The Roswell Report: Case Closed

Descriptions of Other Air Force Members
Since official records proved that none of the nurses at Roswell
AAF in July 1947 were missing, and the nurse and pediatrician described
in this account had been identified, major discrepancies between Dennis'
recollections and official records were apparent. In an effort to provide for
the fullest possible accounting of these claims, even though key aspects
had already been proven false, Air Force researchers sought additional
information to determine if there was validity to any portion of the account.
Since the witness has never provided documentation to support his claims,
the only source of additional information was the numerous interviews he
had previously provided to private researchers and the media. His many
statements, which have appeared in newspapers, videos, magazines, movies,
books, lectures, journals and television programs, were reviewed for
information that might further explain his testimony.
Examination of this large body of publicly available information
immediately provided clues that the witness may have recalled incidents
from a period other than July 1947. The first clue was that he repeatedly,
in all of the interviews, referred to the injured military person he allegedly
transported to the Roswell AAF hospital as an airman. The rank of airman
was not in existence in 1947. It was implemented on April1, 1952.72 Prior
to that date an airman in the Air Force was referred to by the U.S. Army
equivalent, a private. Another possible indication that he recalled events
from a different time was the description of an alleged "black sergeant" that
accompanied the redheaded officer at the hospital. The pairing of a white
officer with a black NCO seemed unlikely since in 1947 the U.S. Army Air
Forces was racially segregated, as were all branches of the armed forces.
The U.S. Air Force did not begin racial integration until the May 11, 1949
issuance of Air Force Letter 35-3 that formally ended segregation. 73 Though
it was not impossible in 1947 for a black NCO to accompany and seem to be
working with a white officer, it would be unlikely. These two discrepancies
did not provide a firm time frame of actual events, if any occurred at all.
To approximate a time frame for actual events, the specific details of
the information provided were examined. This examination was to determine if
any military members were identified by name or by a combination of any other
distinguishing characteristics such as rank, position, age, or physical attributes. If
the testimony identified a military member as having been present for an event,
then their personnel record could be used to affix an approximate date. Affixing
a date of an event by referencing personnel records was possible since each
military member's personnel file contains a physical description and
chronological listing of duty stations, units of assignment, and work
assignments for his/her entire military career.
This detailed examination revealed several likely references to
specific individuals, which through their personnel files, were documented
as having been assigned to the hospital at Roswell AAF or Walker AFB
(RoswellAAF was renamed Walker AFB in January 1948).
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