day War between Israel and the Arab states.

"It's got to be rectified because we didn't get killed. We're still here," said Hrankowski, who was 19 at the time of the attack and earned a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered.

The attack is controversial because Israel claimed it mistook the USS Liberty for an out-of-service Egyptian horse carrier El Quseir and that the U.S. was operating in a war zone without displaying a flag.

Hrankowski and other Americans dispute that account. They say the ship was in international waters, away from fighting, and that the American flag was flying.

Ever since the USS Liberty Veterans Association formed 20 years ago, Hrankowski - the only known USS Liberty survivor in Monroe County and one of only a few in the state - has been an outspoken advocate, talking to groups all over the country to tell the full story.

"Our government said Israel apologized and paid, but the Israelis have not answered and no one ever apologized," Hrankowski said.

According to information on the USS Liberty website, Lyndon Johnson in his memoirs called the attack "a tragic accident." Robert McNamara, his secretary of defense, stated "I didn't believe [the attack] was intended at the time, and I don't believe it now."

But Dean Rusk, Johnson's secretary of state, differed, saying: "I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it to this day. The attack was outrageous."

Hrankowski, 55, still suffers from post traumatic stress disorder because of wounds he suffered from being hit by metal pieces from explosives during the attack.

A former deputy sheriff with the Monroe County Court system, he left work because of his health 10 years ago. Over the past 10 years, he's endured colon surgery and a heart attack - in addition to the ongoing mental trauma.

"There's not a night I've slept a full night," said Hrankowski.

Hrankowski was 21 when he was discharged from the Navy in November of 1969 and returned to Rochester with his wife, Mary Ann, whom he married a few months before getting out of the service.

Hrankowski said for years, there wasn't much publicity about the attack until the early 1980s, when the Veterans Association formed.

During that time period, survivor Jim Ennes, an officer who witnessed the attack, wrote "Assault on the Liberty," which tells the story.

Since then, another book, "Body of Secrets," was written by another survivor, James Bamford, and a History Channel special called "Cover-up Attack on the USS Liberty," was aired four times this year.

A European film about the USS Liberty is about to be released, along with a book written by a Pulitzer-prize winning author, Hrankowski said.

Hrankowski and other veterans traveled to Washington earlier this year to talk to U.S. congressmen about the incident. He said there could be hearings in the future, but nothing is definite yet.

Because of the anniversary of the attack, Hrankowski said he's been deluged with requests for interviews from the local and national media, including MSNBC and CNN.

Hrankowski said publicity helps the cause, but what veterans want is full disclosure to Congress.

"All we want is to have everything released," he said. "We're just asking them to give us a shot like every other incident and have it documented for history and let us be on our way."

For more information on the USS Liberty attack, go to the website at www.ussliberty.org. The website was created by Jim Ennes and Joe Meadors, two survivors of the attack.

For this to be a "friendly fire shit happens scenario" I've got to see where Israel's enemies had ships that were similar to the USS Liberty in size and configuration.

One of my many jobs in the Army the role of Training Officer. I used to teach "friend or foe" identification. This is important for soldiers on the battle field, pilots and sailors. Making proper visual identification of tanks and planes is the easiest of the three - but even it can be beyond the ability of most soldiers, even when they are asked to identify clearly defined silhouettes on a piece of paper. Under combat conditions it is ten time as hard for reasons too numerous to go into. Everything from a soldier' state of mind, to lighting, angle and more will affect perception.

I happen to be very good at identifying all types of combat aircraft and vehicles - I never came accross anyone (at least while I was keeping current) that could identify most as quickly and correctly as I could. As an intelligence officer I made a point of it (more so than most of my fellow officers).

I also mad an attempt to do the same with major warships. I found that is was far more difficult that for tanks and planes. As much as I studied my Janes book of warships, I found that I was only able to identify about a third of most major U.S. Warships with any consistency. As for the minor ships, I could sometimes identify them as friend or foe but never by class and most times I cound not identify the country. A pilot flying at super-sonic speed is not even going to notice the standard flying on the mast (small as it was), let alone be able to tell whose ship it was without identification markings. In fact, it looks a lot like the converted freighters / supply ships (which the Liberty is) that the soviets used. It is also similar enough in profile to be mistaken for the egyptian ship by an overly excited torpedo boat crew. If you doubt me, purchase a copy of Janes and see just how long it takes you to get to the point where you can do it. And then, imagaine what it would be like trying to make that identification at sea. The Isreali report state (and I give them the benefit of the doubt here), that the commander of the torpedo boat had to consult a book (like Janes). That right there tells me a lot. These days, the Navy identifies most threats by electronic signiture rather than visual because it is much more reliable.

The attack was a coordinated, sustained, lengthy, directed attack, not just just some screw-up where a handful of guys were a little too quick to fire up something.

Once you start shooting, you don't stop until until you have destroyed the target or until you are told to cease fire. Of coure it was sustained.

I have read a fair amount about this, but by no means all. But I've not seen anything that suggest that the attack was anything more that a collosal f**k-up by the IDF and some inexperienced officers and pilots that mis-identified the Liberty.

I personally believe that both sides covered up embarrassing facts to put the whole ugly mess out of sight and out of mind. I support getting all the facts out, but trying to hash it out now is pointless. Relevent documents like Liberty's Classified orders will be sealed for another ten years at least.

As for trusting the testimony of Johnson or anyone in his administration - well I'm not that foolish.

If an Arliegh Burke Class warship, with all its electronic wizardry can mistake an airliner for a hostile aircraft and blow it out of the air, away from our shore, while we are at peace; I think its reasonable to extend the same benefit of the doubt to a country who had never attacked us in the past and hasn't since, and who was engaged in shooting war. Dragging all this out now only serves the purposes of those who wish to see Isreal discreditied in the current crisis.

This is from the Greece Post of Greece, NY, which is outside of Rochester. Nice detective work though!

"Greece Post" "(Staff Photo/Anmari Linardi" "the pool at his Greece home". No mention of it being in the US or New York and a picture that looks like a Med resort. I'm a real idiot. How could anyone make that mistake? Oh the shame of it all!!! Nice to know there are geography experts ready and willing to supply the truly relevent information in this debate. Thanks. More like piss-poor journalism rather than defective detective work (hey! that ryhmes!)

But, give what little I must know of New York property values, your two-bits changes nothing. Or do all New York state civil servants get the kinds of pensions needed to live like that? It would explain a lot - like Hillary's desire to run in that state (or one of here reasons).

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