By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--February 5, 2015
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NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years. Williams repeated the claim Friday during NBC's coverage of a public tribute at a New York Rangers hockey game for a retired soldier that had provided ground security for the grounded helicopters, a game to which Williams accompanied him. In an interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he had misremembered the events and was sorry. The admission came after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment's Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near that aircraft or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that took fire. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said.But...but...just look at the pictures!  How could Williams' story not be true? He has the photographic evidence!
"It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I've know how lucky I was to survive it," said Lance Reynolds, who was the flight engineer. "It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn't deserve to participate in." Reynolds said Williams and the NBC cameramen arrived in a helicopter 30 to 60 minutes after his damaged Chinook made a rolling landing at an Iraqi airfield and skidded off the runway into the desert. He said Williams approached and took photos of the damage but Reynolds brushed them off because the crew was assessing damage and he was worried his wife, who was alone in Germany, might see the news report.So how, exactly, did an upright, honest, and unbiased newsman like Brian Williams get it all wrong?  The answer is obvious.  He just 'misremembered' things. Now that irritated soldiers - who actually were fired upon - have pointed out his totally honest mistake, he's issued an explanation.
"Because 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."I think we can all understand this. 12 years is a long time. Sometimes you just can't remember all the terrifying details about that time you may, or may not, have been shot down in a combat helicopter while flying over the Iraqi desert. Heck, maybe 12 years ago I was shot down in a helicopter and I've just managed to forget it. ...You know, "fog of memory" and all.
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