Remember the Liberty! A Conversation with Ron Kukal, USS Liberty Survivor

Photo credit: Ron Kukal (left) with Admiral Merlin Staring former Navy Judge Advocate General at Ron Kukal's home in Sheridan, WY in 2006.

“ON JUNE 8, 1967, while patrolling in international waters in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was savagely attacked without warning or justification by air and naval forces of the state of Israel.  Of a crew of 294 officers and men (including three civilians), the ship suffered thirty four (34) killed in action and one hundred seventy three (173) wounded in action.” From the USS Liberty Veterans Association Website. 

John Shuck speaks with a survivor of that attack, Ron Kukal, about what happened on that day, the coverup that ensued, and the truth that is coming out about this attack 53 years later. Ron Kukal is a co-author with other USS Liberty survivors, Phillip Tourney and Ernest A. Gallo, and with primary author, Philip Nelson, of the 2017 book, Remember the Liberty! Almost Sunk By Treason on the High Seas. The book is available at Liberty Fellowship Church and the USS Liberty Veterans Association as well as Amazon.

From the back cover:

“Exposing one of the most explosive and hidden secrets in U.S. history for the first time, Remember the Liberty! Almost Sunk by Treason on the High Seas explores how a sitting U.S. president collaborated with Israeli leaders in the fomentation of a war between them and their Arab neighbors. It was a war that would ensure a victory for Israel, and include the acquisition of additional land. This book will finally identify the real cause of the vicious attack on a U.S. Naval ship. After the botched plan was executed, the ship refused to sink even after being hit by a torpedo, leading the attack to be cancelled and a massive cover-up invoked, including severe threats for the crewmembers to “keep their lips sealed.” That cover-up is barely still in place, and completely exposed.

Written largely by the survivors themselves, the truth is finally being told with the real story revealed.”