Periodically, we receive UFO accounts by anonymous parties that ask that their names are not published. Given the fact that the following information is difficult to verify, we have edited this information for reasons of informant confidentiality. Although some are opposed to this form of journalism, it is UFORC policy to grant the anonymity and edit those in interest of the parties involved.
We do not like UFO secrecy anymore than the next person, but do agree that there are times when the publication of same could potentially endanger innocent parties. Therefore, we ask that you bear with our editing of this report...
Mr. Christopher Montgomery
Director-UFO Resource Center
Dear Mr. Montgomery--The following information relating to Unidentified Flying Objects is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
It is my request that no personal names be used and any reference to the company I work for also be deleted (snip). I am telling this story in the second person mind frame, as my wife wants no reference ever made using her name, and, although my son could care less( he simply states" I know what the hell I saw" ), I will relay his version of the facts as told to me by him. I request that any reference to an e-mail address also be deleted. I will try to tell the facts in a chronological order, but, if something should jump back in my mind in an order numerically that I have passed, I will simply insert and address at that point.
In the early 1960's, my father, after working about ten years in law enforcement in one of the local police departments, decided to leave the profession and go back to school (college ) to obtain a degree in electronics. Although I am sure, but haven't checked to be positive, that there were schools in the Tampa area that were offering a degree in electronics, he opted to go to Atlanta. Although I never really asked him why, I suspect it had something to do what transpired after he had completed his degree, or at least it seems that way.
After completing his schooling and returning to the Tampa area, he knocked around fooling with television repair for a while, then, all of a sudden, told the family he would be working for a firm that was doing research for the government at (snip) Air Force base in the Florida panhandle. This was about 1964 I think, toward the end of the fall season, and, when school let out for the kids for Christmas break, I asked if I could go with him to work ( he came home every weekend) for a week. "Shouldn't be a problem" I remember him telling me, and I couldn't see why it could be since I had gone to work with him numerous times as a youngster at the police department. That particular week he was supposed to work only two days, and I think we drove up on a Wednesday, arriving at (snip) about 7:30 that night. "Get a little rest" he told me after we had checked in at a motel, "gotta go to work later". Sometime around midnight we loaded up in the car and drove to the air base.
It seemed awful odd to me, a kid of thirteen at the time, to pull up on an abandoned air strip, but I knew better than to ask questions. Soon, three other private vehicles drove up, the usual greetings were exchanged, grumbling about it was starting to get cold and how everybody would be glad when this assignment was over. About five minutes after everyone had arrived, two military tractor trailers pulled up escorted by two jeeps carrying , what I think were military police, heavily armed, four in total number. One trailer carried a generator (or two, I'm not really sure ) that was parked about fifty to seventy-five feet away from the other trailer, the trailer that carried , what I found out years later to be radar tracking devices, cabinets, desks, chairs, an office if you will on wheels. I talked to the military police, more or less doing what I wanted in and around the trailers, and every now and then would go back inside and watch little blips on the screens. Different people of the four involved would take turns talking on a radio, questioning someone in a tower I still don't know where, as to whether or not a particular blip was confirmed or not. "Confirmed what" I remember asking my father, and his response was something to the effect of "one of our planes". There would be no excitement from anybody at any time, even when the response came back on the radio as "unknown", just a bunch of writing down figures that I now know were longitudes and latitudes. When I asked what an "unknown" was, I got no response from anyone, just a look from my father that, without his saying a word, told me to shut up. I do vividly remember watching little streaks go across those screens, some much, much faster than others, and these would usually get the radio response of "unknown", the usual writing down of figures etc. I never questioned my father about any of this until years later, about 1982 or '83, when I went to visit him one day after getting off from work. His response was" doesn't matter, I can tell you now, we were tracking UFO's. The governments been doing it for years, they know they exist, but you'll never see them admit it". As we all know, this is exactly what the U.S. government has done, and I doubt that I could ever find any reference or records as to the "company" my father worked for.
In the very early 1970's, my brother was stationed at (snip) Air Force base in south Florida, working rotating shifts on the base. He has told me on numerous occasions, when the subject gets brought back up, of jets scrambling five or six times a week to confront "unknowns", not Cuban planes or drug runners or lost flights, as according to him these were easy to identify, but "unknowns" usually tracked in the Florida Keys area and up the Gulf Coast as far as, you guessed it, the Florida Panhandle area, right where Eglin Air Force Base still exists.
In the summer of 1972, my wife and a friend returned from a trip to the grocery store at about 8:30 p.m., just as it was starting to get dark. As they were unloading grocery's from the car, my wife's friend happened to look up in the sky, remarking about how pretty a sunset there was, when she noticed an extremely bright light, which they both estimated later about three hundred feet up in the air, in a stationary position. There was no sound of an engine of any type, no whirring of propeller blades, and, as luck would have it, there was also now no traffic on the road in front of our residence, a road that usually saw quite a bit of traffic even at 8:30 at night. They both walked to the road, in order to get a better look and be sure of what they were seeing, both stating later that this object sat in this one position for about what they thought to be two or three minutes, still no traffic on the road, then watched as it started a slow ascent upwards, then literally shooting straight up at an incredible speed out of sight. When I came in from work around midnight, my wife relayed to me what they had seen, and I remember saying something to the effect of she was one of the lucky ones that got to see a UFO. Mind you I had never mentioned to her about my trip with my father to (snip), nor has she ever known about it until tonight as I sat down to write what you are reading. Anyway, the next day, I returned to work again on the evening shift, thinking nothing more about the previous nights adventure for my wife, although I must admit I was a little jealous that she had got to see what we both said must be a UFO. I called home about 9:30p.m. to see what was going on, and, she relayed to me that, once again, this same bright object had appeared in the sky, at almost the same time and place, performing the same movements and speed as the night before. I vaguely remember her being a little upset and being instructed by her not to stop and shoot pool anywhere along the way home. The only difference this particular night was that her girlfriend was not there. I did not doubt her then, nor do I now.
In 1992, after moving some years earlier about four miles away from the previous sighting, my wife and my son, who at that time was seventeen years old, were in the house watching television, when both noticed the sound of jet airplanes literally screaming through the sky around our house. It must be noted that it was not unusual for jets to be heard passing overhead, since McDill Air Force base is only about 20 miles away, and Tampa International Airport about the same distance, just slightly spaced apart. From time to time, both bases change their flight patterns, so jet engines being heard is nothing unusual. But, as explained by both my wife and son, these jets sounded as if they were on top of the house, flying at high speeds about 200 yards away from the house, then making a wide turn coming back in the same direction. My wife and son both decided to go outside and see just what was going on. There, at the distance of 200 yards, was an unmistakable saucer shaped UFO, by both of their estimates to be about one and one half times the size of our house, for the sake of estimation about 75 feet across. Clearly visible to my wife and son were numerous lights of different colors, and, I'm not sure about this part, as my wife has now gone to bed, I think I remember her saying there appeared to be windows or portals if you will. On this one particular thing she may correct me on. I do know that both said this UFO sat there, no sounds, no evidence of propulsion, for three or four minutes, then SLOWLY started moving in a northwesterly direction, all the while being flown around by jets( they both said at least three ) until what they thought was a distance of about two miles off, then going out of sight at what appeared to be a high rate of speed. They both relayed this story to me the next day, and, being curious, I called our local television station, Channel 13, to see if they had received any phone calls concerning this . The person I spoke with advised that he had been there the previous night and took about ten calls in reference to this same sighting, had called McDill Air Force base questioning the sighting and flying of jets in that area, and, as usual, their response was "nope, nothing unusual, just some training exercises going on". I did not doubt my wife and son then, nor do I now.
The last incident I will let rest for now, as I want no reference made at this time to my job or the company I work for. Rest assured everything I have presented in this writing is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.