On June 8, 1967, 34 American sailors of the USS Liberty lost their lives serving their country. These Americans died when Israel, America's "ally," launched a murderous attack on the virtually unarmed American intelligence ship. To this day, many Americans are unaware that this attack even took place. During the two hour assault there was two different American flags raised yet the attack still persisted. After the crew was rescued 16 hours later they were immediately ordered silent under threat of court martial "or worse" by command.
Francis Brown
>Petty Officer Brown was on the bridge during the initial phase of the air attack. When the helmsman became incapacitated, Petty Officer Brown fearlessly exposed himself to overwhelmingly accurate rocket and machine-gun fire while assuming the helmsman's duties. He steadfastly maintained the ordered course while many men in the immediate proximity received serious and fatal injuries, remaining on his post until felled by strafing fire from the torpedo boats at the moment the torpedo struck the ship.
Stephen Spencer Toth
>It became a vital matter to quickly establish the national identity of the aircraft initiating the attack in order to inform higher authority. Lieutenant Toth courageously exposed himself to overwhelmingly accurate rocket and machine-gun fire to obtain this data. While he was thus engaged in this task, he was fatally injured when a violent explosion on the starboard side of the bridge hurled him to the 01 level of the ship.
