Tragedy When US Navy Shot Down Civilian Airliner Iran Air Flight 655 | Mayday | Wonder

[Music] paper was light gold in medieval times i want tobacco sugar [Music] that everything we thought we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong [Music] july 1988 a u.s navy cruiser is battling iranian gun boats in the persian gulf suddenly its radar picks up a mystery aircraft is this plane friend or foe they have seven minutes to decide as the aircraft draws ever closer the pressure mounts if you do not change and the captain is faced with a terrible choice shoot it down or risk the lives of his own crews [Music] we are in an emergency it's a routine short-haul flight but an iranian passenger jet is heading into mortal danger it's opening fire with guns it's approaching a war zone in which a u.s navy ship is engaged in combat the crew are on a state of high alert anything that draws near is seen as a threat air contact still inbound increasing speed and descending range united states naval warship closing and descending 1 000 now you're in real serious business you are standing into danger wait a minute i could be dead rage 13 miles the aircraft is not responding to warnings iran air 655 seems oblivious to the danger [Music] in 1988 iran and iraq have reached a stalemate in a savage eight-year conflict it's a war of attrition and both sides oil exports are a target the united states has become the chief watchdog of the persian gulf over 30 u.s warships protect neutral tankers dawn july the 3rd after a month on routine patrol the uss vincennes is heading towards port in bahrain her crew are due a few days rest of recuperation but while his men are looking forward to the july the fourth break captain will rogers is already up he's received disturbing reports from us intelligence warning him to expect trouble from iranian forces over this holiday weekend in the vincennes combat information center the watch officer has received an urgent message from another ship in the u.s fleet that iranian gunboats are harassing a pakistani merchant vessel skipper you better come down sounds like the montgomery's got her nose and a beehive i'll be right there the frigate uss elmer montgomery is north of the vincennes near the narrow strait of hormuz it's here that iranian gunboats have been most active in attacking oil tankers as they exit the persian gulf designed to protect an aircraft carrier group the vincennes is a billion dollar aegis cruiser it's armed with mark 26 missile launchers harpoon anti-ship missiles two 5-inch guns and the phalanx close-in weapon system which fires over 3 000 rounds a minute but what makes the ship so special is its high-tech radar the phased array spy 1 can simultaneously search and track over 100 targets over 300 kilometers away to crew members like mike zunino and mark nielsen the vincennes is simply star wars at sea i was very proud just technically it just felt like a strong secure ship to be on we felt invincible in a way we had some of the most up-to-date weaponry and the radar and everything else there wasn't a whole lot that we couldn't do inside the combat information center captain rogers oversees a state-of-the-art computerized command and control system his large screen displays give him an instant picture of the tactical situation lieutenant commander vic guillory is the tactical action officer responsible for surface warfare nick what do we got on visual we've got a cluster of bog hammers here near the montgomery another cluster may be closing a merchant vessel over a dozen iranian bog hammer gunboats appear to be preparing to attack a merchant ship bog hammers are the generic name for fast speedboats manned by the iranian revolutionary guards a fundamentalist paramilitary force we knew that they had rockets we knew that they had machine guns we knew that if they got within certain range that they could you know literally fire off their rockets and cause grave danger in 1988 iranian forces have been attacking up to 13 foreign tankers per month their aim is to prevent saddam hussein from exporting iraqi oil captain rogers sends his helicopter callsign ocean lord to investigate just what the gunboats are up to roger that then sends out vector in ocean lord ocean lord is a sikorsky seahawk a twin-engine helicopter designed for reconnaissance anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare roger trinity sword we read you factoring toward montgomery now ocean lords pilot soon finds the gunboats they're not acting suspiciously but he flies too close to the iranian craft the response is immediate a burst of anti-aircraft fire jesus we need the lord this is ocean lord 2-5 we are taking fire this is trinity sword actual is anyone hurt confirm hostile fire over trinity sword no injuries we confirm eight to ten rounds of airburst from the northernmost group of iranian small craft over ocean lord this is trinity sword actual return immediately to vincennes cover close ocean lord's position at best speed bearing three threes under the u.s rules of engagement captain rogers is allowed to respond with force in self-defense full speed set general quarters officer of the deck set general quarters the situation is escalating rapidly when we went to general quarters all of the hatches had to be tightened down everything had to be at a certain level of defense in case something happened once you get to that station you're supposed to you don your uh your helmet uh and your your gas mask nobody's allowed to move around the ship uh just to stay at your battle stations doing your job only six and a half minutes after rogers calls general quarters the vincennes is ready for combat the crew have practiced the drill many times but today it's for real by chance a navy media crew is on the bridge filming as the ship surges north at over 30 knots captain rogers is now heading for a lethal confrontation with the iranian gunboats it will be the vincennes first time in action the outcome will be catastrophic july the 3rd 1988 the uss vincennes powers north towards the strait of hormuz us ship has reported aggressive activity by iranian gun boats those boats have already fired on the vincennes helicopter captain will rogers iii has been in the gulf for just over a month but he's already established a reputation as a commander who is prepared to take robust action his ship is nicknamed the robo cruiser quarters [Music] meanwhile some 87 kilometers away at iran's bandar abbas airport iran air flight 655 is waiting to push back for a routine 28-minute hop across the strait of hormuz to dubai 37 thirty-seven-year-old mohsin rasayan is the captain his brother hussein knows he's dedicated to the job 655 standing by for atc clearance he was very enjoying what what he was doing he really liked it he was logging so many hours over 10 000 hours of flight request update on status of captain resigns flight is delayed it's 27 minutes behind schedule due to a passenger with immigration problems the hold up will soon confuse the crew of vincennes despite all their sophisticated technology on the bridge a navy media crew continues to film as the vincennes closes within striking distance of the iranian bog hammer gunboats even though his helicopter has already been shot at captain rogers only has the authority to open fire if he believes his ship is under direct threat in the gulf haze it's hard to see just what the gunboats are doing one appears to be up to starboard and one's in the middle but captain rogers doesn't have to wait for the gunboats to open fire if they behave aggressively that's reason enough for him to take the first shot inbound as they turn to begin to maneuver and close us fairly high speed and on erratic courses we asked mr fire warning shot this is vincennes request permission to engage bog hammer group the service commander for the gulf is on board his ship in bahrain captain richard mckenna has no hesitation in granting permission the fact that the helicopter was shot at uh virtually required a response the rules of engagement at that juncture were quite clear and so there was no question as to what was required at that juncture golf sierra this is vincennes opening fire with guns assumed hostile track four four five six vincennes out it's 9 43 am a routine encounter in the persian gulf has become deadly serious the ship shakes um it's a five inch gun i mean it's it's there's a lot of powder behind it to to propel that projectile this is the first time that the crew of the vincennes have ever seen action combat was you know that was the furthest thing probably for many of us even though we were a combat ship it was it was one of those things it's like it'll never happen to us but yet it did the gunboats are now shooting back but their fire is falling well short the vincennes and the montgomery take them on together the battle is fast moving with frequent changes of course we were maneuvering rapidly because the first place my my desire was to keep them at arm's length if you will we were shifting targets as rapidly as we could and uh montgomery at the same time was uh directed to engage small craft which he did verify me rounds to the train the vincennes and the montgomery are now locked in a full-scale sea battle anything that approaches the u.s ships will be assessed as a possible threat lieutenant commander scott lustig is the officer responsible for alerting the captain to potential airborne threats he's been tracking an aircraft that has suddenly changed course and is now heading towards the vincennes 472 iranian p3 range 62 miles the plane has been identified as an iranian p3 orion a long-range maritime surveillance aircraft in a well-rehearsed procedure the vincennes warns the p3 on a military frequency that he's being tracked this is united states naval warship request you state your intentions us warship this is iranian papa iii our intention is search mission we keep clear of your unit the pilot promises to keep his distance but captain rogers knows the p3 is still watching him on radar he's concerned that it could call in an iranian airstrike this battle is becoming more dangerous by the minute yeah i want rounds in the tray give me a firing solution for that northernmost group of bog hammers scott keep me updated on the p3 meanwhile with all his passengers finally on board captain rezaian is ready to depart taxi 5 is open on the 3rd of july there are 10 civilian flights scheduled from bandar abbas but the iranian air force also uses this airport u.s intelligence has warned that the recent transfer of f-14 fighters here represents an increased threat have a nice flight 655 clear for takeoff captain rezaian has no way of knowing that iran air 655 is heading directly towards a raging sea battle within seconds of liftoff the vincennes detects flight 655 as the radar is it cannot determine the size or type of aircraft identification supervisor anderson begins a routine to establish whether the aircraft is a friend or foe his first step is to use a system called iff all large aircraft have iff they all have identification fender fault every aircraft has its own code and you're able to look up that code and say okay it does give you more information anderson sets out to identify the iff signal of this incoming track at the press of a button an electronic pulse radiates into the atmosphere and aircraft transponders automatically bounce back an electronic reply squawking the signature modes and codes that reveal whether the aircraft is a friend or foe [Music] modes one two and four indicate military aircraft iran air 655 has squawked mode 3. everybody has mode 3. so that alone doesn't identify a non-hostile aircraft it could be civilian it could be military [Music] as a military aircraft could conceal its identity by squawking mode 3 anderson's next step is to consult a commercial air schedule he looks to see if there's a passenger flight due to depart from bandar abbas at this time but he finds nothing unidentified iranian aircraft on course 203 speed 303 knots altitude 4 000 feet this is united so the vincennes now tries to contact the plane directly on a military distress frequency 40 miles from you you are approaching united states naval warship and international waters request you state your intentions over but there's no response for all its state-of-the-art technology the vincennes doesn't have a radio tuned to civil air traffic control frequencies unidentified aircraft on course two zero six speed so the only option left is for the ship to call the mystery aircraft on the civilian international air distress frequency you are approaching a united states naval warship request you remain clear but there's still no answer from flight 655 with the incoming plane closing in on the vincennes at eight kilometers every minute anderson is now alarmed to discover its iff signal appears to have changed the plane is squawking both mode three and mode two eleven hundred when anderson consults his code list he makes a disturbing discovery the 1100 suggests that this plane could be an iranian f-14 fighter all stations ids i have a possible mode 2 on track one one zero zero which breaks as an f-14 possible boat too breaking as an f-14 i repeat incoming mode two anderson's words spread like wildfire throughout the cic the aircraft is now labeled as an f-14 fighter on the tactical displays in front of captain rogers 48 kilometers away the airbus with its 290 passengers climbs out over the persian gulf they have no idea that they've been misidentified and are flying into danger an iranian passenger jet heading for dubai is unknowingly flying directly towards a us warship engaged in battle in the strait of hormuz on board the uss vincennes identification supervisor anderson thinks the airliner is an iranian fighter jet zero which breaks has an f-14 possible in the combat information center flight 655 is now labeled as a hostile f-14 in the 1970s the u.s sold 80 f-14s to their then ally the shah of iran they are the most up-to-date fighter in the iranian air force the vincennes crew think they're under attack my heartbeat was way up my blood pressure was way up it was like wow i mean the adrenaline was just flowing lieutenant commander scott lustig is captain william rogers anti-air warfare coordinator with the incoming play in only 45 kilometers away he seeks permission from headquarters to shoot it down if it comes too close position my intention is to engage at 20 nautical miles if he does not turn away do you concur over aircraft first then take it under fire you start crossing 20 miles and it's an absolute threat to the ship you're out there in the middle of the ocean uh it's that it's serious business the pressure on captain rogers is mounting but at this critical moment just when he should be focusing on this new threat his attention is drawn back to the battle with the gunboats captain we have a situation with mount 51. in the midst of combat the vincennes forward five-inch gun has jammed all right full rudder turn bridge cic hard to pour steady scores 280 degrees maintain speed that's 25 knots [Music] rogers is forced to turn his ship at high speed swinging the cruiser's rear gun around to face the incoming fire [Music] [Music] the ship leans so if anything was not tied down it of course went everywhere it went sliding off up against the wall it turned sharp enough that if you were standing you had to hold on to something to keep from falling over bring afghan to bear now as captain rogers struggles to keep the gun boats engaged captain rezaian is busy with the routines of climbing to cruising altitude fir five eight dubai zero seven 715 confirm you are squawking 6760 affirmative confirmation that his aircraft is transmitting the correct civilian iff code so that it can be easily identified on radar in the vincennes combat information center lieutenant william mountford sees that the approaching plane is now squawking a mode 3 iff response he thinks it may not be a military aircraft after all sir possible calm air captain rogers acknowledges the warning but he's still concerned by the plane's failure to respond the aircraft was warned it's worn a number of times continued to close time is a demon here if i have a long time to sort things out you're going to take more time to look at this and more time to look at that unidentified aircraft as flight 655 crosses the critical 37 kilometer threshold the vincennes warns it once again to alter course or risk the consequences from you you are standing into danger and may be subject to united states defensive measures request you remain clear of me captain rogers now has the authority to shoot the plane down captain do you wish to engage in 20 miles captain do you wish to engage the target at 20 miles i had difficulty at 20 mile i just did not want to shoot i could not believe that this was really happening to us captain do you wish to engage the target at 20 miles negative captain rogers has delayed firing hoping that the plane will finally respond to the vincennes warnings but what happens next destroys that faint hope [Music] petty officer leach is the vincennes tactical information coordinator he's responsible for ensuring that all air contacts are properly tracked what he reports now seems to remove any doubts this is a hostile aircraft altitude declining they see the plane diving towards them a classic attack profile now you're you're in real serious business because anything can happen at that point whether that aircraft might launch something at you it could be the aircraft itself 15 miles that's pretty pretty close and pretty serious iranian aircraft on course 2-1-1 speed track 4-1-3-1 approaching 13 nautical miles naval warship operating in international waters wait a minute i could be dead the tension is just continually rising during this whole time everybody was on edge everybody was like oh my god oh my god what's going to happen next subject to united states defense measures inbound air contact closing and descending 1000 feet per mile range 13 miles oh my god it's getting closer it's getting closer what's the captain going to do what's going to happen you know what are they going to do iran air 655 now signs off with bandar abbas air traffic control 3.4 have a nice flight thank you good day [Music] god damn but he's getting close mark incoming bog hammer bearing zero four two air contacts still inbound increasing speed and descending range 11 miles [Music] captain rogers worst fear is that the vincennes might face the same fate as another ship the uss stark a year earlier an iraqi fighter launched two exocet missiles at it 37 sailors were killed and the ship nearly lost an inquiry blamed the incident on failures in command the stark had not defended itself its captain was reprimanded and allowed to resign from the navy [Music] air contact still inbound increasing speed and descending range 11 miles captain rogers isn't about to make the same mistake time is a demon here at some point in time you have to make the decision when the aircraft reached a little over 10 miles at that point in time i either make the decision then or i don't make it at all because i reached minimum weapons range [Music] it's the moment of truth captain rogers turns his fire authorization key [Music] take order track 4-1-3-1 [Music] do i have a take order on the contact yes take birds away rail's clear iranian aircraft on course 209 speed 3539 as the final warning goes out on the military air distress frequency rogers keeps his finger on the hold fire button so he can destroy the missiles if the aircraft finally responds [Music] estimate 10 seconds to intercept [Music] [Music] oh dead up on the bridge the crew has confirmed the kill the plane they believed was attacking them has been destroyed captain rogers thinks he has saved his ship from destruction nothing could be further from the truth far from saving his crew rogers has just made a decision that will shock the world goddammit he's getting close at the height of a naval battle with iranian gunboats in the persian gulf the uss vincennes has detected an incoming aircraft take order track 4-1 in the ship's combat information center that plane has been misidentified as an iranian f-14 fighter after the plane has failed to respond to warnings captain william rogers has shot it down but rogers has made a fatal mistake he's destroyed an iranian passenger jet flying in an international air corridor 290 passengers and crew are dead iranian television broadcasts distressing footage of their bodies floating in the gulf for captain rogers the burden is heavy whatever mistakes have been made he bears the ultimate responsibility but for the victims families it's worse captain razian's elder brother hussain tries to identify his remains in a temporary mortuary in bandarabas i try not to imagine where i went to i try to forget it and when i look at those bodies i just i just can't control myself you know i just try to to think about something else not not to think of what i saw captain razian's body is never recovered really i shattered our family especially his kids his wife my parents which are still living and and there is not a day that they don't talk about these uh what happened why should have happened there's an immediate international outcry the world wants to know how a cruiser with a state-of-the-art combat system could have mistaken a passenger airliner for an attacking iranian fighter captain do you swear that the evidence you are giving in this matter now an investigation the u.s government appoints rear admiral william fogerty to conduct an inquiry to find out what went wrong my first reaction was it was a tragedy the thing that stuck the most to me was you've got some a lot of responsibilities ahead of you fogarty and probably some sleepless nights and nothing but the truth so help you god i do the inquiry is conducted in accord with the uniform code of military justice the stakes are high investigative journalist roger charles is a former marine officer who's examined the story you're looking at a guy who's on top of the world he's the captain of the billion dollar aegis cruiser and now he's sitting at a table facing a possible court martial and you know even prison time admiral fogerty's team now scrutinizes the actions of the vincennes crew in forensic detail when flight 655 first appears on radar the uss vincennes is in the midst of a battle with iranian gun boats all aircraft within a radius of a hundred kilometers are monitored to ensure they do not pose a threat so identification supervisor anderson starts by checking his commercial air schedule to determine if this is a passenger flight but he's confused the schedule lists departures in local time but anderson is unsure whether that means the time in bandar abbas or bahrain time which is used on the ship you have the almost 30 minute delay caused by the late departure of irr 655 due to a passenger with a visa problem then you have the 30-minute different time zone so he looks at it and he's seen there's nobody within an hour scheduled to be over us the iff system is supposed to distinguish friend from foe admiral fogarty knows it's critical to establish how the vincennes could have confused a commercial airliner squawking mode 3 with a fighter emitting mode 2. and in your mind that was not calm air in my mind sir it was not a calm air and why because i had saw that mo too squawk sir the mode 2 was the big indicator for you yes sir from intelligence fogerty discovers that as flight 655 prepares for takeoff an iranian f-14 is also on the tarmac at bandar abbas it now appears that although anderson rolls his ball tab to hook flight 655 as it takes off he leaves it hooked for almost 90 seconds so although the hook symbol moves towards the vincennes the system is still reading iff signals from the airport at bandar abbas it's a human error caused by poor design on this high-tech warship he left the ball tab on bond or a bus so what we believe happened and i'm pretty sure this is exactly what happened he picked up the mode two of the iranian fighter that was getting ready for takeoff behind the airbus the identification of an f-14 appears to confirm intelligence warning captain rogers to anticipate trouble over the july the fourth weekend he now believes the aircraft is part of a coordinated strike on the vincennes from both sea and air sir possible calm air so he places less weight on the warning that the incoming plane is possibly a commercial airliner do you recall lieutenant montford saying calm air com air i absolutely remember him telling me that and i think i raised my hand or something to that effect to indicate that i'd hurt him you held up your decision to fire yes sir why i wanted every bit of information i could get iff was an indicator but i didn't care whether 1100 was an f-14 or that falca that flies around out there but at this point i thought they always talk to us iranian aircraft on course 2-1 the vincennes transmits a total of 10 radio warnings why does flight 655 never respond what we do know for sure is the aircraft did not respond to the warnings he had to have something he being the command officer as proof that this was commercial air he never got that unidentified iranian aircraft on course two but the vincennes transmits seven warnings on a military frequency that flight 655 cannot receive the airbus did not even have a radio that was set or could accept the military air distress frequency i mean it's just not something they had they had no need for it they were a commercial airplane the vincennes broadcasts only three warnings on the civil distress frequency but they don't clearly identify exactly who the ship is trying to contact unidentified aircraft on course two one zero speed three five zero altitude the vincennes radio talkers are citing the aircraft's ground speed bearing two zero one twenty miles from you you are standing into danger and may be subject to united states defensive measures but captain rosian's instruments show airspeed a relative measurement flight 655's indicated airspeed could have been 50 knots slower than the 350 knot ground speed cited by the vincennes so if the pilot hears that who are they talking to they're not they haven't identified us they must be talking to maybe the p3 or maybe some other iranian aircraft throughout its flight iran air 655 transmits its squawk code the unique label that tells radars what flight it is if the vincennes had called out that squawk code captain rezaian could have known immediately they were talking to him but the us navy does not require its radio operators to use this code when talking to civilian aircraft as flight 655 nears his ship captain do you wish to engage at 20 miles the pressure on captain rogers becomes intense captain do you wish to engage the target at 20 miles when you look at the time window that he had he waited till the very last minute and it becomes a point of am i going to shoot or am i not going to shoot and wait in which case he would not be re-following his responsibilities to protect his ship and his crew the decisive factor in captain roger's decision to fire are the reports he receives that the plane is descending towards him apparently about to attack altitude declining it's the crucial moment the inquiry team presses tactical information coordinator leech on his call okay were you reporting descending elevations over the net over the internal net yes sir so in other words when you saw that track that aircraft start descending you were reporting that up to tao ceo golf whiskey yes sir like an aircraft's black box the vincenz computers have recorded all the data on the combat information center's screens those records show that iran air 655 had never descended it was in fact ascending the whole time that was a revelation that we we had not anticipated altitude declining is it possible is it possible that somebody although the data showed perhaps that it was going up would say it's going down descending fogerty sends a medical team including a psychiatrist to the vincennes they report that a condition called scenario fulfillment could have played a part in the tragedy rage 13 miles and as it turns out where you you believe something so badly is going to happen that whether the data shows you it's not the case you believe it's happening had those in command on that day checked their monitors they would have seen that flight 655 was not diving in a classic attack profile but was continuing its steady climb yet no one thought to do so well scott uh we had this disparity between what the data indicates happened and what the people said they saw at their various altitudes any idea why sir the disparity baffles me i thought about this for many days now and i came to the realization that this data to me doesn't mean anything because i reacted to people i had operated with who were reliable and when they reported at short range they had decreasing altitude increasing speed i had no reason to doubt them i had to make a split second recommendation to the commanding officer and i did so lieutenant commander lustig trusts his men's judgment and captain rogers trusts lieutenant commander lustig's my confidence in lieutenant commander lustig confirmed to me that the aircraft was in fact a threat at nine miles i felt i could no longer delay defensive action i granted fire and permission when i looked at the timeline that he had to make a decision and the information he was given upon which to make that decision it was my feeling to this day i still feel the same way that he made the right decision with the main thing in his mind i don't want my ship to get hit [Music] take order track 4-1-3-1 the vincennes sophisticated combat information system gives its crew accurate information but their fear has created a threat where none exists after a month admiral fogarty's investigation is over he finds that the downing of iran air 655 was not the result of any negligent or culpable conduct by any u.s naval personnel captain rogers acted in a prudent manner given the information available to him and the short time frame in which he had to make his critical decision fogarty says iran must share the responsibility for hazarding one of their civilian airliners in close proximity to hostilities the us government publishes an edited version of admiral fogerty's inquiry but it has concealed one key fact from the world that fact will cast a whole new light on the tragedy of iran air flight 655 [Music] in august 1988 a detailed inquiry by admiral william fogerty into the shooting down of iran air 655 concludes that the captain and crew of the uss vincennes acted properly in the face of what they believed was a threat to their ship but investigative journalist roger charles is not convinced he reads a copy of the fogarty inquiry and wonders why it contains no map showing the vincennes position i knew the fact that there was no such chart in the fogerty report again was a signal and a curious signal to me why is it not there skipper you better come down sounds like the montgomery's got her nose and a beehive i'll be right there when captain rogers first hears that iranian gunboats are harassing merchant shipping the vincennes is well south of the montgomery and destined for port in bahrain golf sierra this is vincennes request permission to support uss montgomery against surface contacts over rogers asks captain richard mckenna his surface commander for permission to turn north to support the montgomery but mckenna only authorizes him to send his helicopter to investigate roger that then sends out vector in ocean but captain mckenna is later startled to discover that the vincennes has turned around and has closed on the montgomery's position he orders him to leave the helicopter in place and turn back immediately my own personal opinion is it really did feel that they were looking for action when they when they went to see the the elmer montgomery my my own feeling is that the situation was not out of control it was really my call and yet uh even though they were assigned another station they took it upon themselves to be there and um to that extent i feel that you know i mean that's that's where the the the general feeling and not not just my own comes that maybe they were looking for trouble jesus we need the lord this is ocean lord 2-5 we are changing but once the iranian gunboats fired upon the vincennes helicopter the situation changed close ocean lord's position at best speed the rules of engagement now allow captain rogers to respond with force he's now authorized to head off in hot pursuit of the gunboats but where does that lead him in 1990 roger charles obtains a copy of a restricted report on the destruction of iran air 655 by the international civil aviation organization it gives the vincennes coordinates when charles plots them on a chart he makes a startling discovery at the time of the shoot down the vincennes is over four kilometers inside iranian territorial waters by chasing the gunboats back into iranian territory rogers inadvertently places his ship directly in the flight path of iran air 655. [Music] if rogers had not taken the vincennes up to attack the gunboats there would have been no shoot down of ir655 that's clear there would have been no ongoing surface action rogers would have had his radar screen set for the air side of things the focus would have only been on the air picture they would have had plenty of time to make a proper determination that this was a commercial airliner despite the tragedy the crew of the vincennes receive a hero's welcome on their return to port in san diego [Applause] captain do you wish to engage the target at 20 miles lieutenant commander scott lustig is awarded a navy commendation medal for his ability to maintain his poise and confidence under fire take order track 4-1-3-1 captain rogers receives the legion of merit for his performance as commanding officer of the vincennes both men have since retired from the navy every year the families of those who died on iran air 655 commemorate their loss in the persian [Music] gulf for hussein rezaian the brother of flight 655's captain time has not healed the wounds i still feel the same way although i try to keep myself busy not to think about it because it's still uh i mean it's an unforgettable human tragedy even after 17 years as the horrors of what went down in that that day you know still still lingers on in everybody's life in a world where technology grows ever more sophisticated fear the most basic of human instincts can create the greatest tragedies [Music] you

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Id: DPHGUQrixWc

Length: 50min 28sec (3028 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 08 2021