NBC Anchor Brian Williams was forced to admit a story he told about his helicopter being shot down in Iraq was not true after veterans called him out:
Williams has told the story several times throughout his tenure at NBC, but most recently repeated the story Friday during NBC’s coverage of a ceremony honoring a retired soldier. “The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG,” he said. “Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry.”
But servicemen who met Williams that day remember a completely different story. They claim that Williams’ helicopter arrived an hour after a different Chinook helicopter was shot down by enemy fire. They confirm that NBC News’ helicopter was forced to land, but only because of an impending sandstorm.
Mike O’Keeffe, the door gunner on the downed helicopter, told military newspaper Stars and Stripes he remembered seeing Williams tell the false version of the story as far back in 2003. “Over the years it faded, and then to see it last week it was — I can’t believe he is still telling this false narrative.”
I have no idea how one could misremember having the helicopter you are flying in getting shot down, but apparently it is a common problem – remember when Hillary claimed her plane came under sniper fire when she landed in Bosnia in 1996?
“In an effort to honor and thank a veteran,” to quote Williams in his apology, he ended up making the story all about himself. What is it with liberals conflating their experiences with real life heroes who have truly been in harm’s way?
It makes you wonder, if Williams can’t get the details right of an event he was a first-person witness to, what other second hand stories has he gotten wrong?
Just one more reason not to trust the liberal media.
