A hero *

This is about the American Navy officer who commanded the United States Naval ship USS liberty on June 8, 1967. Its mission of monitoring communications in the Mediterranean Sea near the Sinai Peninsula it was suddenly the target of a combined air and sea attack by 4 Israeli Jets combined with 3 motor torpedo boats. 34 crew members killed, (naval officers, seamen, two marines, and one civilian NSA employee killed 171 crew members, The officer was wounded by the initial air attack and amid the damaged Bridge; Captain McGonagle was able to keep the ship afloat with 821 rocket, shell, and machine-gun holes in its superstructure and able to rendezvous with an American destroyer 17 hours later.
The Israeli government denied culpability stating they thought it was an enemy vessel. This was during the 1967 Arab war.

The captain received the Congressional Medal of Honor (see Wikipedia) and because of political pressure, was awarded at night in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.