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Obituary for David Edwin Lewis
Obituary for David Edwin Lewis
COLEBROOK – David Edwin “Eddie” Lewis, 90, of Colebrook, passed away at his home on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, after a long period of declining health.
Ed was born in Colebrook on April 28, 1931, a son to the late Charles J. and Sophia R. (Slowick) Lewis, Sr. He was raised and educated in Colebrook, was a graduate of the Class of 1949 from Colebrook Academy, and later attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1954. He later attended the post-graduate studies at the Naval College in Monterey, Calif., obtaining a degree in communications engineering.
Eddie’s naval career spanned more than 25 years, and he retired in 1979 at the rank of Commander. His career took him all over the world, and he was wounded aboard the U.S.S. Liberty in the Mediterranean Sea when the nation of Israel attacked the ship, claiming a mistaken identification of the ship. For the rest of his life, Eddie bore the scars of that day, and he was deeply involved with the group of survivors, proving that the state of Israel and the Johnson administration deliberately staged the attack to try and draw the U.S. into the Israeli-Egyptian Six-Day War in 1967. In 2018, he was a central figure and collaborator in the book “Blood In the Water” which chronicles this dark episode of American military history.
Eddie also was a proud member of the Free & Accepted Masons and was a 50+-year member and Past Master of Evening Star Lodge #37 in Colebrook. He also held many other positions and memberships in many other appendant Masonic bodies, both locally and nationally. Eddie was also a life-long and faithful member of the Monadnock Congregational Church.
He leaves behind his wife, Dolores (LaCasse) Lewis of Colebrook; two sons, Michael C. Lewis and wife Paula of Chesapeake, Va., and Christopher J. Lewis and wife Wanda of Minneapolis, Minn.; a brother, Palmer Lewis and wife Ruth of Colebrook; a sister, Lynda Biron and husband James of Colebrook; six grandchildren, Keith, Benjamin, Johnny, Seth, Peter and Abby; as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Eddie is predeceased by three brothers, Harold S. Lewis, Darwin “Buddy” Lewis and Charles J. Lewis, Jr., and a sister, Patricia Ann Lewis.
Calling hours will be on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home in Colebrook. A Masonic Lodge of Sorrow will immediately precede the visitation at the funeral home at 5:45. A funeral service will be held the next morning, Friday, Oct. 22, at 11 a.m. at the Monadnock Congregational Church in Colebrook. Interment will be private in the Colebrook Village Cemetery.
Expressions of sympathy in memory of Cdr. Lewis may be made to MasoniCare, Evergreen Place, 813 Beech St., Manchester, NH 03104.
Condolences may be offered to the family on-line by going to www.jenkinsnewman.com.
Dave Lewis Life Tribute Page
Obituary for David Edwin Lewis
COLEBROOK – David Edwin “Eddie” Lewis, 90, of Colebrook, passed away at his home on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, after a long period of declining health.
A full obituary will appear here soon.
Calling hours will be on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home in Colebrook. A Masonic Lodge of Sorrow will immediately precede the visitation at the funeral home at 5:45. A funeral service will be held the next morning, Friday, Oct. 22, at 11 a.m. at the Monadnock Congregational Church in Colebrook. Interment will be private in the Colebrook Village Cemetery.
Condolences may be offered to the family on-line by going to www.jenkinsnewman.com.
Funeral arrangements are entrusted to the care of Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home.
Oath of Enlistment. No Expiration Date-But There IS an Exception
Merriam-Webster defines Oath as “a solemn usually formal calling upon God or a god to witness to the truth of what one says or to witness that one sincerely intends to do what one says” and “a solemn attestation of the truth or inviolability of one’s words”
by Joe Meadors
Oaths are administered to both those entering the military and those assuming Congressional office. The text of the two oaths differ a bit:
I, (state name of enlistee), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (So help me God).” Military Oath
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” Congressional Oath
There are obvious differences between the two but what they both share is the lack of an expiration date and the obligation to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
What is most notable about both oaths is what is not included, but is sacrosanct, i.e., “immune from criticism or violation.”
YOU WILL ALLOW ISRAEL TO COMMIT WAR CRIMES AGAINST THE UNITED STATES WITH IMPUNITY!
Case in point, the June 8, 1967, Israeli attack on the USS Liberty.
We well documented the War Crimes Israel committed during the attack in the War Crimes Report we filed with the Department of the Army on June 8, 2005–the 38th anniversary of the attack on our ship.
The Department of Defense response to our War Crimes Report? Absolutely nothing.
How did Members of Congress respond to requests that they recommend the Department of Defense do something–anything–about our War Crimes Report? They told their constituents that the US government has investigated the attack numerous times and all reported that Israel was blameless.
Said another way, Members of Congress lied to their constituents.
Not allowing ourselves to sit on our laurels, we contacted many Members of Congress and asked them to allow us to provide honest information about the attack for them to use in their boilerplate responses. We’ve done this many times in the past to no avail and to no one’s surprise, this request was again ignored by Congress.
You can help us persuade Congress to move from texts provided by Israel partisans to facts provided by USS Liberty survivors in their boilerplate.
Email your Congressional Delegation and let us know what the response from Congress is.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice: Not Uniformly Applied
Legal Definition of Uniform Code of Military Justice: “body of laws containing the substantive and procedural law that governs members of the armed services and the military courts.”
by Joe Meadors
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is the legal code all members of the Armed Forces operate under.
If they want to.
The same can be said about Department of Defense Directives.
And the US Navy Judge Advocate General Manual.
Let me provide some specific examples where the obligations under the UCMJ, Department of Defense Directives and the US Navy JAG Manual have been waived with respect to the June 8, 1967, Israeli attack on the USS Liberty.
Findings of fact constitute an investigating officer’s description of details of events based on evidence. Findings must be as specific as possible about time, places, and persons involved. Each fact may be made a separate finding. An investigating officer may determine the most effective presentation for a particular case. Each fact must be supported by the statement of a witness, statement of the investigating officer, documentary evidence, or tangible (real) evidence attached to the investigative report as an enclosure. Each finding of fact should reference each enclosure that supports it.
JAG Instruction 5800.7G Manual of the Judge Advocate General, Page A-2-g
With that in mind, read the very first Finding of Fact in the US Navy Court of Inquiry Report into the attack on our ship.
Not only will you not find any evidence that the attack was “a case of mistaken identity” in the record as required by the JAG Manual, but it is contradicted by the Court’s own Legal Advisor, Capt. Ward Boston.
And then there’s the recall of the aircraft ordered by LBJ while we were still under attack. A clear capital violation of Article 99 of the UCMJ.
We have been trying to persuade the Department of Defense to investigate the War Crimes that were committed during the attack ever since we learned that testimony about the deliberate machine gunning of our life rafts given by Lloyd Painter and proferred by Glenn Oliphant has been removed from the Report of the US Navy Court of Inquiry.
The submission of our War Crimes Report on the 38th anniversary of the attack is merely a codification of the repeated requests we have made to the DoD to investigate the War Crimes that were removed from its Report.
The fact that we are still waiting for the US government to investigate the attack should tell you how the DoD responded to our War Crimes Report, all the while waiving is obligations under the UCMJ, the DoD Law of War Program and the Navy JAG Manual.
The USS Liberty in Pictures
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. We have hundreds of photos of the damage done by the attack. How many words do our pictures tell about the USS Liberty?
by Joe Meadors
Yes, Virginia. There was an attack on the USS Liberty. That may seem to be a novel way to begin a blog post by a USS Liberty survivor. It’s liberally based on a September 21, 1897 editorial in the New York’s Sun written by Francis Pharcellus Church in response to 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon’s question to the editor, “Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?”
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Francis Pharcellus Church, Sept. 21, 1897 Editorial in the New York’s Sun
The first paragraph of Mr. Church’s editorial can be modified only slightly to address the skepticism some feel about the facts about the attack on our ship.
To address that skepticism and hoping they will believe what they see, let me provide some photos taken following the attack:
This is an antenna mount that received a direct hit 
This is an antenna mount that received multiple direct hits. 
Multiple hits on antenna mount. 
Before this blood was dry Senator Jacob Javits was on the Senate floor claiming the attack was an accident. 
There were USS Liberty crewmen in this guntub when the rockets hit. 
There were USS Liberty crewmen in this guntub when the rockets hit. 
I’ll never forget the blood in the forward 50 cal. gun tub sloshing back and forth as the ship rolled. Wish I had a camera that day.
Wayne Stiles, co-pilot on the first helicopter to reach the USS Liberty following the Israeli attack
Hundreds more photos of the damage inflicted upon the USS Liberty during the attack can be found in the Photos section of our official Facebook Page.
If the physical damage to the ship does not support our effort to ensure the US government finally investigates the attack, consider those killed during the attack.
In the 54+ years since the attack, not a single Member of Congress has attended a Memorial Service honoring those fallen during the attack. There was a time when we held an annual Memorial Service at the site of the mass grave in Arlington National Cemetery, Mass Grave #1817, Section 34 on the anniversary of the attack. That Memorial Service was moved to the Navy Memorial in Washington, DC when it became difficult for some of our supporters to make the walk to the mass grave.
Not a single Member of Congress ever attended or sent an official delegation to attend any of those annual Memorial Services.
Here are those Killed in Action during the attack on the USS Liberty that Members of Congress have deemed to be unworthy of publicly displaying their honor, support and compassion.
Members of Congress live for the opportunity of expressing public affirmations of honor, support and compassion for those lost on the USS Pueblo, USS Stark and USS Cole and the 1983 bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut.
Members of Congress never miss the opportunity of attending a Memorial Service for those lost in those attacks.
But not for the USS Liberty.
Why is it ok to refuse to attend a Memorial Service for those lost on the USS Liberty?
Where is the outrage?
What did we do that resulted in our being a pariah in the Halls of Congress?
If your son, daughter, father or mother were killed in action and their deaths were treated so disrespectfully by Members of Congress would you sit idly by and allow it to happen?
How Will Historians Study the USS Liberty Attack?
Merriam-Webster defines “history” “as a chronological record of significant events (such as those affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes” and “events that form the subject matter of a history”
They also define “cover-up” as “a usually concerted effort to keep an illegal or unethical act or situation from being made public”
by Joe Meadors
What happens when a few generations from now someone learns about the attack on the USS Liberty and does a bit of research to find out what happened? What sources will be available to them?
The US government?
The DoD and every Member of Congress will point to the US Navy Court of Inquiry Report and the record in the Naval History and Heritage Command as the gold standard of what happened during the attack.
Historians will have access to the US Navy Court of Inquiry Report.
Available evidence combines to indicate the attack on LIBERTY on 8 June was in fact a case of mistaken identity.
US Navy Court of Inquiry Finding of Fact Number One
But they won’t have access to statements from the Members of the Court of Inquiry that bring into question that Finding of Fact. Not on any US government website is Ward Boston’s statement:
I know from personal conversations I had with Admiral Kidd that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of “mistaken identity” despite overwhelming evidence to the Contrary.
Capt. Ward Boston, Legal Advisor to the US Navy Court of Inquiry Investigating USS Liberty Attack
They will also be presented with the official US Navy Historian’s position that IS on an official US Navy website:
It involves the mistaken attack by four Israeli jet fighters and three motor torpedo boats (MTB) on the USS Liberty (AGTR-5), which was conducting an intelligence collection mission in international waters off the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula in the midst of the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War. (Emphasis Added)
H-Gram 007 Written by Samuel Cox Senior Executive Service Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired) Director, Naval History and Heritage Command, Curator of the Navy
How about the Israeli government?
The documentation published to the public in the IDF archives is what is in our database. We could not find any additional documentation on the subject.
Limor Itzhak, Director of the public unit, I.D.F & Defense Establishment archives, Ministry of Defense in a Sept. 14, 2021 Email to the Author
We already have the documents included in the IDF Archives posted to our Archive but they’re literally worthless for an effort to determine what happened.
How do you create the honest historical record of an attack on a US Navy ship?
Do it the same way we did for the attacks on the USS Pueblo, USS Stark, USS Cole and the 1983 bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut.
I may be going out on a limb here, but I view the reaction of Congress to the attack on our ship as a defining moment in the relationship between members of Congress and our military.
In the past many could claim to support the military but oppose the action they are involved in.
Now they ignore the action we were involved in and refuse to honor, support, and even listen to those of us who were involved with the attack on the USS Liberty.
They are trying to bury the attack—and their response to the attack—in the dustbin of history.
Ignore USS Liberty Survivors. Refuse to investigate the attack. Don’t make any complete, official and honest record of the attack.
The attack on the USS Liberty is on the verge of disappearing right before our eyes. We cannot allow that to happen.
Contact your Congressional Delegation and tell them convene a Congressional investigation of the attack on the USS Liberty. Ask them to create an official record of the attack.
“The Liberty Incident Revealed”-Published by USNI Press-Revealed
In his screed about the June 8, 1967, Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, “The Liberty Incident Revealed,” Capt. Jay Cristol paints a picture of an attack different from one that USS Liberty survivors lived through. Despite being highly touted by the US Naval Institute Press, the book doesn’t live up to the hype. It’s obvious purpose is to serve as an Israel apologia.
But it fails miserably.
by Joe Meadors
The USNI Press does yeoman’s work in advertising Jay Cristol’s book, “The Liberty Incident Revealed” That is IF you are into blatant pro-Israel propaganda.
The Liberty Incident Revealed is the complete and final story about the Israeli Air Force and Navy attack on the USS Liberty during the Six Day War in June 1967.
US Naval Institute Press
It is “the complete and final story” about an attack on a US Navy ship that the US government hasn’t investigated in the past 54+ years and shows no inclination to do so now. How can the USNI Press claim Cristol’s account is “the complete and final story” when our own government hasn’t bothered to find out what happened.
Cutting through all of the controversy and conspiracy theories about Israel’s deadly attack, Cristol revises his well-regarded book about the event with an expanded and in-depth analysis of all of the sources, including the released tapes of the National Security Agency (NSA) intercepts.
US Naval Institute Press
The NSA tapes should be the gold standard that proves the attack was as Capt. Cristol (and obviously the USNI Press) wants you to believe. That the Israeli military conducted the attack in accordance with international law and US statutes.
But they don’t. In fact, what the NSA has released is virtually worthless when it comes to determining what happened during the attack. Cristol mentions the NSA as if just mentioning the name gives his account credibility.
But it doesn’t. And it is so obvious that it doesn’t that it makes one wonder why the USNI Press included the claim in their advertisement.
The first recording (104) is 15 minutes.
The second recording (105) is 32 minutes.
The third recording (106) is 4 minutes.
The NSA would have you believe that their radio intercept officers turned on their tape recorders for 15 minutes, then turned them off and on again for 32 minutes, then off and finally on again for 4 minutes, then off.
Is that how the NSA works?
Cristol’s successful Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the NSA, while resulting in the release of those tapes, has been greeted by anti-Israel sources insisting that the NSA tapes are fraudulent and are part of a larger conspiracy to deceive the American public.
US Naval Institute Press
This comment is obviously not directed at us since we don’t insist the NSA tapes are fraudulent but that they are incomplete.
And we don’t believe that a conspiracy exists to deceive the American public.
What we DO believe is that an opposing force committed War Crimes during the attack on the USS Liberty. Further, we believe that the US government has not investigated the attack which makes this the only attack on a US Navy ship since the end of WWII NOT to be the subject of a Congressional investigation, or as the Congressional Research Service tells us, not the subject of a US government investigation.
I will continue this analysis in a subsequent blog entry.
We live to educate the American Public about the attack on our ship and to ensure the US government finally investigates it. To do this, we must enlist those who follow this blog to ask their followers to do the same, etc.
To participate in our effort, please encourage your friends and colleagues to visit our Landing Page and subscribe to our blog updates.
You can also ask the NSA to release all the tapes of the attack. They admit they have them but won’t release them. I’ve asked them so many times they have told me they will simply discard any further requests from me to have them released.
How Congress Should Have Reacted to USS Liberty Attack–But Didn’t
Congress has a tradition of honoring our servicemen and women and holding those in power to account for their actions in the numerous military engagements our country has been engaged in. It is a tradition Americans should focus on ever more so when it is NOT followed by Congress. And it WASN’T followed after the USS Liberty attack.
by Joe Meadors
A recent email from my Congressman is undoubtedly being repeated by every Member of Congress.
Notice how much honor and reverence the announcement shows for those Killed in Action at the airport in Kabul.
Notice also the use of future tense when referring to the need for accountability.
Compare that to the reaction of Senator Jacob Javits (R-NY). He made the comment on the floor of the Senate on June 8, 1967.
I wish to join with all of my fellow Americans in expressing deep sorrow over the tragic error which resulted in the bombing of a U.S. Navy communications ship off of Sinai this morning, with a reported loss of four American lives and 53 wounded.
Notice that he was declaring the attack to be a “tragic error” before a single word is taken in any investigation of the attack.
Not to be outdone by his colleagues, past and present, Congress has not yet investigated the attack.
If you’re fine with War Crimes being committed against the United States with impunity and without remorse, you’re obviously a Member of Congress so you can go back to lying to your constituents about the attack on our ship and raising money for your reelection campaign.
If it troubles you that those same Members of Congress have allowed War Crimes to be committed against the United States with impunity and without remorse during the attack on our ship, Write Your Congressional Delegation and tell them to investigate the attack on the USS Liberty.
The USS Liberty Attack “Should Never Be Forgotten” Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX27)
“. . . our nation is indebted to the brave men and women in uniform — and their families — who sacrificed blood and treasure to answer the call of their country. Their sacrifice should never be forgotten.” Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX27) Email 8/20/2021
by Joe Meadors
I will be the first to admit that in creating the title for this blog post I am taking the position of my Congressman—Michael Cloud (R-TX27)—grossly out of context.
Indeed, it is exactly opposite what his position is.
Not only his, but a position proudly held by every Member of Congress who served during the attack as well as every Member of Congress who has served since the attack.
The USS Liberty Veterans Association represents the survivors of the June 8, 1967, Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, our families and the families of 34 of our shipmates who were killed in action during that attack.
Among the awards won by the officers and crew of the USS Liberty are the Medal of Honor, two Navy Crosses, eleven Silver Stars, twenty Bronze Stars, nine Navy Commendations, 208 Purple Hearts, 294 Combat Action Ribbons, the Presidential Unit Citation and the Battle Efficiency “E” which makes the USS Liberty the most decorated ship in US Navy history for a single event since the end of World War II.
A dubious honorific the attack on our ship has is it is the only attack on a US Navy ship since the end of World War II NOT investigated by Congress.
The Congressional Research Service took that considerably further when they told us their research did not reveal a single US government investigation of the attack.
An attack on a US Navy ship warrants a complete and comprehensive public investigation.
Evermoreso given the fact that not only War Crimes but a capital violation of Article 99 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and a violation of 18 U.S. Code § 2441 – War Crimes were committed during that attack.
Most Americans share our concern that the US government has not investigated the attack and want to know what they can do to ensure not only the attack is investigated but also the refusal of the US government to investigate the attack.
The simple answer is to Click Here to send a letter to your Congressional Delegation telling them to investigate the attack.
In doing so, you will be a participant in US Navy History. No other crew of a US Navy ship had to lobby the US government to investigate the attack on their ship.
Welcome to everyone who becomes a participant in USS Liberty history. You are joining with a crew that does not know the meaning of defeat.
On June 8, 1967, we defeated the most powerful military in the Middle East.
We now set our sights on defeating an uncaring Congress. You’re invited to join with us.