Roswell 1947 - Documents on the witnesses

AFFIDAVIT:

(1) My name is Jason Kellahin

(2) My address is: XXXXXXXXXX

(3) I am employed as: was a practicing attorney and I am retired

(4) I am a native of Roswell, New Mexico, where, at the age of 12, I started working for the Roswell Morning Dispatch, sweeping out the back shop after school. Shortly before World War II, I was named editor of the paper. After the war, I became an Associated Press (AP) reporter, later going to law school and entering into practice in 1951. In July 1947 I was a reporter in the AP's Albuquerque bureau.

(5) On July 8, 1947, someone in Roswell called our bureau with the news that the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) had announced the Army had "captured" a flying saucer on a ranch in Lincoln County. Although I may have taken the call, I do not remember doing so. The story was put on the wire, and AP headquarters in New York ordered our bureau chief to send someone to get more information. He sent me and, because he thought there might be a photo opportunity, our wire technician and photographer, R. (Robin) D. Adair. We took our portable wirephoto machine with us.

(6) Our first stop was the Foster ranch, where the discovery had been made. At the ranch house, we found William "Mac" Brazel, his wife, and his small son. It was Brazel who made the find in a pasture some distance from the house. He was not happy about the attention he was getting and the people tripping around his place. He said if he ever found anything again, he would not tell anyone unless it was a bomb.

(7) Brazel took Adair and me to the pasture where he made his discovery. When we arrived, there were three or four uniformed Army officers searching some higher ground about a quarter to a half mile away. Apparently, they had been there for some time.

(8) There was quite a lot of debris on the site -- pieces of silver colored fabric, perhaps aluminized cloth. Some of the pieces had sticks attached to them. I though they might be the remains of a high-altitude balloon package, but I did not see anything, pieces of rubber or the like, that looked like it could have been part of the balloon itself. The way the material was distributed, it looked as though whatever it was from came apart as it moved along through the air.

(9) After looking at the material, I walked over to the military men. They said they were from RAAF and were just looking around to see what they could find. They said they were going back to Roswell and would talk with me further there. They had a very casual attitude and did not seem at all disturbed that the press was there. They made no attempt to run us off.

(10) Adair and I, Brazel, and the Army men then drove down to Roswell, traveling separately. That afternoon, or early evening, we met at the offices of the Roswell Daily Record, the city's afternoon newspaper. The military men waited on the sidewalk out front, while I and a Record reporter named Skeritt interviewed Brazel and Adair took his picture. (Adair also took photos of Brazel and the debris at the ranch, but these were never used.) Walter E. Whitmore, owner of KGFL, one of Roswell's two radio stations, was also present during the interview. Whitmore did his best to maneuver Brazel away from the rest of the press.

(11) After interviewing Brazel, I spoke with the military people outside then went over to see Sheriff George Wilcox, whom I knew well. Wilcox said the military indicated to him it would be best if he did not say anything. I then phoned in my story to the AP office in Albuquerque. The next morning, Adair transmitted his photos on the portable wirephoto equipment.

(12) I have not been paid or given or promised anything of value to make this statement, which is the truth to the best of my recollection.

Signed: Jason Kellahin
Date: Sept. 20, 1993

Signature witnessed by:
Michele Guadagmole
Sept. 20, 1993