About Me
Let's Get Acquainted
I was born in greater London, in Lewisham Hospital in 1950. I grew up in Forest Hill SE23. During my childhood, my Italian mother pursued a singing career in London clubs. I once saw her sing on BBC TV. Mom moved to the United States in '57 and sang with some famous people. Her friends were Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Yul Brynner, & Jimmy Van Huesen (songwriter). In December, 1958 I arrived in the USA at NYC after flying on the (British Airways) BOAC Britannia, a four engined propeller aircraft. Only 8 at the time, that childish ignorance allowed me to view out my window the starboard engine on fire with mere curiosity. Apparently, those type aircraft were notorious for engine fires. We landed safely on three engines at Ganda, Newfoundland. The engine was replaced and we flew on to Idylwild (future JFK) NYC airport arriving some 18 hours late. My mother was so relieved! My memory of my first morning was seeing a $1 dollar bill, Fifth Avenue, the 666 building, Saks, and innumerable USA flags, and police with guns! It was Christmas, 1958 and I watched and then did try to ice skate at Rockefeller Center. I went to Mount St. Michael in the Bronx until 1963, had a disastrous first year at Xavier (religious schools were brutal!), then repeated my freshman year at New Hampton School in New Hampshire, graduating in 1968.
NYU followed and I was back in NYC! I became a NYC licensed tour guide and met many a celebrity, At his restaurant in Times Square, a "pal" of Jack Dempsey, the famous boxer, challenged me to identify the man seated next to him. I noticed Mr. Dempsey looked uncomfortable. After hearing the derisive, "The kids doesn't know," I stepped up and recounted while smiling at Dempsey, "Mannasas Mauler, long count, and for good measure, looked at the creep who challenged me and mimicked the radio announcement, "Max Shmelling is beaten in one round!" Dempsey laughed! He then shooed his people, left his table and sat me down at a table. He ordered food, drink, and told me to enjoy my lunch "on him" for providing him with a huge lift to his spirit (I was only seventeen). "And, give him some ice cream!"
I went to Western New England University Law School in Springfield, MA. Mother had remarried. Her husband was James J. Shea, President and CEO of Milton Bradley Co. I graduated law school as a JD in 1976. I moved to Los Angeles, CA. There, I began a career as an immigration lawyer. My Google pages reflect some remarkable appellate decisions from the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I'm retired (inactive) from the law, presently.
I became interested in Amelia Earhart in ~1960. I first heard the story from Brother Matthew Snowden of Mount St. Michael. He was a Seabee in WWII. What stood out then in 1960 or '61, and still stands out now in my memory, was Snowden's comment that some of the guys he worked with making runways looked over plane wreckage on these Pacific islands looking for Earhart's plane! Apparently, even then, "many" believed she had either been shot down or captured by the Japanese. As I grew up, I watched all the documentaries and movies about Earhart in my young time, and read about her. Other than passing interest through the years, I did not become very active in Earhart lore until 2019 when Robert Ballard announced that he was searching the ocean off Nikumaroro. I revisited the saga. I looked at that "Bevington object" or enhanced film that purportedly showed a Lockheed Electra landing wheel on the reef there circa October, 1937 - some three months after her disappearance. My first thought was actually Brother Snowden's memorable comment. Then, I suppose my lawyer training took over. I decided to scour all known photos of Nikumaroro, and the SS Norwich City shipwreck, in the hope of spotting more identifiable aircraft debris. I was not prepared, some two hours later, to find what was undoubtedly the entire fuselage from wings forward sitting next to the stern of the ship, partially submerged at the surf-line. This June, 1941 aerial snapshot is truly a " miracle" photo as to timing between waves!
Previous to this photo discovery, and not a member of TIGHAR, I had emailed its director, Richard "Ric" Gillespie to inform him that his statement, that the Norseman aircraft ridden by Glenn Miller to his doom carried NO parachutes, was wrong. Gillespie was speaking of the "English fisherman" who had netted what an artist later drew as a Norseman. Gillespie said that the fisherman's description of "parachute static lines" or cords streaming from the open cabin door negated the find or made it doubtful. I remembered a detail from my model building days. I fouind the WWII Norseman manual actually posted by TIGHAR. There, if they had only looked, was a description of a "parachute-equipped radio beacon" installed forward of that very cabin door in the Norseman. Gillespie was shocked, surprised, grateful, and asked where I had found the manual! Presently, he is trying to raise $30,000 US to fund a study of recovery of this Norseman plane released back into the channel at coordinates Gillespie has. Naturally, when questioned by the English newspaper reporter, Gillespie lied and said TIGHAR had researched the manual and found out about the parachuted-equipped radio beacon! No mention of me! Gillespie did ask me to join TIGHAR after my revelation. I did. Then, when I posted my discoveries of Earhart's plane wreckage in existing aerial photos, the man became angry, hostile, and flat-out rebuked my discoveries as the equivalent of seeing faces in the clouds. He declined photo analysis and further study despite the study TIGHAR financed to make that single mm of film, and the tiny object therein, turn into a landing wheel. As I persisted, Gillespie locked the thread. A simple mistake in the forum with an island name drew a warning that future posts would be stricken for inaccuracy. Not the reception one expects when my photo discoveries might clinch their "Nikumaroro hypothesis."
Why? That was my biggest question. Why did Gillespie not pursue this? Even one TIGHAR member said that throwing filters on that photo showed the object was real. Well, I resigned from TIGHAR. The hostility from other members was more of "new guys always think they have some thing better after three decades of our work." Or words to that effect. So, it was apparent that this group controlled the Earhart narrative, and sought to keep it that way. I assume that my discovery put an end to any further expedition or "hook" to keep subscriptions and donations up. I tried to explain how the Electra had moved some 600+ meters along the reef, around the ship, and probably washed into the lagoon in 1942 or thereabouts. But, no one wanted to listen. Gillespie had declared that I had taken random photo data and connected them in my mind to produce what I wanted to see. I supposed I spoiled his narrative, and any further attraction of the Earhart plane mystery. I had embarrassed him on the Norseman, and doubly so with my photo discoveries of her airplane - TIGHAR never looked at these old photos properly, apparently. But they do try to find things, research those artifacts brilliantly, and then retro-tie them to Earhart. But, hidden in plain sight for decades, these photos tell the truth. It only took a few hours of my time to find these images. I went back to the beginning, like a cold-case, and reworked the narrative.
I wrote my book: Amelia Earhart: Final Days. It is available on Amazon in eBook or paperback.
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