The NBC Nightly News anchor told a story about how he was on a helicopter being hit by an RPG in Iraq in 2003, but soldiers denied his claim.
- Feb 5, 2015
AceShowbiz - Brian Williams has clarified his story about a 2003 incident in Iraq which led to his news team being protected by the Third Infantry. On Wednesday, February 4, the NBC News anchor apologized for making a mistake when recalling how he had been on a helicopter which was hit by an RPG.
Williams said on his broadcast last Friday when he took Sergeant Major Tim Terpak, who just retired with three bronze stars, to a New York Rangers hockey game that Terpak "was responsible for the safety of Brian Williams and his NBC News team after their Chinook helicopter was hit and crippled by enemy fire."
Lance Reynolds, who was the flight engineer on the helicopter, refuted Williams' story and wrote on Facebook, "Sorry dude, I don't remember you being on my aircraft. I do remember you walking up about an hour after we had landed to ask me what had happened." Military newspaper Stars and Stripes reported that other crew members supported Reynolds' statement.
Responding to this, Williams took to his own Facebook to admit his mistake. "You are absolutely right and I was wrong," he wrote. "In fact, I spent much of the weekend thinking I'd gone crazy. I feel terrible about making this mistake, especially since I found my OWN WRITING about the incident from back in '08, and I was indeed on the Chinook behind the bird that took the RPG in the tail housing just above the ramp."
He added, "I have no desire to fictionalize my experience (we all saw it happened the first time) and no need to dramatize events as they actually happened, I think the constant viewing of the video showing us inspecting the impact area - and the fog of memory over 12 years - made me conflate the two, and I apologize."
He later said on Nightly News, "On this broadcast last week, in an effort to honor and thank a veteran who protected me and so many others after a ground-fire incident in the desert during the Iraq War invasion, I made a mistake in recalling the incidents of 12 years ago. I want to apologize." He continued, "I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."
"This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran and by extension our brave military men and women veterans everywhere, those who have served while I did not," Williams added. "I hope they know they have my greatest respect and also now my apology."
