It was on this date in 1947 that 1st Lt. Walter Haut (June 2, 1922 – December 15, 2005), the public information officer (PIO) at the 509th Bomb Group based in Roswell, New Mexico, issued a press release announcing that the United States Army Air Force had recovered a crashed “flying disc” from a nearby ranch.
Several hours after the original press release, the military retracted the claim, saying that it was a weather balloon that had been recovered.
In the 64 years since Haut’s press release there has been a lot of speculation about what was or was not recovered in Roswell, New Mexico. Over the years, even Lt. Haut’s details on the subject have changed somewhat, becoming more detailed as the decades passed.
In the first book on the subject, The Roswell Incident, Haut said he was not a witness and told interviewers in 1979 that base commander Colonel William Blanchard asked him to write and distribute the press release, however when he asked to see the object in question, he was told “his request was impossible.”
In the book UFO Crash at Roswell, he appears as a witness, though not to any of actual debris. During a March, 1989 interview he said he knew “nothing” about what was recovered. He described being asked by Blanchard to write the press release. He said he didn’t hear about it until Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer who initially investigated and recovered some of the debris, was on his way to the flightline. He did, however, describe what Marcel told him: “It was something he had never seen and didn’t believe it was of this planet. I trusted him on his knowledge.” (p.142) He further stated: “I think there was a giant cover-up on this thing.” (p.143)
An affidavit signed May 14, 1993, repeated the above sequence of events and added “I believe Col. Blanchard saw the material, because he sounded positive about what the material was. There is no chance he would have mistaken it for a weather balloon. Neither is there any chance that Major Marcel would have been mistaken.”
In a recorded interview from 2000 with Wendy Connors and Dennis Balthauser, Haut claimed to have personally viewed an extraterrestrial or alien craft and a body in a Roswell Army Air Field base hangar and being present at a senior staff meeting where a cover-up of events was discussed. Haut also placed Brigadier General Roger M. Ramey head of the Eighth Army Air Force in Fort Worth, Texas, at the meeting. Ramey would later tell the press it was in fact a misidentified weather balloon after Haut had put out the press release of the recovered “flying disc.”
In December 2002, Haut signed a sealed affidavit in which he went into more details about the craft, debris, bodies, and cover-up. Both the interview and affidavit were not to be released until after his death.
In 2007 the affidavit was published in Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60 Year Cover-Up:
DATE: December 26, 2002
WITNESS: Chris Xxxxxx
NOTARY: Beverlee Morgan
(1) My name is Walter G. Haut
(2) I was born on June 2, 1922
(3) My address is 1405 W. 7th Street, Roswell, NM 88203
(4) I am retired.
(5) In July, 1947, I was stationed at the Roswell Army Air Base in Roswell, New Mexico, serving as the base Public Information Officer. I had spent the 4th of July weekend (Saturday, the 5th, and Sunday, the 6th) at my private residence about 10 miles north of the base, which was located south of town.
(6) I was aware that someone had reported the remains of a downed vehicle by midmorning after my return to duty at the base on Monday, July 7. I was aware that Major Jesse A. Marcel, head of intelligence, was sent by the base commander, Col. William Blanchard, to investigate.
(7) By late in the afternoon that same day, I would learn that additional civilian reports came in regarding a second site just north of Roswell. I would spend the better part of the day attending to my regular duties hearing little if anything more.
(8) On Tuesday morning, July 8, I would attend the regularly scheduled staff meeting at 7:30 a.m. Besides Blanchard, Marcel; CIC [Counterintelligence Corp] Capt. Sheridan Cavitt; Col. James I. Hopkins, the operations officer; Lt. Col. Ulysses S. Nero, the supply officer; and from Carswell AAF in Fort Worth, Texas, Blanchard’s boss, Brig. Gen. Roger Ramey and his chief of staff, Col. Thomas J. Dubose were also in attendance. The main topic of discussion was reported by Marcel and Cavitt regarding an extensive debris field in Lincoln County approx. 75 miles NW of Roswell. A preliminary briefing was provided by Blanchard about the second site approx. 40 miles north of town. Samples of wreckage were passed around the table. It was unlike any material I had or have ever seen in my life. Pieces which resembled metal foil, paper thin yet extremely strong, and pieces with unusual markings along their length were handled from man to man, each voicing their opinion. No one was able to identify the crash debris.
(9) One of the main concerns discussed at the meeting was whether we should go public or not with the discovery. Gen. Ramey proposed a plan, which I believe originated from his bosses at the Pentagon. Attention needed to be diverted from the more important site north of town by acknowledging the other location. Too many civilians were already involved and the press already was informed. I was not completely informed how this would be accomplished.
(10) At approximately 9:30 a.m. Col. Blanchard phoned my office and dictated the press release of having in our possession a flying disc, coming from a ranch northwest of Roswell, and Marcel flying the material to higher headquarters. I was to deliver the news release to radio stations KGFL and KSWS, and newspapers the Daily Record and the Morning Dispatch.
(11) By the time the news release hit the wire services, my office was inundated with phone calls from around the world. Messages stacked up on my desk, and rather than deal with the media concern, Col Blanchard suggested that I go home and “hide out.”
(12) Before leaving the base, Col. Blanchard took me personally to Building 84 [AKA Hangar P-3], a B-29 hangar located on the east side of the tarmac. Upon first approaching the building, I observed that it was under heavy guard both outside and inside. Once inside, I was permitted from a safe distance to first observe the object just recovered north of town. It was approx. 12 to 15 feet in length, not quite as wide, about 6 feet high, and more of an egg shape. Lighting was poor, but its surface did appear metallic. No windows, portholes, wings, tail section, or landing gear were visible.
(13) Also from a distance, I was able to see a couple of bodies under a canvas tarpaulin. Only the heads extended beyond the covering, and I was not able to make out any features. The heads did appear larger than normal and the contour of the canvas suggested the size of a 10 year old child. At a later date in Blanchard’s office, he would extend his arm about 4 feet above the floor to indicate the height.
(14) I was informed of a temporary morgue set up to accommodate the recovered bodies.
(15) I was informed that the wreckage was not “hot” (radioactive).
(16) Upon his return from Fort Worth, Major Marcel described to me taking pieces of the wreckage to Gen. Ramey’s office and after returning from a map room, finding the remains of a weather balloon and radar kite substituted while he was out of the room. Marcel was very upset over this situation. We would not discuss it again.
(17) I would be allowed to make at least one visit to one of the recovery sites during the military cleanup. I would return to the base with some of the wreckage which I would display in my office.
(18) I was aware two separate teams would return to each site months later for periodic searches for any remaining evidence.
(19) I am convinced that what I personally observed was some type of craft and its crew from outer space.
(20) I have not been paid nor given anything of value to make this statement, and it is the truth to the best of my recollection.
Signed: Walter G. Haut
December 26, 2002
Signature witnessed by:
Chris Xxxxxxx
Why did Lt. Haut’s memory seem to become more clear over the years? Did he feel the need to divulge more and more of the truth as time went by, in spite of vowing to not divulge the details in his lifetime, or was he simply fanning the fires to drive more business to the International UFO Museum and Research Center that he, along with Max Littell and Glenn Dennis had opened in the early 1990s. You decide.
What really crashed in Roswell? An extraterrestrial ship? A weather balloon? A classified military aircraft? Anyone who was actually there in 1947 is now dead and, it seems, they took the complete story with them.
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