U.S.S. Liberty Incident

The U.S.S. Liberty was attacked by Israeli forces two days after the Six-Day War between Israel and several Arab nations commenced. The Israeli government apologized for the incident that killed 34 members of the crew and wounded 171, claiming their fighters had mistaken it for an Egyptian vessel. Purportedly, in order to avoid further embarrassing the government of Israel, William McGonagle’s Medal of Honor was quietly presented in a simple ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard, as was a posthumous award of the Navy Cross to the ship’s Executive Officer and a member of the crew. This may be the only Medal of Honor ever awarded to an American serviceman for heroism in action against a nation that was not at war with the United States.