In fact Williams arrived about an hour later on another helicopter after the

NBC news anchor Brian Williams has been forced to admit that he wasn't aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by enemy fire during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Nightly News anchor has often repeated the war story over the past 12 years about how the aircraft he was on was forced down by enemy fire.

During a report on Friday, Williams went further and said that the aircraft he was on had actually been hit - a claim that quickly prompted denials from soldiers who were present.

On Wednesday, Williams apologized during his NBC Nightly News bulletin and said that he was 'mistaken'. Later that evening he didn't seem too worried about the furor as he enjoyed a New York Rangers game with his good friend Tom Hanks.

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NBC news anchor Brian Williams has been forced to admit that he wasn't aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by enemy fire during the 2003 invasion of Iraq

'I would not have chosen to make this mistake,' Williams told Stars and Stripes. 'I don't know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.'

The NBC anchor had most recently repeated his old war story on Friday when he presented a segment on NBC Nightly News about a public tribute at a hockey game in New York for Command Sgt. Major Tim Terpack, a retired soldier who had provided ground security for the grounded helicopters.

'The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG,' Williams said on Tuesday evening.

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

Crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment's Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire had told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near the aircraft or two other Chinooks that had been flying in formation when they took fire.

According to the crew members, Williams arrived about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing.

Williams appeared nonplussed about the scandal on Wednesday evening as he enjoyed a New York Rangers game with his good friend Tom Hanks

Williams pictured in Iraq in 2003 with Command Sgt. Major Tim Terpack: In a lengthy Facebook post on Wednesday, Williams admitted his mistake and blamed the ‘fog of memory over 12 years’ for his error

The day after Williams' report, one crew member responded to the story on NBC NIghtly News' Facebook and said that he remembered things rather differently

Another man, Joseph Miller, who claimed to be on Williams' aircraft at the time said he had been 'calling him out on this for a long time with no response'

THE CHANGING STORY OF BRIAN WILLIAMS' 2003 CHINOOK FLIGHT Since the 2003 incident, Williams’ Chinook story has been recounted countless times and gradually the reporter's role seems to have grown. NBC reported the incident on March 26, 2003, with the headline, 'Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire.' However when the incident was reported the next day by the New York Daily News it stated that a ‘chopper was hit and forced to land. Then the one carrying Williams landed.’ Three days later USA Today carried a similar report that stated: 'NBC's Brian Williams was stranded in the Iraqi desert for three days after a Chinook helicopter ahead of his was attacked by a man who fired a rocket-propelled grenade. 'The grenade just missed, but it forced the group to make an emergency landing. Luckily, a U.S. tank platoon was there and surrounded the helicopters, killing four Iraqis.' In a 2007 entry from his blog Williams recounts how he was part of a ‘flotilla of four twin-rotor Chinook helicopters’. ‘Some men on the ground fired an RPG through the tail rotor of the chopper flying in front of ours. 'There was small arms fire. … All four choppers dropped their heavy loads and landed quickly and hard on the desert floor,’ he recalled. By the next year Williams was claiming on his blog that 'all four of our low-flying Chinooks took fire.' 'The Chinook helicopter flying in front of ours (from the 101st Airborne) took an RPG to the rear rotor, as all four of our low-flying Chinooks took fire,' he wrote. 'We were forced down and stayed down -- for the better (or worse) part of 3 days and 2 nights.' The tale takes a more dramatic twist during a 2013 appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman. By now Williams is recalling that two helicopter were hit - including his. ‘Two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire including the one I was in,’ he told Letterman. Then during his report on January 30, Williams once again told an inaccurate version of events so that now ‘the helicopter we were travelling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG.’ Advertisement

NBC Nightly News posted Williams' report on their Facebook page and the next day Lance Reynolds, who says he was present for the incident responded to the story and wrote that he remembered things rather differently.

'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,' wrote Reynolds.

Another man, Joseph Miller, who claimed to be on Williams' aircraft at the time said he had been 'calling him out on this for a long time with no response'.

During the Nightly News broadcast on Wednesday evening, Williams told viewers that his mistake was a 'bungled attempt' to honor a soldier who had helped protect him.

'I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago. I want to apologize' he said.

In a lengthy Facebook post on Wednesday Williams admitted his mistake and blamed the ‘fog of memory over 12 years’ for his error.

‘I feel terrible about making this mistake, especially since I found my OWN WRITING about the incident from back in '08, and I was indeed on the Chinook behind the bird that took the RPG in the tail housing just above the ramp,’ he wrote.

‘Because I have no desire to fictionalize my experience (we all saw it happened the first time) and no need to dramatize events as they actually happened, I think the constant viewing of the video showing us inspecting the impact area -- and the fog of memory over 12 years -- made me conflate the two, and I apologize.’

Williams went on to strenuously deny that he was ‘trying to steal anyone's valor.’

‘I was and remain a civilian journalist covering the stories of those who volunteered for duty. This was simply an attempt to thank Tim, our military and Veterans everywhere -- those who have served while I did not.’

One of the top trending topics on Twitter on Wednesday night was #BrianWilliamsMisremembers.

‘#BrianWilliamsMisremembers and then I said look Woodward you and Bernstein are in way over your head,time to follow a real man..lets do this,’ tweeted one person.

‘And I just knew we could make a better portable music player. Called it the iPod." #BrianWilliamsMisremembers,’ wrote another.

Since the 2003 incident, Williams’ Chinook story has been recounted countless times and gradually the reporter's role seems to have grown.

NBC reported the incident on March 26, 2003, with the headline, 'Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire.'

However when the incident was reported the next day by the New York Daily News it stated that a ‘chopper was hit and forced to land. Then the one carrying Williams landed.’

Three days later USA Today carried a similar report that stated: 'NBC's Brian Williams was stranded in the Iraqi desert for three days after a Chinook helicopter ahead of his was attacked by a man who fired a rocket-propelled grenade.

'The grenade just missed, but it forced the group to make an emergency landing. Luckily, a U.S. tank platoon was there and surrounded the helicopters, killing four Iraqis.'

In a 2007 entry from his blog Williams recounts how he was part of a ‘flotilla of four twin-rotor Chinook helicopters’.

‘Some men on the ground fired an RPG through the tail rotor of the chopper flying in front of ours.

Williams apologized on the air during Wednesday's program and called his mistake a 'bungled attempt' to honor a soldier

Crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment's Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire say the NBC anchor was nowhere near the aircraft or two other Chinooks that were flying in formation when they took fire in Iraq in 2003

Actor Tom Hanks and Brian Williams pictured together at the Boston Bruins game at Madison Square Garden

The two shared plenty of laughs and thrills at the game only hours after Williams apologized for his 'mistake'

'There was small arms fire. … All four choppers dropped their heavy loads and landed quickly and hard on the desert floor,’ he recalled.

By the next year Williams was claiming on his blog that 'all four of our low-flying Chinooks took fire.'

'The Chinook helicopter flying in front of ours (from the 101st Airborne) took an RPG to the rear rotor, as all four of our low-flying Chinooks took fire,' he wrote.

'We were forced down and stayed down -- for the better (or worse) part of 3 days and 2 nights.'

The tale takes a more dramatic twist during a 2013 appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman. By now Williams is recalling that two helicopter were hit - including his.

‘Two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire including the one I was in,’ he told Letterman.

Then during his report on January 30, Williams once again told an inaccurate version of events so that now ‘the helicopter we were travelling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG.’

Williams has anchored NBC Nightly News - the nation’s highest rated news program - since December 2004 when he replaced Tom Brokaw.

His reporting from inside the New Orleans Superdome in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the next year helped earn NBC a Peabody Award.

DailyMail.com has reached out to NBC News for comment.

Williams on not aboard a helicopter that was hit during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and in fact he arrived about an hour later after the aircraft had made an emergency landing