Roswell Incident

Something happened in Roswell, New Mexico, 60 years ago this summer. In June or early July 1947, a farmer found strange debris while working on a ranch about 70 miles north of Roswell. He put some of it in a box and drove to the local sheriff. Neither man knew what to make of it, so the sheriff called Roswell Army Air Field, which sent two men to investigate.On July 9, 1947, the Roswell Daily Record, a newspaper, printed a story with the alarming headline: "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in RoswellRegion." Other than those facts, there appear to be few things people agree on regarding what has become known as "the Roswell incident."Six decades later, competing UFO enthusiasts promote their own theories, skeptics dismiss the spaceship claims as outrageous, and the military, which originally claimed all the fuss was over a weather balloon, now sticks to its story that it was an experimental spy craft. Escondido resident Milton Sprouse, 85, said he knows what happened in Roswell ---- not because he favors one theory over another, but because he was there. As for the outrageous stories of mysterious metal, alien corpses and a military coverup? It's all true, he said.

From atom bombs to flyingsaucers Before arriving at Roswell Army Air Field in 1945 as a corporal and engine mechanic, Sprouse already had participated in an undisputable historic event. As a member of the 393rd Bomb Squadron assigned to the 509th Composite Group, Sprouse worked on the ground crew of Big Stink, one of the B-29 bombers stationed on the Pacific island of Tinian, where the two atomic bomb missions on Japan were launched to end World War II. After the war, the 509th Composite Group was reassigned to Roswell, where they were renamed the 509th Bomb Wing.

Sprouse continued to lead the ground crew of Big Stink, which had been renamed Dave's Dream after the pilot. "There was nothing there but tumbleweeds blowing for miles," he said about arriving at Roswell in November 1945. Sprouse firstlearned that something odd ......

This case has had probably the most attention of any other case in the history of ufology. However, the case remained buried for nearly 30 years before, slowly the code of silence was broken which allowed researchers to start uncovering the truth.

Obviously I can only give a fraction of the account, on this Web Site but I hope it will contain enough info for both the experienced and the beginner. People interested in this case should read some of the many great books, particularly the ones by Kevin Randle.

The data will be presented in timeline form:

Tuesday, July 1st 1947
A strange object is detected on the radar scopes at Roswell, White Sands and Alamogordo. Its tremendous speed and erratic motion indicated that it is neither a plane or a meteorite.

Wednesday, July 2, 1947
An oval object is spotted by Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot as it passes over their house in Roswell.

Thursday, July 3, 1947
Radar operator Steve MacKenzie is sent to White Sands to track the object 24 hours a day.

Friday, July 4, 1947
Warrant Officer Robert Thomas and a team of men arrive from Washington to co-ordinate to operation of tracking and possible retrieval. Mac Brazel as well as others report hearing a tremendous explosion. William Woody and his father observe a flaming object fall to earth north of Roswell. Jim Ragsdale and Trudy Truelove observe a bright light crash near to their campsite. The object which has been tracked on radar for 3 days suddenly disappears. The retrieval team assemble and start heading for the calculated crash site.

Saturday, July 5, 1947
A sheepherder finds the remains of a crashed saucer but does not report this until many years later. A group of Archaeologists also find the crashed object. The phone Sheriff George Wilcox thinking it is some from of crashed aircraft. Wilcox then inform the local fire department who arrive at the scene shortly afterwards. The special retrieval team locates the crashed craft, takes the names of all the civilians on site and the escorts them away. The site is cleaned and secured within 6 hours and 5 bodies are removed. Mac Brazil finds strange debris in his field. The debris consists of strange foil like substance, balsawood like beams and a strange sort of 'string'. None of Brazels sheep will go anywhere near the debris. Lydia Sleppy a reporter for KSWS tries to send the first 'unconfirmed' reports of the crash over the teletype. The message is intercepted by the FBI who order her to cease transmission. Melvin Brown who was one of the guards in the truck transporting the bodies claims that they were small with large heads and that their skin was an orange/yellow colour. Glenn Dennis is called by the Roswell mortuary officer and is asked several questions relating to preserving bodies, making small caskets, and how to treat bodies that had been exposed to the sun. Dennis is later summoned to the base to treat an injured pilot, while he is there is sees several ambulances and some wreckage. Dennis is then threatened by two officers who warn him not to report anything he has witnessed. Mac Brazel returns to the debris site and picks up some the stuff and takes it to his neighbours, Floyd and Loretta Proctor. They suggest that he informs the Sheriff...

Retired Air Force veteran Milton Sprouse clearly remembers the summer day in 1947 when he returned to Roswell Army Air Field aboard the B-29 bomber Dave's Dream from a three-day maneuver in Florida. The Escondido resident, then a corporal and engine mechanic in the Army Air Forces could not believe what his ground crew was telling him: a UFO had crashed in the New Mexico desert, on a ranch 70 miles away.The story made the front page of the Roswell Daily Record: “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer,” read the headline. According to the July 8 story, “the intelligence office of the 509th Bombardment group atRoswell Army Air Field announced ...

that the field has come into possession of a flying saucer.”The craft supposedly had been recovered after the ranch owner notified the sheriff's department, who sent Maj. Jesse Marcel and a team to investigate. “Marcel and a detail from his department went to the ranch and recovered the disk,” the story stated. “After the intelligence officer here had inspected the instrument it was flown to higher headquarters.” The next day, the paper retracted the story, claiming that the recovered object was a weather balloon – an account the government stuck with until 1995. It was then announced that the weather ballon story had been fabricated to cover up Project Mogul, a top-secret project involving two-dozen high-altitude neoprene balloons designed todetect Russian nuclear explosions. According to Sprouse, five of his crew were called to the site to collect the remaining debris and load it onto a flatbed truck. Sprouse was ordered to stay with Dave's Dream in case the military should suddenly need the craft. “I had reservations of what all they were telling me, because each one of them told something different,” he said. “I thought, 'I don't know.' ... Later on, when it all started coming out in piecemeal, you could put it together and tell what they said was true.” As years passed, Sprouse grew more comfortable talking about the Roswell Incident. Author and ufologist Thomas J. Carey interviewed Sprouse three times with co-author Donald Schmitt. Sprouse is mentioned on page 233 of their new book, “Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the60-Ye......

As one who remains dedicated to researching the Roswell Incident, it concerns me that the International UFO Museum and Research Center and the annual Roswell UFO Festival seem to have deteriorated to an embarrassment for the city of Roswell and those of us that remain interested in obtaining the truth.In 1996 I moved to Roswell, was actively involved as a volunteer at the museum (1996-98), and helped promote the museum and the festival. Several local individuals with the purpose of having the whole community involved for the benefit of Roswell for tourism and financial benefits first organized the annual July festival in 1995.Visitor numbers for the annual event greweach year as more community involvement was added and "peaked" with the 50th anniversary in 1997. This past July the number of visitors to Roswell for the annual event was pathetically low, and no one with the UFO committee involved in organizing this year's festival, headed up by Museum Director, Julie Shuster, has come forward with any numbers of how few attended.

The loss of revenue to the museum and the city of Roswell this year appears to be staggering, and many believe it can be directly attributed to the UFO committee, and the manner in which it was presented. If the Museum and the Festival are to prosper and benefit Roswell, changes are needed. Too much hard work has been devoted over the years in promoting Roswell, the Museum, and Festival to let it continue on its present course. The museum was established by co-foundersGlenn Dennis, Walter Haut, and Max Littell in 1991, and none of them had any idea that it would grow as it did the first 10 years, drawing some 200,000 visitors to Roswell each year. The founders were also emphatic that the museum should always remain free to the public. Under the current Museum Director and Board of Directors, that is changing. Currently the museum has a "suggested adult admission donation fee of $2.00", ($1.00 for 18 and under), and if in the future the Museum decides to charge an admission fee, it will be a direct violation of the co-founders desire for the museum to remain free to the public. The music concerts scheduled for this year's festival were moved from a city park to the fairgrounds due to the city not approving a "beer permit" for Ms Shuster. Greed at the museum has caused the city to loose tens of thousands of dollarsin ......