“I entered Naval OCS (Officer Candidate School) August 2, 1964...it was very close in time to the Gulf of Tonkin incident,” Lieutenant Paul T. Koenig, Jr. related to a United States Navy Memorial film crew at the USS America Association Reunion in Jacksonville, Florida. Lieutenant Koenig remembered with great admiration his first assignment as a United States Naval Officer, “I graduated from OCS...my orders were to the America...I reported to the America in Newport News, still in the builders’ ways.” Seeing the USS America for the first time, he recalled, "It was late at night and I was by myself...and I went ‘Oh my God,’ I’m looking up, the flight deck is so much higher, there were all these hoses and steam...they were working on the ship,  there were all kinds of lights and whistles.” The impressive, awe-inspiring sight of the United States Navy’s newest Aircraft Carrier was echoed by each of the men of the USS America Association Commissioning Crew who were interviewed. Lieutenant Koenig would tell about the pre-commissioning activities of the crew, constantly preparing, training, and drilling to make ready for the America’s first sea trials and formal commissioning. He was assigned to V-6 Division as the Junior Division Officer.

Lieutenant Koenig spoke in detail about the USS America’s flight deck activity from pre-commissioning to the early cruises. When remembering his service on the America’s flight deck he remarked, “It was quite an operation. An Aircraft Carrier flight deck in my era was determined by Lloyd’s of London to be the most dangerous man-made working environment…But you learn very quickly...people were hurt, people were killed and you don't want to be one of them.” From V-6 Division he would be assigned as the Air Transfer Officer and serve in a variety of different ports throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Koenig remarked, “It involved, among other things, whenever the ship went into port you were detached, you had independent duty at the local airport and you did not go back to the ship...you handled mail, packages, and cargo in large numbers...Sometimes in a port we’d move 500 sailors back to the States…and 500 guys in.” Despite all of these experiences, nothing could prepare him for the events that he would witness involving the Arab-Israeli War and the attack on the USS Liberty.

In May of 1967 he recalled hearing more and more reports indicating the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East. On June 8, 1967, the conclusion of a routine drill turned into something unexpected. Koenig recounted,   “All of a sudden we heard the clang, clang, clang, clang…‘General Quarters, General Quarters, all hands man your battle stations’…and it wasn't ‘This is a drill’…There was none of that…We found out that the Liberty had been attacked.” His vivid descriptions of seeing the USS Liberty the next day were echoed when he shared, “We went alongside that ship the next day after the attack, and I had the feeling like I was looking at something right out of Pearl Harbor.”

To hear the inspiring story of Vietnam War Veteran Lieutenant Paul T. Koenig, Jr. come alive; view his detailed experience that has been digitally archived by the Navy Memorial.

The United States Navy Memorial honors Lieutenant Paul T. Koenig, Jr., featured within the series titled, Stories of Service, Story of the Month. Each month, this series honors a Veteran’s story recorded by the Stories of Service Program at the Navy Memorial.