Subject: Glenn Miller International Festival 2004
From: (JDupre5762)
Date: 8/27/2004 5:51 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

These rumors were everywhere in the ETO at the time. They are now part of
history since the true cause of his death was never etsblished. When it was
said he wentt down in the chanell the first question we all asked was who
was
the pilot?. No answer.

The pilot was Johnny Morgan also along was a Colonel Norman Baesell. The
aircraft was a Noordyun Norseman UC-64. Miller's second in command Don Haynes
put Miller's bag in the plane said goodbye to Miller after he got in the
plane
and saw the plane take off.

This is from Glenn Miller and His Orchestra by George Simon.

Whether or not it was hit by a salvoed load of RAF bombs is open to
conjecture
but the plane left the ground from Twinwood and was never seen again. The
weather was horrendous and the Norseman was not a particularly well equipped
aircraft for bad weather flying.

There are all kinds of rumors. Miller's own brother some time ago came up
with
the idea of Miller dying of cancer since he was such a heavy smoker of his
old
sponsor Chesterfield's products.

I don't see the Army Air Force deciding to hush up the manner of Miller's
death
to the point of somehow disposing of his body and telling his family and the
world that he was lost in a plane crash. What about Baesell and Morgan?

Like all conspiracy theories it just falls apart when you start to add up all
the people that had to be in on it for the rest of thier lives.

Miller had a tremendous impact on the morale of troops in the ETO but he was
not indispensable by any means and all manner of celebraties had already died
or been lost. Why would the USAAF waste the time and effort to hush up
Miller's death to the point of hiding or disposing of his body in order to
claim he was lost over the channel? It would have been easier to write up a
press release about a traffic accident and bury him in one of the brand new
military cemeteries in Normandy.

In the end he was only a band leader and there was still a war to be won.

John Dupre'


Yeah. I remember that last part.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer