June 25th, 1968
The world at war. A cold war between the US and the Soviets.
But in Vietnam a hot proxy war still takes place.
23:27 MEST, thousands of miles away in Europe, somewhere near
Erlangen, Western Germany
A small airplane crashes into the forrest due to heavy ground fog,
while approach for landing at the Tennenlohe Training Area of the
U.S. Army.
The alarmed response forces of the 4th US Armored Division, based
in Ferris Barracks in the nearby town of Erlangen, take only 13
minutes to go to the location.
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Due to their fast reaction the forrest fire around the site of the
crash can be kept under control very soon.
At the same time within the cinemas in Germany the late screening
(started at 22:00) of the movie "Lebenszeichen" ("Signs of Life")
is almost over.
The movie had its release at the same day and the story is about a
wounded soldier at the end of World War II, who has to guard an
ammunition depot on an isolated Greek island.
The man goes mad, has hallucinations and insanity gets the upper
hand. Is this a bad omen ?
In the break of dawn of the next day investigations begin.
Official results:
A small plane started in Switzerland got lost headed for an unknown
destination. Due to the fog and a malfunction within the altimeter
the pilot realised the near ground too late. 3 persons died when
the plane crashed at N 49°33'55.10" E 011°03'19.70". The nearby
facilities of the US army are neither damaged nor affected.
But decades afterwards friends of mine found out additional
background facts (see BIOHAZARD Link for details) and enabled us to inspect
the involved locations in our days, where the mysterious incidents
took place years ago.
On board of the aircraft there was an horrible virus, developed by
an celebrated scientist within Swiss laboratories. And the lethal
sickness dispreaded ...
Thank god the local facilitites and the
response team were successfully quarantined and no epidemic
began.
But the consequences to the involved persons were sad enough.
Therefore the truth has never been revealed.
Even today the resulting glade of the crash can still be recognized
flying over the area:
But on the ground you can only find a small
sign in the middle of the forrest, remembering on the dead
persons:
Fascinated by the facts and conflicted with the heavy tragedy, I
decided to investigate furthermore.
During the war in Asia almost 10,000,000 gallons Agent Orange were
used to defoliate the jungle in Vietnam.
Besides there were huge expenses made to explore and develop awful
chemical and biological weapons and their counterparts on both
sides of the Iron Curtain within the cold war.
The public didn't guess about any details.
The following parts of the 4th US Armored Division (unofficial
nickname: "Roosevelt's Butchers") were located in the Ferris
Barracks (Erlangen, Germany):
1st Battalion 35th Armor
2nd Battalion 37th Armor
3rd Battalion 37th Armor
1st Battalion 94th Field Artillery
one platoon from the 144th Signal Battalion
46th Medical Unit
126th Ordnance Company
Besides in the nearby cities of Fuerth and
Nurenberg additional facilities existed.
The area was only 75 miles away from the borders to German
Democratic Republic to the north and Czechoslovakia to the east,
both members of the Warsaw Pact.
In case of an armed conflict those troops would have been the first
ones to defend the free parts of Europe and nobody knows which
weapons would have been used.
Conventional ? Chemical ? Biological ? Atomic ? Everything was
available on both sides.
And compared to earlier times not only strategical but also
tactical ones, to be used by artillery and armored units,
too.
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Between the aircraft accident in 1968 and 1971 a lot of actions
seem to have taken place all around the world:
John Gordon Mein (*1913):
Foreign Service officer; U.S. Ambassador to Guatamala.
Assassinated in Guatemala, August 28th, 1968.
Aaron Switzer Brown (*1913):
Foreign Service officer; U.S. Vice Consul in Mexico City; U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua.
Died for unknown reason February 22nd, 1969.
William Henry Bates (*1917):
Served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; U.S. Representative from MAssachusetts 6th District, 1950-69;
Died for unknown reason June 22nd, 1969.
Leroy George Augenstein (*1928):
Biophysicist; university professor;
Killed in an airplane crash, November 8th, 1969.
On May 10th, 1971 the 1st US Armored Division
(the "Old Ironsides") left Fort Hood, TX to replace the 4th US
Armored Division in Hesse and Franconia, Germany.
The 2nd brigade took over the Ferris Barracks in Erlangen. The 4th
Armored Division was sent back to the United States and was set off
duty afterwards. Its members spread over the States and were never
reunioned.
Maybe to cover up the incidents and their background ?
I have followed up my historical research: At least three
confidants of the involved scientists from Switzerland and the US
survived the tragedy in the summer of 1968.
The scientific leader, a professor from MAine working for the US
Army, was the boss of them.
I found out their names, mentioned within some top secret papers, I
don't know why, but I think they're just fake ones:
JAMES H. FIELDS
JAMES R. HENDRIX
JOSEPH J. SADOWSKI
According to my investigations, the last
conspirative meeting of the group had been at a lost place near N
42° 29.858' W 071° 13.817' and they never met again.
I hoped to get additional information on-site while a trip to the
States in July, 2007, but the only thing I got was an anonymous
message.
Somebody told me that his father was one of the three guys and
bequeathed him some cryptic notes:
1. A kind of comic draft,
which seems to be a caricature of his former boss.
2. A
handwritten note in his diary from the 70s, which also seems to be
a little bit of ironical.
In the meanwhile I contacted a lot of
people via Internet to get a new trace, but the only thing I got
was that anonymous message above.
You do NOT believe me ?
Just check the mentioned facts !
For me it's a Long Way To MAine, but maybe
Y O U can help me ?
And always remember: It was a cold war, a Very Cold
war.
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