The Roswell Report: Case Closed

members of her family. They, likewise, were also unable to confirm
her existence.@ While some UFO theorists continue to allege that this
absence of records regarding a nurse by this name is part of a conspiracy
to withhold information, the most likely reason for the lack of records is
that this name is inaccurate.*
Even though the name of the nurse is incorrect, it appears that
a nurse assigned to the Roswell AAF Station Hospital in 1947 may have
been the basis for the claims. Eileen Mae Fanton was the only nurse
of the five assigned to Roswell AAF in July 1947, whose personal
circumstances and physical attributes not only resembled those of the
missing nurse, but appeared to be nearly an exact match.
The “Missing Nurse?”
1st Lt. Eileen M. Fanton
was assigned to the Rowe11 Army
Air Field Station Hospital from
December 26, 1946 until September
4, 1947.a Fanton, who is deceased,
was retired from the U.S. Air Force
at the rank of Captain on April 30,
1955, for a physical disability.47
In this account, the missing
nurse is described as single, “real
cute, like a small Audrey Hepburn,
with short black hair, dark eyes and
olive skin.“‘” Lieutenant Fanton was
single in 1947, 5’ I” tall, weighed
100 pounds, had black hair, dark
eyes, and was of Italian descenta
Dennis also stated that the nurse was of the Catholic faith, and had been
“strictly raised” according to Catholic beliefs.5u Fanton’s personnel record
listed her as Roman Catholic, a graduate of St. Catherine’s Academy in
Springfield, Ky. and as having received her nursing certification from St. Mary
Elizabeth’s Hospital in Louisville, Ky.”
The witness also recalled that the “missing nurse“ was a lieutenant, was
a general nurse at the hospital, and had sent him correspondence at a later date
which stated she was in London, England with a New York, N.Y. APO number
(military overseas mailing address) as the return address.‘* Records revealed
that Fanton was a First Lieutenant (promoted from Second Lieutenant to First
Lieutenant in June 1947), and she was classified as a “nurse, general duty.“5’
Records also indicated that of the five nurses assigned to the Roswell AAF
Station Hospital in July 1947, she was the only one that later served a tour of
duty in England. Furthermore, she was assigned to the 7510th USAF Hospital,
APO 240, New York, N.Y., where she served from June 1952 until April 1955.54
Fig. 2. Eileen M. Fanton
(U.S. Air Forcephoto)
* Interestingly, an article published in the Fall 1995 edition of Omni magazine, a publication that
in the past has published sensational“Roswell” claims, also independently accounted for all tive of
the nursesand expresseda decidedly skeptical opinion of the accwnt of the “missing nurse.”
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