James Douglas & Wes Wise

From: JFK & The Unspeakable – Why He Died & Why It Matters by James Douglas (Orbis 2008, p. 292-294)

...Butch Burroughs, who witnessed Oswald’s arrest, startled me in his interview by saying he saw a second arrest occur in the Texas Theater only “three or four minutes later.” 449

He said the Dallas Police then arrested “an Oswald lookalike.” Burroughs said the second man “looked almost like Oswald, like he was his brother or something.” 450

When I questioned the comparison by asking, “Could you see the second man as well as you could see Oswald?” he said, “Yes, I could see both of them. They looked alike.” 451

After the officers half-carried and half-dragged Oswald to the police car in front of the theater, within a space of three or four minutes, Burroughs saw the second Oswald placed under arrest and handcuffed. The Oswald look-alike, however, was taken by police not out the front but out the back of the theater.” 452

What happened next we can earn from another neglected witnesses, Bernard Haire. 453

Bernard J. Haire was the owner of Bernie’s Hobby House, just two doors east of the Texas Theater. Haire went outside his store when he saw police cars congregating in front of the theater. 454 When he couldn’t see what was happening because of the crowd, he went back through his store into the alley out back. It, too, was full of police cars, but there were fewer spectators. Haire walked up the alley. When he stopped opposite the rear door of the theater, he witnessed what he would think for decades was the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald.

“Police brought a young white man out,” Haire told an interviewer. “The man was dressed in a pullover shirt and sacks. He seemed to be flushed, as if he’d been in a struggle. Police put the man in a police car and drove off.” 455

When Haire was told in 1987 that Lee Harvey Oswald had been brought out the front of the theater by police, he was shocked.

“I don’t know who I saw arrested,” he said in bewilderment. 456

Buctch Burroughs and Bernard Haire are complimentary witnesses. From their perspectives both inside and outside the Texas Theater, they saw an Oswald double arrested and taken to a police car in the back alley only minutes after the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald. Burroughs’ and Haire’s independent, converging testimonies provide critical insight into the mechanics of the plot. In a comprehensive intelligence scenario for Kennedy’s and Tippit’s murders, the plan culminated in Oswald’s Friday arrest and Sunday’s murder (probably a fall back from his being set up to be killed in the Texas Theater by the police).

There is a hint of the second Oswald’s arrest in the Dallas police records.

According to the Dallas Police Department’s official Homicide Report on J.D. Tippit, “Suspect was later arrested in the balcony of the Texas Theater at 231 W. Jefferson.” 457

Dallas Police detective L.D. Springfellow also reported to Captain W. P. Gannaway, “Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in the balconyh of the Texas Theater.” 458

To whom are the Homicide Report and Detective Springfellow referring? Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in the orchestra, not balcony. Are these documents referring to the Dallas Police Department’s second arrest in the Texas Theater that afternoon? Was Butch Burroughs witnessing an arrest of the Oswald look-alike that actually began in the balcony? That would have likely been the double’s hiding place, after he entered the theater without paying, thereby drawing attention to himself and leading the police to the apprehension of his likeness, Lee Harvey Oswald (who was already inside). As Butch Burroughs pointed out, anyone coming in the front of the theater could head immediately up the stairs to the balcony without being seen from the concession stand.

The Oswald double, after having been put in the police car in the alley, must have been driven a short distance and released on higher intelligence orders. Unfortunately for the plotters, he was seen again soon. With the scapegoat, Lee Harvey Oswald, now safely in custody, we can presume that the double was not supposed to be seen again in Dallas – or anywhere else. Had he not been seen, the CIA’s double-Oswald strategy in an Oak Cliff shell game might have eluded independent investigators forever. But thanks to other key witnesses who have emerged, we now have detailed evidence that the double was seen again – not just once but twice.

[BK Notes: I don't believe, as JD apparently does, that the man who resembled Oswald and was taken into custody by the Dallas PD out the back of the Texas Theater is the same person who resembled Oswald and seen by T. H. White in a 57 Plymouth with Texas License plate PP 4537, as there apparently were more than two individuals who resembled Oswald in Oak Cliff at that time.]

JFK & The Unspeakable (p. 294-298)

...Also at about 2:00 P.M., a man identified as Oswald was seen in a car eight blocks away from the Texas Theater, still very much at large and keeping a low profile. 460 A sharp-eyed auto mechanic spotted him.

T.F. White was a sixty-year-old, longtime employee of Mack Pate’s Garage in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. While White worked on an automobile the afternoon of the assassination, he could hear police sirens screaming up and down Davis street only a block away. He also heard radio reports describing a suspect then thought to be in Oak Cliff. 461 The mechanic looked out the open doors of the garage. He watched as a red 1961 Falcon drove into the parking lot of the El Chico restaurant across the street. The Falcon parked in an odd position after going a few feet into the lot. The driver remained seated in the car. 462. White said later, “The man in the car appeared to be hiding.’ 643 White kept his eyes on the man in the Falcon.

[BK Notes: According to Wise's first report to the FBI and in his interview with me, T.F. White first told him the car was a 57 Plymouth, not a Ford Falcon, and the car turned out to be a 57 Plymouth. It is also unlikely that a 60 year old mechanic would misidentify a Plymouth and a Ford. While Wise did mention the color red, according to the FBI report, the first mention of a Ford Falcon is when the FBI agent returned from Mather's home after eyeballing the 57 Plymouth in the Mather driveway, and he interviews T.F. White after White requested Wise not to involve him. So the "red" and the "Falcon" discrepancy only appear in the FBI reports and not in White's original statements to Wise. Those interested in following a suspicious red Ford in Oak Cliff that afternoon are referred to the long Esquire Magazine article that develops information on Igor Vaganov. As for White, his original statement that it was a 57 Plymouth and the note with the license plate number he gave to Wise, which Wise still maintains, is the evidence that implicates Mather's car in the murder of his good friend, J.D. Tippit. See original FBI reports reproduced below in earlier thread and view the originals at Greg Parker's web site ReopenJFKcase.]

When Mack Pate returned from his lunch break a few minutes later, T.F. White pointed out to his boss the oddly parked Falcon with its waiting driver who seemed to be hiding. Pate told White to watch the car carefully, reminding him of earlier news reports they had heard about a possible assassination attempt against President Kennedy in Houston the day before involving a red Falcon. 464

T. F. White walked across the street to investigate. He halted about ten to fifteen yards from the car. He could see the driver was wearing a white t-shirt. 465 The man turned towards White and looked at him full face. White stared back at him. Not wanting to provoke a possible assassin, White began to retreat to the garage. However, he paused, took a scrap of paper from his coveralls pocket, and wrote down the Texas license plate of the car: PP4537. 466

That night, while T. F. White was watching television with his wife, he recognized the Dallas Police Department’s prisoner, Lee Harvey Oswald, as the man he had seen in the red Falcon in El Chico’s parking lot. White was unfazed by what he had not yet known – that at the same time he had seen one Oswald sitting feely in the Falcon, the other Oswald was sitting handcuffed in a Dallas police car on his way to jail. Mrs. White, fearing the encompassing arms of a conspiracy, talked her husband out of reporting his information to the authorities. 467 Thus, the Oswald sighted in the parking lot might have escaped history, but for the fact White was confronted by an alert reporter.

On December 4, 1963, Wes Wise, a Dallas newscaster whose specialty was sports, gave a luncheon talk to the Oak Cliff Exchange Club, at El Chico’s restaurant. At the urging of his listeners, he exchanged his topic from sports to the president’s assassination, which Wise had covered. He described to his luncheon audience how he, as a reporter, had become a part of Jack Ruby’s story. Wise’s encounter with the man he knew as a news groupie came on the grassy knoll, the day before Ruby shot Oswald. Wise had just completed a somber, day-after-the-assassination radio newscast from the site banked with wreaths.

While he sat in his car in silent reflection beside the Texas School Book Depository, he heard a familiar voice calling out, “Hey, West!”

As Wise told the story, “I turned to see the portly figure of a man in a dark suit, half-waddling, half-trotting, as he came toward me. He was wearing a fedora-style hat which would later become familiar and famous.” Jack Ruby was making his way along the grassy knoll “from the direction of the railroad tracks,” precisely where the day before, as Ed Hoffman watched, another man in a suit had fired a rifle at the president – an hour and a half after Julia Ann Mercer saw a man, dropped off by Jack Ruby, carry a rifle up the same site.

Ruby leaned into Wise’s car window and said, his voice breaking and with tears in his eyes, “I just hope they don’t make Jackie come to Dallas for the trial. That would be terrible for that little lady.” 468

In retrospect, Wise wondered if Ruby was trying to set him up for a radio interview – to go on record the day before with his famous “motive” for murdering Oswald. Although Wise had no interest then in interviewing Jack Ruby, he had already just been told enough for him to be called as a witness in Ruby’s trial. He would be subpoenaed as a Ruby witness by both the prosecution and the defense. 469 His testimony at the trial, quoting what Ruby said to him the day before. Ruby murdered Oswald, would then be cited in Life magazine. 470

At the end of Wise’s talk to his absorbed audience at the Oak Cliff Exchange Club, Mack Pate, who had walked across the street from his garage to listen, gave the newscaster a new lead. He told Wise about his mechanic having seen Oswald. Wise asked to go immediately with Pate to speak with his employee. 471

As Wise told me in an interview four decades later, he then “put a little selling job on Mr. White” to reveal what he had seen. Wise said to the reluctant auto mechanic, “Well, you know, we’re talking about the assassination of the President of the United States here.” 472

Convinced of his duty, T. F. White took Wise into El Chico’s parking lot and walked him step by step through his “full face” encounter with Oswald. Wise realized the car had been parked at the center of Oswald’s activity in Oak Cliff that afternoon: one block from where Oswald got out of the taxi, six blocks south of his rooming house, eight blocks north of his arrest at the Texas Theater, and only five blocks from Tippit’s murder on a route in between. 473

Taking notes on his luncheon invitation, Wise said, “I just wish you had gotten the license number.”

White reached into his pocket and took out a scrap of paper with writing on it. He handed it to Wise.

“This is it,” he said. 474

Newscaster Wes Wise notified the FBI of White’s identification of Oswald in the car parked in the El Chico lot, and cited the license plate number. FBI agent Charles T. Brown, Jr. reported from an interview with Milton Love, Dallas County Tax Office: “1963 Texas License Plate PP4537 was issued for a 1957 Plymouth automobile in possession of Carl Amos Mather, 4309 Colgate, Street, Garland, Texas.” 475 Agent Brown then drove to that address. He reported that the 1957 Plymouth bearing license plate PP 4537 was parked in the driveway of Mather’s home in Garland, a suburb of Dallas. 476 Thus arose the question of how a license plate for Carl Mather’s Plymouth came to be seen on the Falcon in El Chico’s parking lot, with a man in it who looked like Oswald.

The FBI had also discovered that Carl Amos Mather did high-security communications work for Collins Radio, a major contractor with the Central Intelligence Agency. Three weeks before Kennedy’s assassination, Collins Radio had been identified on the front page of the New York Times as having just deployed a CIA raider ship on an espionage and sabotage mission against Cuba. 477 Collins also held the government contract for installing communications towers in Vietnam. 478 In 1971, Collins Radio would merge with another giant military contractor, Rockwell International. 479 In November 1963, Collins was at the heart of the CIA-military-contracting business for state-of-the-art communications systems.

Carl Mather had represented Collins at Andrews Air Force Base by putting special electronics equipment in Vice President Lyndon Johnson’s Air Force Two plane. 480 Given the authority of his CIA-linked security clearance, Carl Mather refused to speak to the FBI. 481 The FBI instead questioned his wife, Barbara Mather, who stunned them. Her husband, she said, was a good friend of J.D. Tippit. In fact, the Mathers were such close friends of Tippit and his wife that when J.D. was murdered, Marie Tippit phoned them. According to his wife, Carl Mather left work that afternoon at 3:30 and returned home. 482 Carl and Barbara Mather then drove to the Tippit home, where they consoled Marie Tippit on the death of her husband (killed by a man identical to the one seen a few minutes later five blocks away in a car bearing Mathers’ license plate number).

Fifteen years after the assassination, Carl Mather did finally consent to an interview for the first time – with the House Select Committee on Assassinations, but on condition that he be granted immunity from prosecution. 483 The electronics specialist could not explain how his car’s license number could have been seen on the Falcon with its Oswald-like driver in the El Chico lot. 484

The HSCA dismissed the incident as “the Wise allegation,” 485 in which a confused auto mechanic had jotted down a coincidentally connected license plate, as “alleged” by a reporter. The odds against White having come up with the exact license plate of a CIA-connected friend of J.D. Tippit were too astronomical for comment, and were given none.

What kept “the Wise allegation” from sinking into total oblivion over the years was the persistent conscience of Wes Wise, who in 1971 was elected mayor of Dallas. During his two terms as mayor (1971-76), Wise guided Dallas out from under the cloud of the assassination and at the same time saved the Texas School Book Depository from imminent destruction, preserving it for further research into the president’s murder. 486

In the fall of 2005, I interviewed Wes Wise, who recalled vividly T. F. White’s description of his confrontation with a man looking like Oswald in the El Chico parking lot. Wise said he was so struck by the incident that he returned to the El Chico lot on a November 22 afternoon years later to reenact the scene with similar lighting and a friend sitting in an identically parked car. Standing on the spot where T. F. White had and with the same degree of afternoon sunlight, Wise confirmed that one could easily recognize a driver’s features from a “full face’ look at that distance, irrespective of whether the car’s window was up or down. 487

The possible significance of what he had learned stayed with Wise during his years as a reporter and as Dallas mayor, in spite of its repeated dismissal by federal agencies. Knowing the value of evidence, Mayor Wise preserved not only the Texas School Book Depository but also the December 4, 1963, luncheon invitation on which he had immediately written down T.F. White’s identification of the license plate on the Oswald car. Producing it from his files during our interview, Wise read to me over the phone T.F. White’s exact identification of the license plate, as the auto mechanic had shown it to the reporter on the scrap of paper taken from his coveralls pocket, and as Wise had then copied it down on his luncheon invitation: “PP 4537.” 488

At the end of our conversation, Mayor Wise reflected for a moment on the question posed by Lee Harvey Oswald’s presence elsewhere at the same time as T.F. White saw him in El Chico’s parking lot (in a car whose license plate could not be traced, thanks to the scrupulous note-taking of White and Wise, to the employee of a major CIA contractor).

“Well,” he said, ‘You’re aware of the idea of two Oswalds, I guess?” 489

NOTES 433-458

433 – Warren H. “Butch” Burroughs interview. The Men Who Killed Kennedy, Part 5.
434 – WCH, vol. 7 p. 15
435 – Butch Burroughs tried to explain to the Warren Commission why Lee Harvey Oswald, on entering the theater, must have gone directly up the stairs to the balcony. If so, it was impossible for Burroughs to see his entry from the concession stand. Burroughs said he was in the process of counting stock candy and putting it in his candy case: “if he had come around in front of the concession out there, I would have seen him, even though I was bent down, I would have seen him, but otherwise I think he sneaked up the [balcony] stairs real fast.” Burroughs knew that, if he had not seen Oswald come in, he must have gone immediately up the balcony stairs on entering the theater. Ibid. Julia Postal, the ticket-seller for the Texas Theater, also tried to explain this logistical fact in her Warren Commission testimony: “You can go up in the balcony and right straight down, those steps come back down, and that would bring you into [the orchestra seating]. He wouldn’t have to go by Butch at all.” WCH, vol. 7, p. 13.
436 – Author’s interview of Warren H. “Butch” Burroughs, July 16, 2007.
437 – Warren Report, pp. 6-7
438 – Jack Davis interview by Jim Marrs, fall 1988, Crossfire, p. 353. Author’s interview of Burroughs, July 16, 2007.
439 – Jack Davis interview by John Armstrong, Harvey & Lee, p. 841.
440 – Warren H. “Butch” Burroughs interview by Jim Marrs, summer 1987, Crossfire, p. 353. Author’s interview of Jim Marrs, January 14, 2006.
441 – Burroughs interview by Jim Marrs, Crossfire, p. 353. Author’s interview with Burroughs, July 16, 2007.
442 – Ibid. It is possible the pregnant women gave Oswald the sign he seemed to need, confirming that she was the contact he was seeking. He apparently sat by her longer than he did by anyone else. It was she, not he, who got up and left. Burroughs said of her, “I don’t know what happened to that women. I don’t know how she got out of the theater. I never saw her again.” Marrs, ibid.
443 – Davis interview by Marrs, Crossfire, p. 353.
444 – WCH, vol. 3, pp. 298-99.
445 – Myers, With Malice, pp. 172-73.
446 – WCH, vol. 3, pp. 299
447 – Warren Commission member Senator John Sherman Cooper was especially puzzled by Officer McDonald’s circuitous way of approaching the suspected murderer and questioned him closely about it. WCH, vol. 3, p. 303.
448- Ibid., p. 300. Also WCH, vol. 7, pp. 32, 39.
449 – Author’s interview of Burroughs, July 16, 2007. Butch Burroughs is a man of few words. When asked a question, he answers exactly what he is asked. Burroughs told me no one had ever asked him before about a second arrest in the Texas Theater. In response to my question, “Now you didn’t see anybody else [besides Oswald] get arrested that day, did you?” he answered, “Yes, there was a lookalike – an Oswald lookalike.” In response to further questions, he described the second arrest, that of the “Oswald lookalike.” Ibid. Because Butch Burroughs saw neither Oswald nor his lookalike enter the Texas Theater, each must have gone directly up the balcony stairs on entering. Oswald crossed the balcony and came down the stars on the far side of the lobby. There he entered the orchestra seats and began his seat-hopping, in apparent search of a contact. His lookalike sneaked into the theater at 1:45 P.M. and, like Oswald, went immediately up the balcony stairs. By the time Burroughs witnessed the Oswald double’s arrest, he had als come down the balcony stairs on the far side of the lobby, either on his own or already accompanied by police who had been checking the balcony.
450 – Ibid.
451 – Ibid.
452 – Ibid.
453 – In the data base on the JFK Records Act at the National Archives, there is no record of Bernard Haire. Archivist Martin E. McGann to James Douglas, July 20, 2007.
454 – In a photo taken about 1:50 P.M., November 22, 1963, that shows people gathering around the police cars in front of the Texas Theater, Bernard Haire can be seen at the edge of the crowd, leaning on a parking meter and trying to see. Photo by Stuart. L. Reed; on p. 68, Myers, With Malice.
455 – Beranrd J. Haire interview by Jim Marrs, summer 1987, Crossfire, p. 354.
456 – Ibid.
457 – Dallas Police Department Homicide Report on J.D. Tippit, Novemer 22, 1963. Reproduced in With Malice, p. 447 (emphasis added).
458 – Letter from Detective L.D. Springfellow to Captain W. P. Ganaway, Novemver 23, 1963, Dallas City Archives. Cited in Harvey & Lee, p. 871 (emphasis added)
459 – Reporter Seth Kantor jotted down in his notebook Oswald’s November 22 remark, “I’m just a patsy,” and the time he made it: 7:55 P.M. Kantor Exhibit 3, WCH, vol. 20, p. 366.

NOTES 460-489

460 - Memorandum by Dallas Special Agent Charles T. Brown, December 14, 1963. Warren Commission Document 205, JFK Record Number 180-10108-10231.
461 - Author’s interviews with Wes Wise, October 31 and November 13, 2005.
462 – Bill Pulte interview with Mack Pate, October 1989. Notes and map from Bill Pulte/Gary Shaw interview with Mack Pate, October 10, 1989. I am grateful to Bill Pulte for alerting met to these interviews and Gary Shaw for sharing with me his records of them.
463 – Wes Wise citing mechanic T. F. White, “The Wise Allgation,” in “Oswald-Tippit Associates, “ Staff Report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (March, 1979), Appendix to Hearings, p. 38.
464 – Ibid. Mack Pate identified the vehicle T. F. White had spotted I the El Chico parking lot as a 1961 red Falcon in his October 10, 1989 interview with Gary Shaw and Bill Pulte.
465 – HSCA Memorandum from Andy Purdy to Bob Tanenbaum, February 19, 1977, p. 3 JFK Record Number 180-10108-10134.
466 – Wise interviews, October 31 and November 13, 2005
467 – Wise interview, November 13, 2005
468 – Wes Wise retold the story of his encounter with Jack Ruby in a book he published in 2004, co-authored with three other Dallas newscasters who also covered the Kennedy assassination, Bob Huffaker, Bill Mercert, Geroge Phenix, and Wes Wise, When the News Went Live: Dallas, 1963. (New York: Taylor Trade Publishgin, 2004), pp. 125-26.
469 – Ibid., p. 126
470 – Ibid.
471 – Wise interviews, October 31 and November 13, 2005
472 – Wise interview, October 31, 2005
473 – Wise interviews.
474 – Ibid.
475 – Report by FBI Special Agent Charles T. Brown, Jr., December 14, 1963. JFK Record Number 180-10108-10237.
476 – Report by FBI Special Agent Charles T. Brown, Jr. December 14, 1963, JFK Record Number 180-10108-10235
477 – “Castro Says C.I.A. Uses Raider Ship,” New York Times (November 1, 1963), p. 1
478 – Harvey & Lee, p. 872
479 – “Rockwell Collins, Inc. Company Timeline,” www.collinsclubs.com/history/timeline.html At the Rockwell Collins merger in 1971, Art Collins, the founder of Collins Radio, was named president and board chairman of Rockwell International. Ibid.
480 – HSCA interview with Carl Amos Mather, March 20, 1978, p. 4. JFK Records Number 180-10087-10360.
481 – Wise interview, October 31, 2005
482 – HSCA Memorandum from Purdy to Tanenbaum, February 19, 1977, p. 3.
483 – In a May 31,1978 letter to the HSCA chief counsel G. Robert Blakey, the U.S. Attorney General’s Ofice extended a grant of immunity to Carl Amos Mather. Reproduced in CD-ROM for Harvey & Lee, Tippit-33.
484 – Mather interview, p. 3
485 – “Wise Allegation,” pp. 37-44. Given T.F. White’s identification of the license plate and his and Mack Pate’s identification of the red Falcon driven by the Oswald double, a question arises concerning the government’s “counter evidence.” The disassociation of license plate PP 4537 and the Falcon arose from the FBI’s and the Dallas County Tax Office’s “official verification” that PP4537 was issued instead for a 1957 Plymouth owned by Carl Mather. However, we have reached a point in this story where the FBI, and other sources subject to FBI pressures (such as a county tax office), cannot simply be assumed to be telling the truth in anything relating to President Kennedy’s assassination. As we shall soon see, the FBI lied and even destroyed vital evidence, when it cam to Oswald’s note to FBI agent James Hosty. Given the FBI’s consistent record in covering up, falsifying, and destroying evidence that might incriminate the government in the assassination, it is reasonable to ask if that may be going on again here. After the Oswald double’s quick release following his Texas Theater arrest by the Dallas Police, he may have been given a Mather car to use that had a state-of-the-art Collins Radio for effective communications. The Oswald double keeping a low profile in the El Chico parking lot was apparently waiting to receive an order. Thanks to T.H White’s jotting down the license plate that was on the double’s car, the government then had to disassociate that license as much as possible from Mather. But fortunately it was done clumsily, and White’s documentation of the license plate provided a trail that led back to the CIA.
486 – Huffaker, Mercer, Phenix, and Wise, When the News Wnet Live, pp. 129-139.
487 – Wise interview, October 31, 2005.

Wes Wise and Carl Mather

Wes Wise, former TV sports reporter and mayor of Dallas.


WISE SUMMARY









Greg Parker is posting the scan of these original documents at his blog: (Thanks Greg)

http://www.reopenkennedycase.net/bill-kelly-hsca-collection.html

Wes Wise Invite IMG 0010

American Bank and Trust Company letterhead
October 31, 1963
Mr. Wes Wise
Station KRLD –TV
Herald Square
Dallas, Texas

Dear Mr. Wise:

The Oak Cliff Exchange Club would like to have you present a program on sports on December 4, 1963 at the El Chico Restaurant, located at the corner of Zangs and Davis in Oak Cliff.

The Club meets at Noon, and there will be several boys present from the Dallas County Boys Home at Hutchins.

Your help would certainly be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Terry C. Dickens, Jr.
Vice President and
Program Chairman
Oak Cliff Exchange Club

TCD: fjb

Hand written as notes on this page are

Texas
4537
Mack Pate
Automotive
Clydees Body Shop (n center?)
2 to 3 blocks
Tippit Shot
2-3 block
Patton St.
Beckley & Davis
5 blocks to apt.
5 blocks back
Davis & Patton & x
Then back to theater
25-30 blocks
On top right hand side of this document is hand written:
57’ Plymouth Ford x
Xxxx
4309 Colgate
xxxx
2515 W. 5th St.
Mrs. Paine

IMG
FBI
December 4, 1963
1
Mr. WES WISE, Sports Department, KRLD-TV, was interviewed at which time he furnished the following information. Mr. Wise said on December 4, 1963 he made a a talk before the Oak Cliff Exchange Club at a luncheon meeting at the El Chico Restaurant in Oak Cliff. Wise said although his specialty is sports, eventually the conversation at the meeting got around to the assassination of the President sicne persons present knew WISE was associated with KRLD-TV, the CBS outlet in Dallas, Texas.

WISE continued that at the conclusion of the meeting, one of the guests came forward and reluctantly volunteered information that on November 22, 1963 just after news had been broadcast of the President’s assassination, he observed a red 1957 Plymouth four-door sedan proceeding west at a rapid rate of speed on Davis Street in Oak Cliff. WISE said his source stated after a short period of time, this car returned to the parking lot at the El Chico Restaurant where the car parked beside the restaurant and the occupant remained in the car. The source told WISE because of the mysterious maneuverings of this car, he walked close to the car and determined the license number was PP 4537. The source told WISE at the luncheon meeting that evening while observing TV, a picture of OSWALD was shown and the source recognized OSWALD as being the individual he observed in the red 1957 Plymouth on that afternoon.

WISE said as he recalled, this occurred on the same corner where Oswald reportedly left a taxicab following his trip from downtown Dallas.

WISE said he had checked the license PP 4537 through the License Bureau and it was ascertained this license was issued to CARL AMOS MATHER, 4309 Colgate Lane, Garland, Texas.

WISE stated at this time he desired not to furnish the identity of his source of information, but added if investigation indicated this individual might be involved in the OSWALD case, WISE would reveal the identity of the source.

12/4-63
Dallas, Texas
File # DL 89-43
By Special Agent CHARLES T. BROWN

IMG 0008
FBI
December 14, 1963
1
Mr. WES WISE, Sports Department, KRLD-TV, advised Mr. T.F. WHITE, a Mechanic at the Mack Pate Garage, 114 7th Street, Dallas, is the individual who furnished WISE information on December 4, 1963. WISE stated on December 4, 1963 WHITE had told WISE he (WHITE) observed a 1957 red Plymouth automobile on the parking lot adjacent to the El Chico Restaurant in Dallas, and WHITE believed the individual driving the car at the time was LEE HARVEY OSWALD.

WISE stated although he did not desire to furnish the identity of his source of this information at first, it would be permissible for an FBI Agent to interview WHITE at this time to further check out WHITE”s story.

12-9-63
Dallas, Texas
Special Agent CHARLES T. BROWN
File # DL 100-10461

IMG 0002
FBI
December 14, 1963
Mr. MILTON LOVE, Dallas County Tax Office, Dallas, Texas, advised 1963 Texas License Plate PP 4537 was issued for a 1957 Plymouth automobile in possession of CARL AMOS MATHER, 4309 Colgate Street, Garland Texas.

12-5-63
Dallas
File # 100-10461
By Special Agent CHARLES T. BROWN, Jr.

FBI
December 14, 1963
1.
Mrs. JUDY BACHMAN, Merchant’s Retail Credit Association, Garland, Texas, advised CARL AMOS MATHER, 4309 Colgate Street, Garland, Texas, has been known to MRCA records since April, 1957. His file was last checked June, 1958. MATHER was born October 22, 1927. The file indicates MATHER formerly resided in Tulsa, Oklahmoa in 1957 and he is a former resident of Grand Prarie, Texas in 1958. He formerly resided at 1020 Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas. A report from Merchant’s Retail Credit Association at Tulsa, Oklahoma indicates MATHER was formerly employed by the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company in Tulsa. At the present time, MATHER is employed by Collins Radio Company, Richardson, Texas. These records indicate MATHR has an account at the First National Bank, Grand Prarie, Texas. Relatives are shown as A.L. or U.L. Mather, Rogers, Arkansas, and his wife has a relative, WAYNE RILEY, at Kansas City, Missouri.

12-5-63
Garland, Texas
File # DL 100-10461
Special Agent CHARLES T. BROWN, Jr.
12-10-63

FBI
December 14, 1963
1.
SA CHARLES T. BROWN, Jr., observed a 1957 Plymouth, four-door automobile parked in the driveway at 4309 Colgate Street, Garland, Texas, which car had a 1963 Texas License PP 4537. It was observed that this car is a light blue over medium blue color.

12-5-63
Garland, Texas
File # DL 100-10461
12-10-63

FBI
December 14, 1963
1
Mrs. CARL A. MATHER, 4309 Colgate Street, Garland, Texas, stated that she and her husband own the light blue over medium blue 1957 Plymouth automobile bearing 1963 license PP 4537 which was parked in the driveway at this address.

Mrs. MATHER stated she and her husband also own a 1954 Ford station wagon which is white over light blue in color.

Mrs. MATHER stated on November 22, 1963, her husband left is work at Collins Radio Company in Richardson, Texas at approximately 2:00 or 2:30 P.M. in the afternoon at which time he came to their home at 4309 Colgate Street, Garland, Texas. Mrs. MATHER stated she and her husband were friends with former Dallas Policeman J.D. TIIPPIT who was hsot on the afternoon of November 22, 1963. Mrs. MATHER said shortly after her husband arrived home, they took their two children with them in their 1954 Ford station wagon at which time they proceeded to Dallas, Texas to the TIPPIT home to express their condolences to Mrs. TIPPIT, and to assist her in any way possible. Mrs. MATHER said she and her husband and their children remained at the TIPPIT home together until around 5 P.M. They arrived at the TIPPIT home at approximately 3:30 P.M. that afternoon. Around 5:00 P.M., Mr. MATHER left the TIPPIT home with the two MATHER children and drove to the MATHER home in Garland where he fed the two children and put them to bed.

Mrs. MATHER was questioned as to knowledge of her husband or anyone else driving a red late model automobile in the vicinity of the Le Chico Restaurant on the afternoon of November 22, 1963 at which time Mrs. MATHER stated she was at a loss to understand any connection between the red automobile reportedly bearing Texas License PP 4537 and her family.

Mrs. MATHER said as best she could recall, her husband was at the TIPPIT home constantly on the afternoon of November 22, 1963 following their arrival there at about 3:30 P.M.

12-5-63
Garland, Texas
File # DL 100-10461
SA CHARLES T. BROWN, Jr.
12-10-63

FBI
December 14, 1963
1
Mr. T.F. WHITE, Mechanic, Mack Pate’s Garage, 114 West 7th Street, Dallas, Texas, was interviewed regarding a red 1957 Plymouth reportedly seen by him in the parking lot of the El Chico Restaurant on the afternoon of November 22, 1963. Mr. WHITE was advised Mr. WES WISE, Sports Department, KRLD-TV, Dallas, has furnished information which Mr. WISE obtained from Mr. WHITE reflecting the individual driving the red 1957 Plymouth was believed to be LEE HARVEY OSWALD.

Mr. WHITE stated he saw the red car at approximately 2:00 P.M. on the parking lot of the El Chico Restaurant. He stated he now believes the car to have been a red 1961 Falcon and he believed the automobile had 1963 Texas License PP 4537. WHITE said he observed the man driving the car from the side of his face, and when he saw the televions pictures of LEE HARVEY OSWALD on the night of November 22, 1963, he believed the man he saw at the El Chico Restaurant parking lot was identical with OSWALD. He said the man sat in the car for a short period of time and then left at a high rate of speed, going west on Davis.

Mr. WHITE was advised that the license number furnished by him had been checked and ascertained to be assigned to the 1957 Plymouth automobile which had been observed by an FBI agent and determined to be a light blue over medium blue in color. Mr. WHITE was also advised that LEE HARVEY OSWALD had been captured at the Texas Theater in Dallas at approximately 2:00 P.M., after having shot Dallas Police Officer J.D. TIPPIT at approximately 1:18 P.M. Mr. WHITE was further advised witnesses have stated they observed OSWALD fleeing from the scene of the TIPPIT shooting on foot and he was observed by other witnesses to enter the Texas Theater shortly after the shooting.

Mr. WHITE said he thought he had obtained the correct license number on the car, and, upon seeing OSWALD on television on the night of November 22, 1963, he thought OSWALD was possibly identical with the man he had seen driving the red automobile on the afternoon of November 22, 1963.

12-13-63
Dallas, Texas
SA CHALRES T. BROWN, Jr.
DL 100-10462
12-14-63

Mather Subpoena
IMG 0014

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
In the Matter of the Application of
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS
MISC. No. 78

NOTICE OF AN APPLICATION FOR AN ORDER CONFERING IMMUNITY ON AND COMPELLING TESTIMONY FROM CARL AMOS MATHER

TO: HONORABLE GRIFFIN B. BELL
ATTORNEY GENERAL, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Main Justice Building
10th and Constitution Aveenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on or after the 30th day of May 1978 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, United States Courthouse, Third and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington , D.C., Counsel for the Select Committee on Assassinations, acting on behalf of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the United States House of Represntatives, will apply to the Court, pursuant to the provisions of Title 18, United States Code, Section 6002, et. seq., for an order conferring immunity upon Carl Amos Mather
And compelling him to testify and provide other information in an inquiry being conducted by the Subcommittee on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy of the Select Committee on Assassinations.

Dated 5-19-78
G. Robert Blakey Sig
Chief Counsel and Director
Select Committee on Assassinations
U.S. House of Representatives

IMG 0015

J. D. Tippit Investigative Status

I. INTERVIEW:
A. Witnesses: Helen Markham – pedestrian - Jack Tatum – motorist
B. Family: Marie (Tippit) Thomas – widow
C. Friends: Carl Mather – erstwhile neighbor
D. Co-Workers – Calvin Owens – supervisor
William Mentzell – fellow worker
Basil Robinson – fellow worker
Morris Brumley – fellow worker
Bill Anglin – best friend
E. Employer – Austin Cook (part-time at restaurant)
F. Ambulance Driver : Jasper Butler

II. SCENE
Examine and compare all available photos
Canvass entire area to reinterview witnesses and/or discover others.
Measure time and distance (from LHO rooming house).
Search for significant point(s) BEYOND 10th and Patton.
Escape route unremarkable with possible exception of jacket discovered in parking lot. (Arrested with revolver and identification intact.)

III. GENERAL SCOPE:
Complete background on LHO and J.D. Tippit.
Trace origin of firearm (revolver)
Analyze autopsy findings (Compare recovered slugs and verify trajectory).

IV. INCOMPLETE ASPECTS

Witnesses not interviewed:
Bob K. Carrol
Gerald L. Hill
Paul Bentley

[Note: Page 2 is missiong]

IMG 0017
Oswald and Tippit - page 3

Areas requiring further research and investigation:
1) Tippit medal evidence/interviewing of the two physicians and the FBI agents involved.
2) Tippit ballistics evidence/ a determination of the exact number of shots fired and the revolver that was used.
3) Development of basic information regarding Tippit/ was there any relationship between Tippit and LHO? (SEE Purdy Memo of February 19, 1977: A Mr. Wise, Mayor of Dallas, was told by Pate (sic) who owns a garage in Oak Cliff along the route which LHO is said to have taken after the assassination. Pate (Sic - Pate's employee Mr. White) believes he saw LHO sitting in a car in the restaurant parking lot across the street from the garage. Pate took the license number of the car. Pate has gone to the FBI with this information. The authorities traced the license to a car belonging to good friends of the Tippits. Has this lead been checked?)

Does anyone have or can anyone find the "Purdy Memo of February 19, 1977?

Carl Mather & Collins Radio

Carl Mather and Collins Radio

MATHER, CARL, AMOS – Former neighbor of J.D. Tippit; employed at Collins Radio Co., in Richardson, T; question re: his auto (1957 Plymouth license pp 4537) at El Chico, (re Wes Wise) then same car at Tippit’s home 11/22/63.

SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSSASSINATIONS

BK NOTES: Jack Morarity - Investigator for HSCA in 1978, interviewed Carl Mather and his wife, and conducted a telephone interview with James Pickford, Mather's former boss at Collins Radio. These are Morarity's reports. I have previously talked with Morarity on the phone, and while he refused to discuss his investigations because of his security oath, he was a good and honest investigator who filed detailed and accurate reports. He said that the only person who knew everything that went on at HSCA was chief counsel G. Robert Blakey.

Blakey signed an issued a subpoena for Carl Mather to testify under oath before the HSCA under penalty of perjury, Mather never testified.

Previously, in 1963 and 1964, FBI agents had visited the Mather home and questioned Mrs. Mather on two occasions, but Mather himself was not questioned by the FBI. I have the FBI reports and will post them after I scan them in.

180-10087-10360
180-10108-10138
7-pages
“Postponed in Full” Box 254

Carl Amos Mather
3/20/78
Route 2, Box 228
Piano, Texas
Residence

Interview:

Have known the J.D. Tippit family since they were neighbors in 1958 on the 1900-2000 block of Glendfield, in Dallas.

Before the Mathers moved to Garland, Texas, in 11/61, they had become good friends with the Tippits. Each family had three children and the ages were similar. Carl and Barbara would double date on occasion, usually visiting a “family-type Club” involving an inexpensive evening. Never any trouble between anyone in either family, nor were they aware of any the Tippits had with anyone else.

Their impression of J.D. was that of a hard working man determined to provide for his family in spite of the lack of potential for advancement. Knew he took various odd jobs to augment his income and seemed to spend what little free time he had with his family. Marie helped out by babysitting for 5 to 7 children on somewhat of a regular basis. On occasion, the Mather kids would be included.

Hard put to recall other Tippit friends or associates in the neighborhood; they do recall “Frank and Angie” living next door to J.D. and Marie, but can’t recall their surname.

Wes Wise, the ex-mayor, was a sports announcer at that time and it seems he had a speaking engagement at “some restaurant in Dallas a short time after the assassination.”

He (Wise) was told by “a man” who had in his employ a mechanic who was also a part-time deputy of some nature, that this employee, on the day of the assassination, had observed a suspicious “red ford car” spinning it’s wheels and throwing gravel behind a parked bus. The mechanic utilized his “deputy training” and jotted down the tag number and now “this man” was giving it to Wise.

So Wise was calling him, advising him of these developments and inviting him to dinner inasmuch as there was another person from the news media in New York, now in Dallas with Wise to do a documentary on the entire assassination and any interesting asides.

He and his wife met Wise and Dana Bartell, “from the N.Y., wire service” in the Old Warsaw Restaurant located in Oak Lawn. Dinner and discussion of these curious events didn’t seem to accomplish much, as they came away without understanding how that mechanic could have written down the tag listed to “Carl’s ’57 Plymouth.”

(Barbara was driving an old Ford station wagon, early ‘50’s, white over faded blue at the time).

Several months later saw the documentary on TV with her name listed in the credits, but no mention of the tag number episode.

Although they don’t recall the exact date of this dinner, it was so long after the incident, the new tags had since been issued and the old ones discarded. Moreover, it hadn’t impressed him as being important enough to ask someone to check for him. After all, the F.B.I. had apparently dropped the matter.

Asked to describe the F.B.I.’s efforts, Barbara said that one day an agent came to the house. This was at 4309 Colgate Lane, the Garland address they moved from 2018 Garland in 11/61, and he inquired about their tags. She pointed out her tags on the old Ford station wagon and advised Carl had the ’57 Plymouth at work.

No, they never owned a red auto of any type. Again she doesn’t recall the date, but it was when the newer tags were in effect anyway. She didn’t hear from the agent again and Carl didn’t hear at all.

What seemed like six weeks later, a second agent came to the same house and interviewed Barbara – again at home alone during the day – and he, too, was interested in the fact that a tag listed to Carl was observed on a different type of vehicle in a different part of town.

When she indicted the first agent didn’t understand it, either, he seemed surprised another agent had been ahead of him. This seemed to cause his interest in the matter to wane and he left. Like the first agent, he didn’t return, nor did he interview Carl.

Not that Carl isn’t used to being interviewed by government agents; he has a security clearance – and he has had since he started traveling with his company – he’s been with them for 21 years now. Has traveled overseas. His specific function deals with the installation of special electronics gear in aircraft. One such assignment caused him to be quartered in Brandywine, Maryland as he worked for some period of time at Andrews Air Force Base working on “Air Force Two” – Vice President Johnson’s plane at the time.

He adds he does recall the date of 11-22-63. He worked all day at Richardson, Texas, Collins Radio Shop. Although the (then) boss, J.A. Pickford, has since retired, he thinks he’s still in the area.

PICKFORD, JAMES
JFK ASSASSINATIONS SYSTEM ID FORM
HSCA
RIF: 180-10113-10265
REACTION TO ASSASSINATION, CARL MATHER,
KENNEDY, JOHN; ASSASSINATION
OUTSIDE CONTACT REPORT
OPEN IN FULL
08/12/93
BOX 256

12/1/78
Telephone contact

Summary: I made contact with Mr. Pickford on this date and received the following information, after I identified myself and told of our interest in developing a list of all witnesses in the JFK assassination. He recalls that he represented management with Collins Radio and had lunch inside with union representatives on 11/22/63 in view of the ongoing discussions. After lunch, word came of the assassination and was initially regarded as a course joke. Later verification brought about general dismay and all employees were excused. He stated, “It was plain to see that no one was going to do any work. It only remained to determine the pay status.” A few employees hung around, but most of them left.

With regard to Carl Mather, Pickford can’t recall where he was at the time of the assassination. He knows he didn’t have lunch with him. His job at the time concerned electro-mechanical assembly, which is the mechanical portion of working with electronic equipment. They worked in a shop atmosphere but it was not an assembly-line type function. There was more moving around then in an assembly-line production.

However, assigning people outside the complex was seldom done. This entailed union involvement and was an unusual occurrence. Pickford is certain that no such assignment existed on 11/22/63. That day is still vivid in his mind.

Asked if anyone might be assigned to the Oak Cliff area at any time, Pickford answered that they had no subsidiaries there, but prior to 1959 they did have such a location at Red Bird Airport. Oak Cliff is between Richardson and Red Bird.

Pickford was unable to say whether Mather even worked that particular day. He suggested contacting Collins personnel but doubts if records from 1963 would still be available.

Pickford says he retired from Collins Radio in 1972 and has since become associated with another firm.

Pickford’s impression of Mather is that he was the most competent, dependable man deserving of the highest trust. He considered him outstanding.

Mystic Star Communications Network

Carl Mather, Brandywine & Mystic Star

SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSSASSINATIONS
Carl Amos Mather 3/20/78
Interview: Carl A. Mather & wife Mrs. Barbara Mather
Jack Morarity HSCA Interview Report:

“…Not that Carl isn’t used to being interviewed by government agents; he has a security clearance – and he has had since he started traveling with his company – he’s been with them for 21 years now. Has traveled overseas. His specific function deals with the installation of special electronics gear in aircraft. One such assignment caused him to be quartered in Brandywine, Maryland as he worked for some period of time at Andrews Air Force Base working on ‘Air Force Two’ – Vice President Johnson’s plane at the time.”

Mystic Star

The Mystic Star high-frequency single-side-band [SSB] communications system is installed at about 10-15 Air Force bases around the world, with remote transceivers controlled via telephone voice channels from Andrews AFB. This system is used for telephone traffic when Air Force One is out of range of other UHF links, but at least two SSB voice frequencies (and a full duplex 75 baud secure teletype channel called "India Oscar" which use a special anti-multipath modem) are maintained continuously and used for coordination of other communications links. Frequencies are chosen from a list of about 150 scattered throughout the available HF spectrum and are designated by "fox" code numbers which change from time to time.

Satellite communications are provided through Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Remote Switching Units (RSUs). The RSU is a UHF radio satellite ground entry point (GEP) station for the MSCMS. There are four RSU sites that provide the Mystic Star system with global UHF satellite coverage.

The four dedicated UHF stations: Brandywine, MD, San Vito, IT, Clark, RP, Wahiawa, HI. Each of these stations, except for Brandywine, has four dedicated radio levels; two wideband channels and two narrowband channels. The Brandywine station has six dedicated radio levels; four wideband channels and four narrowband channels for Mystic Star support. Satellite communications are under the control of the Master Control Center (MCC) at Offutt AFB, NE. The MCC has delegated its controlling authority to several Primary Control Centers (PCCs). Working within the Mystic Star system, and coordinated with the PCCs located at Brandywine, March AFB, CA; and Kadena AB, Japan. Brandywine is the PCC for the 23-degree west and Lincoln Experimental Satellite (LES). Brandywine 23W/100W…
Mystic Star
Mystic Star Network

This is a worldwide communications system, operated and maintained by elements of the United States Army, United States Navy, and United States Air Force under the control of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Operations Center.

Its network provides worldwide communications by directly controlling radio equipment located at Global HF system stations. It consists of ultra high frequency satellite and HF networks supporting Presidential, Vice President, cabinet members and other senior government officials, Joint Staff, VIP (very important persons) and command airborne missions.

The Mystic Star HF network consists of: a single master net control station (MNCS) located at Andrews AFB Maryland, interstation and intersite circuits, and relay and auxiliary communications subsystems. (Source Air Force Instruction 33-106)

MYSTIC STAR
Mystic Star Freqs

MISSION
The mission of the Mystic Star system is to provide high quality voice and data communications support. You might think that this is no different from the support provided by any other communications system, but it is. The Mystic Star system supports the communications needs of the President, Vice President, Cabinet Members, Foreign Heads of State, and other senior government and military officials while aboard Special Air Mission (SAM), VIP, or Command aircraft. These aircraft are assigned an access priority based on the type of mission and agency supported. There are four access priorities used with priority one missions having the highest priority.

PRIORITY ONE
This designation is afforded to the President of the United States during all Air Force One flights. It is also afforded to the Vice President during Air Force Two flights if the President is not flying. Requests for circuit activation are received from the White House Communications Agency (WHCA).

PRIORITY TWO
This designation is afforded to those missions activated in support of high government officials requiring continuous uninterrupted access to their departmental headquarters. It is normally limited to support of the Vice President (if the President is being supported at the same time), Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, and the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (OJCS). Requests for circuit activation are received from the Department of the Air Force or WHCA.

NOTE
The President, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are the "TOP FIVE."

PRIORITY THREE
This designation is afforded to those missions activated for routine activities involving the National Emergency Airborne Command Post (NEACP) and other special missions as directed by OJCS. Requests for circuit activation are received from OJCS.

PRIORITY FOUR
This designation is afforded to high government or military officials aboard SAM or other special air mission aircraft, call sign SPAR. These individuals do not require continuous, uninterrupted access to their departmental headquarters. Missions supporting Cabinet Staff members, Congress, and DOD personnel are assigned this priority. Requests for circuit activation are received from the 89th Military Airlift Wing (MAW) at Andrews AFB. The NCS at Andrews will directly support all missions. Priority four missions may be referred to Global Command and Control System (GCCS) stations. This is only if the traffic load is such that Andrews cannot provide effective support. The shift supervisor will make this decision. The operator performing coordinator duties will contact the desired GCCS station to be sure the proper support is available.

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/mystic_star.htm

The Mystic Star high-frequency single-side-band [SSB] communications system is installed at about 10-15 Air Force bases around the world, with remote transceivers controlled via telephone voice channels from Andrews AFB. This system is used for telephone traffic when Air Force One is out of range of other UHF links, but at least two SSB voice frequencies (and a full duplex 75 baud secure teletype channel called "India Oscar" which uses a special anti-multipath modem) are maintained continuously and used for coordination of other communications links. Frequencies are chosen from a list of about 150 scattered throughout the available HF spectrum and are designated by "fox" code numbers which change from time to time.

While its importance has greatly diminished due to various satellite communication networks, the mission of the Mystic Star network still exists. MS comms aren't really heard in the clear very often, due to both encryption as well as anti-jam technology used, but every once in a while, people do hear non-secure Mystic Star comms (even if they don't know that's what they're hearing).

In the good old days it was non-secure, analog single-channel HF voice.

As a high-school kid, I was lucky enough to have all the Mystic Star freqs & associated 'Foxtrot' channel numbers. The 'Foxtrot' identifiers were supposed to be switched around every 6 months for security reasons, but the reality was it didn't happen too often, and when it did, there was actually a pattern to it, so if you had all the freqs & heard the new Foxtrot ID's for at least two of them, it was easy to figure out the pattern.

http://cryptome.org/2012-info/mystic-star/0083.htm

MANAGING HIGH FREQUENCY RADIOS, PERSONAL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AND THE MILITARY AFFILIATE RADIO SYSTEM
[Excerpts:]
3. MYST1C STAR System. This is a worldwide communications system, operated and maintained by elements of the United States Army, United States Navy, and United States Air Force under the control of the DISA Operations Center. Its network provides worldwide communications by directly controlling radio equipment located at Global HF system stations. It consists of ultra high frequency satellite and HF networks supporting Presidential, special air, commanders-in-chief, Joint Staff, very important persons, and command airborne missions.
3.1. The MYSTIC STAR HF Network consists of:
3.1.1. A single master net control station (MNCS) located at Andrews AFB MD.
3.1.2. Interstation and intersite circuits.
3.1.3. Relay and auxiliary communications subsystems.
3.2. AFNIC/ENAH:
3.2.1. Oversees the life-cycle management of the MYSTIC STAR Network.
3.2.2. Develops system architecture, network policy, and guidelines in conjunction with DISA.
3.2.3. Oversees the activities of the MYSTIC STAR Ops-Tech Manager’s Office.
3.2.4. Manages the life cycle, future planning, programming, and budgeting of MYSTIC STAR elements from a system perspective.
3.3. The MYSTIC STAR Operations Technical Manager:
3.3.1. Operates from the 789th Communications Squadron (789 CS/SCP), 1558 Alabama Ave, Suite 67, Andrews AFB MD 20762-6116.
3.3.2. Directly interfaces with the MYSTIC STAR users.
3.3.3. Evaluates system facilities.
3.3.4. Assesses network performance.
3.3.5. Compares performance trends to established standards.
3.3.6. Recommends improvements to criteria, documentation, or performance.
3.3.7. Works with personnel on all plans for operating, maintaining, managing, controlling, and configuring the network.
3.3.8. Recommends budgets for network operations.
3.3.9. Reports the operational status, performance status, or limitations of the network to AFNIC/ENAH.
3.3.10. Implements plans and special system configurations.
3.4. The Commander, 89th Communications Group:
3.4.1. Manages, operates, and evaluates the MNCS according to DISA Circular 310-70-79.
3.4.2. Gives network status updates to the MYSTIC STAR system manager through the operations technical manager.
3.4.3. Provides facility, administrative, and logistical support for the MNCS.

http://militarycomms.tripod.com/scope_command/mystic_star.html

STATION CONFIGURATION

Control of the entire Mystic Star network is the function of the Net Control Station (NCS) at Andrews. This includes all HF radio and UHF SATCOM equipment and the associated voice and data circuits. The Mystic Star Communications Management System is a computer controlled electronic switching system.

The MSCMS is comprised of 13 computer equipped consoles. Two computer data base/data communication (DB/DC) modules, primary and backup, are available to each operator. Two color graphics processors provide color graphics support. Two digital switching systems provide interconnectivity within the system. Communications Security (COMSEC) equipment, voice and data modems, and data terminals are available for providing secure communications support. A voice recorder/reproducer allows for the recording of all voice transmissions. A frequency management system, time generating and synchronizing unit, and a maintenance patching facility are the final subsystems that make up the MSCMS.

The equipment subsystems that make up the MSCMS are configured for secure or non-secure operations through a Local Area Network (LAN). The LAN connects all of the equipment within the station. You cannot see the LAN working, but you use it for the distribution of command and control processing functions.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

The Mystic Star system consists of eight primary and nine secondary HF radio stations located throughout the world. Each primary station provides four radio levels dedicated for Mystic Star use. Secondary stations provide at least one radio level dedicated for use by Mystic Star. A radio level consists of a transmitter, a receiver, and the associated equipment. A typical primary station consists of a Communications Relay Center (CRC), a transmitter site, and a receiver site. These are connected by transmission lines (buried cable) or microwave transmissions. The CRC consists of consoles, switches, and associated common control equipment.

The eight primary Mystic Star HF stations
Andrews
McClellan
Clark
Salinas
Croughton
Scott
Hickam
Yokota

The nine secondary Mystic Star HF stations and the number of dedicated radio levels each provides are:
Andersen 1
Lajes 1
Albrook 0
Loring 1
Ascension 1
MacDill 1
Elmendorf 1
Thule 0
Incirlik 2

All stations except for Andrews, MacDill, Loring, Salinas, and Scott are GCCS stations. GCCS stations have additional radio levels and operators available if required. The stations at Albrook and Thule are secondary stations when they are activated. They have no dedicated connectivity to the NCS at Andrews. Coordination by telephone with these stations is required to obtain the radio levels you require. The Incirlik station has yet to be brought on-line and is not available at this time.

Satellite communications are provided through Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Remote Switching Units (RSUs). The RSU is a UHF radio satellite ground entry point (GEP) station for the MSCMS. There are four RSU sites that provide the Mystic Star system with global UHF satellite coverage.

http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2006/10/mystic-star-network.html
Mystic Star Network

This is a worldwide communications system, operated and maintained by elements of the United States Army, United States Navy, and United States Air Force under the control of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Operations Center. Its network provides worldwide communications by directly controlling radio equipment located at Global HF system stations. It consists of ultra high frequency satellite and HF networks supporting Presidential, Vice President, cabinet members and other senior government officials, Joint Staff, VIP (very important persons) and command airborne missions. The Mystic Star HF network consists of: a single master net control station (MNCS) located at Andrews AFB Maryland, interstation and intersite circuits, and relay and auxiliary communications subsystems. (Source Air Force Instruction 33-106)

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/mystic_star.htm

Air Force One Radio Timeline 11/22/63

There are a number of different time references on the Air Force One Radio Transmission Tapes and the Andrews Log.

Events as they happened in Dallas are in Central Standard Time (CST), which is one hour difference from Washington, D.C., which is on Eastern Standard Time (EST), while the pilots, military personnel and radio operators used 24 hour military style and Zulu time, which is Grenwich Mean Time (GMT) in England, five hours earlier than EST.

Zulu Time

What is "Zulu" time?
"Zulu" time is that which is more commonly know as "GMT" (Greenwich Mean Time). Our natural concept of time is linked to the rotation of the earth and we define the length of the day as the 24 hours it takes (on average) the earth to spin once on its axis.

As time pieces became more accurate and communication became global, there needed to be a point from which all other world times were based. Since Great Britain was the world's foremost maritime power when the concept of latitude and longitude came to be, the starting point for designating longitude was the "prime meridian" which is zero degrees and runs through the Royal Greenwich Observatory, in Greenwich, England. When the concept of time zones was introduced, the "starting" point for calculating the different time zones was agreed to be the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
Unfortunately the Earth does not rotate at exactly a constant rate. Due to various scientific reasons and increased accuracy in measuring the earth's rotation, a new timescale, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), has been adopted and replaces the term GMT.

The Navy, as well as civil aviation, uses the letter "Z" (phonetically "Zulu") to refer to the time at the prime meridian. NOAA satellites use Zulu Time or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) as their time reference. The satellite images that appear on NOAA's Web sites are stamped in Zulu time. The Department of the Navy serves as the United States official timekeeper, with the Master Clock facility at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C.

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/what-is-gmt/index.htm

Greenwich, England has been the home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) since 1884. GMT is sometimes called Greenwich Meridian Time because it is measured from the Greenwich Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Greenwich is the place from where all time zones are measured.
Check out the GMT timestamp to see how accurate your computer time is.
The Greenwich Meridian (Prime Meridian or Longitude Zero degrees) marks the starting point of every time zone in the World. GMT is Greenwich Mean (or Meridian) Time is the mean (average) time that the earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon.

GMT is World Time and the basis of every world time zone which sets the time of day and is at the center of the time zone map. GMT sets current time or official time around the globe. Most time changes are measured by GMT. Although GMT has been replaced by atomic time (UTC) it is still widely regarded as the correct time for every international time zone.
Where is Greenwich, England?

Longitude 0° 0' 0"
Latitude 51° 28' 38"N (North of the Equator)

Greenwich Mean Time is international time, the basis of the world time clock. GMT marks precision time and military time (sometimes called Zulu Time). Defines date and time and the exact time. The atomic time clock is adjusted by leap seconds to maintain synchronicity with GMT.
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/what-is-gmt/index.htm


Love Field, Dallas – 86972 – 26000 – AF1 – Andrews – Chronology

12:34 PM CST First UPI "A" wire transmission: Dallas, Nov. 22 (UPI) –Three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade today in downtown Dallas. JT1234PCS - 1234PCS means 12:34 Central Standard time. David Lifton: “The first transmission (above) was the result of Merriman Smith excitedly talking to someone at the UPI Dallas office, who then typed it onto the actual teletype machine, and then pressed "send".

12:39 PM CST UPI A8N DA URGENT 1st Add Shots, Dallas (A7N) XXX Downtown Dallas. No casualties were reported. The incident occurred near the country sheriff’s office on main street, just east of an underpass leading toward the Trade Mart where the President was to MA FLASH FLASH KENNEDY SERIOUSLY WOUNDED PERHAPS SERIOUSLY PERHAPS FATALLY BY ASSASSINS BULLET JT 1239PCS

David Lifton: “The AP wire starts with its very first transmission at 12:40 CST (from AP photographer James W. Altgens who said he saw blood on the President’s head. Altgens said he heard two shots but thought someone was shooting fireworks until he saw the blood on the President. Altgents said he saw no one with a gun.”

12:40 PM CST BULLETIN Dallas. Nov. 22 (AP) President Kennedy was shot today just his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy. She cried, “Oh, No!” The motorcade sped [on?] D 1240 PCS NM ƒ K

12:41 PM CST BULLETIN MATTER Dallas-FIRST ADD KENNEDY SHOT X X X SPED ON. MM 12:41 PCS A NM

David Lifton: “Then Smith commandeered a phone at Parkland, called New York UPI, and some of his next transmissions were sent from New York City.”

Dallas CST Andrews EST – Military Time – Andrews Log

1:00 PM CST (2:00 PM EST) –1400 - Col. Hornbuckle Puts Andrews Wing on Alert

1:20 PM CST (2:20 PM EST) - 1420 Andrews ordered to P/U LeMay at Toronto

1:46 PM CST (2:46 PM EST) - 1446 LeMay’s C-140 Departs Andrews for Toronto

1:46 PM CST (2:46 PM EST) – 1446 Cabinet Plane 86972 Turns Around

1:50 PM CST (2:50 PM EST) P/U for LeMay changed from Toronto to Wairton, Canada.

2:00 PM CST (3:00 PM EST) - 1500 Flight Plan filed for AF1.

2:35 PM CST FIRST AP STORY NAMING OSWALD
(but not yet making definitive connection with JFK assn)

2:35 CST AP Dallas, Tex., Nov. 22 (AP) -- The Dallas Police Department today arrested a 24 year-old man, Lee H. Oswald, in connection with the slaying of a Dallas policeman shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated. He was also being interrogated to see if he had any connection with the slaying of the President. Oswald was pulled screaming and yelling from the Texas Theater in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas.

2:43 CST - WFAA and WBAP radio named Oswald. WBAP's David Daniel interrupts for word from Dallas Police of the arrest of "a 24-year-old man, Lee H. Oswald" in connection with the shooting of Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit. He's being questioned to see if he has any connection with JFK assassination. "Oswald was pulled screaming and yelling" from the Texas Theater in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. After a pistol is taken from him during a scuffle, he's quoted as saying, "It's all over now."

2:47 PM CST (3:47 PM EST) 1545 – 26000 departs Dallas as AF1 ETA Andrews 6:05

3:09 PM CST (4:09 PM EST) 1609 – 86972 Departs Hickam ETA Andrews 12:24

3:22 PM CST SECOND AP STORY NAMING OSWALD w/ more definite link between LHO & JFK slaying.

3:22 AP CST - 1st AP mention of LHO

3:08 PM (CST) UPI’s completely false version of the theater arrest—but with no mention of Oswald (just a “suspect”) and with Tippit being located inside theater, shot there, and suspect being arrested there.

3:22 PM CST Second AP Story Naming Oswald with more definite link between LHO & JFK slaying.

Dallas, Nov. 22 (AP) - A 24-year-old man who said two years ago he wanted Russian citizenship was questioned today to see whether he had any connection with the assassination of President Kennedy. He was identified as Lee Harvey Oswald of Forth Worth. He was pulled screaming and yelling from the Texas Theater in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas shortly after a Dallas policeman was shot to death. On Nov. 1, 1959, Oswald told the U.S. Embassy in Moscow he had applied for Soviet citizenship. He said he had been a tourist in Russia since October 13, that year. Oswald was reported to have a Russian wife. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram confirmed that the man held in Dallas was the same Oswald and said his mother was being taken to Dallas Police headquarters to see him.

3:23 CST - NBC television network coverage mentioned Oswald's name
First AP Story Naming Oswald (2:35 PM CST)

3:25 PM CST (4:25 PM EST) 1625 – LeMay dep Wairton ETA Andrews 5:15 EST

3:46 PM CST First UPI mention of LHO now portrayed as JFK’s assassin, and linked to FPCC. Lifton Notes: “This is designated UPI A 104/Bulletin. Although this dispatch is the first UPI mention of Oswald, it is not the first UPI mention of an arrest in the JFK case. This UPI dispatch is critical because it identifies LHO as “the prime suspect” in the JFK assassination and links him to the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Dallas, Nov. 22 (UPI)--Police today seized Lee H. Oswald, identified as chairman of a "Fair Play for Cuba Committee," as the prime suspect in the assassination of President Kennedy. (more) Police said Oswald, 24, was accused in the slaying of a Dallas policeman shortly after the shooting of the President. Police Capt. Pat Gannaway said the suspect was an employee in the building where a rifle was found. Gannaway said the suspect had visited Russia and was married to a Russian. This was not immediately confirmed. First UPI mention of LHO (3:46 PM CST) now portrayed as JFK's assassin, and linked to FPCC.

3:50 PM CST (4:50 PM EST) 1650 26000 AF1 requests Steps, Lift Truck.

4:00 PM CST (5:00 PM EST) 1700 – LeMay destination DCA not ADW/Andrews

4:00 PM CST (5:00 PM EST) 1700 – AF1 Requests Ramps & Press Fence

4:12 PM CST (5:12 PM EST) 1712 – LeMay lands at DCA

4::41 PM CST (5: 41 PM EST) 1740 – AF1 4 A.P. Cars, Ramp Confirmed.

5:04 PM CST (6:04 P.M. EST) 1800 – AF1 Lands at Andrews 2300 – 2304 Zulu (GMT)

5:30 PM CST (6:30 PM EST) 1830 – AF2 (LBJ’s Plane) Lands at Andrews

11:37 PM CST (12:37 AM EST) 0937 – Andrews Log: 86972 Arrives Andrews

Col. George Stanton Dorman

George Stanton Dorman, West Point Cadet



Colonel Dorman’s Family Recall Assassination – By William Kelly

When Mary Dorman of Lambertville, New Jersey answered the telephone, at first she said, “No,” she wasn’t the Mary Dorman who had worked at the White House, but after a brief pause, and a flood of memories, she said, “wait, yes, I did work at the White House at one time.”

And then confirming that she was the widow of Air Force Colonel George S. Dorman, General’s LeMay’s aide, she was told that Col. Dorman can be heard on the recently discovered Air Force One radio tapes that were found among the effects of General Clifton. As General LeMay’s chief aide, he was trying to get in touch with him to give him a message before his plane landed in Washington D.C., but the radio traffic was too busy with Air Force One that the probably didn’t get through.

Does she remember what happened on November 22, 1963?

“Of course, how could I forget that day?” she said.

At the time she worked at the White House Historical Office, responsible for the renovations of the building that were overseen by the President’s wife and first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, while her husband was the aide to Air Force General Curtis LeMay, the chief of staff of the Air Force.

On the day of the assassination, Mary Dorman recalled that with news of the assassination of the President, “My husband called me at the White House and told me to get home immediately. I was at the White House Historical Association office. There were only three of us and the man in charge, his name was Mr. Castro, he pulled he shades and we all knelt and prayed.”

“We lived at Fort Myer on General’s Row, so going past Arlington National cemetery, I stopped at the Chapel to pray. The news was so fresh nobody knew, so I knelt and prayed and didn’t know whether to tell them.”

“I went home and I remember sitting around crying,” she relates. “I went down to the White House when they brought the body there, and it was a mob scene. Everything was in chaos. Everybody was devastated.”

Did she did discuss the assassination with her husband?

Although Colonel Dorman was very busy that weekend, she said, “I did talk to my husband about it, but I can’t remember what he said. We talked about it, and I think there was a sense of fear, is this the beginning of something, of what?”

“For the most part we watched the stupid tube and cried. I was in the kitchen cooking, but maybe he told my sons, George Jr., William, and Robert and they remember what he had to say about it.”

In a segment of the Piers Morgan TV show, Morgan interviewed Nathan Raab of the Raab Collection, and professor Douglas Brinkley, who recognized their historical significance. Raab now owns and is trying to sell the recently discovered copy of the Air Force One radio tapes for $500,000.

On the Piers Morgan web site, it was noted that: “Last night Piers Morgan sat down with Nathan Raab, Vice-President of the Raab Collection and acclaimed author and professor Douglas Brinkley to talk about the newly revealed original and unedited (sic) White House version of the Kennedy Assassination Air Force One tape. Raab told Piers that the tape is historically significant because ‘this is how we know what the Federal government did immediately after the assassination.’"

Although this report refers to the recently discovered tapes as “unedited,” they are indeed edited. The original, complete and unedited tapes have never been released to the public and there whereabouts are unknown.

Professor Brinkley remarked that one of the most fascinating aspects of the recently discovered tape relates to General Curtis LeMay, who Raab describes “one of Kennedy's major adversaries.” It is noted that all references to LeMay were removed in the Johnson Library version, an edited version of the original tape, which sparked Brinkley to say, "People have always wanted to know where was Curtis LeMay on the day Kennedy was shot and there have been mixed messages about it. This tape provides exactly where he was."

Raab notes, LeMay’s “aide wanted to reach him badly and immediately, and was trying to interrupt Air Force One transmissions to do so.”

The Clifton tape includes the excerpt: “This is Colonel Dorman, General LeMay’s aide. General LeMay is in a C140. Last three numbers are 497, SAM C140. His code name is Grandson. And I want to talk to him.”

LeMay Reference on Clifton copy of AF1 Radio tape:

- Andrews Sideband. Sir?
- This is Colonel Dorman, General LeMay’s aide.
- Right.
- General LeMay is in a C-140
- The last three numbers are 497 SAM 497
- 497 last three numbers.
- Right. He is in bound. His code name is Grandson, and I want to talk to him.
- Grandson. Okay sir, we'll see what we can do. We’re really busy with Air Force One right now.
- Okay. You don’t have the capability to work more than one?
- We're running Air Force One with two different frequencies.
- We're running two patches at once and that's all we can do.
- I see.
- What is your drop sir? Are you on the drop off the Washington switch?
- Yes. Either or seven, nine, two, two five.
- Seven Nine two two five.
- But if you can’t do it now it will be too late because he will be on the ground in a half hour.
- Okay, and what is your name again sir?
- Colonel Dorman. D-O-R-M-A-N
- Okay, I’ll get back to you...if we can get him right away sir…..

They also speculate about the nature of the message Dorman had for LeMay, and its possible conspiratorial connotations.

In response to the conversation on the Morgan show, on their web site, Col. Dorman’s son George Dorman, Jr. wrote: “Col Dorman was the aide -de-camp to General LeMay, and my father. Your boy Brinkley totally misinterpreted the message that was sent to AF 1 - and you obviously misinterpreted it also and fed his ignorance. I would like to know how I can obtain a copy of that portion of the tape, By the way, my mother was working at the White House at that time also - and Col Dorman was KIA in Vietnam 6 years later.”

In a telephone conversation, George Dorman, Jr. said, “They were making something out of nothing,” and putting conspiratorial connotations on what they were saying is, “totally uncalled for and untrue.”

While George Dorman, Jr. said that he didn’t know what the message was, “it probably had something to do with the changing of the alert levels, their initial response in preparation for the funeral, or where LeMay had to go next.”

Where would that be? I asked.

“Back to work,” said Dorman, “the office at the Pentagon,” or where ever LeMay went. Dorman said wherever LeMay went his father usually went with him, and the fact that he wasn’t with LeMay at the time of the assassination is itself something.

George Dorman, Jr. also noters that the C-140 was a brand new plane at the time, and it was rare for LeMay to use that plane when he had a 707 – code named “Speckled Trout,” that he more frequently used.

According to George’s brother Robert their dad probably needed to get in touch with LeMay to tell him JFK was killed. But that can’t be right because LeMay was returning to Washington because of the assassination, so he must have known about it. The important message must have been something else.

Robert was just 12 or 13 at the time, and he too remembers the day distinctly, but notes, “that was a busy week and I don’t remember seeing him very much.”

Robert agrees with his brother that, “My dad wasn’t a big talker, especially about work matters.” Robert does remember his dad being in the funeral procession with Gen. LeMay, “but he wasn’t a talkative guy about what happened at work. He was a great guy, but kept quiet.”

George, Jr., Robert and their younger brother William grew up at Fort Meyers, next to Arlington National Cemetery, so the historic military grave yard was their backyard playground. And the other boys they played with were sons of other military officers, all of whom were officially involved in the funeral ceremonies, including Mike Rogers, son of Gen. Bernard Rogers, Executive Officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and John Converse, whose father, Lt. Col. Stanley Converse of the Old Guard, has many unpublished photos of the funeral.

The young boys were at the grave site early and watched the arrival of the funeral procession and burial of the President from atop a nearby tree they climbed in order to be able to better observe the proceedings.

In a memorial article published in Jul '91 it is mentioned that:

George Stanton Dorman NO. 15725 CLASS OF 1946 Died 4 August 1969 near Chu Lai, South Vietnam, aged 45 years. Interment: West Point Cemetery, West Point, New York.

GEORGE STANTON DORMAN was born 23 May 1924 in Portland, Oregon. The youngest of three boys, George was always competing, usually unsuccessfully, with his two older brothers. George enjoyed being a Boy Scout and attained the rank of Life Scout. In high school, he played baseball. His brother Bob remembers the young George as energetic with an excellent sense of humor, having a love of animals, a quick wit and being very loyal to his family. He graduated from Ulysses S. Grant High School in Portland.

George's father was a Reserve officer who served in both World Wars. His counsel, together with his oldest brothers joining the Army Air Corps, shaped George's decision to enter West Point He spent a year at Oregon State College, Corvallis, Oregon, before he received an appointment to enter West Point on I July 1943.

George's cadet life almost ended right after it started. In August 1943, his brother Ted's plane disappeared. This tragic event almost precipitated George's leaving the Corps. However, he was prevailed upon to continue and had a relatively uneventful cadet life. Save for a brush with chemistry, he had no great problems with academics. However, his tremendous leadership potential was sublimated until he entered active duty. When the Air Cadet option was presented to the class, George took it and received his wings together with his second lieutenant's bars at graduation.

George took multi engine transition training at Enid, Oklahoma. Upon completion of his training at Enid, George was married to Mary B. (Petie) Procurat in Orange, New Jersey on 2 November 1946.

His first operational assignment was to the 63rd Bombardment Squadron, 43rd Bombardment Wing at Davis Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona where he flew B29's. George's superb flying skills and leadership qualities were soon recognized, and in 1948 he was selected to be the aircraft commander of the KB29 tanker flying out of the Azores that refueled the B50 Lucky Lady in her historic nonstop flight around the world. In February 1955 George was assigned to Goose Bay, Labrador. In August of that year, he moved to the RCAF Station, Frobisher Bay, Canada, where he remained until April 1956. His next assignment was to Eighth Air Force Headquarters at Westover Field, Massachusetts where he served as executive officer to the chief of staff. July 1959 saw George and Petie move to Pease AFB, New Hampshire as a B47 squadron commander with the 100th Bombardment Wing. Later he became organizational maintenance squadron commander with the wing.

In August 1961, he was transferred to Headquarters USAF with duty in the Strategic Division of Operations. George had received "below the zone" promotions ever since his duty in Arizona, and the evidence of his growing reputation in the Air Force was very clear when he was made aide de camp to the Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis E. LeMay in 1962. He served in this position until 1965 when he was selected to attend the National War College. From there he assumed command of the 7272 and Support Group at Wheelus Air Base, Tripoli, Libya. Prior to leaving for Tripoli, George and a classmate attended an annual instrument school refresher course. The classmate recalls that George told him then that he was looking for the toughest jobs he could find.

That George was marked for bigger and better things became more evident in July 1967, when he assumed duties as vice wing commander, 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, RAF Bentwaters, Woolridge, England. This, after nothing but bomber experience! Shortly after George joined the 81st, a classmate, Phil Safford, joined as Assistant Deputy Chief of Operations. Phil recalls that George had an exceptionally keen mind and could get to the heart of a problem before anyone else. His communication skills were superb and he never lost his poise or objectivity, despite many opportunities to do so. George's goal was to command a wing in combat. To that end, he volunteered for an assignment in Seventh Air Force in Vietnam, not so much for a staff job, but as he told Phil, "I am going to be in line on the spot when the next wing commander job is available."

George received his assignment to the Seventh AF Headquarters in Vietnam. His immediate superior was then Major General David C. Jones. George's orders from England to Vietnam were to report immediately, so Petie and their three boys were left to return to the States alone. In a tape to his mother on 8 June, 1969, George told her how worried he was about Petie and the boys having to make the move back from England on their own. He mentioned that in his latest communication from Petie, she had told him of a visit she had from the mayor of Ipswich, England and his wife. He told his mother that this man had been anti US, but thanks to George and Petie he had become a great admirer and friend of Americans. George was very articulate and in that tape expounded on his concern with the media comments on the conduct of war. He mentioned that he was happy in his job and how proud he was to be serving his country.

On another tape (30 June), George told his mother how pleased he was to have heard from Petie that made the move successfully and was safely ensconced in a house in Charleston, South Carolina. His big news, in this tape was that General George Brown, commanding general of the Seventh Air Force, had selected George to be the next commander of the 366th Tac Fighter Wing in Da Nang. Colonel John Roberts (now a retired general) was the commander and had been selected to be promoted to brigadier general. George was slated to go to Da Nang by 10 July 1969 to be vice to Colonel Roberts for about 30 days before he departed. George felt that he had reached the culmination of his career-- a fighter wing command in combat and was extremely happy with this opportunity.

George became vice of the 366th in July 1969. General John Roberts recalls that on 4 August George was flying a low altitude mission near Chu Lai. Upon return to Da Nang, George's wingman reported that when George came off the target, there was an explosion and fire in his F4. This had been an early morning mission; and about 1300 hours General Robert's exec, Bob Kelly (retired as lieutenant general), told him that there was a CIA agent to see him. It seems the CIA man had been in a helicopter near Chu Lai and had witnessed the action in which George had been shot down. He had seen the plane pull off the target, level off for about a mile --one chute out then the plane crashed. He gave General Roberts the coordinates of the crash. General Roberts called the Army for site security and was told he could have it for only one hour. A call was put out for volunteers from the 366th and six were selected, from the many who volunteered, to investigate the crash. This team located the aircraft and was able to recover George's body. They discovered that George had been killed in the plane and that one engine had been knocked out. The man in the back seat had tried to get the plane under control but waited too long to eject. George was survived by his wife Petie, three sons, George, Jr., Robert and William, his mother and brother.

There is no doubt that George Dorman was destined to rise to the highest levels in the Air Force. One of the brightest stars in the Air Force firmament was dimmed on that fateful day in August 1969 near Chu Lai, South Vietnam. General Roberts said, "George was very sharp-- he would have been a hell of a wing commander." His Air Force classmates appreciated his outstanding qualities as an officer and valued him as a friend. He was a professional to the nth degree.

George, in addition to being an outstanding professional airman, was a loving and caring husband and father. All three of his sons are serving their country in one of the Armed Forces. Petie recalls that after 20 years George is still a viable presence in their sons' lives.

George Stanton Dorman always lived by "Duty, Honor, Country." He believed that a man's word was his bond. He was dedicated to the service of his country. At George's funeral at West Point, one of the pallbearers was then Lieutenant General David C. Jones, later to become chief of staff of the Air Force and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In recognition of George's service with the 81st TFW, Phil Safford was asked to represent the wing at George's funeral. Phil recalls that he was honored to serve as a pallbearer at Petie's request. Phil's words, recalling that time, echo the feelings of all George's classmates and are a fitting tribute to one of West Point's own:
"As I stood in the bright sunshine in that beautiful setting, I thought of how well George Dorman exemplified the kind of leader West Point produces for the service of our country; and for the first time, I truly understood the meaning of [Well Done!]."