You Can't Tell the People
The Cover Up of Britain's Roswell
by Georgina Bruni
THE WITNESS STATEMENTS
Apart from a brief interview with Colonel Ted Conrad in OMNI, the only
person willing to speak out publicly in the early days was Larry Warren. It
was not until 1984 that researchers Ray Boeche, Scot Colburn and Larry
Fawcett managed to interview Adrian Bustinza and Greg Battram. In 1985
defence journalist Chuck de Caro interviewed witnesses for a CNN television
show and, apart from Warren, all were filmed in shadow to hide their
identities. De Caro traced others, who included Charles Halt, Bruce Englund,
Edward Drury and Adrian Bustinza, but they all refused to talk to him on
camera. In 1990 science writer Antonio Huneeus published an extensive
interview in Fate with John Burroughs, and in September 1991 Colonel
Charles Halt went public when he and John Burroughs were interviewed by
NBC television for a documentary entitled Unsolved Mysteries. In 1994 Jim
Penniston talked for the first time when he joined Charles Halt and John
Burroughs in an interview for the British documentary series Strange but
True?.
I have since managed to trace other military witnesses and players as well
as interviewing those who have already gone public and others who refused
to talk in the early days. Their stories are a fascinating account of what
actually took place during Christmas week 1980. By collating all their
testimonies it has been possible to piece together much of the puzzle – so
much so that for the first time in twenty years we now have a much more
detailed account of what occurred from the moment of the first reported
sighting to the harassment that haunts the first-hand witnesses to this day.
However, when reading the witness files, please take into consideration that
each of them has different memories and opinions as to what they personally
encountered. This might be due to them being involved in a different set of
events, being situated at different locations or because of the amount of time
that has passed. On a more sinister note, it could also be because they were
interrogated using drug-induced hypnosis in order to confuse their
recollection of events, or because they really did have an encounter with
extraterrestrial entities which caused them to experience missing time. Many
people who have witnessed UFO activity have reported losing time. This can
be a matter of minutes or hours. It is interesting that some of the witnesses to
the Rendlesham Forest incident have reported losing approximately forty
minutes during the UFO encounter: in research circles this is termed ‘missing
time’.
Although there is no official documentation available concerning the other
events of that week, Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) were given
certain witness statements relating to the initial incident of 25/26 December.
CAUS did not receive the documents until some time between 1985 and
1986, and I was interested to know why these were never offered to other
researchers or, indeed, made public by CAUS themselves. Undoubtedly,
CAUS investigator Larry Fawcett was unhappy with the authors of Skycrash
because he suspected that Brenda Butler, Dot Street and Jenny Randles were
responsible for selling the Rendlesham Forest story to The News of the World
newspaper in October 1983.
This was a story that essentially revolved around
the release of Lieutenant Colonel Halt’s memorandum. CAUS had managed
to locate the document through the Freedom of Information Act and had sent
it to the authors in good faith, hoping they would use it as a tool to further
their research. Fawcett was also intending to feature the memorandum in his
book Clear Intent, co-authored with Barry Greenwood. Although the
researchers (including Harry Harris and another unnamed person) were said
to have been paid a substantial amount of money by The News of the World,
Brenda, Dot and Jenny told me independently that they were in no way
responsible for alerting the press but agreed to cooperate in order to make
sure the story was reported accurately.
During a visit to the United States, Dot managed to patch things up with
Larry Fawcett, but further disagreements would arise between him and Larry
Warren. The reason the statements were not offered to the researchers is
probably because of these disagreements or simply because CAUS had lost
interest in the case. Whatever the reasons, the statements remained buried in
old files and did not surface until recently. Even Chuck de Caro was
surprised to hear of their existence.
Copies of the statements came directly to me from the old CAUS files in
the United States. They are published here in the witness files, and are
explained in their entirety for the first time. When I contacted Colonel Halt
for his opinion on the statements, he confirmed they were the originals, made
at his request about a week after the events. However, when I pointed out that
there were handwritten comments on the statements and one was signed with
the initial ‘H’, Halt denied this was his handwriting and suggested they might
be fakes. This sudden change of mind intrigued me, but more about that later.
I contacted researcher Barry Greenwood, a former member of CAUS, and
asked him if he could shed any light on the subject and could he fill me in on
their history. Barry did not go into too much detail, but explained they were
offered to his colleague Larry Fawcett, and suggested they most probably
came via Colonel Halt. Robert Todd, the man responsible for securing Halt’s
memorandum, does not want to be brought back into the case but confirmed
there were no witness statements with the memorandum. Todd has destroyed
most of the Rendlesham files he had in his possession because he thought
they were worthless, full of denials from various US Air Force and NATO
organizations.
Because some of the statements were typed on official USAF Statement of
Witness forms, I have included the following information, which is copied
from an original form (first page) of that period. The form was in Dot Street’s
files. A security policeman at RAF Bentwaters had given it to her in the early
1980s and Dot later had it verified by a high-ranking officer. The form in her
possession consists of three blank pages, each individually numbered 1168,
1169 and 1170. The first page listed the address of the Uxbridge office of the
AFOSI, which was the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations’ head
office, the very agency that I believe were involved in the cover-up. When
Dot showed me the forms I immediately recognized them as being the same
as those used by two of the witnesses for their typed statements. As you will
see from the statements reproduced in the witness files, the first page (1168)
of the official USAF forms was not used, or if it was they were not included
with the statements when they were offered to CAUS. Below is a
representation of page one of an AFOSI Air Force Statement of Witness form
from RAF Bentwaters, circa 1980.
62 UXBRIDGE UK
AFOSI Detachment 6205
RAF BENTWATERS
Statement of Witness
Place _______________
Date _______________
I, ______________________________________ , hereby state that
_____________________________ has identified himself to me as
_________________________________________________ USAF.
(Special Agent AFOSI, Security Police, Other – Specify)
I do hereby voluntarily and of my own free will make the following statement without having been
subjected to any coercion, unlawful influence or unlawful inducement.
[This space is used for the statement]
AF FORM 1168
The list of witness statements is as follows:
Fred Buran (no rank listed)
81st Security Police Squadron
A typed (signed) statement on an official USAF 1169 Statement of Witness
form, dated 2 January 1981.
Master Sergeant J. D. Chandler
81st Security Police Squadron
A typed (signed) statement on an official USAF 1169 Statement of Witness
form, dated 2 January 1981.
Airman First Class John F. Burroughs
81st Security Police Squadron
A handwritten statement on plain paper (signed) and undated.
Staff Sergeant Jim Penniston
81st Security Police Squadron
A typed statement on plain paper (unsigned and undated) with a cover page.
Airman First Class Edward N. Cabansag
81st Security Police Squadron
A typed statement on plain paper (signed) and undated.
It is worth noting that the only two witness statements to be typed on
official Air Force forms are those of the two more senior personnel, Master
Sergeant J. D. Chandler and Fred Buran. Buran’s rank was not stated but I
have since discovered that he was a lieutenant at the time. Both Buran’s and
Chandler’s statements begin on section two (1169) of the official forms, and
not on section one (1168) that features the details of the AFOSI. There is no
doubt that by the time these statements were taken, most of the witnesses
were coerced into playing down the incident. Buran’s, Burroughs’ and
Chandler’s statements all refer to the incident taking place at 03.00 hrs but, as
you will see, witnesses have since claimed that the incident took place much
earlier in the night.
There are large chunks of information missing from the statements and
there appears to be a certain amount of disinformation mixed with facts. But
what is interesting is that throughout the statements there is reference to a
mechanical object sighted by Jim Penniston. Buran writes, ‘. . . and at one
point S Sgt Penniston stated that it was a definite mechanical object.’
Chandler also states, ‘On one occasion Penniston relayed that he was close
enough to the object to determine that it was definitely a mechanical object.’
Penniston’s statement reads: ‘Positive sighting of object . . . colour of lights
and that it was definitely mechanical in nature.’
Penniston and Cabansag have since denied that they typed their statements.
It seems apparent that Halt’s secretary, or anyone from Halt’s office, did not
type them either because apart from the bad spelling and typing errors the
typewriters used were not as sophisticated as the one used to type out Halt’s
memorandum a week later. This probably means that the statements were not
typed in Halt’s office, but were prepared earlier. It must also be noted that the
witnesses did not have easy access to these facilities. The typewriter used to
type Cabansag’s statement is also a different one than that used to type
Penniston’s. Whoever typed these statements made sure there were enough
errors to make it look like the witnesses, who it must be remembered were
not adept at using these machines, did them. In fact, police personnel always
used notebooks. However, Chandler’s and Buran’s statements appear to have
been typed on the same machine, the only one that was handwritten was
Burroughs’.
Assuming Penniston’s and Cabansag’s typed statements are bogus, then
whoever was responsible for them must have had a good reason for going to
all that trouble. They appear to be a clever combination of fact coupled with a
fair amount of disinformation. A typical exercise carried out by covert
agencies in order to confuse the truth? I discussed the matter with Charles
Halt, explaining that Penniston and Cabansag deny they were responsible for
the statements and it was imperative that I have his comments. Halt
suggested, but could not be certain, that the witnesses may have had the
statements with them when they turned up to see him because they were not
typed in his office. In a 1990 interview with science writer Antonio Huneeus,
John Burroughs commented on his statement, which seemed to confirm that
Colonel Halt did send them to Larry Fawcett and also that at least Burroughs’
statement (the only one which was handwritten) was handed to Halt
personally.
After the third night I had to write a statement and I turned it over to Halt. Also, which is strange,
Fawcett wouldn’t say for sure, but Halt sent him some different statements that people had written
on this, but mine wasn’t included on that, which would be awful strange if Halt was willing to give
written statements, that my name wasn’t included.
Burroughs’ statement was in fact with the others I received.
For me, the biggest mystery is why these were the only statements offered
to CAUS. Why did they not receive statements by the witnesses to the major
incident that occurred a few nights later? One can only speculate, but it seems
to me that this particular incident has been played down as being a non-event,
when in fact it was far more momentous than the initial event on 25/26
December. There were also credible witnesses involved. According to Adrian
Bustinza, statements were taken from the witnesses but as yet these have not
surfaced.
THE EVIDENCE OF TIMOTHY EGERCIC
On a spring morning in 1978 Timothy Egercic left his parents’ home in
Farrell, Pennsylvania, to train for the USAF. He was eighteen years old. On
23 March 1979 he was transferred to the 81st Security Police Squadron at
RAF Bentwaters and during his entire tour he was assigned to D Flight,
working under the supervision of flight chiefs Ray Gulyas, Edwin Keaney
and Robert F. Ball.
Sometime between 23.00 and 24.00 hrs on 25 December 1980, an airman
at RAF Woodbridge reported seeing strange lights in the sky outside the
perimeter fence near the flightline. Over at RAF Bentwaters, Airman First
Class Egercic was just finishing his last swing shift with D Flight when the
call came through from the Woodbridge patrol. Not thinking any more about
it, Egercic and his colleagues turned over the report to C Flight, the official
shift that was about to relieve them of duty. Little did they know then that
what was about to take place during the next few hours would make history.
As Egercic made his weary way home he bumped into a drunken airman
looking for a fight and was suddenly reminded he had just missed Christmas
Day.
Timothy Egercic cannot remember what station he was working on 25
December but during the next three nights of his midnight shifts he was
posted on ‘Whiskey One’, the alarm monitor for the weapons storage area at
Bentwaters. Sometime early in his shift, as was the routine, Central Security
Control (CSC) turned over command and control of the airways to his post.
Egercic would then make the announcement: ‘Whiskey One to all posts and
patrols, this office is assuming primary duties as CSC. Direct all radio and
telephonic communications to and through this office.’ The announcement
was then followed by a roll-call security check, where each post would
respond back with ‘all secure’. The roll-call was supposed to be carried out
every fifteen minutes but, according to Egercic, they were lucky if it was
done every couple of hours.
It was his duty to keep a blotter where he would
register information hourly. This would comprise building checks of the Hot
Row, which were the eight structures in the weapons area that contained the
nuclear weapons, any security exercises and any unplanned events, such as
Helping Hand. Egercic cannot recall making any entries of the
aforementioned alert in the blotter on any of the nights in question and has no
recollection of a Broken Arrow. (Helping Hand was a procedure initiated in
response to a serious security violation. It was later changed to Covered
Wagon. Broken Arrow was a term used for a nuclear security violation.)
However, he pointed out that had he known how important this case would
turn out to be, he would have documented everything and audio taped the
radio transmissions.
During the three nights of his midnight shift, 26/27–28/29 December,
between midnight and 02.00 hrs, Egercic received radio calls from the
Woodbridge patrols reporting strange lights over the forest. He noticed that
his flight chief, Robert Ball, always seemed to be around when the call came
in. Just after midnight a patrol would be instructed to open the back gate
(Butley Gate) and Master Sergeant Ball and a handful of personnel would
make their way over to the Woodbridge base. During these nights Egercic
would try his best to keep in contact with Ball as he entered the forest, at
times almost losing him because of a weak signal or static interference. But
Ball always managed to respond back with ‘secure’. Egercic recounts that
other non-commissioned officers on duty during Christmas week were Willie
B. Williams, Sergeant Coakley and Sergeant Wimbrow, and he remembers
that most of the senior staff were working twelve-hour shifts throughout that
period.
During the last night’s incident, which Egercic believes occurred on the
morning of the 29th, a person from communications was sent to the WSA to
observe the lights from the tower. Sergeant Willie B. Williams asked Egercic
if he wanted to go to the tower also, but he declined because the radio
transmissions from the witnesses were more than the previous two nights and
he did not want to miss anything. He explained that he was using one of the
most powerful radios on the base, which enabled him to talk to the witnesses
directly. As the transmissions came in he would repeat them over the air so
that personnel at Bentwaters could hear what was being seen by the
Woodbridge patrols. Later that night he and his co-worker Bob Sliwowski
had stood on sandbags surrounding the Alarm Monitor building in the hope
that they too would see the lights over Woodbridge, but there was nothing in
sight other than the lights on a nearby building.
As D Flight’s shift came to a close so did the radio transmissions. When
Egercic returned from his break three days later he learned that no other
flights had reported any strange lights. Whilst in guard mount he had asked
Master Sergeant Ball what had happened, but his only comment was: ‘I can’t
tell you what we saw, but there was definitely something out there.’ Rumours
had circulated that an object had left depressions in the ground that formed a
perfect triangle, and someone had taken Geiger readings, but then a wall of
silence was quickly established.
It was more than ten years later that Egercic realized the importance of
what had occurred that week. He had received a long distance call from
Mississippi. It was his old friend Dock Rhodes, who had been with the Law
Enforcement Squadron at Bentwaters. Rhodes had seen television previews
on the NBC channel for a show entitled Unsolved Mysteries, which he said
was going to feature a UFO incident that had occurred during their tour of
RAF Bentwaters in 1980. Egercic then called Todd Ray, another colleague
who had been on the same tour. Ray had also seen the previews; it seems that
former personnel were calling each other across America to alert their old
friends about the documentary.
It suddenly occurred to Egercic that it was the same incident that Master
Sergeant Ball was involved in, and before watching the programme he
decided to test his memory by jotting down a few notes which he then
forwarded to his friends, he wrote:
1. The UFO sightings occurred on consecutive nights around Christmas 1980.
2. Bob Ball was the flight chief and went into the forest with other Air Force personnel where the
strange lights were seen.
3. Three impressions in the ground were found and formed a perfect triangle.
4. Someone was sent out to take radioactive readings of those impressions.
He reported that all of those facts were shown on the programme.
In September 1997, Bob Kozminski, a former security policeman with D
Flight and another friend of Egercic, gave him the book Left at East Gate,
authored by Larry Warren and Peter Robbins. Kozminski had purchased the
book after hearing the authors on a radio talk show. Incidentally, Kozminski
and another airman, Kirk Myer, were responsible for opening the east gate on
one of the nights in question and had also seen the lights.
Timothy Egercic first came to my attention in early 1997. I had heard
about him from a former Law Enforcement woman at Bentwaters, Lori
Rehfeldt. But it was not until researcher Peter Robbins faxed me his
testimony several months later that I began to see where Egercic fitted into
the story. Lori had been keen to talk to Larry Warren and asked me to put her
in touch with him. At the time he was not on the telephone so I gave her
Peter’s fax number, which she then passed on to Timothy Egercic.
I have been in touch with Timothy Egercic since March 1998 and he has
been a good source of information. It was interesting to hear that apart from
the call that came through about sightings of lights on 25 December he was
unfamiliar with the first night’s event. Eight months after we talked he sent
me the duty roster of his last night (19 March 1981) on D Flight at
Bentwaters. By counting backwards from that date we were able to confirm
that the first night of the four nights of sightings that he recalls was in fact
25/26 December. It was as a result of working with the duty roster that I was
able to figure out how the complex flight schedules operated.
Timothy Egercic finished his tour of duty at RAF Bentwaters in 1981 and
was posted to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. He
separated from the USAF on 26 November 1982. In January 1984 he
attended ATES Technical Institute, Niles, Ohio, and received a diploma in
computer programming. Today he is an information associate developer and
lives with his wife Cindy and family in Texas.
LIEUTENANT BURAN AND
CENTRAL SECURITY CONTROL
Charles Halt had warned me not to contact certain witnesses, especially Fred
Buran, because he wanted nothing to do with the incident and would have a
lawyer at my door if I bothered him. Fortunately, I managed to find Fred
‘Skip’ Buran and, as I expected, he was quite willing to answer my questions
and was in fact very helpful.
I was never hiding from anyone, but simply didn’t want to have anyone misconstrue my
involvement. It was an interesting incident, but I never left the base, and what was seen or
encountered by those I sent to the scene is for them to interpret as they see fit.
Fred Buran had enlisted in the army in 1968 and was a Vietnam veteran.
After leaving the army in 1972 he spent five years with the Florida police
force. Then in 1978 he was commissioned for the USAF. During his military
career he held several key positions, including a joint duty assignment with
the US Forces Korea Provost Marshal. He voluntarily retired as a lieutenant
colonel.
In 1980 Buran was a first lieutenant with the Security Police Squadron at
RAF Bentwaters. On 25/26 December he was the on-duty shift commander at
building 679, Central Security Control. He began his shift at 23.00 hrs and
finished at 07.00 hrs. In an official typed statement (2 January 1981) he wrote
that it was approximately 03.00 hrs when he was first notified about the
initial incident concerning Airman First Class John Burroughs. I asked Buran
if he could have been mistaken because my investigation suggests the
incident took place much earlier, probably closer to midnight. He agreed it
was possible that it began much earlier and that is the reason he made a point
of writing ‘approximately’ on his statement.
Buran told me that he was posted at Central Security Control all night
because he was in charge of the security for both bases. As soon as the report
came through from the Woodbridge patrol Buran informed his superior
officers. He then instructed Sergeant Coffey to contact the Bentwaters tower.
Apparently the tower had nothing to report so Sergeant Coffey called London
Air Traffic Control to see if they had information. Buran considered that a
light aircraft might have crashed in the forest. It seems that London Air
Traffic Control had some unusual activity on their radar. Buran thinks the
Bentwaters Air Traffic Control might have been down that night due to the
late hours, and if that was the case then the Bentwaters and Woodbridge
traffic would have been handled by London.
According to Timothy Egercic, who was on duty in the Bentwaters
weapons storage area during 26/27–28/29, Central Security Control would
pass control of the airwaves to Whiskey One early in the midnight shift. Fred
Buran confirmed that Whiskey One was one of the fixed security checkpoints
and would have served as the back-up CSC should Primary CSC lose power
for any reason. He also agreed that CSC would turn over control of the
security forces to Whiskey One for an hour or so every night. Whiskey One
would then be in charge of directing and monitoring security activity for both
bases, whilst still being monitored by CSC. Apparently, this was standard
procedure.
However, when the witnesses reported the initial incident, it was,
according to them, sometime around midnight. Assuming Central Security
Control passed over the airwaves to Whiskey One just after midnight, then
whoever was on duty at Whiskey One during 25/26 should have been
operating the airwaves. I wondered if that was why the statements referred to
the time of the first reported incident as being 03.00. Could Primary CSC not
have been aware of what was going on from midnight until 03.00, even
though they were monitoring the airwaves? Buran writes in his statement:
At approximately 03.00 hrs, 26 December 1980, I was on duty at bldg. 679, Central Security
Control, when I was notified that A1C Burroughs had sighted some strange lights in the wooded
area east of the runway at RAF Woodbridge.
Fred Buran is an honourable man and assured me that he had taken an oath
to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and that he made
no false statement. He also assured me that making a false statement in regard
to any official act could result in court-martial, prison, dismissal from the
service and forfeiture of all pay and allowances, including pension. ‘An
officer is well motivated to be truthful in all matters,’ he stressed. He also
pointed out that he had a very high level security clearance which he would
never have jeopardized. In all truth, apart from the time, which he admits he
was not sure about, I believe Buran’s statement is fairly accurate. His
statement was not taken until 2 January, eight days after the incident, and he
even points out that it may be inaccurate due to the time-lapse and the fact
that he was not taking notes at the time.
Fred A. Buran’s Statement of 2 January 1981
STATEMENT OF WITNESS
Place Bldg 679, RAF Bentwaters
Date 2 Jan 1981
I, Fred A. Buran , hereby state that
(Special Agent AFOSI, Security Police, Other – Specify)
I do hereby voluntarily and of my own free will make the following statement without having been
subjected to any coercion, unlawful influence or unlawful inducement.
The following statement is general in nature and may be inaccurate in some instances due to the
time-lapse involved and the fact that I was not taking notes at the time of the occurrence. At
approximately 03.00 hrs, 26 December 1980, I was on duty at bldg. 679, Central Security Control,
when I was notified that A1C Burroughs had sighted some strange lights in the wooded area east of
the runway at RAF Woodbridge.
Shortly after this initial report A1C Burroughs was joined by S Sgt Penniston and his rider, AMN
Cabansag. S Sgt Penniston also reported the strange lights. I directed S Sgt Coffey, the on-duty
Security Controller, to attempt to ascertain from S Sgt Penniston whether or not the lights could be
marker lights of some kind, to which S Sgt Penniston said that he had never seen lights of this colour
or nature in the area before. He described them as red, blue, white and orange.
S Sgt Penniston requested permission to investigate. After he had been joined by the Security Flight Chief, MSgt Chandler, and turned his weapon over to him, I directed them to go ahead. S Sgt Penniston had previously informed me that the lights appeared to be no further than 100 yds from the road east of the runway.
I monitored their progress (Penniston, Burroughs and Cabansag) as they entered the wooded area.
They appeared to get very close to the lights, and at one point S Sgt Penniston stated that it was a
definite mechanical object. Due to the colors they had reported I alerted them to the fact that they
may have been approaching a light aircraft crash scene. I directed S Sgt Coffey to check with the
tower to see if they could throw some light on the subject. They could not help.
S Sgt Penniston reported getting near the ‘object’ and then all of a sudden said they had gone past
it and were looking at a marker beacon that was in the same general direction as the other lights. I
asked him, through S Sgt Coffey, if he could have been mistaken, to which Penniston replied that
had I seen the other lights I would know the difference. S Sgt Penniston seemed somewhat agitated
at this point.
They continued to look further, to no avail. At approximately 03.54 hrs, I terminated the
investigation and ordered all units back to their normal duties.
I directed S Sgt Penniston to take notes of the incident when he came in that morning. After
talking with him face to face concerning the incident, I am convinced that he saw something out of
the realm of explanation for him at that time. I would like to state at this time that S Sgt Penniston is
a totally reliable and mature individual. He was not overly excited, nor do I think he is subject to
overreaction or misinterpretation of circumstances. Later that morning, after conversing with CPT
Mike Verrano, the day-shift commander, I discovered that there had been several other sightings.
Any further developments I have no direct knowledge of.
AF FORM 1169 PREVIOUS EDITION WILL BE USED Page 1 of 2 Pages
[note: page number is typed]
CONTINUATION SHEET FOR AF FORM 1168 and 1169
[Second page is not used for further statement but features handwritten comments added at later
date]
[Handwritten comments]
Fred Buran is a good and reliable person. He might talk if his name were protected.
I further state that I have read this entire statement, initialled all pages and corrections, and signed
this statement, and that it is correct and true as written.
WITNESSES [no witness signatures, there should be two]
[signed, but no rank given] Fred A. Buran
81st Security Police Squadron
[No address or date is given]
[No signature of person administering oath]
AF FORM 1170
Page 2 of 2 Pages
[note: page number is typed]
Before I managed to contact Fred Buran, I had asked Charles Halt about
Buran’s rank but he declined to comment. However, during a British
conference in 1994 Halt let it slip that the officer on duty at Central Security
Control – the very officer who refused to enter the incident in the log – was a
lieutenant. This made sense, someone was obviously trying to protect the
officer, and considering Halt is supposed to have taken Buran’s statement it
would be down to him to make sure the witness recorded his rank. But why
would Halt want to put me off talking to Buran and the others? From my
contact with Fred Buran I realized that at the time of the incident he had not
wanted to be too involved, he was a career officer and the subject of UFOs in
the military was taboo. This could be why Halt was so evasive. Was he trying
to protect Buran? According to Buran, he thinks that immediately following
the initial incident he was given temporary leave and was not around during
the rest of the week when the UFOs returned.
It is also interesting that Buran’s statement refers to Captain Mike Verrano,
the day-shift commander, as having mentioned other sightings. Because there
are no reports of any incident prior to 25/26 December, Verrano might have
been referring to other witnesses seeing the lights from different standpoints
on the base.
I was curious to know about the witness statements and why the first pages
(1168) of the Air Force forms were not used, and if they were used what
happened to them. According to Buran, the security police, the AFOSI and
any other party who might have cause to take statements from a witness, used
these forms. As he recalls the second page was used as a continuation sheet
for both witness and suspect statements. In the case of a suspect’s statement,
the witness blocks would have been signed, but this was not necessary for the
statement of a voluntary witness.
There is not much known about Master Sergeant J. D. Chandler but it is
certain that he was on duty on the night of 25/26 December. Although
Chandler writes in his statement that ‘At no time did I observe anything from
the time I arrived at RAF Woodbridge,’ witness Jim Penniston claims
Chandler had confirmed that he too had seen something. This was told to
Penniston when he arrived back at Central Security Control.
Master Sergeant J. D. Chandler’s typed statement
STATEMENT OF WITNESS
Place ___________________
Date 2 January 1981 [handwritten]
I, J. D. CHANDLER, MSgt USAF [name handwritten], hereby state that
(Special Agent AFOSI, Security Police, Other – Specify)
I do hereby voluntarily and of my own free will make the following statement without having been
subjected to any coercion, unlawful influence or unlawful inducement.
At approximately 03.00 hrs, 26 December 1980, while conducting security checks on RAF
Bentwaters, I monitored a radio transmission from A1C Burroughs, Law Enforcement patrol at RAF
Woodbridge, stating that he was observing strange lights in the wooded area just beyond the access
road, leading from the east gate at RAF Woodbridge. SSgt Penniston, Security Supervisor, was
contacted and directed to contact Burroughs at the east gate. Upon arrival, SSgt Penniston
immediately notified CSC that he too was observing these lights and requested to make a closer
observation.
After several minutes, Penniston requested my presence. I departed RAF Bentwaters
through Butley gate for RAF Woodbridge. When I arrived, S Sgt Penniston, A1C Burroughs and
Amn Cabansag had entered the wooded area just beyond the clearing at the access road. We set up a
radio relay between S Sgt Penniston, myself and CSC. On one occasion Penniston relayed that he
was close enough to the object to determine that it was definitely a mechanical object. He stated that
he was within approximately 50 meters. He also stated that there was lots of noises in the area which
seemed to be animals running around. Each time Penniston gave me the indication that he was about
to reach the area where the lights were, he would give an extended estimated location. He eventually
arrived at a ‘beacon light’, however, he stated that this was not the light or lights he had originally
observed. He was instructed to return. While on route [sic] out of the area he reported seeing lights
again almost in direct pass [sic] where they had passed earlier. Shortly after this, they reported that
the lights were no longer visible. S Sgt Penniston returned to RAF Woodbridge.
After talking to the
three of them, I was sure that they had observed something unusual. At no time did I observe
anything from the time I arrived at RAF Woodbridge.
AF FORM 1169 PREVIOUS EDITION WILL BE USED
Page 1 of 2 Pages
[note: page number is typed]
CONTINUATION SHEET FOR AF FORM 1168 and 1169
[Second page is not used for further statement. There are no written comments]
I further state that I have read this entire statement, initialled all pages and corrections, and signed
this statement, and that it is correct and true as written.
WITNESSES [no witness signatures, there should be two]
[signed] J. D. Chandler
81st Security Police Squadron
[No address or date is given]
[No signature of person administering oath]
AF FORM 1170 AF FORM 1170
Page 2 of _ Pages
Chandler’s was the only statement without written notes added. Both these
statements tell us a great deal about what went on that night but they are also
misleading. It is interesting how Chandler emphasizes the ‘beacon light’ and,
along with Buran, refers to the event as having taken place much later than it
actually did. I also wondered why there was no statement in the files from
Sergeant Coffey. Fred Buran offered a clue:
As far as I know, SSgt Coffey, who was the on-duty security controller, did not leave CSC that first
night. If he was involved later on I know nothing of it. I am not aware that Master Sergeant
Chandler ever saw anything either.
Fred ‘Skip’ Buran retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel and is
currently employed in a full-time civilian job. He met his wife, also an Air
Force officer, at RAF Bentwaters. She is now working in education. The
Burans have a son in high school.
THE EVIDENCE OF JOHN BURROUGHS
John F. Burroughs was nineteen years old when he enlisted in the United
States Air Force in March 1979, and in July that same year he arrived at RAF
Bentwaters where he was assigned to the Law Enforcement Squadron. The
six-feet-plus patrolman from Arizona was known to be a serious individual
who would not tolerate law-breaking of any kind. At the time of the incident
he had been on the joint installation for a period of seventeen months and
knew the area quite well.
John Burroughs first came to the attention of researchers in 1983 when
Brenda Butler and Dot Street were told he was a prime witness. On 26 April
1984 American researcher Ray Boeche surprised Burroughs with a telephone
call, but he was nervous and told Boeche that because he was still in the
military he would need to contact ‘somebody up there’ before he could talk.
‘If I was a civilian that’d be a different story,’ he explained. ‘Once I left
there, I was pretty much told not to say anything.’ He promised to get back to
Boeche after talking to his superiors, but he never did.
Burroughs’ testimony is important because he is the only known person to
have been involved in both the major events. He was said to have been the
first person to report the initial sighting on 25 December and later that night
had witnessed the landing of a UFO. Along with other witnesses involved in
the initial incident (25/26 December), his official Air Force statement has
recently surfaced. Although undated, it is suspected it was written on 2
January 1981. It is worth noting that Burroughs confirmed it was written after
the second event, but nothing is mentioned about the latter. However, this
might be because he was not actually on official duty during that period, but
had gone back to the forest out of curiosity.
Statement by Airman First Class John Burroughs, handwritten on jotter paper
On the night of 25–26 Dec at around 03.00, while on patrol down at east gate, myself and my
partner saw lights coming from the woods due east of the gate. The lights were red and blue, the red
one above the blue one, and they were flashing on and off. Because I’ve never saw [sic] anything
like that coming from the woods before we decided to drive down and see what it was. We went
down east-gate road and took a right at the stop sign and drove down about 10 to 20 yards to where
there is a road that goes into the forest at the road. I could see a white light shining into the trees and
I could still see the red and blue one [sic] lights. We decided we better go call it in so we went back
up towards east gate. I was watching the lights and the white light started coming down the road that
lead [sic] into the forest. We got to the gate and called it in. The whole time I could see the lights
and the white light was almost at the edge of the road and the blue and red lights were still out in the
woods.
A security unit was sent down to the gate and when they got there they could see it too. We asked
permission to go and see what it was and they told us to [sic] we could. We took the truck down the
road that lead [sic] into the forest. As we went down the east-gate road and the road that lead [sic]
into the forest, the lights were moving back and they appeared to stop in [illegible] bunch of trees.
We stopped the truck where the road stopped and went on foot. We crossed a small open field that
led into the trees where the lights were coming from, and as we were coming into the trees there
were strange noises, like a woman screaming. Also the woods lit up and you could hear the farm
animals making a lot of noises, and there was a lot of movement in the woods. All three of us hit the
ground and whatever it was started moving back towards the open field and after a minute or two
we got up and moved into the trees and the lights moved out into the open field. We got up to a
fence that separated the trees from the open field and you could see the lights down by a farmer’s
house. We climbed over the fence and started walking toward the red and blue lights and they just
disappeared. Once we reached the farmer’s house we could see a beacon going around so we went
towards it. We followed it for about 2 miles before we could [see] it was coming from a lighthouse.
We had just passed a creak [sic] and were told to come back when we saw a blue light to our left in
the trees. It was only there for a minute and just streaked away. After that we didn’t see anything so
we returned to the truck.
[Page 2 shows a drawing of the object and its description. Referring to the lights on top of the object
Burroughs writes] . . . this would move back and forth, up and down, but the blue and white and
orange would come out when it was sitting in one place. [Referring to the other lights, he writes] . . .
blue lights would come out of the beam and the white light below. A white light would come out
below the beam in the trees.
[undated]
[Signed] A1C John Burroughs
81SPS SPOL CFL
[Handwritten comments added at a later date]
Burroughs is a straightforward and honest cop. He does have the ability to take an incident and turn
it into a disaster. (He comes on too strong.) There’s no doubt in my mind his statement is accurate.
He really became obsessed with this. Now he’s worried that this might affect his career.
Working with recent information, I have managed to piece together a more
detailed account of what John Burroughs experienced during Christmas week
1980. Although his witness statement shows the time around 03.00, he has
since claimed the first incident occurred after midnight, but does not offer a
specific time.
Staff Sergeant Bud Steffens and Airman First Class John Burroughs, both
Law Enforcement officers (although in his statement Burroughs signs himself
as a security police officer), were said to have made the first reported
sighting. They were patrolling the Woodbridge base at the time and as they
approached the east gate Burroughs noticed strange lights over the skyline to
the eastern side of the forest. He alerted his supervisor Steffens, and the two
men stared at the sky in amazement. The spectacle consisted of coloured
flashing lights that appeared to hover over the trees.
Steffens instructed
Burroughs to open the combination lock on the gate and the two men
proceeded to drive down the east-gate road towards the edge of the forest.
Burroughs thought there was something eerie about the coloured lights,
which made him feel uneasy. As they got closer they could also see a bright
white light shining through the trees. The airmen thought they had better
report the incident and started to head back to the base when suddenly there
was a tense moment as Burroughs turned around and saw the bright white
light moving down the road towards them. When they reached the gate post
they could still see the two coloured lights hovering over the forest, but the
white light seemed to be parked on the edge of the road.
Neither Steffens nor Burroughs made any mention of calling for
permission to leave the base at this stage. However, one very good reason for
not making an issue out of this would be if the men were armed. Although it
is a violation of the Status of Forces Agreement with the United Kingdom to
take weapons off a US installation on to British territory, it will be evident
that this was the case during the Rendlesham Forest incident. Whenever
possible, personnel would use a landline rather than a pocket radio. This was
due to the knowledge that scanners could be used to tap into conversations.
So on returning to the east-gate post, Burroughs picked up the landline and
reported the sighting to the Law Enforcement duty desk sergeant at
Bentwaters. Sergeant ‘Crash’ McCabe did not take Burroughs seriously at
first; being the festive season he thought he was joking. Admittedly, it must
have sounded odd, especially if Burroughs was trying to explain that a bright
white light had chased them. Realizing that Burroughs was having difficulty
convincing the sergeant, Steffens took over the receiver and confirmed the
report. McCabe suspected an air crash and decided to alert Central Security
Control. Meanwhile, Steffens and Burroughs were instructed to wait at the
east gate until another patrol reached them. Sometime later Sergeant Jim
Penniston turned up and Steffens and Burroughs explained the situation.
Burroughs then accompanied Penniston and his driver, Airman First Class
Edward Cabansag, into the forest.
In an interview with Antonio Huneeus in December 1990, Burroughs had
nervously recalled what happened in Rendlesham Forest:
. . . we walked for quite a distance, came into a clearing area and that’s when we came upon the
object that we saw, the object that all three of us saw, all three of us looked at it a little bit
differently. We got pretty close to the object, we knew it had the feet on the ground, from there . . .
Burroughs tried to explain how he was feeling:
. . . that was like everything seemed like it was different when we were in that area, you know what
I mean? The sky didn’t seem the same, everything seemed different . . . It was like a weird feeling,
like everything seemed slower than you were actually doing and stuff, and all of a sudden, when the
object was gone, everything was like normal again, [by] normal [that] everything seemed real
around you . . . You’re looking around and there at a distance you see the lighthouse beacon, you
know, the sky looks the same, everything around you seems the same. But when all this was going
on everything seemed different.
Huneeus asked Burroughs to describe the object:
I would describe it as a bank of lights, differently coloured lights and stuff that appeared to be, you
know, the main object was just, to me, a bank of lights that threw off an image of, like a craft, you
know, I never saw anything metallic or anything hard . . .
Burroughs might not have been able to define that the object was metallic
because, according to Jim Penniston, he was further away from it. But it is
interesting that Burroughs mentions the object ‘had feet on the ground’,
which would imply it was a solid object. He also recalls that they saw the
object in the distance after it took off, and they followed it for about an hour
to an hour and a half before they finally lost it.
In a 1994 Strange but True? documentary, Burroughs remarked that the
phenomenon in the forest reminded him of Christmas lights, like a
‘Christmas display’. He described how it felt as if he was moving in slow
motion and how the hair on the back of his neck stood up on end. ‘You felt
like you had very little control over your body . . . I wish I had my weapon
because I felt totally defenceless,’ he said.
After his shift was finished Burroughs accompanied Jim Penniston to the
shift commander’s office, where they were debriefed. Both witnesses were
instructed to return to the site to see if there was any evidence left behind.
Burroughs discovered depressions on the ground and damage to the nearby
trees.
John Burroughs was not on duty during the rest of Christmas week, but on
the night of the second major encounter (which he believes took place on the
third night, 27/28) he had the urge to return to the forest. He had heard that
the UFOs were back and managed to secure a lift from two friends who were
in one of the patrols heading out to the east gate. Lieutenant Colonel Halt’s
patrol had already moved into the forest by the time he arrived, and a radio
request to join them was denied by Halt. Whilst Burroughs was sitting in the
parked truck along with the other patrols that Halt had stationed at the
clearing, blue balls of light, which appeared to come away from the main
craft, started moving towards them.
One of them passed over the vehicles
causing a reaction in the defunct light-alls, which suddenly lit up. The light
then moved through the open window of a truck causing a panic situation to
those inside. As soon as the ball of light had passed over, the light-all went
out again. Burroughs was supposed to have chased after it, but he has not
confirmed this in any of his interviews that I am aware of. When Huneeus
asked him how many people were involved in the third night, Burroughs told
him there might have been fifty to sixty people. This included those who
were listening to the radios, those watching from the towers, those who were
on duty at RAF Woodbridge and those who were stationed in the forest.
One of the points John Burroughs makes was that the UFOs returned for at
least three nights in succession. Burroughs seems to think this is very
important, especially because it was basically the same event that occurred on
all nights, even though there was no evidence that the object had landed on
the second night. It is also important to understand that the witnesses, at least
those who have spoken out, have a different perception of what the UFOs
looked like, which is probably due to their location or the distortion in the
atmosphere during the encounters.
Unlike most of the airmen, Burroughs did not live on the base but
preferred to reside in the nearby town of Ipswich. He claims this is why
personnel thought he was left alone and not involved in the ‘rumour
controls’. Contrary to speculation, Burroughs was not transferred
immediately but left Bentwaters in July 1981 when he had completed his
normal rotation.
When Huneeus asked him to explain the incident and his opinion of what
happened, Burroughs made a strong point that it was nothing to do with the
lighthouse:
There is no way that many people were fooled by that lighthouse . . . there is just no way that we
were fooled, something actually went on out there for the technology, for the government to have
the type of technology that went on in early 1980, it would just be hard to believe. You know,
people have said it was possibly the government testing stuff. If they had the capabilities and the
technology to do what went on that night, it would just be hard to understand. We would be so far
advanced in technology that we’ve been lied to for years. As far as the UFO experience, it’s
something that, you know, it’s strange in the first place. I don’t really know in history where
something has come back over a three-night period and that many different people have seen it in a
row.
Burroughs seems to suggest that attention should be paid to what was
going on in Suffolk at the time. He mentions the radar developments that had
taken place on the coast, and points out that as a result of local research in
this field, and because radar can produce different waves in the atmosphere,
the experiments could have caused some kind of ‘time door’ to open.
As with many of those who were involved, Burroughs is clearly annoyed at
the way the Air Force have dealt with the case. He points out that there is
enough proof to support that an incident occurred and the public should pay
attention to it. The proof he refers to are the military witnesses and Lieutenant
Colonel Halt’s official memorandum. The most profound part of his
interview with Huneeus is when he sums up how the incident affected him
personally:
It really confuses me. If you look at it, what is the status of the world? You know, you can go along
your life and basically you believe in God; you believe in your country; you believe in your
government; you believe everything is under control. In the back of your mind you hear about
UFOs, you think, well, there is a possibility, but is it really possible? But then you actually see
something like that and then have it handled the way the government handled it . . . You wonder
what’s going on in the world, and you’re really interested in knowing, but the American people, do
the American people really want to know? Does the world want to know? I began to wonder
sometimes because nothing is done about it. I am not saying nothing has been attempted . . . but the
overall thing of the American people seems to be, ‘yeah, that’s interesting’, but outer space and this
stuff is going on.
Burroughs believes that if more witnesses were to talk about it, then the
government would have to answer. After his retirement from the USAF
Burroughs did try to get the story into the public domain and agreed to be
interviewed by researcher Jim Speiser. But according to Burroughs, Speiser
went after another story instead. In his extensive interview with Huneeus, he
mentions a taped hypnotic session that he had sent to someone, but no details
of this have been made public.
John Burroughs retired as a sergeant from the USAF in February 1988.
According to Jim Penniston, Burroughs was being harassed by the AFOSI
and his mail was being tampered with. On returning from England after being
filmed for the Strange but True? television documentary in 1994, he
discovered his home had been totally ransacked. The only things missing
were his files on Bentwaters and a videotape of the CNN documentary on the
incident. Since then nobody has been able to locate him and, according to
Penniston, he disappeared from his home in Arizona without a trace.
Penniston thinks Burroughs got scared and packed up. All attempts to find
him have been fruitless.
next-166s
THE EVIDENCE OF JIM PENNISTON
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