Eliot Stein Interviews Donald Schmitt, co-author of "The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell" ©Eliot Stein
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Donald, thanks for joining us. Why has this particular UFO case more credibility than most of them?
DON: We consider the Roswell crash of 1947, the grandaddy of all UFO cases! First, it happened at a time when there was little to influence public opinion on UFOs. There wasn't all the UFO movies in theaters... nothing that would influence the mass public. You could pull out major newspapers from Jun-July 1947, and find page after page of flying saucer reports! The concerns were from the public and the government of sightings of unusual aircraft. By all the accounts and witnesses--we were dealing with SOMEBODY else's aircraft. Then we had the crash. The crash of an unknown object. Two specific sites. One 75 miles Northwest of Roswell, New Mexico the second site halfway between the first site and Roswell which necessitated a press release--JULY 8--that the U.S. military had recovered a flying disc.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Who made this announcement?
DON: The press release was issued by the 509th atomic bomb wing under the command of Col. William Blanchard.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Where did this release go to?
DON: Over the wire service --it managed to get out well enough for the next number of hours that every major newspaper had headlines about this recovery--all over the world.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: What time was the announcement?
DON: 12 NOON July 8 CST.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: So here we have an official press release from the U.S. government that they have recovered a "flying disc" that goes out on the wire services. What happens then? DON: By 7:30 p.m. that evening, the announcement was RETRACTED...by Brig. Gen. Roger Ramey. Displaying a very conventional radar reflector in his office--he "explained" away the entire event.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Did most people including the news media fall for this cover-up--after all, this was our government, who NEVER lied to us?
DON: Probably out of fear and because of the patriotic atmosphere of the nation at that time--the explanation was accepted without any second thought! It would not be until 30 years later that the INTEL officer, Major Jessie Marcel, broke the story to the media, stating that he had actually handled pieces of the genuine flying saucer! That was in 1977..and the only publication that would even touch the story was the National Enquirer.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: These days, Time and Newsweek would be there in a flash!
DON: Marcel persisted. After that additional witnesses came forward. They talked about the material...the recovery of the material.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: How big was the saucer that landed?
DON: It wasn't a saucer. The description of it was that it was without wings or a tail section. The term flying saucer was coined by a reporter from Oregon, who had been told about what a witness saw--nine flying objects. It was like the heel of a shoe--15 feet in width--about 15-20 feet in length. It had a center crew department.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Were there any occupants in this crash landing?
DON: Six first hand witnesses not only described the shape of the craft... but independently described five bodies that were recovered!
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: What did the bodies look like according to the accounts?
DON: The descriptions are basically identical! Humanoid--short in stature, about 5 feet in height--
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: So far you're describing Danny DeVito.
DON: Larger disproportionate heads--larger eyes...not your typical contemporary UFO occupant description--
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: So these are not the "greys" that we see on book covers and such...
DON: No...these were humanoids. A silver-grey one piece jump suit they wore. Bodies were placed in lead-lined body bags...what is relevant is that the 509 bomb wing was the first nuclear bomb strike force based at Roswell. The bodies were then transported via two separate flights-- early morning July 6 around 2:00 a.m.--one flight going to Andrews Army air field and the second to Wright Field. Interesting to note--that in July 1947--there were two adjoining air fields in Dayton, Ohio--Wright Field and Patterson--and witnesses to the events have described landings at Patterson. What is important is that the foreign technology headquarters--was based there.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: How foreign if foreign technology....what has happened to the Roswell farmer and family who picked up pieces off their farmland which included flowered wallpaper. The farmer's horses were spooked by alien cries thru the night. Where is the AZ D.J. who announced the crash and was cut off the air. and finally...doesn't our Air Force have similar aircraft today?
DON: It was a ranch foreman--not a farmer--high desert country, the rancher died over 25 years ago. His family is still alive. The now-grown children have verified everything except the conventional materials (the foreman retracted that)--as to the press efforts to put it over the wire, Judd Roberts at radio station KGFL described threats from the F.C.C. with loss of their license which were followed by phone calls from Senator Dennis Chavez warning them to do what they were told. The transmission was shut down. In regards to the FBI intercept of the wire transmission, there wasn't anything that unusual about the wire transmission being cross-checked before transmission.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: If indeed the government recognized this crash as aliens, what steps were taken then and now to defend against an invasion from space based upon what was learned from the crash?
DON: Newspaper accounts prior to the incident describe fighters on standby throughout the country. Radar on 24-hour alert. Following the incident, after the balloon explanation, there was literally a news blackout. Articles read how the military was taking measures to stop the rumors. Let me quote the first director of project Bluebook, captain Edward Ruppelt: "By the end of July 1947--the Pentagon was in a complete panic about UFO's." Obviously something had happened!
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Where was Harry Truman during all this?
DONALD: Truman had specifically on July 8--held security meetings with his cabinet and with his advisors. Some witnesses have suggested that Eisenhower went to New Mexico.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST) Was Harry afraid he might have to say "The buck stops here" to a group of aliens?
DON: (grin) We have to remember that because of the Atomic bomb situation at Roswell, there were more Soviet spies in Roswell than anywhere else in the country. There was a complete blackout of both the military and the press.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Do you really believe that aliens have landed on this planet?
DON: Based on over 500 witnesses, and having spent as much time investigating alternative explanations from the original "Balloon-radar device),” "Japanese balloon bombs," "V-2 rockets," and so on... we as well as the skeptics have been unable to locate a single first-hand witness who has described a "CONVENTIONAL" device to explain what happened. To the contrary--we have over two dozen living witnesses--to the material...
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Please tell us about the material of the U.F.O. spacecraft... was it analyzed... has anybody come forth with the results?
DON: We have a firsthand description. It is sections of paper-thin, metal like material that would sustain the blows of a 16-pound sledgehammer without a scratch. Foil-like memory material that you could roll-up, fold and then unfold and it would have no sign of ever being folded.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Any velcro?
DON: (grin) Strands of silk-like material that you could hold a light on one end and light would come out the other end. Fiber Optics? Maybe. I-beam sections with hieroglyphic-like symbology that ran the length of the strucures. As to analysis--we have witnesses aside from the foreign technology division at Battell Institute, Rand Corporation, Hughes Aircraft, GE, I'm sure other labs throughout the country. And as of the mid-80's, one of our sources informed us that THEY STILL CAN'T CUT THE MATERIAL.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Do you know if the alien technology is used today in America?
DON: There are scientists within our organization that have been historically researching whether there were any drastic technological breakthroughs after the event! As to the materials, it has been rumored that the Stealth technology was developed from it...but personally, I don't describe to such theories. I still believe that the cover-up is a cover-up of ignorance because they... still can't figure out what made the thing fly!!! If the materials aren't indigenous to the earth..how do you replicate them?
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Did they find any books, or communication devices? or ANYTHING that would provide clues to where these folks came from?
DON: There was some symbology on the control panels. As to log-books, maps, anything of origin...nothing as to where they came from.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Any speculation when the U.S Gov't will -if ever-come clean with the truth about the Roswell incident?
DON: There is an effort in Washington headed by Congressman Schiff for a full disclosure. So far he has been stonewalled by the Department of Defense, the Pentagon and the Air Force. As evidenced by other recently exposed cover-ups, it will take efforts by regular citizens as well as the press to bring this out.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Do they think there would be a panic if it came officially from them?
DON: In 1960, the Brookings Institute, was contracted by NASA as to the ramnifications of contact with a higher intelligence.
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: This study was clearly not about contact with the White House then?
DON: (grin) the 285 page report submitted to Congress included that such contact would be DISASTEROUS! That each time a higher race made contact--it has eliminated the lower race!
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Why are there nor hard data on the materials of the spacecraft -- after so many years it shoud be declassified and available with the freedom of information act. DONALD: In the late 1970's, we were forced to sue in Federal Court...The Air Force, FBI, CIA, as a result of the Freedom of Information Act request we made for Full Disclosure. Thousands of documents were released by court order and many of them were still "blacked out"-sanitized. And these were routine cases. We can imagine how the files must look regarding Roswell!
ELIOT STEIN-HOST: Don, were the eye-witnesses scared to death at the crash site?
DON: YES!!!!....They were very uncomfortable to the point of fright during the recovery... even the wife of one of the witnesses tells us that her husband doesn't sleep well to this day and sometimes goes out on the patio in the middle of the night--stares into the sky and relived the whole incident again
. ELIOT STEIN-HOST: This has been great. I hope you will return as a guest.