Walter Haut
Encyclopedia
1st Lt. Walter Haut was the public information officer
(PIO) at the 509th Bomb Group based in Roswell, New Mexico
during 1947. Early on July 8, 1947 he was ordered by the base commander, Colonel William Blanchard
, to draft a press release to the public, announcing that the United States Army Air Force had recovered a crashed "flying disc
" from a nearby ranch. The press release garnered widespread national and even international media attention. The U.S. Army Air Force retracted the claim later the same day, saying instead that a weather balloon had been recovered. Haut also received some criticism and ridicule in the nation's press for putting out the original press release. The series of events eventually became known as the Roswell UFO Incident
.
When interviewed about the incident decades later, he claimed only a minor role, but he expressed his belief that there was "no chance" senior officers who handled the recovered material, including base commander Blanchard, mistook a weather balloon for a flying saucer.
He later claimed greater involvement, including seeing alien corpses and a craft at a base hangar and handling the strange crash debris.
, Illinois
on June 3, 1922. During World War II
, he was a bombardier
flying 35 missions against Japan. At Operation Crossroads
, the A-bomb tests at the Bikini atoll
in the summer of 1946, he dropped instrument packages to record data from the bomb blasts. In 1947, he became the public information officer for the 509th Atomic Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico
. The base commander, Colonel
William H. Blanchard
, was a close personal friend.
In 1991, Haut and two other men founded the International UFO Museum where he presided as president until 1996. Haut died on December 15, 2005 at the age of eighty-three.
In UFO Crash at Roswell, Haut appears as a witness, though not to any of actual debris. During a March, 1989 interview he said he knew "nothing" about what was recovered. (p.139) He described being asked by Blanchard to write the press release. "I didn't hear about it until, I guess, Jess [Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer, who initially investigated and recovered some of the debris] was on his way to the flightline." (ibid) He did, however, describe what Marcel told him: "It was something he had never seen and didn't believe it was of this planet. I trusted him on his knowledge." (p.142) He further stated: "I think there was a giant cover-up on this thing." (p.143)
In an affidavit signed May 14, 1993, he repeated the above claimed sequence of events and added "I believe Col. Blanchard saw the material, because he sounded positive about what the material was. There is no chance he would have mistaken it for a weather balloon. Neither is there any chance that Major Marcel would have been mistaken.
By this time, Haut, along with Max Littell and Glenn Dennis
had opened the International UFO Museum and Research Center.
Then, in a recorded interview from 2000 with Wendy Connors and Dennis Balthauser, Haut claimed to have personally viewed an extraterrestrial or alien craft and a body in a Roswell Army Air Field base hangar and being present at a senior staff meeting where a cover-up
of events was discussed. Haut also placed Brigadier General
Roger M. Ramey head of the Eighth Army Air Force in Fort Worth, Texas
, at the meeting. Ramey would later tell the press it was in fact a misidentified weather balloon after Haut had put out the press release of the recovered "flying disc."
In December 2002, Haut also signed a sealed affidavit in which he went into more details about the craft, debris, bodies, and cover-up. Both the interview and affidavit were not to be released until after his death.
The full text of the affidavit was first published in June 2007 in the book Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60 Year Cover-Up. According to the authors, Haut had sworn to his friend Colonel Blanchard not to reveal in his lifetime the events he witnessed and therefore told researchers either that he couldn't remember or that he had only prepared and released the information that was given to him at the time and denied he knew anything else.
In his affidavit, Haut stated that on July 8, 1947, following the press release he put out in the afternoon, he was taken out to a base hangar by Colonel Blanchard. There he saw an egg-shaped craft about 15 feet long and several small bodies about four feet tall with large heads. He was convinced the bodies were alien and had come from a crashed spacecraft.
Haut also stated that there had been two major crash sites that he had become aware of the day before, the first a large debris field about 75 miles northwest of Roswell (the site investigated by Major Marcel), and the second, about 40 miles north of town, where the main craft and bodies were found. The north site had just been found by civilians on July 7, and apparently word had already gotten out about it in the public.
At the staff morning meeting on July 8, which Haut said he attended, key officers at the base were briefed and strange debris was handed around, which nobody could identify. Haut also said there was a discussion as to what the public was to be told. General Ramey had flown in to attend the meeting. Haut said Ramey suggested telling the public about the more distant debris field as a diversion from the more accessible and important body/craft site. He felt Ramey was following orders from The Pentagon
. Haut added he was not aware at the time exactly what information was to be divulged. But the press release he put out a few hours later spoke of the more distant site in general terms, saying that the Army Air Force had come into possession of a "flying disc" with cooperation of a local rancher, and it was being flown on to "higher headquarters" after being examined at the base. "Higher headquarters" quickly turned out to be Gen. Ramey in Fort Worth, who within a few hours said the "flying disc" was a misidentified weather balloon.
Public information officer
Public Information Officers are the communications coordinators or spokespersons of certain governmental organizations . They differ from public relations departments of private organizations in that marketing plays a more limited role...
(PIO) at the 509th Bomb Group based in Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell is a city in and the county seat of Chaves County in the southeastern quarter of the state of New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,366 at the 2010 census. It is a center for irrigation farming, dairying, ranching, manufacturing, distribution, and petroleum production. It is also...
during 1947. Early on July 8, 1947 he was ordered by the base commander, Colonel William Blanchard
William H. Blanchard
General William Hugh Blanchard was a United States Air Force officer who attained the rank of four star general and served as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1965 to 1966....
, to draft a press release to the public, announcing that the United States Army Air Force had recovered a crashed "flying disc
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
" from a nearby ranch. The press release garnered widespread national and even international media attention. The U.S. Army Air Force retracted the claim later the same day, saying instead that a weather balloon had been recovered. Haut also received some criticism and ridicule in the nation's press for putting out the original press release. The series of events eventually became known as the Roswell UFO Incident
Roswell UFO incident
The Roswell UFO Incident was the recovery of an object that crashed in the general vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico, in June or July 1947, allegedly an extra-terrestrial spacecraft and its alien occupants. Since the late 1970s the incident has been the subject of intense controversy and of...
.
When interviewed about the incident decades later, he claimed only a minor role, but he expressed his belief that there was "no chance" senior officers who handled the recovered material, including base commander Blanchard, mistook a weather balloon for a flying saucer.
He later claimed greater involvement, including seeing alien corpses and a craft at a base hangar and handling the strange crash debris.
Biography
Walter Haut was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
on June 3, 1922. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was a bombardier
Bombardier (air force)
A bombardier , in the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force, or a bomb aimer, in the Royal Air Force and other Commonwealth air forces, was the crewman of a bomber responsible for assisting the navigator in guiding the plane to a bombing target and releasing the aircraft's bomb...
flying 35 missions against Japan. At Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
, the A-bomb tests at the Bikini atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
in the summer of 1946, he dropped instrument packages to record data from the bomb blasts. In 1947, he became the public information officer for the 509th Atomic Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. The base commander, Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
William H. Blanchard
William H. Blanchard
General William Hugh Blanchard was a United States Air Force officer who attained the rank of four star general and served as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1965 to 1966....
, was a close personal friend.
In 1991, Haut and two other men founded the International UFO Museum where he presided as president until 1996. Haut died on December 15, 2005 at the age of eighty-three.
Haut and the Roswell UFO incident
In the first book on the subject, The Roswell Incident, Haut was said to be "not a witness."(p.72) He told interviewers in 1979 that base commander Colonel William Blanchard asked him to write and distribute the press release but that was told that when he asked to see the object in question, "his request was impossible." (p.73)In UFO Crash at Roswell, Haut appears as a witness, though not to any of actual debris. During a March, 1989 interview he said he knew "nothing" about what was recovered. (p.139) He described being asked by Blanchard to write the press release. "I didn't hear about it until, I guess, Jess [Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer, who initially investigated and recovered some of the debris] was on his way to the flightline." (ibid) He did, however, describe what Marcel told him: "It was something he had never seen and didn't believe it was of this planet. I trusted him on his knowledge." (p.142) He further stated: "I think there was a giant cover-up on this thing." (p.143)
In an affidavit signed May 14, 1993, he repeated the above claimed sequence of events and added "I believe Col. Blanchard saw the material, because he sounded positive about what the material was. There is no chance he would have mistaken it for a weather balloon. Neither is there any chance that Major Marcel would have been mistaken.
By this time, Haut, along with Max Littell and Glenn Dennis
Glenn Dennis
Glenn Dennis is a founder of the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico which opened in September 1991 and self-professed witness to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.-Biography:...
had opened the International UFO Museum and Research Center.
Then, in a recorded interview from 2000 with Wendy Connors and Dennis Balthauser, Haut claimed to have personally viewed an extraterrestrial or alien craft and a body in a Roswell Army Air Field base hangar and being present at a senior staff meeting where a cover-up
Cover-up
A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
of events was discussed. Haut also placed Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Roger M. Ramey head of the Eighth Army Air Force in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, at the meeting. Ramey would later tell the press it was in fact a misidentified weather balloon after Haut had put out the press release of the recovered "flying disc."
In December 2002, Haut also signed a sealed affidavit in which he went into more details about the craft, debris, bodies, and cover-up. Both the interview and affidavit were not to be released until after his death.
The full text of the affidavit was first published in June 2007 in the book Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60 Year Cover-Up. According to the authors, Haut had sworn to his friend Colonel Blanchard not to reveal in his lifetime the events he witnessed and therefore told researchers either that he couldn't remember or that he had only prepared and released the information that was given to him at the time and denied he knew anything else.
In his affidavit, Haut stated that on July 8, 1947, following the press release he put out in the afternoon, he was taken out to a base hangar by Colonel Blanchard. There he saw an egg-shaped craft about 15 feet long and several small bodies about four feet tall with large heads. He was convinced the bodies were alien and had come from a crashed spacecraft.
Haut also stated that there had been two major crash sites that he had become aware of the day before, the first a large debris field about 75 miles northwest of Roswell (the site investigated by Major Marcel), and the second, about 40 miles north of town, where the main craft and bodies were found. The north site had just been found by civilians on July 7, and apparently word had already gotten out about it in the public.
At the staff morning meeting on July 8, which Haut said he attended, key officers at the base were briefed and strange debris was handed around, which nobody could identify. Haut also said there was a discussion as to what the public was to be told. General Ramey had flown in to attend the meeting. Haut said Ramey suggested telling the public about the more distant debris field as a diversion from the more accessible and important body/craft site. He felt Ramey was following orders from The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
. Haut added he was not aware at the time exactly what information was to be divulged. But the press release he put out a few hours later spoke of the more distant site in general terms, saying that the Army Air Force had come into possession of a "flying disc" with cooperation of a local rancher, and it was being flown on to "higher headquarters" after being examined at the base. "Higher headquarters" quickly turned out to be Gen. Ramey in Fort Worth, who within a few hours said the "flying disc" was a misidentified weather balloon.
Sources
- The Truth About the Crash at Roswell, Kevin D. Randle & Donald R. Schmitt, Avon Books, 1994.
- Witness to Roswell: unmasking the 60-year cover-up, Thomas J. Carey & Donald R. Schmitt, New Page Books, 2007.
- Obituary
- The Evening Standard
- December 26, 2002 Affidavit
- Dead Airman's Affidavit: Roswell Aliens Were Real