Ron Kukal - Sheridan WY
On June 8, 1967 during the Vietnam War, I was aboard a Navy vessel called
the USS LIBERTY. This unarmed ship was sailing the waters off the coast of
Israel during the "Six Day War", and the crew was not expecting what
happened to us that day. For those of you who don't remember the attack on
the Liberty, let me refresh your memory just a bit.
The ship was sailing
15 miles off the coast in international waters when the Israeli Defense
Force attacked her. She was subjected to torpedoes, 50 caliber machine gun
fire, napalm, and rocket fire. There was over 800 holes in the Liberty
after the attack, she was listing about 10 degrees to the starboard, and
was on fire in many places. Thirty-four men were killed and close to 70% of the
crew were wounded, of which I was one. For those that would like to read
about the attack with a blow, by blow description, I would suggest that you
contact me, and I can send you the book, "Assault on the Liberty".
What I
want to talk about is the reason that I am alive, and the many miracles
that I was exposed to during, and after the attack.
On June 8, 1967 at approximently 1400, French built Mirage jets attacked
the Liberty. As I was not topside when the attack started, the sound of
the rocket fire, and 50 caliber rounds sounded like hail as they struck the
main deck. I thought we had run aground, but common sense told me this
couldn't be true, and it was furthermost from my mind that we were under
attack. The sound of the rocket fire, and bullets hitting the deck above
me went on for what seemed like an eternity, and there was a time of
silence in between as the planes made their pass over, and then swung
around for another strike. When the planes were done, they had left ten
men topside dead, as the only armament we had were 50 caliber machine guns,
and they were like peashooters against the Mirage jets, and besides that we
were not ready for any kind of attack whatsoever. The element of surprise
was theirs.
I survived the attack by the planes, but the worst was yet to come, as the
torpedo boats were bearing down on us, with one thing in mind, and that was
to put us to the bottom. Five torpedoes were fired at the Liberty with
only one of them finding its mark. If more then one had hit the ship, I
know I would not be here telling this story. This was the second miracle
that I was exposed to that day, the first being the surviving of the
onslaught by the jet aircraft.
The torpedo hit the Liberty almost
amidships on the starboard side, and I was approximently thirty feet from
the explosion. There were a couple of bulkheads between the explosion, and
myself but they were like paper to the several tons of TNT that tore up the
bowels of the Liberty. What had been several compartments were turned into
one big room in a very short time. I was immediately immersed in sea water,
and it was rising fast to the point where it would be above my head in a
short time, and even though I could swim, the compartment would soon become
completely full, and there would be no place to go. The hatch to the above
deck was closed, and dogged down, and so my life again depended completely
on what God would do. Just before the compartment became fully flooded the
hatch above me was opened to let as many of us as possible out of there
before we became a part of a watery grave. This was the third miracle that
I saw that day, but there was even more to come, and so as I ran to get to
the main deck, I was slipping and sliding because of the water, and blood
that was awash within each passageway.
As I reached the hatch to the main
deck the Engineering officer, Mr. Golden, told us to turn around and go
back down below to make sure all had gotten out. This was not to my
liking, but I did as I was ordered. There seemed to be no one left to
rescue when we got back to the torpedoed part of the ship, and had I known
that twenty four more men were already dead down below, I'm not sure I
would have wanted to go back.
We then headed topside as quickly as we
could, and one of my shipmates told me that we were welcomed by hails of
machine gun fire from the torpedo boats. Many, including myself were
oblivious to the machine gun fire, because we were very happy to be away
from what had happened down below.
The fourth miracle had just occurred
when I was exposed to the machine gun fire on the main deck, and still
remained alive, and still there was more to come. Every antenna we had,
was shot to pieces except one, and it had never worked very well. One of
the radiomen told me that he tried several times to call for help, and
finally when he realized that all the antenna were shot, he switched to the
one that had always given him trouble, and when it was needed, it worked.
We were able to call the Sixth Fleet, and notify them of our predicament
through an antenna that had hardly ever worked.
The fifth miracle had just occurred.
Shortly after our call for help, the
attack seemed to subside, and many of us were able to move around being
very cautious of the torpedo boats, and planes coming back.
The attack
had gone on for two hours, or more, but it seemed like only a few minutes.
The captain told us that we had lost our steering control, and that we
would have to go aft, and steer the ship manually. Several of us were
still able to move about, and went immediately to the aftersteering to do
as the captain ordered. We were able to make headway, and in time were
headed for the island of Malta, and to dry dock. This was almost one
thousand miles away, and here we were with a ship that had a forty by
forty-foot hole in her side, on fire, and riddled with holes.
Most of us
slept topside at night because we were told that the Liberty could go down
at any minute, and that we should be ready to abandon ship. We, of course,
were in complete agreement.
We did sail the thousand miles without incident, and this had to be the
sixth miracle of the day.
Upon entering dry dock, we were told that when
the dock was drained of all its water that we would have to go down below,
and help to identify, and recover our own shipmates bodies. I was one of
the crew that went down below, and I know that God gave me the strength to
go and do what was expected of me. I will not describe what we saw down
there, as I don't believe it will help my testimony in any way. Let it
suffice to say that, under the conditions, only men that were strengthened,
and held up by God himself would be able to enter the dark area down below.
The body recovery was done, by the crew, the crew did the identification,
and the crew accomplished the packing of the men's belongings that died.
After this was all taken care of, many of us were told we could go home for
extended leave. I was more then ready, and we were flown to Madrid, Spain
to catch the next flight out for the United States.
The Liberty story has been mostly covered up, and as it is embarrassing to
our government, not much is said. I was the chaplain for the USS Liberty
Veterans Association for several years, as we all decided to try and stay
together in the form of an association, for reunions, and such.
The Liberty was kept afloat by the hand of God, not all of the crew
believes that, but I do. I have tried to convince my shipmates that there
was no other way we could have survived, and to many it doesn't seem to
make much sense. They would rather give themselves credit for our
survival.
I do not know how many miracles happened on that fateful day,
and I am sure there were many more then I am aware of. I also do not
believe that I would have ever come to know the Lord, without this
particular incident in my life. It has humbled me, and shown me the power
of the hand of God.
This last paragraph is not meant to cause any controversy, but there are
some who believe that on June 7, 1967 with the taking back of the old city
of Jerusalem by the Jews, signaled the beginning of the last generation,
which would be forty years. I leave you to draw your own conclusions as to
that belief. I would like to say that I have felt strongly that it may be
possible that the only reason God saved the Liberty was so that we could
tell our story, for the glory of God, and God alone. I do also believe
that the end times are very near, and we need to be a testimony for all to
see, that Christ, and Christ alone is the only way to eternal life.
Point Man International Ministries
since 7/31/98