NBC News’ Brian Williams was not, as he has previously claimed, aboard a U.S. Air Force helicopter that was hit by two rockets and grounded during the 2003 Iraq invasion.
In what was surely a moment of vindication for those who were actually aboard the grounded aircraft, the Nightly News anchor admitted Wednesday that the harrowing story he and NBC had been perpetuating since 2003 was false.
“I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams told the military publication Stars and Stripes, Wednesday. “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”
The confession came at a New York Rangers game last week, after Williams reiterated his skewed version of events. The occasion was a tribute to retired Command Sgt. Major Tim Terpak, who’d provided security for the grounded helicopters Williams claimed to have been aboard.
In a comment on NBC Nightly News' Facebook page, under the video of Williams’ coverage of the tribute, Flight Engineer Lance Reynolds wrote “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. Then I remember you guys taking back off in a different flight of Chinooks from another unit and heading to Kuwait to report your 'war story' to the Nightly News. The whole time we were still stuck in Iraq trying to repair the aircraft and pulling our own Security.”
Reynolds told Stars and Stripes, “It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I’ve know how lucky I was to survive it. It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in.”
Williams responded to Reynold’s comment and apologized.
