The Odor. Transportation of remains to a small base hospital was unusual since the hospital did not have the necessary facilities—a preparation room, refrigeration equipment or a morgue, to accommodate multiple deceased persons. Records of other crashes involving Walker AFB showed that the remains of crash victims were transported either to another facility on Walker AFB or directly to a local funeral home.[145]
Fig. 9. Three of the 11 Air Force members killed in the June 26, 1956 KC-97 accident were autopsied at the Ballard Funeral Home in Roswell. The actual descriptions of the remains (only three were autopsied), closely corresponds with Dennis’ descriptions regarding the “little bodies.” Additionally, this is the same funeral home where Dennis claimed to be employed from 1947 until 1962.
In fact, the Air Force manual that prescribed the policies, standards and procedures relating to the care and disposition of deceased Air Force personnel in effect in 1956, Air Force Manual 143-1, Mortuary Affairs, did not direct that remains be brought to a hospital. It encouraged the local commander to “improvise facilities” and make use of “garages, warehouses, large tents, or other facilities for processing groups of remains.”[146] Nonetheless, records of the June 1956 crash and interviews with the persons who processed the remains indicated that the victims were brought from the crash site to the Walker AFB hospital.[147] During the identification procedures, the odor became too strong and the bodies and the identification activities were moved to a refrigerated compartment at the base commissary.[148]
Interviewed for this report were the registrar of the hospital, 1st Lt. Jack Whenry (now a retired Major) and a medical administration specialist assigned to the registrar, SSgt. John Walter (now a retired Master Sergeant), both of whom assisted in the processing and identification of the deceased aircrewmen. Whenry and Walter both recalled the strong odor, that some persons became ill during the procedures (as did the alleged missing nurse), and the unusual transfer of the remains to the Walker AFB commissary (the nurse also allegedly described the transfer of remains to another building on the base). However, neither recalled that a nurse was missing or any of the other activities as described by Dennis.[149]
The “Big Redheaded Colonel.” The big redheaded colonel is a likely reference to the hospital commander, Col. Lee F. Ferrell, who was 6′1″ tall and had red hair. Ferrell served at the Walker AFB hospital from 1954 until 1960.[150] It would not be unusual for the hospital commander to be present at the hospital following a major aircraft accident.
The Two Mysterious “Doctors.” The two doctors not assigned to the Walker AFB hospital who were allegedly observed at the hospital performing preliminary autopsies have been identified as an Air Force civilian identification specialist and a local Roswell pathologist.
Identification Specialist. In an aircraft mishap involving multiple fatalities, identification of victims can go beyond the capabilities of a small Air Force hospital such as the one at Walker AFB. Beginning in July 1951, the Air Force Memorial Affairs Branch, now called Air Force Mortuary Services, employed full-time civilian morticians and funeral directors, known as identification specialists, to assist Air Force installations in the identification of deceased persons.[151] When requested by the local commander, the identification specialists, on a 24-hour standby basis, responded from Wright-Patterson AFB to the location of an incident.[152] Records confirm that Walker AFB only requested an identification specialist on two occasions, in October 1955 and to identity the victims of the June 1956 crash.[153] For this accident the identification specialist arrived at Walker AFB on June 27, 1956 and made positive identifications of the 11 crewmen on June 28, 1956.[154]
When contacted for this report, the retired identification specialist who responded to this accident, Mr. George Schwaderer, did not have any recollections of Dennis, the nurse, the pediatrician, or any of the other unusual activities as alleged.[155] Schwaderer did recall that on identifications of group remains such as this, it was typical to wear standard hospital surgical gowns and masks and that he was often mistaken for a pathologist.[156]
Due to restrictions on the release of information concerning the identification process, uninformed individuals who may, by chance, have witnessed some portions of the identification, were often the source of a considerable amount of speculation. The identification procedures employed by the identification specialists were not classified, but AFM-143-1, Mortuary Affairs, directed that “no information will be divulged concerning identification or shipment of any remains until a final determination of identity has been resolved for all remains.”[157]