In this episode of The Refresher Podcast, we have a very special guest, Phil Turney, a survivor of the attack on the USS Liberty. He talks about his life growing up in the 60's and 70's, and how he got into the Navy. He also talks about the events that took place on the morning of December 18th, 1963, and the impact it had on the lives of those on board the Liberty and the crew on the ground. This is a must listen for anyone who has ever heard the story of what happened on that day, and is interested in learning more about what happened that day and how it affected the lives on board that day. We hope you enjoy this interview, and if you do, please remember to leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts and we'll get back to you soon with more updates. - The Crew at Refreshers Podcast. - Shoutout to our sponsor, Caff Monster Energy Drink. We are working on a new product, and we're working on making sure it's as good as it can be. We're working with them to make sure they get the best tasting drinks, and it's the best possible ones. Thank you so much to all the support they can get, we can't thank you enough! - Thank you all so much for all the love, support, support and support you all the way through it! We'll see you next week with another episode of the podcast! We're live on Twitch, we'll be back in 7/Social Media: . and we are live on 7/27/19/8/28/19. Thank you! Thanks for listening to all your support is so much love, and thank you for your support, we appreciate it. XOXO - John & Thank you, P.S. & Thank You, Patrons are so much Thank you for all of the love & support, and support, I appreciate you! -Podcasts are much more than you can do it! -PSPODCAST: Thank You! -MRSG - PODCAST - Thank Me, Thank Me Back! - Thank You. P.R. & A LOTS & P.A. - - PSYCH - RGS - , P.B. & RGS - P.C. & PSA
00:13:35.000Okay, I got to ask this question because I haven't been able to really speak to someone that's lived through the 40s, the 50s, obviously 60s, 70s, 80s.
00:13:43.000What was it like living in the 50s and the 60s?
00:13:48.000Was it like a different, like, America?
00:13:50.000Oh, it was really a different America.
00:13:53.000It was an America that we said the Pledge of Allegiance, his school...
00:15:06.000Well, how would people, because, right, I don't think people remember a time of what life was like before smartphones and everything else like that.
00:15:14.000But here, we're not even talking about internet, whatever.
00:18:41.000and the new i think a new i bought a new 1966 for galaxy for 2200 bucks wow yeah but it was a lot of money back then yeah yeah what what a time i mean Actually, you know what?
00:18:56.000What year was this when you said that your dad would leave?
00:19:36.000When the Zodiac killer was running around killing people, because at this point you were, you know, probably, because you were born, you said 46, right?
00:21:12.000Yeah, and then later down the road, you know, they had the people on the hill, the Nobby Hill and the Grassy Hill and all that stuff, and things started coming out.
00:21:36.000Yeah, it did never make any sense to me.
00:21:39.000And we're going to talk a little bit more about, because obviously Lyndon B. Johnson became president after, and we'll talk about that as well.
00:21:44.000What about when his brother was assassinated?
00:21:46.000What was that like, RFK? Another sad day.
00:21:49.000Sirhan Sirhan did that on national TV. Yeah.
00:21:53.000And I guess it was the same people that killed him.
00:21:58.000Same people who wanted Kennedy to kill.
00:23:20.000They were getting killed right and left.
00:23:22.000And I was on an ammo ship then, the USS Monarchia, AE-22.
00:23:27.000And we would unwrap ships out at sea, carriers and their sister ships.
00:23:33.000But all that ammo and all those bombs were going to kill people.
00:23:39.000And that's another war we should have never got in because the Tonkin Gulf was all BS. All BS. I went aboard the USS Maddox DZ-731 when I went back to the Navy.
00:23:54.000That was the ship they said got attacked in the Tonkin Gulf.
00:24:26.000You know, Bush's WMD and then you got Cheney and, you know, they're out there warmonging for war and And, you know, they killed, I mean, come on, that shock and awe stuff, they killed so many people.
00:24:40.000It was on, you could see it on TV, you know, it was headline news and everybody, oh yeah, oh yeah, great.
00:24:50.000Vietnam was bad because, like, you're fighting on their territory with the Viet Cong in the jungles, and they had all these booby traps out and everything else like that, and they got a lot of prisoners of war.
00:25:02.000I guess, what was the sentiment from the Armed Forces side with Vietnam?
00:26:10.000You joined the Navy in December 18th of 1964.
00:26:14.000And take us through, I guess, what led up to that fateful day in 1967.
00:26:24.000Okay, after I got off the Mauna Key, I was transferred to the USS Liberty on the East Coast because I was on the West Coast at the time.0.87
00:26:36.000And when I got aboard the Liberty, I didn't really understand what kind of ship it was, Myron, because I was just a dumb kid anyway.
00:28:03.000We'll pull it up right now here for you guys.
00:28:05.000Sorry, so you were saying about the ship.
00:28:07.000So yeah, so it was the most sophisticated ship at the time, Best Buy ship, collecting data, probably able to pick up phones and radio communication.
00:28:18.000Yeah, almost anything you wanted, they could pick it up.
00:28:21.000In fact, the ship is so sophisticated, they could bounce.
00:31:24.000So, two different groups of people on the ship.
00:31:26.000You've got the people that are maintaining, keeping the ship going, whether it's cooks, engineers, etc., making sure that the ship is always in good shape.
00:31:34.000And then you've got the guys that are on the ship collecting foreign intelligence information.
00:31:39.000Deciphering it on ship, or if not, sending it over to NSA to get an intel product.
00:31:43.000And you guys both cohabitated, hung out on the ship, but you guys didn't talk to each other.
00:32:43.000They were military too, on top of working for these intelligence agencies.
00:32:46.000Yeah, the people and the part of the spies were all military, except we picked up one civilian when we got to Rota Spain, but we'll get into that.
00:32:58.000Okay, so they were all military and intelligence.
00:35:38.000Well, you could have like the 8 to 12 watch.
00:35:47.000You have a certain duty, like a duty station.
00:35:50.000My watches were still down in the engine room because I knew what I was doing down there.
00:35:55.000I'd go down there and be a machinist mate, and that's taking care of the salination and all the water supply and the propulsion of the ship, main control, and that's what we would do for four hours.
00:36:52.000And you guys are, I'm assuming, out in the middle of the sea just collecting information, so it's not like you guys are close to shore, right?
00:36:57.000No, we were always out to sea, far away, not far away, but staying in international waters.
00:37:07.000In fact, our normal cruising was from Norfolk to Africa.
00:37:28.000We usually did three months, three and a half months, and come back, and then need to refit the ship, make sure everything's good, and go back out again.
00:37:35.000So it's three months from Norfolk to Africa?
00:38:36.000We operated alone, and we would see different ships, Russian ships or other different nations, but we weren't harassed by them or anything like that.
00:46:08.000Okay, so just so I can make sure I have this right.
00:46:11.000So June 2nd, you guys, high tail out of there.
00:46:14.000And then you said on June 5th, you guys, is the reason why you guys got out of there on June 2nd, like they picked up radio transmission of an impeding war coming?
00:48:58.000So let me just make sure I get this straight just for the audience.
00:49:01.000You guys landed in Africa on or about June 2nd.
00:49:05.000Not even 24 hours there, they're like, we gotta hightail it, because you guys got word that there's probably a potential conflict going on in the Middle East between Israel and these Arab countries.
00:49:13.000You guys go to Spain, pick up four individuals, linguists, three linguists, Arab, and then one Russian, and then you guys request assistance with a warship escort as you get further into the Mediterranean, and they denied you.
00:51:18.000Israeli reconnaissance aircraft, smaller aircraft, you know, and then a flying boxcar, which is a two-engine plane, and it would come very low.
00:53:02.000So, just going back real quick so I make sure I understand this because obviously things are going to pick up here.
00:53:09.000You guys leave from Spain, ask for assistance.
00:53:13.000They say no, but you guys head on there anyway.
00:53:15.000You guys get to about 12.5 miles out from Egypt, but you guys are still in international waters.
00:53:22.000Recon aircraft from Israel sees you guys, and you guys are assured from your chain of command that Israel knows that you guys are friendlies.
00:54:22.000On the deck, because we did it all the time, going up, you know, down to Africa.
00:54:27.000And we continued that, because it was just what we did.
00:54:34.000Now, out of curiosity, they rushed you guys from Eastern Africa and you guys went all the way around towards Egypt because this conflict was going on between Israel and the Arab states.
00:54:47.000Were you guys there to, I guess, collect intelligence as the main reason they wanted you so close to the action?
00:58:06.000So after you finished the biological chemicals, biological attack training, you focused on, now we gotta fix the phones, or make sure that they're up to par.
00:58:15.000Right, they weren't working, it was right in the gun mount.
00:58:18.000Random question, but did you guys eat lunch yet at this point, or no?
01:01:42.000And the whale boat, just so I make sure I understand this, is that like one of the escape boats, like the smaller boats on the side, emergency boats?
01:02:38.000I must have because I ended up on my back.
01:02:43.000There were so many men running, trying to get to their duty stations.
01:02:48.000And I'm assuming, when you say duty stations, this is the station that, if you're ever under attack, this is where you need to go to and do this job.
01:12:06.000Well, I don't think he did, because he told Larry that there is a target, and it was very sensitive, but he didn't know what the target was, and it was us, man.
01:13:57.000Did you, like, get knocked on the floor when it hit the ship?
01:14:00.000No, actually, I went into a torpedo launch attitude where you put your hands on the bulkhead wall and bend your knees to keep the shock from...
01:14:11.000Okay, so you have to hold on to the wall and then you like crouch?
01:18:32.000We were going to put them in the water, which we did, to put our most seriously wounded in so they'd have a chance to live.
01:18:43.000As soon as we put the lifeboats over, they shot two of them out of the water and took one aboard the boat as the trophy of the kill, which is a war crime.0.77
01:34:46.000They took Israelis' words over our words.0.99
01:34:49.000They took the people that murdered us and murdered us all over our word.
01:34:56.000They said it was mistaken identity, and that's what they went with.
01:35:00.000So Admiral John S. McCain Jr., he was the commander of European Forces Europe, ordered Isaac Kidd and Ward, Boston, to find it was a mistaken identity.
01:35:18.000And those orders came from LBJ. Mistaken identity.
01:35:23.000And that's what the Board of Inquiry said.
01:38:35.000From every president, from LBJ to Biden, they want nothing to do with us.
01:38:41.000Because we can prove that our own government colluded with the Zionist state to sink our unarmed ship, the finest spy ship in the world, blame it on the Arab states, and start a nuclear war.0.89
01:38:56.000There were SAC aircraft in the air even before they fired on us.
01:40:31.000No, it's my honor to host this podcast and speak to you as a survivor and thank you for your service and this is absolutely fucking atrocious that this happened And most Americans don't know about it.
01:40:45.000You know, I wasn't kidding around when I named the title of the show, The Most Censored Event in U.S. History, and I truly do think so, because they don't want you to know this, right?
01:44:39.000They had to cut his eyelids open so he could see.
01:44:45.000You know, people always think that false flags and our allies attacking us is something that's unfathomable, but it actually, like, the USS Liberty, when you really look at it, right, it was a false flag attempt to get us to blame the Arabs, right?
01:45:48.000And I feel like the service members that work to protect the country are pawns to their desires because they're making plans, informing the people that are working hard to protect the country what's happening and saying, go over here,
01:46:27.000Have you been, you know, what has happened, I guess, post when you try to tell the story?
01:46:33.000Yes, I've been harassed and death threats and my wife and I were In San Diego, at the bar, getting a drink, waiting to get a table, have dinner.
01:46:46.000This guy come up beside me and sat down right next to me.
01:46:53.000He says, yo, you were on the USS Liberty, huh?
01:48:31.000Watching the event happen, taking pictures and documenting it and dancing and celebrating and, you know, and then they passed, they failed polygraph tests and two of them had ties to the Israeli agency, so...
01:48:42.000Yeah, I mean, I don't put anything past Israel anymore.
01:50:07.000And they fucking blew Nagasaki and Hiroshima up with nuclear bombs.0.99
01:50:13.000This is the only time in American history, and especially naval history, That a ship has been attacked by a foreign government, and our government didn't retaliate.0.98
01:51:32.000You know, listening to the story, I have vivid images in my head like I can imagine.
01:51:37.000I can barely even imagine what went down, seeing your shipmates decimated, body parts all over the place, arms, legs, torsos, blood everywhere.
01:51:47.000Your best friend shot in the back of the neck bleeding everywhere.
02:00:30.000Here on the back, it's got more of the attack, but it shows, you know, pretty much what's going on in the airplanes and everything and the two carriers and SOS. Don, you want to chime in?
02:00:47.000When they, when Phil and them, and this story Phil has told me, when Phil got to Malta and they were doing the repairs, Phil discovered that they were trying to cover it up.
02:01:02.000What they were doing before they sold it is they were...
02:01:06.000They were repairing the ship, so when they got back to Little Creek...
02:01:09.000That's why they wanted you guys to go all the way over there.
02:01:19.000So with that rocket ship, or with that rocket hole, Phil realized that they were trying to cover it up.
02:01:25.000And being a young man, he had the clarity to start cutting them out and saving these.
02:01:31.000Phil saved, would you say, like 40 of them?
02:01:33.000And that's one of the only rocket holes from the boat left.
02:01:38.000And that's why we have physical evidence, because Phil Turney himself had the mental wherewithal to actually go, hey, they're trying to cover this up.
02:01:49.000So I wanted to point that out about that.
02:01:51.000So it wasn't enough that they tried to kill you.
02:01:53.000It wasn't enough that they sent the IDF over there in helicopters to try to finish you guys off.
02:01:56.000It wasn't enough that they told you to go...
02:03:35.000Yeah, I mean, that is a crazy story, the USS Liberty.
02:03:41.000It's something that, you know, they don't talk about in history much ever, you know, and it's probably one of the most tragic situations, probably, I would say, one of the most censored events because it's crazy that, like, the media won't talk to you guys.
02:03:53.000So, I saw a documentary on this recently, and they mentioned that Israel gave the survivors money.
02:04:57.000He wrote about it, and I felt the whole world come off my shoulders.
02:05:01.000Because I never told my wife I was in the military.
02:05:05.000Then when I went home and I told her about it, she's been steadfast with me 100% all the way doing this, and she's been helping me do it for the last damn near 40 years.
02:05:16.000What motivated you to say, I'm going to come out, I'm going to talk about this, everyone is going to know that Israel betrayed us on that day?
02:05:23.000Because I was pissed off that they got by with cold-blooded murder, and we're witnesses to cold-blooded murder.
02:05:28.000They put a gun to my head, too, and pulled the trigger and pulled the trigger.
02:05:32.000Luckily, I didn't get killed, but the other guys did.
02:05:41.000They take the word of the Zionist state, the idea of a mistaken identity over the people that were there, instead of American servicemen, the most highly decorated there are, They don't take our word.0.87
02:07:47.000And Ernie Gallo, another survivor, has written a book about all the atrocities that have happened to the survivors, and this is one of them, where they had a library, and the Grope Brothers were going to name it the USS Memorial Library.
02:08:05.000And what happened was, this was the 80s, People called in bomb threats, sniper threats, so they had to have a SWAT team there when they dedicated this library to the USS Liberty.
02:08:15.000With dogs, bomb dogs, and all that.1.00
02:08:18.000Because these fucking assholes would try to SWAT you guys.1.00
02:08:20.000Yeah, well, you know, the Milwaukee...1.00
02:08:24.000ADL and APAC came down on us, said, you guys are nothing but you haters and Nazis, for wanting to have a memorial about our ship.
02:08:35.000And the library's still standing, USS Liberty Memorial Library.
02:08:39.000In fact, they didn't have- Tell them the truth, it's anti-Semitic.0.76
02:09:47.000There have been multiple studies, U.S. Navy, Joint Chiefs of Staff, CIA, House, Senate, NSA. Most of the reports, according to historian Richard Brownell, do not assign culpability for the incident.
02:09:56.000They focus on communications failures.
02:09:58.000I have to say I'm a little bit bewilder why you're so obsessed with an incident that is now 52 years old.
02:10:02.000If you have theories that are better than those of the American...
02:10:04.000So, we're obsessed with something that's 52 years old.
02:10:08.000See how he tries to down it like it's not that serious?
02:10:10.000And, oh yeah, it was a miscommunication.
02:11:24.000Myself and one other fellow, he's passed on, I can't remember it, but they said we could talk after they said all this stuff about mistaken identity.
02:11:36.000I got up to the mic, and this is at the State Department, and they shut the mic down.
02:12:17.000So from America First perspective, why do we give 3.8 billion dollars to Israel, which is more aid than we've given to Africa, more aid than we've given to South America, and more aid than we've given to the Caribbean combined, which is home to a billion poor people, especially when they deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in the 1970s.
02:15:12.000It's still something I consider every day a foolish, as some people might say, but what would you tell a young man considering he serves in today's climate?
02:15:20.000Where Zionism is no longer discreet and we're on the brink of World War III. I think that's a question for you, Phil.
02:15:25.000I would say it's bad timing to go in the military.
02:15:31.000But if your heart says you've got to do it, that's up to you.
02:16:47.000What was your reaction to the people on the ship when the president, who you thought was going to help, said, let the sailors die?0.95
02:16:53.000The most heartbreaking thing that I could ever imagine to be set up by our own government.
02:17:00.000They colluded together, Israel and the United States, to sink an unarmed American spy ship and to be set up to be murdered by your own government.0.75
02:17:11.000And then Israel would be the hitman.0.89
02:17:13.000They were the hitman, and they hired him.
02:17:16.000And they got more money when they killed my shipmates than they ever did in their entire history after they murdered my shipmates.
02:17:25.000They got more money and they're still getting more money right now.
02:18:26.000Are the architects of foreign wars for their own betterment.
02:18:28.000So, Phil, thank you so much for coming on the show.0.99
02:18:30.000We're happy to have you, man, and I wish much success to you in the pursuit of truth and of hopefully holding these fucking dickheads accountable.0.99