 |
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2008, page 66 Waging Peace Navy Memorial Service for Admiral Thomas Moorer
THE U.S. NAVY Memorial in Washington, DC held a moving memorial service for Admiral Thomas H. Moorer on March 4, co-sponsored by the USS Liberty Veterans Association and the USS Liberty Alliance. Rear Admiral Clarence A. Hill, Jr., who also gave the eulogy at Moorer’s funeral, gave a stirring tribute to the hero he served with for 30 years. Admiral Moorer, who died in February 2004 at the age of 91, came from a small town in Alabama with a little red schoolhouse, where his mother was the school marm, Admiral Hill told attendees. Moorer, who joined the Navy as a “pink-cheeked boy who’d never been on a bus nor even seen a bar girl,” went on to become chief of Naval operations between 1967 and 1970 and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1970 to 1974. He also served as commander-in-chief of both the Atlantic and and Pacific Fleets, the first Navy officer to have done so. “He was a thinker and a planner,” who only lost his temper once, Hill said. Hill went on to recall Israel’s air and naval attacks on the USS Liberty, an intelligence ship operating in the Mediterranean, on June 8, 1967. The crew of 297 lost 24 men, with 173 others wounded in action. The U.S. carriers Saratoga and America were in the region fully loaded with aircraft, which were dispatched to help. However, President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara recalled the carriers’ planes. “We were unable to do anything to rescue the Liberty,“ Hill lamented, “and it left a stain on the Navy.” Everyone acquiesced except for Rear Admiral Larry Geis, who commanded the carriers in the Sixth Fleet. “Geis got back to McNamara to asked why his carriers’ planes were being recalled,” Hill said. “Geis said he wouldn’t turn around unless the commander in chief himself told him to. McNamara brought President Lyndon Johnson to the phone. ‘Mr. President,’ Admiral Geis said, ‘They’re killing Americans.’ Johnson’s answer was ‘I don’t care how many Americans are being killed. I don’t want to embarrass one of our allies.’” Admiral Moorer confirmed these facts with the commanders of the America and Saratoga, and called this coverup “the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire military career.” Hill said, “It’s true that we might not have reached the Liberty in time to help prevent the first attack, but we could have prevented those torpedo deaths. Officers were willing and able to do anything they could to help but were prevented from doing so by our own country team,” Hill stated. “The U.S. Navy’s motto is ‘don’t give up the ship.’ The USS Liberty’s crew is the closest example you can get to that motto,” Admiral Hill said. “The crew came from all walks of life but they were tough sailors who were not going to be beaten. You can’t do better than that.” One of those survivors, Ernie Gallo, vice president of the USS Liberty Veterans Association and chairman of the Liberty Foundation, was a petty officer on the vessel. He called Admiral Moorer “a giant among men” for his unwavering support for survivors of the USS Liberty tragedy. “He believed in us despite the rhetoric from detractors,” Gallo said. He was a man of conviction who couldn’t rest with lies. He stood for honor and truth. He was the epitome of an officer and a gentleman.” —Delinda C. Hanley |
|||||
