William McGonagle
William Loren McGonagle (born November 19, 1925 in Wichita , Kansas , † March 3, 1999 in Palm Springs , California ) was an American officer and commander of several ships in the United States Navy .
He was in command of the USS Liberty , which was attacked and badly damaged by Israeli forces in international waters during the Six Day War. His awards included the Medal of Honor , the US military's highest honor for valor.
Life
After attending high school and college in California, he joined the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Southern California , which he graduated in 1947. He was then used until 1950 on the destroyer USS Frank Knox and the mine sweeper USS Partridge . During the Korean War (June 1950 - July 1953) he was a member of the crew of the minesweeper USS Kite and took part in numerous minesweeping operations, which brought the entire crew to the Presidential Unit Citation .
After several uses on land, he commanded the naval tug USS Mataco from 1957 to 1958 and the recovery ship USS Reclaimer from 1961 to 1963 . After further employment on land, he was in April 1966 in the rank of commander , commanding officer of the reconnaissance ship USS Liberty .
During the six-day war between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, the Liberty was used in June 1967 in international waters off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula to obtain information through intercepted radio signals ( Signals Intelligence ). On June 5, McGonagle had asked for escort for his ship, which was armed only with four machine guns, but this was refused because the ship was considered to be sufficiently marked by its flags.
In the early afternoon of June 8, however, the ship was attacked by Israeli fighter planes and torpedo boats without warning. For more than two hours, the Liberty was defenseless under the attack of automatic cannons, rockets and bombs and received more than 820 hits, in addition, she was hit starboard by a torpedo that tore a large hole in the outer wall. McGonagle was badly wounded but remained in command and directed countermeasures that kept the ship from sinking.
Only hours later, the Liberty met the allied destroyers USS Davis and USS Massey , as well as the cruiser USS Little Rock . Only then did McGonagle give up his command and receive medical attention. For his commitment, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for bravery in the US armed forces. The award was a novelty, as it belongs to the actual award criteria that the awardee is "in battle against an enemy of the United States".
The ship was also awarded the Presidential Unit Citation . 34 of the 358 crew members were killed and 172 wounded. The team's hundreds of awards included the Navy Cross twice (LCDR Philip Armstrong and QM3C Francis Brown), as well as eleven Silver Stars .
In October 1967 he was promoted to captain and then commanded the ammunition ship USNS Kilauea . Most recently, he directed the University of Oklahoma’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps before retiring in 1974. He died in 1999 at the age of 73, was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, and received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
Web links
- William McGonagle, Hall of Valor
- William McGonagle, 73, Hero Of Israel Attack, New York Times
- Heroism in Defense of the USS Liberty, USS Liberty (PDF; 736 kB)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | McGonagle, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | McGonagle, William Leroy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American officer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 19, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wichita |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 3, 1999 |
| Place of death | Palm Springs |