Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchor, admitted that his often-retold story of coming under fire while aboard a helicopter in Iraq is untrue.

Brian Williams Cops To False Story

The veracity of Williams’ story came into question last week following his latest retelling of the harrowing wartime event in a televised tribute to a retired soldier. He recalled that he was flying in a helicopter that was forced down after it was hit by enemy fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. NBC posted a video of the tribute on Facebook, where flight engineer Lance Reynolds refuted Williams’ story.

“Sorry dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft,” Reynolds wrote on Facebook. “I do remember you walking up about an hour after we had landed to ask me what had happened.”

Williams replied to Reynolds on Facebook, writing, “You are absolutely right and I was wrong.… The fog of memory over 12 years — made me conflate the two, and I apologize.” Apparently, Williams had been traveling on a helicopter flying behind the one that was hit, and re-watching the videos over the years muddled his memory about which chopper he had been in.

Wednesday evening, Williams decided to offer a more public apology during NBC Nightly News.

“After a ground fire incident in the desert during the Iraq war invasion, I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago,” he said. “It did not take long to hear from some brave men and women in the air crews who were also in that desert. I want to apologize.”

“I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by an [rocket-propelled grenade] fire. I was instead in a following aircraft,” Williams added. “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. I hope they know they have my greatest respect and also now my apology.”

As for Reynolds, he feels as though the anchor wrongfully piggybacked off a frightening, life-changing experience.

“It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I know how lucky I was to survive it,” he told military newspaper Stars and Stripes.”It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in.”