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W. Glenn Dennis* Q: You started getting calls from the base mortuary officer is that right, some time in the afternoon on some day in July [1947]. A: Right after noon, yeah. Q: Do you recall, was that before the story appeared in the [Roswell Daily] Record? A: I don’t know. I’m sure it was. I can’t honestly say, but I don’t think the paper came out until the next day, I don’t think. I’m just assuming that. Q: Iunderstand. When things like that happen to me way after the fact I try to remember, and I wasn’t sure if you had any recollection or not. It was the base mortuary officer who called you…

Q: The reason they contacted you was because Burt Ballard’s funeral home up here had a contract with the base, right? A: Yeah. Q: You worked for Burt for a lot of years, didn’t you? A: Yeah, along time. Q: When did you first go to work for him? A: I went to work for him, I was hanging around the funeral home when I was like a freshman in high school. I’d want to make some extra money. “I’ll give you 50 cents to wash the hearse.” I knew his daughter real well. We were all in school together. That’s where I really got involved in the funeral home. I just kind of worked my way in it. Q: He basica…

Cook, who is Steve Schiff’s press secretary, and he have been friends ever since they were in kindergarten together. It turns out that Iris Todd, I guess his stepmother, is the niece of Loretta Proctor. So talk about small world. You got these calls from the mortuary officer who was asking you all these questions. We don’t have to go back through all of this. Then at some point you decided to go out to the base. What took you to the base? A At some point I didn’t decide, that’s not correct. Somebody wrote that, but I don’t think it’s right. The way I ended up out at the base later, we had the …

Like these old field ambulances. They’ ve got the old square field ambulances, you know. The airman walked up that ramp with you. Both of you guys went into... The airman and I both went in. Did he see that stuffin... He wasn’t paying any attention because he had, I hada tourniquet and towel over his busted nose, and he went right on in. Q: Got himself into a little trouble in town, did he? A: Rode an old motorcycle. The reason I remember it is because he had an old Indian motorcycle, and I’d just bought one. I paid $40 for one and he [rode] one, and I didn’t have any fenders, and I was thinki…

Q: So you’d just shoot the breeze with whoever’s around. A: You get to know these people. That’s the only way. See, she’d only been there less than three months. Of course, I’ma crazy son of a gun... Nearly everybody remembered her. She was a good looking little thing, a beautiful little girl. We thought she was kind of lonely. Q: As you well, know, there’s been a major effort to try to find her. [Skip in tape] A: She was out here less than three months. Q: So you went back there. Tell me what happened. A: I started back there, and that’s when I got in trouble. I saw this officer standing ther…

fill up the ambulances and everything else. It would (inaudible) for you to have a hand here or an arm or a foot or something. You know what I’m talking about. Then you’ ve got to get in and take all that stuff and separate it and put those bodies back together with identification. That’s what you’ve got to do. I thought we had a crash. I saw this guy, I didn’t know him. He was standing there at the door. Q: Just inside? A: Just kind of standing like in between the door of this room up there. I was going down the hall. I said, “Sir, it looks like we had a plane crash. Do I need to go in and ge…

Q: This read headed guy, what was his rank, do you remember? A: I think he was a captain. It seemed to me like he had on some bars. Q: When he first appeared and started getting, essentially, pretty rough, was the sergeant around at that time, or did he show up.. A: He was kind of beside of him. I think they were standing there... Yeah, they were definitely standing there together. I don’t know if they walked in together, because I didn’t see them until they turned me around. Q: Was there a lot ofactivity at that time? Were there people... A: People were [fastened] everywhere. And the odd part…

she was in trouble and so was I. Q: It was the next morning after you’d been hustled out of there that your dad came by to see you. A: Yeah, 6:00 o’clock in the morning. Q: He’d been called by the sheriff... A The sheriff went to my mother and dad’s house, and at 6:00 o’clock... My dad always got up early, sat and had coffee. He was an old carpenter and building contractor. He and George were old friends because he used to go hunting, and dad was making gun stocks, so they were good friends. They used to play some kind of domino games or 42, whatever you call it. They were good friends. Q: So …