Survivor testimony by Richard Larry Weaver. This is newly published video for the 50th anniversary. He believes that the single torpedo that hit the USS Liberty was fired by a US submarine because all the French-built Israeli torpedoes missed. Never Forget. We are four days past the 50th anniversary of this false flag attempt. This is part of the swamp that Trump needs to drain.

Wounded crew members USS Liberty
© Lancaster OnlineWounded crew members of the USS Liberty are treated in a makeshift triage center in the ship's mess hall on June 8, 1967. Willow Street native Richard Larry Weaver lies on a table in the center of the photo. Weaver received more than 100 wounds from an attack by Israeli jets.
Scars feel fresh, after 40 years

Richard Larry Weaver still carries the physical and emotional scars from June 8, 1967.

It was 40 years ago today that the Willow Street native and McCaskey High School graduate was stationed aboard the USS Liberty, a Naval reconnaissance ship, in international waters off the coast of Egypt.

By the end of that day, his life would be altered as he received life-threatening injuries when Israeli jets strafed the ship with machine gun fire and napalm and torpedo boats attacked. Thirty-four crew members were killed, and 173 sailors were injured.

Weaver said reliving the attack is like turning on a light switch, with the recollections flooding into his mind, bringing with them his personal suffering.

"I have lived in pain day and night for 40 years," he said.

The story of the USS Liberty remains unknown to many in the public, clouded in suspicion and intrigue regarding the actions of the Israeli military towards a ship flying the American flag.

The Liberty was stationed 12 miles off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, monitoring actions between Israel and Egypt during the Six Day War.

Weaver was a radio man on the Liberty and was on watch from 8 a.m. to noon on the deck of the ship June 8. While on watch he said he witnessed an Israeli plane fly so low overhead that he could see the pilot waving to the crew.

About 2 p.m. he was in the sick bay receiving treatment for an ear problem when he heard an explosion and the call went for general quarters, signaling an attack.

Weaver took up his post as a lookout on the deck, only to witness two Israeli jets taking strafing runs at the Liberty.

During one of the strafing runs Weaver was blown 5 feet into the air, receiving abdominal and leg wounds. He said he had to use his own blood to stop the burning in his abdomen.

Weaver was taken below deck for treatment when a rocket came through the sick bay, struck the doctor and caused another wound in Weaver's abdomen. He said he could see his muscles coming out through wounds in his legs.

In total Weaver received 101 shrapnel wounds, with 34 that were 3 to 6 inches deep. He still has 60 pieces of shrapnel in his body.

As Weaver was treated below deck, a ferocious battle ensued for more than two hours. Israeli jets made more than eight strafing runs at the ship, shooting guns and dropping napalm on the Liberty.

Israeli torpedo boats headed toward the ship and launched an attack, hitting the Liberty with a torpedo on its port side. The Israeli boats also strafed lifeboats deployed in the water with machine gun fire. The assault remains the only successful torpedo attack on an American ship since World War II.

It took U.S. planes and ships 19 hours to reach the Liberty. The ship was taken to Malta under its own power, where repairs were made.

Weaver was taken to the USS America for surgery and was later moved to Europe and then to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital.

It was in Philadelphia that Weaver received a visit from Adm. Isaac Kidd, who was investigating the attack. Weaver said the admiral told him that he was never to discuss the incident and he would be put in prison and the key would be thrown away if he did.

"Since it was Israel that attacked us, it was hands off," Weaver said. "Inside the Beltway, it's not terrorism that they fear - it's the truth that they fear."

Other veterans of the Liberty have told similar stories. Gary Brummett, president of the USS Liberty Veterans Association, said the veterans of the attack have tried for more than 20 years to discover the reasons for the attack by Israel.

Brummett, a 60-year-old veteran from Grand Cane, La., said he will never forget June 8, 1967. He was a boiler tender on the Liberty and was repairing a steam line to one of the ship's boilers when he heard an explosion.

Brummett said he thought one of the steam lines in the ship had exploded, but then he started smelling gunpowder and then the call went out for general quarters.

He went to the mess deck, which had been turned into a triage center for wounded sailors. Weaver was one of the sailors treated on the mess deck.

"Going to the mess deck was a horrific sight to say the least," Brummett said. "It seemed like something out of a bad movie."

Brummett went back down to man the boilers and worked there until midnight.

He said the American people have never been given the full story behind the attack. The Liberty Veterans Association has attempted to have Congressional leaders investigate the attack, but Congress has never taken up a formal investigation.

This weekend 50 veterans from the USS Liberty will be in Washington, D.C., to mark the 40th anniversary of the attack.

There will be a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery where the remains of the 34 killed crew members are buried together. Brummett said the sailors remains include a box of body parts that couldn't be identified from the ship.

Liberty veterans also will gather at 4 p.m. at the Navy Memorial in Washington and will unveil a plaque commemorating the ship at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Saturday morning.

Brummett said about 230 veterans of the Liberty are still alive, but four have died this year. He said many of the veterans didn't reach their 60th birthdays.

"What we went through is what real good nightmares are made of," Brummett said. "The pictures, the sights, the sounds of that day are quite troubling. There's not a pill you can take from the drug store to make you forget."

Weaver won't be at the ceremonies this weekend. He said he was at the last reunion and didn't recover from the experience for six months.

The 61-year-old, who now lives on the West Coast, said he has undergone 30 surgeries since the attack and will have another one in August. Weaver has had both knees replaced, has a stainless-steel shoulder, mesh holding his abdominal cavity together and is missing 2½ feet of his colon.

Despite having recurring nightmares about the attack, Weaver said he wants people to know what happened June 8 and he wants them to ask leaders to investigate.

"This story is important for the men who cannot speak for themselves - the ones that were killed," Weaver said. "Some (families) out there were growing up and didn't know their dads.

"When you stand there and ignore me for 40 years, what do you think that does to the men that were there?"

Source: Scars feel fresh, after 40 years, Liberty attack a mystery