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From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas) Date: Fri, 8 May 1998 14:02:12 -0800 |
----- Forwarded Message Follows (Posted with permission of author) ----- General Curtis E. LeMay Commander, Strategic Air Command By William E. Jones MUFON State Director for Ohio William Hamilton of Arizona MUFON recently related a story over the Internet. According to Hamilton, "I had a friend in Long Beach, California. He was a UFO buff and ham radio operator. He struck up conversations with LeMay who also lived in the area over ham radio. One day he asked if he could visit the retired General, especially since his health was failing. "Once in LeMay's living room and having gotten acquainted he broached the subject of UFOs. LeMay answered that he knew about them and was pissed at the CIA because he wasn't told by [the CIA] the planets of origin (as if he expected that as part of a briefing.) "LeMay passed away shortly thereafter and my friend never returned for another visit." General LeMay made at least one public statement about flying saucers, this in his 1965 book written with MacKinlay Kantor entitled Mission With LeMay - My Story. The statement appears on pages 541 through 543. Interestingly, the subject of flying saucers and UFOs doesn't appear in the book's index. The most interesting comments made by the General are as follows: "Here, for what they are worth, are my own comments on the subject. Naturally I am not quoting any Classified information. I am giving the straightest answers I can give...The bulk of the [flying saucer] reports could be run down. Some natural phenomenon might usually account for those sightings which had been seen and reported, and thus explain them. However, we had a number of reports from reputable people (well-educated, serious-minded folks - scientists and flyers) who surely saw something. "There is no question about it: these were things which we could not tie in with any natural phenomena known to our investigators. "Many of the mysteries might be explained away as weather balloons, stars, reflected lights, all sorts of odds and ends. I don't mean to say that, in the unclosed and unexplained or unexplainable instances, those were actually flying objects. All I can say is that no natural phenomena could be found to account for them. ... "Unfortunately there is a current belief, on the part of the public as a whole - the intelligent public - that the United States Air Force has made and is still making a deliberate effort to discount all reported sightings. Furthermore, if they couldn't actually discount a certain case by referring to hallucination, inexperience, or mass hysteria - To disregard it completely. "It is alleged also that there have been attempts, by word of mouth or by directive to newspapers from the Air Force, to hush the whole thing up. To muzzle the press...People who believe these rumors are clinging to a falsehood. It is absolutely untrue that any such directive was ever put forth. I never heard of it in 1947, when the first saucer accounts were published; I never heard of it after I came to command SAC; never heard of it when I was in the Pentagon...We must have had a bad public relations program in this particular area, to let such an impression get out. ... "Let me repeat: to my knowledge, there's never been any directive or effort from the top, in the Air Force, to control the public attitude toward UFOs. "And repeat again: there were some cases we could not explain. Never could." Are there any hidden messages in General LeMay's comments? I am not sure. The reader should get the book, read all three pages, and decide for his or herself. An acquaintance of MORA's William E. Jones told Mr. Jones a story similar to Hamilton's. This acquaintance is a working journalist in Columbus, Ohio. He interviewed LeMay after his retirement from the U.S. Air Force during the General's visit to Columbus for another purpose. The interview did not deal with the subject of UFOs. After the interview was concluded the journalist asked LeMay off the record what his opinions were about the subject of UFOs. LeMay replied that UFOs were real and the subject of serious interest on the part of the government. There was no equivocation in LeMay's response. UFOs were real. Remember, it was General LeMay who told Senator and Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, to stop asking him about the so-called "Blue Room" and its alien bodies at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base because LeMay was not going to discuss the matter with him. Did LeMay's attitudes about discussing these matters change after he retired? We'll let you know if we find out. +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | UFOMIND MAILING LIST | | Supporting the World's Largest Paranormal Website | | www.ufomind.com Moderator: Glenn Campbell | | | | Archived at: http://www.ufomind.com/misc/ | | Submissions to: ufomind@lists.best.com | | "unsubscribe"/"subsingle" to: ufomind-request@lists.best.com | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ RELEVANCE OF THIS MESSAGE: UFO gov't info Index: Curtis LeMay (#3)
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Created: May 8, 1998