“Japanese Killed Amelia Earhart”

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29250, 7 July 1960, Page 13

“Japanese Killed Amelia Earhart”

(Rec. 10 p.m.) LOS ANGELES, July 6. A United States Air Force captain today claimed the existence of photographic proof that the Japanese had executed and buried the famous airwoman, Amelia Earhart, on Saipan Island in 1637.

Captain Paul Briand, assistant professor of English at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, said the Air Force had “classified” tl.e photographs and a group of affidavits from 72 eyewitnesses of her capture and execution under security regulations until they could be evaluated. Captain Briand said the photographs, which were Japanese, and the affidavits, were gathered by a fellow officer. Captain Joseph Gervais, a troop carrier nilot stationed at Okinawa. He quoted Captain 'Gervais as saying in a recent letter: “The Amelia Earhart incident is fantastic. It is true, and it is tragic. I wish I had never gone on this trip. As you well know, it is going to be one of the greatest news stories of our time. “We have the details of the life, the food and the clothes, but most of all. and what I least expected to find, the original and only burial site of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. It has remained untouched and undisturbed in 23 years, not even by the war.” Captain Briand, aged 39. who has a doctorate of philosophy gained in England, was the author of a recent oook on Miss Earhart called “Daughter of the Sky,” J n which he said he believed that she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, landed far off course on Saipan and were executed because the Japanese wanted kept secret their fortification of the island in preparation for war against the United States.

Miss Earhart first reported difficulties after she left Lae (New Guinea) on July 2, 1937, on her way to Howland Island. Early the next day ‘ Miss Earhart sent a message to the San Francisco coast guard station saying she had fuel for half an hour’s flying and could not make landfall. More signals indicated that her fuel was almost exhausted when she .was about a half an hour's flying time from Howland Island.

Many wifeless operators reported hearing faint S.O.S. signals, and a isfrge-scale search was organi- d. Craft taking part in the first part of the search included the San Francisco coast guard cutter Itasca, and the New Zealand cruiser Achilles, and later the United States aircraft-carrier Lexington. In the days that followed there were several reports of flares being sighted by the searchers, but nothing came of the subsequent investigations. On July 16. 1937, a clairvoyant. Miss Gene Dennis, was eported to have “seen” the aviators alive on a Pacific Island. She predicted they would be rescued before the following weekend.

On July 19, the United States Navy Department abandoned the search and acknowledged the flyers “officially dead.” A report then said it had been the greatest mass rescue effort for a los f plane. More than 3000 men. 10 ships, 102 fighting planes, and an undisclosed number of Japanese aircraft had taken part