Crash at Ground Zero: Re-Examining the 1945 San Antonio UFO Crash

摘要

Born on the edge of Ground Zero, living in the shadow of Area 51, two little Hispanic children experienced an extraordinary event. Jose Padilla, age 9 and Reme Baca, age 7 witnessed a saucer crash near the town of San Antonio, New Mexico. They were witnesses to one of the most spectacular events in UFO history. Their book, Born on the Edge of Ground Zero, Living in the Shadow of Area 51, is Jose Padilla's and Reme Baca's detailed account of what happened in their childhood. They explain what they saw; the actual crash, the ET's appearances, the pieces of the crash wreckage they took, the military clean up, and an in-depth analysis of the significance of this case. First printed in The Mountain Mail, Soccorro, New Mexico on November 2,2003 by journalist Ben Moffet, the case was passed to me, journalist/researcher, Paola Harris in May 4,2009. The desire to finally disclose the details and the kind invitation of Reme Baca, led me to fly to Gig Harbor in Washington State in the Northern part of the United States to interview Reme Baca and his wife, Virginia in July 2010. Consequently because he now lives in California, I interviewed Jose Padilla by telephone from the Baca house. During my two-day stay, I was able to see and photograph the piece that Jose extracted from the craft and study the detailed analysis of its composition which was done by labs in Europe. All of which will be revealed in my talk at the 2013 MUFON Symposium. It is one of the most astounding cases I have ever covered in my research career and helps complete the puzzle of why there have been so many crash retrievals in New Mexico. As journalist Ben Moffet, who so beautifully describes the cover-up - we can begin to see where it fits into UFO history. "It was in this crucible of suspicion and disinterest bred by familiarity that a small contingent of the U.S. Army passed almost unnoticed through San Antonio in mid-to-late August, 1945 on a secret assignment. Little or nothing has been printed about the mission, shrouded in the "hush-hush" atmosphere of the time. But the military detail apparently came from White Sands Proving Grounds to the east where the atomic bomb was first exploded. It was a recovery operation destined for the mesquite and greasewood desert west of Old US-85, at what is now Milepost 139, the San Antonio exit of Interstate 25. Over the course of several days, soldiers in Army fatigues loaded the shattered remains of a flying apparatus onto a huge flatbed truck and hauled it away. That such an operation took place between about Aug. 20 and Aug. 25, 1945, there is no doubt, insist two former San Antonioans, Remigio Baca and Jose Padilla, eyewitnesses to the event. Padilla, then age 9, and Baca, 7, secretly watched much of the soldiers' recovery work from a nearby ridge.