Remembering those who lost their lives in Israel's attack on the USS Liberty

John Caleb Smith, July 13, 1943 - June 8, 1967

JOHN CALEB SMITH  July 13, 1943 -- June 8, 1967 John Caleb Smith, July 13, 1943 - June 8, 1967

Wednesday, August 8, 2001
Memories of a lost sailor
Ithaca family touched by 1967 Israeli attack on USS Liberty

By STEPHEN LANDESMAN
Ithica Journal Staff
Jerry Smith recalls clearly the day his brother John was killed aboard the USS Liberty in the eastern Mediterranean.

He says he'll never forget June 8, 1967.

"I still get upset and choked up about it," Smith said Tuesday by telephone from Rochester.

Smith's brother, 24-year-old John C. Smith Jr., a graduate of Ithaca High School, was killed along with 33 other U.S. seamen on the Liberty when Israeli jets and torpedo boats attacked the Navy surveillance vessel at the height of the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states.

"I was in Rochester with my wife and four children," said Smith who was three years older than John. "We heard about the attack on television, then John's wife got a telegram from the Navy. We got into our car and drove down to Ithaca to be with the family. But we didn't know the whole story until we returned to Rochester several days later because the ship had to go to dry dock before they could extricate the bodies from the compartment."

The History Channel is screening at 8 p.m. Thursday a one-hour, British-made documentary about the attack that ultimately became an embarrassing "incident" for both Israel and the United States. Israel claimed the Liberty was not flying a U.S. flag at the time and its pilots mistook it for an Arab vessel.

The crew denies it to this day. The U.S. Navy has officially remained quiet for 34 years. The survivors have remained hurt and angry that no investigation was ever undertaken by Congress.

"When John's body was returned, it came back with a Navy guard with instructions that the casket not be opened," Jerry Smith said.

John Smith was born July 13, 1943, the son of John and Rita Smith, and one of seven children. He had three brothers -- Jerry, Joe and David -- and three sisters -- Peggy, Mary and Karen. Peggy Smith and Mary (Smith) Pace still work in Ithaca. Their mother died in 1992.

"She was cremated and her urn is on top of where John's body is buried down on Floral Avenue," said Jerry Smith, who talked about growing up in the full but happy house at 203 Wood St.

"We were all very close," Smith said. "That's bound to happen when there are seven kids in the family. The boys slept in the same room."

All but Mary went to Immaculate Conception School before moving on to graduate from Ithaca High School.

Thomas Fauls, 58, a quality assurance manager at Evaporated Metal Films in Ithaca, was John's closest friend when they were growing up. He had gotten out of the Air Force and was working in Michigan at the time John was killed. The family called him to come back to Ithaca to be a pallbearer at John's funeral.

"They were inseparable," Jerry Smith said.

"I knew John well," Fauls said on Tuesday. "We'd gone to grade school together and then Ithaca High. After that, we stayed in touch over the years. I remember when he returned to Ithaca on leave in the winter of '66 with his wife and young daughter. He was still up in the air about whether to make the Navy his career. He told me the Navy would be giving him extensive training before sending him back to sea for a new assignment."

The extensive training was communications school, the assignment the USS Liberty.

Smith's wife, Sandra Ann, and daughter, Stephanie, returned to Sandra's native England after his death.

Mary Pace, 48, who lives in Fall Creek and works in information services at Cornell University, was 13 when her brother John was killed.

"I was at a friend's house when mother heard the news," Mary said. "She called me to come home, and when I got there, all the cousins from Syracuse were at the house. Everybody was watching television. They didn't know whether John was dead or alive. On Friday, my mom received a telegram saying John was missing in action. Then, on Sunday morning, Navy personnel drove up to our house to tell us he was dead."

Like Fauls, Mary remembered John's leave Thanksgiving of 1966.

"Johnny came home and that's the first time I met his daughter, Stephanie," said Mary Pace. "He came back again for Christmas before leaving for his new assignment in Norfolk, Va.

Summary

CT1 John Caleb Smith, Jr., USN, 237 77 94
Born 13 July 1943, Ithaca, New York
Active duty since 30 June 1961
Wife: Sandra Ann Smith, 203 Wood Street, Ithica, NY
Parents: Mr. & Mrs. John Caleb Smith, Sr., Ithica, NY
Died in Naval Security Group (intelligence) Department spaces

Israel-Palestine Timeline

Israel-Palestine Timeline: The human cost of the conflict records photos and information for each person who has been killed in the ongoing violence.

History of the Israel Lobby


Alison Weir's book Against Our Better Judgement: How the U.S. was used to create Israel brings together meticulously sourced evidence to outline the largely unknown history of U.S.-Israel relations.


Buy it on Amazon, and visit the book website for reviews, more ordering options, and upcoming author events.

IsraelPalestineNews.org


Information largely missing from U.S. news reports. Read the Blog


Inform Your Community
Liberty booklets, brochures, and flyers

Booklets, brochures, and more to educate your community about the USS Liberty

Multimedia

Video: USS Liberty Memorial - June 8, 2009

Interview with Captain Boston, the 1967 Chief Attorney in the Liberty Investigation

Documentary: Dead in the Water

Documentary: The Day Israel Attacked America

Additional Resources

Booklets, Flyers, & More on the USS Liberty

An Evidentiary Study of the USS Liberty Attack

Arlington National Cemetery: William Loren McGonagle

Q & A – Commonly Asked Questions about the Attack on the USS Liberty

Findings of the Independent Commission of Inquiry

Affidavit – Counsel to the U.S. Navy Court of Inquiry’s investigation

Book – Assault on the Liberty

Book – Body of Secrets : Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency

Documentary – Dead in the Water

Organizations

USS Liberty Memorial Website

Honor Liberty Veterans

Stay Informed

Sign up for our mailing list and receive an email whenever we post a new article on our news site, Israel-Palestine News.


This website is printer-friendly. Please Print this article and share it with your friends and family.