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- EXACT TRANSCRIPTION OF TAPE RECORDED STATEMENT, NOTES ARE IN
- SQUARE BRACKETS [ ].
-
- I joined the forces in March of 1942 and left in 1952. The ten years I
- spent serving my country were some of the best years of my life.
-
- My father was in the movie business, which meant he had good knowledge
- about the workings of cameras and photography. For this reason I
- believe I passed a medical that would not normally allow me in, due to
- Polio as a child.
-
- After my enrolment and training, I was able to use my camera skills and
- became one of the few dedicated cameramen in the forces. I was sent to
- many places, and as it was war time, I fast learned the ability of
- filming under difficult circumstances.
-
- I will not give more detail on my background; only to say that in the
- fall of 1944 I was assigned to Intelligence, reporting to the Assistant
- Chief of Air Staff. I was moved around depending on the assignment.
- During my time I filmed a great deal, including the tests at White Sands
- (Manhattan project/Trinity).
-
- I remember very clearly receiving the call to go to White Sands
- (Roswell). I had not long returned from St. Louis where I had filmed
- the new ramjet ("Little Henry") [ According to official records, "Little
- Henry" was a helicopter project. This discrepancy is resolved by
- referring to Janes' All The World's Aircraft for 1949, which mentions
- that McDonnell, located in St. Louis, had a project at this time called
- J-1, which was a one-man ramjet powered helicopter, with a small ramjet
- engine on the tip of each rotor blade.] It was June 1st when McDonnell
- [George C. McDonnell was the first Air Force Chief of Staff for
- Intelligence. He was most likely Assistant Air Chief of Staff for
- Intelligence in June of 1947] asked me to report to General McMullen
- [Major General Clements M. McMullen, Deputy Commander of the Strategic
- Air Command in Washington] for a special assignment. I had had no
- experience working with General McMullen, but after talking with him for
- a few minutes I knew that I would never wish to be his enemy. MuMullen
- was straight to the point, no messing. I was ordered to a crash site
- just south-west of Socorro [ this could be the Plains of San Agustin].
- It was urgent and my brief was to film everything in sight, not to leave
- the debris until it had been removed and I was to have access to all
- areas of the site. If the commander in charge [at the site] had a
- problem with that, I was told to get them to call McMullen. A few
- minutes after my orders from McMullen, I received the same instructions
- from "Tooey" [nickname for General Carl Spaatz, supposedly on vacation
- in Washington State at the time], saying it was the crash of a Russian
- spy plane. Two generals in one day, this job was important.
-
- I flew out from Andrews with sixteen other officers and personnel,
- mostly medical. We arrived at Wright Patterson and collected more men
- and equipment. From there we flew to Roswell on a C54.
-
- When we got to Roswell we were transported by road to the site. When we
- arrived the site had already been cordoned off. From the start it was
- plain to see this was no Russian spy plane. It was a large disc "flying
- saucer" on its back, with heat still radiating from the ground around
- it.
-
- The commander on site handed over [command] to the SAC medical team who
- were still waiting for Kenney [General George C. Kenney was SAC
- Commander at the time. He was supposedly away on an inspection at the
- time.] to arrive. However, nothing had been done as everyone was just
- waiting for orders.
-
- It was decided to wait until the heat subsided before moving in as fire
- was a significant risk. This was made all the worse by the screams of
- the Freak creatures that were lying by the vehicle. What in God's name
- they were no one could tell, but one thing's for sure, they were Circus
- Freaks, creatures with no business here. Each had hold of a box which
- they kept hold of in both arms close to their chests. They just lay
- there crying, holding the boxes. [This implies that all four creatures
- were still alive at this time.]
-
- Once my tent had been set up, I started filming immediately; first the
- vehicle, then the site and debris. [The sun would not yet have been up,
- so this filming must have been done under artificial light.] At around
- 06:00, it was deemed safe to move in. Again, the Freaks were still
- crying and when approached they screamed even louder. They were
- protective of their boxes, but we managed to get one loose with a firm
- strike at the head of a Freak with the butt of a rifle.
-
- The three Freaks were dragged away, and secured with rope and tape. The
- other one was already dead. The medical team were reluctant at first to
- go near these Freaks, but as some were injured, they had no choice.
- [Unless this is a mistake or poor choice of words, it means that only
- some of them were injured. ] Once the creatures were collected, the
- priority was to collect all debris that could be removed easily, as
- there was still a risk of fire. This debris seemed to come from
- exterior struts which were supporting a very small disc on the underside
- of the craft which must have snapped off when the disc flipped over. The
- debris was taken to tent stations for logging, then loaded onto trucks.
- [In verbal statements he mentions a truck full of ice into which the
- dead alien is placed. The trucks were heavy duty Diamond trucks used by
- the military.] After three days, a full team from Washington came down
- and the decision was taken to move the craft. Inside it the atmosphere
- was very heavy. It was impossible to stay in longer than a few seconds
- without feeling very sick. Therefore it was decided to analyze it back
- at base, so it was loaded onto a flattop and taken to Wright Patterson
- where I joined it.
-
- I stayed at Wright Paterson for a further three weeks working on the
- debris. I was then told to report to Fort Worth(Dallas) for the filming
- of an autopsy. Normally I would not have a problem with this, but it was
- discovered that the Freaks may be a medical threat. Therefore I was
- required to wear the same protective suits as the doctors. It was
- impossible to handle the camera properly, loading and focusing was very
- difficult. In fact, against orders, I removed my suit during the
- filming. The first two autopsies took place in July 1947.
-
- After filming I had several hundred reels. I separated problem reels
- which required special attention in processing. These I would do later.
- The first batch was [processed and] sent through to Washington, and I
- processed the remainder a few days later. Once the remaining reels had
- been processed, I contacted Washington to arrange collection of the
- final batch. Incredibly, they never came to collect or arrange
- transportation for them. I called many times and then just gave up.
- The footage has remained with me ever since. [This may not be as
- incredible as it seems. At this time the Army and the Air Force were
- being separated into two new agencies, and there was much confusion as
- "turf" was sorted out.]
-
- In May of 1949, I was asked to film the third autopsy. [ This amazing
- statement suggests that one of the aliens, probably the uninjured one,
- lived in "custody" for nearly two years. The cameraman did not have any
- of the film from this autopsy. ]
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