NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on Wednesday recanted a story he and his network have long perpetuated about his helicopter being shot down while he was covering the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The anchor repeated the story on Jan. 30 during a piece about his reunion with one of the soldiers he said rescued the news team.

Describing it as a "terrible moment," Williams said "the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG," while images of a helicopter with a hole in its tail were broadcast.

"Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry," Williams said.

When the story was posted on NBC's Facebook page, one commenter called Williams out for fabricating the story.

Despite blaming the fabrication on "the fog of memory," the NBC archives show that on March 26, 2003, the network broadcast a piece entitled "Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC's Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire."

The clip's description reads, "NBC's Brian William recounts being shot at by a rocket propelled grenade while riding along in Chinook helicopter on a mission over Iraqi airspace."

"Two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire, including the one I was in. RPG and AK47" he said.

"No kidding?" Letterman replied.

"We were only at 100 feet doing 100-forward knots," he said. "We landed very quickly and hard and we put down and we were stuck, four birds in the middle of the desert and we were north out ahead of the other Americans."

"We got hit, we sat down, everyone was OK," he said. "Our captain took a purple heart injury to his ear in the cockpit, but we were alone. They started distributing weapons and we heard a noise. It was Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams tanks coming. They happened to spot us. This was the invasion. The U.S invasion. They surrounded us for three days during the sandstorm that was so big that is suspended the war effort. It was called 'Orange Crush.' And they got us out of there alive."

"I have to treat you now with renewed respect," Letterman told Williams. "That's a tremendous story."