William Kelly Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 Robert Howard had previously called attention to this guy and this book, and its significance is magnified by where he worked - Havana Hilton and ACSI at the Pentagon, and who he knew - Col. Kail, Jack Crichton, David Atlee Phillips, Conrad Hilton, Manuel Ray, Castro, the head of French Intelligence, and Gordon McLendon was best man at his wedding. His account of the Castro takeover of Havana is interesting. Brandy - Our Man In Acapulco: The Life and Times of Col. Frank M. Brandstetter by Rodney P. Carlisle and Dominic J. Monetta (University of North Texas Press, 1999) p. 129: …he met Lieutenant Colonel William B. Rose, chief of the Army Intelligence Reserve Branch Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence (ACSI) at the Pentagon. The contact would later prove momentous, changing the course of Brandy’s military career. Despite Brandy’s career changes in his private life, he meant to continue his service to army intelligence. He vowed he would not disappear into a reserve control group without duties. Over the next year Brandy, at age forty-six, began a series of adventures which allowed him to pursue both his personal career in the resort hotel business and his military career as an intelligence officer which he had kept alive through the doldrums of the 1950s. Interestingly, he accumulated more U.S. Army Reserve credit points than any other officer in the Reserve. Chapter 11 Cuba Si! When Brandy was pursuing legal action in Dallas to recover his share of proceeds from Sans Souci, he had obtained a copy of Conrad Hilton’s life story, Be My Guest. He thought about the new concepts in Hilton’s hotel work, especially the idea of an international chain of hotels. Brandy considered that there might be a match between his own background in languages, his rich experiences, and the needs of the expanding chain. He checked the business directories and discovered that the president of Hilton International was John Hauser. Hilton International had set up a hotel in Puerto Rico as their first, semi-overseas operation, and then had plans to expand in Latin America, Europe, and the Near East…In late 1957 Brandy went to New York to meet Hauser. The two men immediately liked one another. Hauser, a marine combat officer in the war, suggested that Brandy might appreciate an appointment as manager for a planned hotel in West Berlin, and after a lunch at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, they shook hands on the offer. Brandy was aboard with the Hilton organization. Suddenly, Hauser called him in. The hotel in Germany was still under construction. Hauser told Brandy to take a plane to Havana that night. There were problems getting the hotel there into operation and they needed a trouble-shooter…. Brandy flew to Havana that evening, 13 February 1958, to undertake the position. Barbera, who was under medical care at Timberlawn in Dallas, could visit him periodically with a nurse in attendance…. Local ownership was in the hands of the Cuban Culinary Workers’ Union. The union’s leader Sr. Aguille, had the union’s own man, Jose Menendez, appointed as general manger…As Brandy investigated both the delayed delivery of materials and work, he discovered a system of bribes reaching ten or fifteen percent over cost had been required for every detail of construction…The hotel was a mess….Hilton had sent a project manager, Peter DeTulio, to oversee completion of the work, but DeTulio was finding one frustration after another…. Conrad Hilton had recruited the noted gambling expert and author, John Scarne, to serve as the corporation’s representative for inspecting casinos associated with the various hotels in the chain….In effect, Scarne’s job was to identify staff members who were stealing, either from the house or the customers….Scarene had served in the Navy during World War II,….Scarene quietly pointed out that the gambling operation, like most of the major casinos in Havana, was conducted through contract by a group with mob connections. He identified one or two famous member of the American underworld who would stop by the casino occasionally, including Meyer Lansky… ….The party of Hilton executives, including Conrad Hilton himself, John Hauser, Charles Bell, who was in charge of food and beverage for Hilton International, and Arthur Elminger,…. …The rumors of Fidel Castro’s forces raiding against the repressive regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, had apparently scared off the tourists, even though the attacks were concentrated several hundred miles away on the eastern end of the island in Camaguey and Oriente provences…. ….Manuel Ray, the chief engineer, who had struck Brandy as a thoughtful type with little to say, warned there would be some serious consequences as a result of the layoffs…. The next morning, 9 April 1958,….Four Cuban security police officers strode into the room….The security forces “Blue Buick” had grown famous under the tough regime of Batista, those arrested for questioning and taken away in it usually never came back. Inside the car, he received a once-over. A burley security police type on each side squeezed him in with his arms and legs locked back; each delivered tight blows to his stomach, kidneys, face. Saying nothing, they continued to beat him as the big car drove slowly through the busy streets of Havana to the headquarters of Police District Nine… …Clearing his head, Brandy read the nameplate: Major Ventura. This man was notorious, the so-called “Butcher of Havana.” ….Esteban Ventura…. …The Hilton organization, however, could not spare Brandy for a three-week reserve duty. After some difficulty, Brandy was later able to put in two weeks at the Summer Fourth Army Area Intelligence School in Texas. When he returned to Havana, he wrote to Colonel William Rose at the Pentagon, in the Office of Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI). Brandy reminded him that he would need a new billet in 1959, and sent along a collection of documents amplifying his military background. Rose remembered Brandy very well and responded within a week that he was glad to hear Brandy was “back in Havana, where [he could] take good care of our interests.” Rose suggested that Brandy contact Colonel Sam Kail, the U.S. Army military attaché at the American Embassy in Havana. Brandy followed up, conferring with Kail regularly about the situation in Havana. Brandy began to learn more about the political situation by listening to discussions and gathering information from ordinary people, from journalists like Jules DuBois,…..When someone pointed out that “the Communists” were in the hills, Manuel Ray corrected him….The peasant soldeiers wore crucifixes and many were devout Catholics, not Communists at all. In the summer, Brandy sent a confidential report via Colone Kail to Army G-2, suggesting an overthrow of the Batista regime by Castro’s forces would soon take place….As an army man, Brandy found the all-knowing tone from State and CIA frustrating, even wrong-headed… p. 143: ….One noon, Brandy had lunch with Colonel Sam Kail, the military attaché from the U.S. Embssy. Kail and Brandy worked out tentative plans for an evacuation of American tourists if the revolution reached Havana. After lunch, they were irritated to find themselves stuck in the elevator between floors….The Hilton name, Brandy feared, was attracting more and more anti-American attention…. …Soon however, he picked up a rumor from his grapevine that Manuel Ray was a Castro supporter. It seemed to fit, the more he thought about it…A few days after the revolution was completed, Manual Ray, former chief engineer of the Havana Hilton, received a cabinet appointment by the new Castro-led government minister of public works. Ray had apparently been in charge of all the sabotage in Havana in the summer of 1958. Listening to reporters and his other sources on the grapevine, Brandy heard another, even more frightening rumor. The word was circulating that when the Castro people took over Havana, they would burn the Havana Hilton to the ground. He decided to establish liaison with the Castro forces, and planned to carry a letter through the liens to Castro, inviting him to make the Hilton his headquarters, when and if his troops arrived in Havana. Young Fred Lederer found Brandy in his office, preparing the letter….. …The Conrad Hilton Suite could be the CP – Command Post – for Castro himself. Brandy visualized the communication lines, internal security, and defense perimeter. He had experience setting up and staffing CPs in World War II, so it would be natural. If Castro came to the city, the invitation would save the hotel….Lederere came from a Prussian military family, was bright and had guts….Lederer’s attempt to get through to Castro occurred on Christmas Eve, 1958…. …Jules DuBois, the Chicago Tribune reporter who had written favorably of Castro, had contacts in the revolutionary camp…. …Batista had fled to the Dominican Republic….Years later, after reading CIA officer David Atlee Phillips’s account of the same evening in The Night Watch, Brandy noted that Phillips claimed to have been the first to hear of the evacuation of Batista at 4:00 A.M. the next time Brandy saw his friend Phillips, he told him had the jump on him! He knew the end was coming at 8:00 P.M. the night before, beating the CIA by eight hours. Phillips and Brandy had a good laugh over the issue. …As the party wound down,….Brandy issued an order that the guests should not check out – he had in mind the evacuation plans developed earlier with Colonel Kail at the American Embssy, as well as the plans for Castro forces to stay in the hotel…. …Briefly, Brandy had an exchange with Manuel Ray, who confirmed that the mob intended to burn the hotel. Brandy handed him his jacket and went down to the lobby. From the mezzanine, a few guests observed what happened next. Among them was Philippe de Vosjoli, head of French Intelligence – the SDECE (Service de Documentation Exterieure dt de Contre-espionage) – in Cuba, Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Unknown to Brandy, de Vosjoli was staying at the hotel with his wife. He later recorded the events in his autobiography, Lamia, ‘dedicated to Brandy, wherein he recorded seeing “a physically fit man in a white shirt with short sleeves…calmly blocking the path of an armed, angry mob.” Brandy met the mob and stood his ground at the entrance to the hotel lobby, explaining the hotel was not American property. It belonged to the Cuban people – to the Cuban Culinary Workers’ Union. Hilton managed it, but if they burned down the hotel they would be destroying the Cuban workers’ savings, not American property. The crowd waved machetes, pistols and rifles…..Gradually, the crowd began to quiet, then broke into groups and argued….The standoff lasted fifteen minutes, then the rioters moved on… …Meanwhile, the American Embassy evacuation plans that Colonel Kail and Barndy had workd out months before was quietly taking effect…. The barbudos, Brandy remembered, tended to be well behaved by comparison to some of the tourists…. Philippe de Vosjoli, who had observed Brandy confronting the rioters in the lobby of the hotel on 1 January, approached Brandy and introduced himself. Brandy immediately liked the straightforward, pro-American, and strongly anti-Communist Franch agent. De Vosjoli explained his dilemma. He believed a leak somewhere in the French security arrangements might cause the Communists among Castro’s forces to target him personally as a potential enemy. He wanted to evacuate without attracting notice. Brandy believed he should do a favor for a fellow Allied officer, especially one in the same line of business. He included Philippe de Vosjoli and his wife in the group of American tourists…De Vosjoli would remember Brandy’s kindness in later years, and would share with him many confidences and insights into the problems of Communist penetration of security agencies in the Western democracies. The friendship later grew, based as it was on mutual respect and the memory of the shared risks during the Castro takeover. …Offshore, by pre-arrangement through Colonel Kail, three U.S. Navy destroyers cruised in international waters, to provide protection and an escort for the ferry across the ninety miles to Key West and the United States…. …Among the New Year’s party-goers who wrote in appreciation were Dr. Curtice Rosser of Dallas, who was Brandy’s friend and Barbara’s personal physician, Ernest Dumler, an industrialist from Pittsburgh; John Thompson, a military reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and Frank Sherman, an attorney from New York City…. Meanwhile the local general manger of the hotel, Jose Menendez, went into hiding… For the first week of the revolution, Castro remained in Oriente province, finally moving into Havana on 8 January 1959 as order was restored by his troops. The motorcade proceeded directly to the Hilton. As Castro and his entourage entered, Brandy introduced himself and explained that the Conrad Hilton Suite was at the disposal of the Castro party. Brandy had taken the trouble to freshen up the suite with flowers and stock the refrigerator with soft drinks and beer. Castro and his group took a quick look, then declined to stay because the facilities were “too plush.” However, a few days later the group returned, and Castro and his senior officers moved into the suite. Brandy was summoned by Castro’s security and bodyguards to taste the first meals brought by room service, to ensure against poisoning. Brandy did so, and then arranged for Fred Lederer, the food and beverage manager, to do the tasting… For a few weeks the Conrad Hilton Suite was converted, just as Bandy had planned, into the Castro forces’ command post…. Frank suggested to Colonel Kail at the embassy that it would be a good idea to arrange for an American news organization to conduct a full-scale television interview with Castro, so that more could be learned about him. Although full assessments of the Castro forces were available, little was known about Castro, the man. Brandy also suggested that the ACSI approach General David Sarnoff, U.S. Army, ret., and Chairman of the Board of RCA (which controlled NBC), as someone who could be trusted. Sarnoff had served as General Eisenhower’s communications officer during the Second World War. Sarnoff recommended that Jack Paar, host of the “Tonight Show,” conduct the interview. In Cuba, Colonel Kail worked with Brandy to arrange the event…The questions, although innocuous, were exactly the sort needed by the U.S. Army to build a more complete picture of the human side of the new leader of Cuba. Brandy thought back to his days in the Field Intelligence Detachment,….. served as interpreter during the interview. Chapter 13 Crown, Semenenko and Hilton p. 156 Brandy served the 1959 session of his annual active duty at the Pentagon in the Office of the Army Chief of Staff, Intelligence (ACSI), working under his first ACSI “Big Brother,” Colonel Bob Roth, in the Collection Division….This duty marked his change from Mobilization Resere to a career over the next eighteen years of working directly for ACSI, sometimes on active duty, and at other times, after retirement, on a strictly unpaid and voluntary basis. Over that time, the officer to whom he reported at ACSI would change almost every two years. In the ACSI office, continuity was provided by Mrs. Dorothe K. Matlack, a long-time civil servant and chief of the Exploitation Section of the Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI-CX). Dorothe (pronounced Dorothy) personally knew Brandy and other officers who worked to supply a continuing stream of good quality “humanit,” or human intelligence. Brandy could continue the work of “eyes and ears” that he had begun under Ridgway, knowing that his “Big Brother” in Washington, whoever he would be over time, would receive his reports and that they would at least be considered and reviewed properly. Brandy’s standard operating procedure was to contact only one officer, his “Big Brother” from ACSI, thus protecting himself from possible exposure… After departing the Pentagon, he visited the executive offices of Hilton International in New York City. He learned that John Hauser was no longer president of Hilton International, the position having been filled by Robert J. Caverly, a new executive… He moved back to Dallas to be near Barbar, who was in a sanitarium there. He retained both his status as a Hilton manager on leave of absence and his status as a reserve lieutenant colonel, with annual active duty to be served at the Army Chief of Staff Intelligence at the Pentagon…. Brandy now settled into work as vice president and part owner of an auto-leasing business, Continental Leasing. The company,…operated by Dallas businessman Scott Walker, had been established in 1957. The headquarters of the firm later moved to Shreveport, Louisiana…. During this time, Brandy was developing a private plan that he hoped would affect the Cuban situation. He worked on a proposal to acquire used engines from the U.S. Army, particularly large engines from decommissioned army tanks, refurbish and box them, and then sell them in Cuba in 1959…. Meanwhile, he kept in touch with Colonel William Rose at the Pentagon office of the Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence. Rose arranged for Brandy to be assigned for training on weekend duties to the 488th Strategic Intelligence Team in Dallas. He contributed to a study of the capability of the Soviet oil fields, working with oil and mining engineer Colonel Jack Crichton, MI and U.S. Army, ret., who was later to explore the oil and gas reserves in the former Soviet Union during the 1990s…. That summer, Brandy finally received a phone call from Hilton headquarters. Effective 1 July 1959, there was an opening in Mexico, to take over as manager of a Hilton-supervised property in Acapulco, the Las Brisas…. Brandy noticed one employee on the records – Ron Urbanek…during World War II he had worked on the Red Ball Express, the truck line that supplied ammunition and other supplies in 1944 and 1945 from the channel ports to Patton on the front in a massive operation… p. 289: ….After less than an hour, Bronfman convinced Brandy to assume the general manager’s position at Seagrams de Mexico for a year and a half to two years….Brandy met with Harold Fieldsteel, executive vice president for Finance and Administrtion of JES; with F. Shaker, vice president, International Administration and James E. McDonough, who was president of Seagrams Overseas Sales Company (SOSCO)…. P. 314: During 1980 conservative writers and commentators, like those on Gordon McLendon’s radio stations, argued that American support for the embargo of South Africa was extremely hazardous to the national security of the United States…. Brandy also participated in an association organized by David Atlee Phillips for ex-CIA officers. Phillips had served as chief of the CIA’s Caribbean and Latin American division before his retirement in 1975. He became distressed at the exposes of CIA officers, mainly stemming from the activities of Senator Frank Church’s committee and the work of investigative reporters following the Watergate scandals. Phillips hoped to provide money that could serve as a legal defense fund for such officers, especially if they were libeled in the press and needed to file suit to restore their names. The organization could also conduct, as an outside group, public relations efforts to improve the image of the service as a whole. Brandy urged Phillips to expand his group to include not only former CIA officials, but also officers from other intelligence services, sucha as the army, navy, and air force. Accordingly, Phillips, with the approval of other CIA members, organized the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). It was Brady’s responsibility to recruit the nucleus of former heads in the intelligence community, now retired, to represent the army, navy and air force. He did this by recruiting Vice Admiral Fritz Harlfinger, U.S. Navy, ret., and Lieutenant General John Davis, U.S. Army, ret., formerly of the ACSI, and deputy director of the National Security Agency (NSA). Brandy was offered a directorship, but he turned it down because of his comparatively low rank as a colonel. The organization needed leaders with significant Washington experience, with “Beltway” knowledge. He prevered to remain in the background… p. 335. Photo caption: General Walter Dornberger, father of the German rocket program, visits his close friend Brandy at Casa Ternquilidad (Mexico) in 1977. …Later, when Dornberger passed away, his widow sent the general’s personal library, correspondence files, and mementos given him at West Point and elsewhere to Brandy. She knew that Brandy was an avid collector of such materials and would cherish and preserve them. He dutifully added them to his space collection. ….With Brandy’s supervision and recommendation to Deke DeLoach, Carlos Solana, his chiefi of security, had participated with a small group of Mexican security men in training at the FBI’s facility in Quantico, Virginia,…. …Al Kaplan, who served as Brandy’s public relations man in the 1970s through his own company, moved on to be national director of tourism for the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce… After the divorce, Brandy married again. He had met Marianne Porzelt at one of the backgammon tournaments organized at his home…They were married 26 December 1978; the best men were Gordon McLendon and the ex-President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman…. Much of Brandstetter’s career as a G-2 officer and as a reservist with the staff of the army’s Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI) was confidential, and for that reason, documentation on a number of his activities was inappropriate, or where permissible, difficult to obtain… http://books.google.com/books?id=QLdqgDsVio4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Our+Man+In+Acapulco&source=bl&ots=_MLi82tbcf&sig=gAKaZPHWrw2mkKrk1UrPzohPU-4&hl=en&ei=RmLyTKW2EIX6lweZ_6H0DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg - v=onepage&q&f=false Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted December 1, 2010 Author Share Posted December 1, 2010 (edited) Robert Howard had previously called attention to this guy and this book, and its significance is magnified by where he worked - Havana Hilton and ACSI at the Pentagon, and who he knew - Col. Kail, Jack Crichton, David Atlee Phillips, Conrad Hilton, Manuel Ray, Castro, the head of French Intelligence, and Gordon McLendon was best man at his wedding. His account of the Castro takeover of Havana is interesting. Brandy - Our Man In Acapulco: The Life and Times of Col. Frank M. Brandstetter by Rodney P. Carlisle and Dominic J. Monetta (University of North Texas Press, 1999) p. 129: …he met Lieutenant Colonel William B. Rose, chief of the Army Intelligence Reserve Branch Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence (ACSI) at the Pentagon. The contact would later prove momentous, changing the course of Brandy's military career. Despite Brandy's career changes in his private life, he meant to continue his service to army intelligence. He vowed he would not disappear into a reserve control group without duties. Over the next year Brandy, at age forty-six, began a series of adventures which allowed him to pursue both his personal career in the resort hotel business and his military career as an intelligence officer which he had kept alive through the doldrums of the 1950s. Interestingly, he accumulated more U.S. Army Reserve credit points than any other officer in the Reserve. Chapter 11 Cuba Si! When Brandy was pursuing legal action in Dallas to recover his share of proceeds from Sans Souci, he had obtained a copy of Conrad Hilton's life story, Be My Guest. He thought about the new concepts in Hilton's hotel work, especially the idea of an international chain of hotels. Brandy considered that there might be a match between his own background in languages, his rich experiences, and the needs of the expanding chain. He checked the business directories and discovered that the president of Hilton International was John Hauser. Hilton International had set up a hotel in Puerto Rico as their first, semi-overseas operation, and then had plans to expand in Latin America, Europe, and the Near East…In late 1957 Brandy went to New York to meet Hauser. The two men immediately liked one another. Hauser, a marine combat officer in the war, suggested that Brandy might appreciate an appointment as manager for a planned hotel in West Berlin, and after a lunch at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, they shook hands on the offer. Brandy was aboard with the Hilton organization. Suddenly, Hauser called him in. The hotel in Germany was still under construction. Hauser told Brandy to take a plane to Havana that night. There were problems getting the hotel there into operation and they needed a trouble-shooter…. Brandy flew to Havana that evening, 13 February 1958, to undertake the position. Barbera, who was under medical care at Timberlawn in Dallas, could visit him periodically with a nurse in attendance…. Local ownership was in the hands of the Cuban Culinary Workers' Union. The union's leader Sr. Aguille, had the union's own man, Jose Menendez, appointed as general manger…As Brandy investigated both the delayed delivery of materials and work, he discovered a system of bribes reaching ten or fifteen percent over cost had been required for every detail of construction…The hotel was a mess….Hilton had sent a project manager, Peter DeTulio, to oversee completion of the work, but DeTulio was finding one frustration after another…. Conrad Hilton had recruited the noted gambling expert and author, John Scarne, to serve as the corporation's representative for inspecting casinos associated with the various hotels in the chain….In effect, Scarne's job was to identify staff members who were stealing, either from the house or the customers….Scarene had served in the Navy during World War II,….Scarene quietly pointed out that the gambling operation, like most of the major casinos in Havana, was conducted through contract by a group with mob connections. He identified one or two famous member of the American underworld who would stop by the casino occasionally, including Meyer Lansky… ….The party of Hilton executives, including Conrad Hilton himself, John Hauser, Charles Bell, who was in charge of food and beverage for Hilton International, and Arthur Elminger,…. …The rumors of Fidel Castro's forces raiding against the repressive regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, had apparently scared off the tourists, even though the attacks were concentrated several hundred miles away on the eastern end of the island in Camaguey and Oriente provences…. ….Manuel Ray, the chief engineer, who had struck Brandy as a thoughtful type with little to say, warned there would be some serious consequences as a result of the layoffs…. The next morning, 9 April 1958,….Four Cuban security police officers strode into the room….The security forces "Blue Buick" had grown famous under the tough regime of Batista, those arrested for questioning and taken away in it usually never came back. Inside the car, he received a once-over. A burley security police type on each side squeezed him in with his arms and legs locked back; each delivered tight blows to his stomach, kidneys, face. Saying nothing, they continued to beat him as the big car drove slowly through the busy streets of Havana to the headquarters of Police District Nine… …Clearing his head, Brandy read the nameplate: Major Ventura. This man was notorious, the so-called "Butcher of Havana." ….Esteban Ventura…. …The Hilton organization, however, could not spare Brandy for a three-week reserve duty. After some difficulty, Brandy was later able to put in two weeks at the Summer Fourth Army Area Intelligence School in Texas. When he returned to Havana, he wrote to Colonel William Rose at the Pentagon, in the Office of Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI). Brandy reminded him that he would need a new billet in 1959, and sent along a collection of documents amplifying his military background. Rose remembered Brandy very well and responded within a week that he was glad to hear Brandy was "back in Havana, where [he could] take good care of our interests." Rose suggested that Brandy contact Colonel Sam Kail, the U.S. Army military attaché at the American Embassy in Havana. Brandy followed up, conferring with Kail regularly about the situation in Havana. Brandy began to learn more about the political situation by listening to discussions and gathering information from ordinary people, from journalists like Jules DuBois,…..When someone pointed out that "the Communists" were in the hills, Manuel Ray corrected him….The peasant soldeiers wore crucifixes and many were devout Catholics, not Communists at all. In the summer, Brandy sent a confidential report via Colone Kail to Army G-2, suggesting an overthrow of the Batista regime by Castro's forces would soon take place….As an army man, Brandy found the all-knowing tone from State and CIA frustrating, even wrong-headed… p. 143: ….One noon, Brandy had lunch with Colonel Sam Kail, the military attaché from the U.S. Embssy. Kail and Brandy worked out tentative plans for an evacuation of American tourists if the revolution reached Havana. After lunch, they were irritated to find themselves stuck in the elevator between floors….The Hilton name, Brandy feared, was attracting more and more anti-American attention…. …Soon however, he picked up a rumor from his grapevine that Manuel Ray was a Castro supporter. It seemed to fit, the more he thought about it…A few days after the revolution was completed, Manual Ray, former chief engineer of the Havana Hilton, received a cabinet appointment by the new Castro-led government minister of public works. Ray had apparently been in charge of all the sabotage in Havana in the summer of 1958. Listening to reporters and his other sources on the grapevine, Brandy heard another, even more frightening rumor. The word was circulating that when the Castro people took over Havana, they would burn the Havana Hilton to the ground. He decided to establish liaison with the Castro forces, and planned to carry a letter through the liens to Castro, inviting him to make the Hilton his headquarters, when and if his troops arrived in Havana. Young Fred Lederer found Brandy in his office, preparing the letter….. …The Conrad Hilton Suite could be the CP Command Post for Castro himself. Brandy visualized the communication lines, internal security, and defense perimeter. He had experience setting up and staffing CPs in World War II, so it would be natural. If Castro came to the city, the invitation would save the hotel….Lederere came from a Prussian military family, was bright and had guts….Lederer's attempt to get through to Castro occurred on Christmas Eve, 1958…. …Jules DuBois, the Chicago Tribune reporter who had written favorably of Castro, had contacts in the revolutionary camp…. …Batista had fled to the Dominican Republic….Years later, after reading CIA officer David Atlee Phillips's account of the same evening in The Night Watch, Brandy noted that Phillips claimed to have been the first to hear of the evacuation of Batista at 4:00 A.M. the next time Brandy saw his friend Phillips, he told him had the jump on him! He knew the end was coming at 8:00 P.M. the night before, beating the CIA by eight hours. Phillips and Brandy had a good laugh over the issue. …As the party wound down,….Brandy issued an order that the guests should not check out he had in mind the evacuation plans developed earlier with Colonel Kail at the American Embssy, as well as the plans for Castro forces to stay in the hotel…. …Briefly, Brandy had an exchange with Manuel Ray, who confirmed that the mob intended to burn the hotel. Brandy handed him his jacket and went down to the lobby. From the mezzanine, a few guests observed what happened next. Among them was Philippe de Vosjoli, head of French Intelligence the SDECE (Service de Documentation Exterieure dt de Contre-espionage) in Cuba, Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Unknown to Brandy, de Vosjoli was staying at the hotel with his wife. He later recorded the events in his autobiography, Lamia, 'dedicated to Brandy, wherein he recorded seeing "a physically fit man in a white shirt with short sleeves…calmly blocking the path of an armed, angry mob." Brandy met the mob and stood his ground at the entrance to the hotel lobby, explaining the hotel was not American property. It belonged to the Cuban people to the Cuban Culinary Workers' Union. Hilton managed it, but if they burned down the hotel they would be destroying the Cuban workers' savings, not American property. The crowd waved machetes, pistols and rifles…..Gradually, the crowd began to quiet, then broke into groups and argued….The standoff lasted fifteen minutes, then the rioters moved on… …Meanwhile, the American Embassy evacuation plans that Colonel Kail and Barndy had workd out months before was quietly taking effect…. The barbudos, Brandy remembered, tended to be well behaved by comparison to some of the tourists…. Philippe de Vosjoli, who had observed Brandy confronting the rioters in the lobby of the hotel on 1 January, approached Brandy and introduced himself. Brandy immediately liked the straightforward, pro-American, and strongly anti-Communist Franch agent. De Vosjoli explained his dilemma. He believed a leak somewhere in the French security arrangements might cause the Communists among Castro's forces to target him personally as a potential enemy. He wanted to evacuate without attracting notice. Brandy believed he should do a favor for a fellow Allied officer, especially one in the same line of business. He included Philippe de Vosjoli and his wife in the group of American tourists…De Vosjoli would remember Brandy's kindness in later years, and would share with him many confidences and insights into the problems of Communist penetration of security agencies in the Western democracies. The friendship later grew, based as it was on mutual respect and the memory of the shared risks during the Castro takeover. …Offshore, by pre-arrangement through Colonel Kail, three U.S. Navy destroyers cruised in international waters, to provide protection and an escort for the ferry across the ninety miles to Key West and the United States…. …Among the New Year's party-goers who wrote in appreciation were Dr. Curtice Rosser of Dallas, who was Brandy's friend and Barbara's personal physician, Ernest Dumler, an industrialist from Pittsburgh; John Thompson, a military reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and Frank Sherman, an attorney from New York City…. Meanwhile the local general manger of the hotel, Jose Menendez, went into hiding… For the first week of the revolution, Castro remained in Oriente province, finally moving into Havana on 8 January 1959 as order was restored by his troops. The motorcade proceeded directly to the Hilton. As Castro and his entourage entered, Brandy introduced himself and explained that the Conrad Hilton Suite was at the disposal of the Castro party. Brandy had taken the trouble to freshen up the suite with flowers and stock the refrigerator with soft drinks and beer. Castro and his group took a quick look, then declined to stay because the facilities were "too plush." However, a few days later the group returned, and Castro and his senior officers moved into the suite. Brandy was summoned by Castro's security and bodyguards to taste the first meals brought by room service, to ensure against poisoning. Brandy did so, and then arranged for Fred Lederer, the food and beverage manager, to do the tasting… For a few weeks the Conrad Hilton Suite was converted, just as Bandy had planned, into the Castro forces' command post…. Frank suggested to Colonel Kail at the embassy that it would be a good idea to arrange for an American news organization to conduct a full-scale television interview with Castro, so that more could be learned about him. Although full assessments of the Castro forces were available, little was known about Castro, the man. Brandy also suggested that the ACSI approach General David Sarnoff, U.S. Army, ret., and Chairman of the Board of RCA (which controlled NBC), as someone who could be trusted. Sarnoff had served as General Eisenhower's communications officer during the Second World War. Sarnoff recommended that Jack Paar, host of the "Tonight Show," conduct the interview. In Cuba, Colonel Kail worked with Brandy to arrange the event…The questions, although innocuous, were exactly the sort needed by the U.S. Army to build a more complete picture of the human side of the new leader of Cuba. Brandy thought back to his days in the Field Intelligence Detachment,….. served as interpreter during the interview. Chapter 13 Crown, Semenenko and Hilton p. 156 Brandy served the 1959 session of his annual active duty at the Pentagon in the Office of the Army Chief of Staff, Intelligence (ACSI), working under his first ACSI "Big Brother," Colonel Bob Roth, in the Collection Division….This duty marked his change from Mobilization Resere to a career over the next eighteen years of working directly for ACSI, sometimes on active duty, and at other times, after retirement, on a strictly unpaid and voluntary basis. Over that time, the officer to whom he reported at ACSI would change almost every two years. In the ACSI office, continuity was provided by Mrs. Dorothe K. Matlack, a long-time civil servant and chief of the Exploitation Section of the Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI-CX). Dorothe (pronounced Dorothy) personally knew Brandy and other officers who worked to supply a continuing stream of good quality "humanit," or human intelligence. Brandy could continue the work of "eyes and ears" that he had begun under Ridgway, knowing that his "Big Brother" in Washington, whoever he would be over time, would receive his reports and that they would at least be considered and reviewed properly. Brandy's standard operating procedure was to contact only one officer, his "Big Brother" from ACSI, thus protecting himself from possible exposure… After departing the Pentagon, he visited the executive offices of Hilton International in New York City. He learned that John Hauser was no longer president of Hilton International, the position having been filled by Robert J. Caverly, a new executive… He moved back to Dallas to be near Barbar, who was in a sanitarium there. He retained both his status as a Hilton manager on leave of absence and his status as a reserve lieutenant colonel, with annual active duty to be served at the Army Chief of Staff Intelligence at the Pentagon…. Brandy now settled into work as vice president and part owner of an auto-leasing business, Continental Leasing. The company,…operated by Dallas businessman Scott Walker, had been established in 1957. The headquarters of the firm later moved to Shreveport, Louisiana…. During this time, Brandy was developing a private plan that he hoped would affect the Cuban situation. He worked on a proposal to acquire used engines from the U.S. Army, particularly large engines from decommissioned army tanks, refurbish and box them, and then sell them in Cuba in 1959…. Meanwhile, he kept in touch with Colonel William Rose at the Pentagon office of the Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence. Rose arranged for Brandy to be assigned for training on weekend duties to the 488th Strategic Intelligence Team in Dallas. He contributed to a study of the capability of the Soviet oil fields, working with oil and mining engineer Colonel Jack Crichton, MI and U.S. Army, ret., who was later to explore the oil and gas reserves in the former Soviet Union during the 1990s…. That summer, Brandy finally received a phone call from Hilton headquarters. Effective 1 July 1959, there was an opening in Mexico, to take over as manager of a Hilton-supervised property in Acapulco, the Las Brisas…. Brandy noticed one employee on the records Ron Urbanek…during World War II he had worked on the Red Ball Express, the truck line that supplied ammunition and other supplies in 1944 and 1945 from the channel ports to Patton on the front in a massive operation… p. 289: ….After less than an hour, Bronfman convinced Brandy to assume the general manager's position at Seagrams de Mexico for a year and a half to two years….Brandy met with Harold Fieldsteel, executive vice president for Finance and Administrtion of JES; with F. Shaker, vice president, International Administration and James E. McDonough, who was president of Seagrams Overseas Sales Company (SOSCO)…. P. 314: During 1980 conservative writers and commentators, like those on Gordon McLendon's radio stations, argued that American support for the embargo of South Africa was extremely hazardous to the national security of the United States…. Brandy also participated in an association organized by David Atlee Phillips for ex-CIA officers. Phillips had served as chief of the CIA's Caribbean and Latin American division before his retirement in 1975. He became distressed at the exposes of CIA officers, mainly stemming from the activities of Senator Frank Church's committee and the work of investigative reporters following the Watergate scandals. Phillips hoped to provide money that could serve as a legal defense fund for such officers, especially if they were libeled in the press and needed to file suit to restore their names. The organization could also conduct, as an outside group, public relations efforts to improve the image of the service as a whole. Brandy urged Phillips to expand his group to include not only former CIA officials, but also officers from other intelligence services, sucha as the army, navy, and air force. Accordingly, Phillips, with the approval of other CIA members, organized the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). It was Brady's responsibility to recruit the nucleus of former heads in the intelligence community, now retired, to represent the army, navy and air force. He did this by recruiting Vice Admiral Fritz Harlfinger, U.S. Navy, ret., and Lieutenant General John Davis, U.S. Army, ret., formerly of the ACSI, and deputy director of the National Security Agency (NSA). Brandy was offered a directorship, but he turned it down because of his comparatively low rank as a colonel. The organization needed leaders with significant Washington experience, with "Beltway" knowledge. He prevered to remain in the background… p. 335. Photo caption: General Walter Dornberger, father of the German rocket program, visits his close friend Brandy at Casa Ternquilidad (Mexico) in 1977. …Later, when Dornberger passed away, his widow sent the general's personal library, correspondence files, and mementos given him at West Point and elsewhere to Brandy. She knew that Brandy was an avid collector of such materials and would cherish and preserve them. He dutifully added them to his space collection. ….With Brandy's supervision and recommendation to Deke DeLoach, Carlos Solana, his chiefi of security, had participated with a small group of Mexican security men in training at the FBI's facility in Quantico, Virginia,…. …Al Kaplan, who served as Brandy's public relations man in the 1970s through his own company, moved on to be national director of tourism for the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce… After the divorce, Brandy married again. He had met Marianne Porzelt at one of the backgammon tournaments organized at his home…They were married 26 December 1978; the best men were Gordon McLendon and the ex-President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman…. Much of Brandstetter's career as a G-2 officer and as a reservist with the staff of the army's Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI) was confidential, and for that reason, documentation on a number of his activities was inappropriate, or where permissible, difficult to obtain… - v=onepage&q&f=false This guy seems to get more significant the more I learn about him. Is Brandstetter still alive? And if not, can anybody find an obit? Thanks, BK Besides Our Man in Acopulco - another bio of Brandstetter was published in Europe by another author. Has anybody read it? Cover of Portrait of An Intelligence Officer, published in Europe. http://jfkcountercou...andstetter.html Also note PDS's Footnote 50. from PDS Dallas COPA 2010 Talk: 50. Crichton's collaborator in the 1950s study, fellow 488th member Lt. Col. Frank Brandstetter, was in turn a friend of men like: 1) David Phillips, in charge of Covert Action at the Mexico City Station when Oswald allegedly visited there; Phillips had known Brandstetter since both men were together in Havana in the 1950s (Carlisle and Monetta, Brandy, 146-47) 2) Gordon McLendon, wealthy Dallas businessman whom Jack Ruby described as one of his six closest friends (20 WH 39); 3) George de Mohrenschildt, the oilman whom some see as a handler for the Oswalds in 1962; and also Dorothe Matlack and Sam Kail, the Army Intelligence personnel who coordinated George de Mohrenschildt's April 1963 visit with CIA and Army Intelligence in Washington 4) Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli, a French intelligence (SDECE) agent who worked closely with Angleton in Washington. On 11/22 de Vosjoli reportedly panicked on hearing of Kennedy's death, packed a few clothes into a van, and departed Washington to join Brandstetter in Acapulco. (Tom Mangold, Cold Warrior, 131-33). BK Notes: Also see references toother significant people Brandy knew or worked with including Jack Crichton, Dorothe Matlack, Sam Kail, Manuel Ray, Meyer Lansky, Fidel Castro and others of interest. Also See: Brandy: Portrait Of An Intelligence Officer by Chuck Render and Frank M. Brandstetter. (Elderbery Press, Aug. 2007) http://www.flipkart....book-193276285x Book Summary of Brandy: Portrait Of An Intelligence Officer (Europen Edition) Chuck Render was born in Southern Illinois where he joined the Air Force Reserve on his 17th birthday in January of 1955. He resigned as a Technical Sergeant flight engineer in 1965 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He completed his baccalaureate and masters degrees at Murray State University in Kentucky and taught math, reading and music in Bluford, Illinois before completing his doctorate at the University of Illinois. He became Assistant Director of Administrative Studies at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, and then Director of Institutional Analysis with rank of Associate Professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. In 1985, he was recalled to active duty in the Pentagon, serving in the Office of the Chief of Air Force Reserve and then with the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs with duties in Operations and Plans. He retired from the military as a full "bird colonel" in 1995 after 40 years as an Air Force Reservist and moved to Clarksville, Tennessee. Frank Maryan "Brandy" Brandstetter (right) was born in 1912 in Bratislava and schooled by the Sisters of Charity and military officers throughout his childhood. In his mid-teens, he became a penniless immigrant on the streets of New York and began a life-long career, working his way up through the ranks in the hotel business. In January of 1941, he was sworn in as a U.S. Army Private, was promoted to Sergeant, but was plucked from the ranks, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, and assigned to Army Intelligence. After jumping with the famed 506th "Band of Brothers" on D-Day, he served at General Matthew B. Ridgway's side throughout the war and afterward in thefledgling U.N. Organization. Brandy served his country for more than 50 years as an Army Reservist, on active duty and off, even at his own expense after his mandatory retirement age. As this book was being written, he was still residing in his fortress-like Casa Tranquilidad (House of Peace) on the mountainside in Acapulco, several hundred yards below the giant landmark cross and chapel he built. Edited December 1, 2010 by William Kelly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Howard Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Robert Howard had previously called attention to this guy and this book, and its significance is magnified by where he worked - Havana Hilton and ACSI at the Pentagon, and who he knew - Col. Kail, Jack Crichton, David Atlee Phillips, Conrad Hilton, Manuel Ray, Castro, the head of French Intelligence, and Gordon McLendon was best man at his wedding. His account of the Castro takeover of Havana is interesting. Brandy - Our Man In Acapulco: The Life and Times of Col. Frank M. Brandstetter by Rodney P. Carlisle and Dominic J. Monetta (University of North Texas Press, 1999) p. 129: …he met Lieutenant Colonel William B. Rose, chief of the Army Intelligence Reserve Branch Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence (ACSI) at the Pentagon. The contact would later prove momentous, changing the course of Brandy's military career. Despite Brandy's career changes in his private life, he meant to continue his service to army intelligence. He vowed he would not disappear into a reserve control group without duties. Over the next year Brandy, at age forty-six, began a series of adventures which allowed him to pursue both his personal career in the resort hotel business and his military career as an intelligence officer which he had kept alive through the doldrums of the 1950s. Interestingly, he accumulated more U.S. Army Reserve credit points than any other officer in the Reserve. Chapter 11 Cuba Si! When Brandy was pursuing legal action in Dallas to recover his share of proceeds from Sans Souci, he had obtained a copy of Conrad Hilton's life story, Be My Guest. He thought about the new concepts in Hilton's hotel work, especially the idea of an international chain of hotels. Brandy considered that there might be a match between his own background in languages, his rich experiences, and the needs of the expanding chain. He checked the business directories and discovered that the president of Hilton International was John Hauser. Hilton International had set up a hotel in Puerto Rico as their first, semi-overseas operation, and then had plans to expand in Latin America, Europe, and the Near East…In late 1957 Brandy went to New York to meet Hauser. The two men immediately liked one another. Hauser, a marine combat officer in the war, suggested that Brandy might appreciate an appointment as manager for a planned hotel in West Berlin, and after a lunch at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, they shook hands on the offer. Brandy was aboard with the Hilton organization. Suddenly, Hauser called him in. The hotel in Germany was still under construction. Hauser told Brandy to take a plane to Havana that night. There were problems getting the hotel there into operation and they needed a trouble-shooter…. Brandy flew to Havana that evening, 13 February 1958, to undertake the position. Barbera, who was under medical care at Timberlawn in Dallas, could visit him periodically with a nurse in attendance…. Local ownership was in the hands of the Cuban Culinary Workers' Union. The union's leader Sr. Aguille, had the union's own man, Jose Menendez, appointed as general manger…As Brandy investigated both the delayed delivery of materials and work, he discovered a system of bribes reaching ten or fifteen percent over cost had been required for every detail of construction…The hotel was a mess….Hilton had sent a project manager, Peter DeTulio, to oversee completion of the work, but DeTulio was finding one frustration after another…. Conrad Hilton had recruited the noted gambling expert and author, John Scarne, to serve as the corporation's representative for inspecting casinos associated with the various hotels in the chain….In effect, Scarne's job was to identify staff members who were stealing, either from the house or the customers….Scarene had served in the Navy during World War II,….Scarene quietly pointed out that the gambling operation, like most of the major casinos in Havana, was conducted through contract by a group with mob connections. He identified one or two famous member of the American underworld who would stop by the casino occasionally, including Meyer Lansky… ….The party of Hilton executives, including Conrad Hilton himself, John Hauser, Charles Bell, who was in charge of food and beverage for Hilton International, and Arthur Elminger,…. …The rumors of Fidel Castro's forces raiding against the repressive regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, had apparently scared off the tourists, even though the attacks were concentrated several hundred miles away on the eastern end of the island in Camaguey and Oriente provences…. ….Manuel Ray, the chief engineer, who had struck Brandy as a thoughtful type with little to say, warned there would be some serious consequences as a result of the layoffs…. The next morning, 9 April 1958,….Four Cuban security police officers strode into the room….The security forces "Blue Buick" had grown famous under the tough regime of Batista, those arrested for questioning and taken away in it usually never came back. Inside the car, he received a once-over. A burley security police type on each side squeezed him in with his arms and legs locked back; each delivered tight blows to his stomach, kidneys, face. Saying nothing, they continued to beat him as the big car drove slowly through the busy streets of Havana to the headquarters of Police District Nine… …Clearing his head, Brandy read the nameplate: Major Ventura. This man was notorious, the so-called "Butcher of Havana." ….Esteban Ventura…. …The Hilton organization, however, could not spare Brandy for a three-week reserve duty. After some difficulty, Brandy was later able to put in two weeks at the Summer Fourth Army Area Intelligence School in Texas. When he returned to Havana, he wrote to Colonel William Rose at the Pentagon, in the Office of Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI). Brandy reminded him that he would need a new billet in 1959, and sent along a collection of documents amplifying his military background. Rose remembered Brandy very well and responded within a week that he was glad to hear Brandy was "back in Havana, where [he could] take good care of our interests." Rose suggested that Brandy contact Colonel Sam Kail, the U.S. Army military attaché at the American Embassy in Havana. Brandy followed up, conferring with Kail regularly about the situation in Havana. Brandy began to learn more about the political situation by listening to discussions and gathering information from ordinary people, from journalists like Jules DuBois,…..When someone pointed out that "the Communists" were in the hills, Manuel Ray corrected him….The peasant soldeiers wore crucifixes and many were devout Catholics, not Communists at all. In the summer, Brandy sent a confidential report via Colone Kail to Army G-2, suggesting an overthrow of the Batista regime by Castro's forces would soon take place….As an army man, Brandy found the all-knowing tone from State and CIA frustrating, even wrong-headed… p. 143: ….One noon, Brandy had lunch with Colonel Sam Kail, the military attaché from the U.S. Embssy. Kail and Brandy worked out tentative plans for an evacuation of American tourists if the revolution reached Havana. After lunch, they were irritated to find themselves stuck in the elevator between floors….The Hilton name, Brandy feared, was attracting more and more anti-American attention…. …Soon however, he picked up a rumor from his grapevine that Manuel Ray was a Castro supporter. It seemed to fit, the more he thought about it…A few days after the revolution was completed, Manual Ray, former chief engineer of the Havana Hilton, received a cabinet appointment by the new Castro-led government minister of public works. Ray had apparently been in charge of all the sabotage in Havana in the summer of 1958. Listening to reporters and his other sources on the grapevine, Brandy heard another, even more frightening rumor. The word was circulating that when the Castro people took over Havana, they would burn the Havana Hilton to the ground. He decided to establish liaison with the Castro forces, and planned to carry a letter through the liens to Castro, inviting him to make the Hilton his headquarters, when and if his troops arrived in Havana. Young Fred Lederer found Brandy in his office, preparing the letter….. …The Conrad Hilton Suite could be the CP – Command Post – for Castro himself. Brandy visualized the communication lines, internal security, and defense perimeter. He had experience setting up and staffing CPs in World War II, so it would be natural. If Castro came to the city, the invitation would save the hotel….Lederere came from a Prussian military family, was bright and had guts….Lederer's attempt to get through to Castro occurred on Christmas Eve, 1958…. …Jules DuBois, the Chicago Tribune reporter who had written favorably of Castro, had contacts in the revolutionary camp…. …Batista had fled to the Dominican Republic….Years later, after reading CIA officer David Atlee Phillips's account of the same evening in The Night Watch, Brandy noted that Phillips claimed to have been the first to hear of the evacuation of Batista at 4:00 A.M. the next time Brandy saw his friend Phillips, he told him had the jump on him! He knew the end was coming at 8:00 P.M. the night before, beating the CIA by eight hours. Phillips and Brandy had a good laugh over the issue. …As the party wound down,….Brandy issued an order that the guests should not check out – he had in mind the evacuation plans developed earlier with Colonel Kail at the American Embssy, as well as the plans for Castro forces to stay in the hotel…. …Briefly, Brandy had an exchange with Manuel Ray, who confirmed that the mob intended to burn the hotel. Brandy handed him his jacket and went down to the lobby. From the mezzanine, a few guests observed what happened next. Among them was Philippe de Vosjoli, head of French Intelligence – the SDECE (Service de Documentation Exterieure dt de Contre-espionage) – in Cuba, Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Unknown to Brandy, de Vosjoli was staying at the hotel with his wife. He later recorded the events in his autobiography, Lamia, 'dedicated to Brandy, wherein he recorded seeing "a physically fit man in a white shirt with short sleeves…calmly blocking the path of an armed, angry mob." Brandy met the mob and stood his ground at the entrance to the hotel lobby, explaining the hotel was not American property. It belonged to the Cuban people – to the Cuban Culinary Workers' Union. Hilton managed it, but if they burned down the hotel they would be destroying the Cuban workers' savings, not American property. The crowd waved machetes, pistols and rifles…..Gradually, the crowd began to quiet, then broke into groups and argued….The standoff lasted fifteen minutes, then the rioters moved on… …Meanwhile, the American Embassy evacuation plans that Colonel Kail and Barndy had workd out months before was quietly taking effect…. The barbudos, Brandy remembered, tended to be well behaved by comparison to some of the tourists…. Philippe de Vosjoli, who had observed Brandy confronting the rioters in the lobby of the hotel on 1 January, approached Brandy and introduced himself. Brandy immediately liked the straightforward, pro-American, and strongly anti-Communist Franch agent. De Vosjoli explained his dilemma. He believed a leak somewhere in the French security arrangements might cause the Communists among Castro's forces to target him personally as a potential enemy. He wanted to evacuate without attracting notice. Brandy believed he should do a favor for a fellow Allied officer, especially one in the same line of business. He included Philippe de Vosjoli and his wife in the group of American tourists…De Vosjoli would remember Brandy's kindness in later years, and would share with him many confidences and insights into the problems of Communist penetration of security agencies in the Western democracies. The friendship later grew, based as it was on mutual respect and the memory of the shared risks during the Castro takeover. …Offshore, by pre-arrangement through Colonel Kail, three U.S. Navy destroyers cruised in international waters, to provide protection and an escort for the ferry across the ninety miles to Key West and the United States…. …Among the New Year's party-goers who wrote in appreciation were Dr. Curtice Rosser of Dallas, who was Brandy's friend and Barbara's personal physician, Ernest Dumler, an industrialist from Pittsburgh; John Thompson, a military reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and Frank Sherman, an attorney from New York City…. Meanwhile the local general manger of the hotel, Jose Menendez, went into hiding… For the first week of the revolution, Castro remained in Oriente province, finally moving into Havana on 8 January 1959 as order was restored by his troops. The motorcade proceeded directly to the Hilton. As Castro and his entourage entered, Brandy introduced himself and explained that the Conrad Hilton Suite was at the disposal of the Castro party. Brandy had taken the trouble to freshen up the suite with flowers and stock the refrigerator with soft drinks and beer. Castro and his group took a quick look, then declined to stay because the facilities were "too plush." However, a few days later the group returned, and Castro and his senior officers moved into the suite. Brandy was summoned by Castro's security and bodyguards to taste the first meals brought by room service, to ensure against poisoning. Brandy did so, and then arranged for Fred Lederer, the food and beverage manager, to do the tasting… For a few weeks the Conrad Hilton Suite was converted, just as Bandy had planned, into the Castro forces' command post…. Frank suggested to Colonel Kail at the embassy that it would be a good idea to arrange for an American news organization to conduct a full-scale television interview with Castro, so that more could be learned about him. Although full assessments of the Castro forces were available, little was known about Castro, the man. Brandy also suggested that the ACSI approach General David Sarnoff, U.S. Army, ret., and Chairman of the Board of RCA (which controlled NBC), as someone who could be trusted. Sarnoff had served as General Eisenhower's communications officer during the Second World War. Sarnoff recommended that Jack Paar, host of the "Tonight Show," conduct the interview. In Cuba, Colonel Kail worked with Brandy to arrange the event…The questions, although innocuous, were exactly the sort needed by the U.S. Army to build a more complete picture of the human side of the new leader of Cuba. Brandy thought back to his days in the Field Intelligence Detachment,….. served as interpreter during the interview. Chapter 13 Crown, Semenenko and Hilton p. 156 Brandy served the 1959 session of his annual active duty at the Pentagon in the Office of the Army Chief of Staff, Intelligence (ACSI), working under his first ACSI "Big Brother," Colonel Bob Roth, in the Collection Division….This duty marked his change from Mobilization Resere to a career over the next eighteen years of working directly for ACSI, sometimes on active duty, and at other times, after retirement, on a strictly unpaid and voluntary basis. Over that time, the officer to whom he reported at ACSI would change almost every two years. In the ACSI office, continuity was provided by Mrs. Dorothe K. Matlack, a long-time civil servant and chief of the Exploitation Section of the Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI-CX). Dorothe (pronounced Dorothy) personally knew Brandy and other officers who worked to supply a continuing stream of good quality "humanit," or human intelligence. Brandy could continue the work of "eyes and ears" that he had begun under Ridgway, knowing that his "Big Brother" in Washington, whoever he would be over time, would receive his reports and that they would at least be considered and reviewed properly. Brandy's standard operating procedure was to contact only one officer, his "Big Brother" from ACSI, thus protecting himself from possible exposure… After departing the Pentagon, he visited the executive offices of Hilton International in New York City. He learned that John Hauser was no longer president of Hilton International, the position having been filled by Robert J. Caverly, a new executive… He moved back to Dallas to be near Barbar, who was in a sanitarium there. He retained both his status as a Hilton manager on leave of absence and his status as a reserve lieutenant colonel, with annual active duty to be served at the Army Chief of Staff Intelligence at the Pentagon…. Brandy now settled into work as vice president and part owner of an auto-leasing business, Continental Leasing. The company,…operated by Dallas businessman Scott Walker, had been established in 1957. The headquarters of the firm later moved to Shreveport, Louisiana…. During this time, Brandy was developing a private plan that he hoped would affect the Cuban situation. He worked on a proposal to acquire used engines from the U.S. Army, particularly large engines from decommissioned army tanks, refurbish and box them, and then sell them in Cuba in 1959…. Meanwhile, he kept in touch with Colonel William Rose at the Pentagon office of the Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence. Rose arranged for Brandy to be assigned for training on weekend duties to the 488th Strategic Intelligence Team in Dallas. He contributed to a study of the capability of the Soviet oil fields, working with oil and mining engineer Colonel Jack Crichton, MI and U.S. Army, ret., who was later to explore the oil and gas reserves in the former Soviet Union during the 1990s…. That summer, Brandy finally received a phone call from Hilton headquarters. Effective 1 July 1959, there was an opening in Mexico, to take over as manager of a Hilton-supervised property in Acapulco, the Las Brisas…. Brandy noticed one employee on the records – Ron Urbanek…during World War II he had worked on the Red Ball Express, the truck line that supplied ammunition and other supplies in 1944 and 1945 from the channel ports to Patton on the front in a massive operation… p. 289: ….After less than an hour, Bronfman convinced Brandy to assume the general manager's position at Seagrams de Mexico for a year and a half to two years….Brandy met with Harold Fieldsteel, executive vice president for Finance and Administrtion of JES; with F. Shaker, vice president, International Administration and James E. McDonough, who was president of Seagrams Overseas Sales Company (SOSCO)…. P. 314: During 1980 conservative writers and commentators, like those on Gordon McLendon's radio stations, argued that American support for the embargo of South Africa was extremely hazardous to the national security of the United States…. Brandy also participated in an association organized by David Atlee Phillips for ex-CIA officers. Phillips had served as chief of the CIA's Caribbean and Latin American division before his retirement in 1975. He became distressed at the exposes of CIA officers, mainly stemming from the activities of Senator Frank Church's committee and the work of investigative reporters following the Watergate scandals. Phillips hoped to provide money that could serve as a legal defense fund for such officers, especially if they were libeled in the press and needed to file suit to restore their names. The organization could also conduct, as an outside group, public relations efforts to improve the image of the service as a whole. Brandy urged Phillips to expand his group to include not only former CIA officials, but also officers from other intelligence services, sucha as the army, navy, and air force. Accordingly, Phillips, with the approval of other CIA members, organized the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). It was Brady's responsibility to recruit the nucleus of former heads in the intelligence community, now retired, to represent the army, navy and air force. He did this by recruiting Vice Admiral Fritz Harlfinger, U.S. Navy, ret., and Lieutenant General John Davis, U.S. Army, ret., formerly of the ACSI, and deputy director of the National Security Agency (NSA). Brandy was offered a directorship, but he turned it down because of his comparatively low rank as a colonel. The organization needed leaders with significant Washington experience, with "Beltway" knowledge. He prevered to remain in the background… p. 335. Photo caption: General Walter Dornberger, father of the German rocket program, visits his close friend Brandy at Casa Ternquilidad (Mexico) in 1977. …Later, when Dornberger passed away, his widow sent the general's personal library, correspondence files, and mementos given him at West Point and elsewhere to Brandy. She knew that Brandy was an avid collector of such materials and would cherish and preserve them. He dutifully added them to his space collection. ….With Brandy's supervision and recommendation to Deke DeLoach, Carlos Solana, his chiefi of security, had participated with a small group of Mexican security men in training at the FBI's facility in Quantico, Virginia,…. …Al Kaplan, who served as Brandy's public relations man in the 1970s through his own company, moved on to be national director of tourism for the US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce… After the divorce, Brandy married again. He had met Marianne Porzelt at one of the backgammon tournaments organized at his home…They were married 26 December 1978; the best men were Gordon McLendon and the ex-President of Mexico, Miguel Aleman…. Much of Brandstetter's career as a G-2 officer and as a reservist with the staff of the army's Assistant Chief of Staff-Intelligence (ACSI) was confidential, and for that reason, documentation on a number of his activities was inappropriate, or where permissible, difficult to obtain… http://books.google....ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg - v=onepage&q&f=false This guy seems to get more significant the more I learn about him. Is Brandstetter still alive? And if not, can anybody find an obit? Thanks, BK Besides Our Man in Acopulco - another bio of Brandstetter was published in Europe by another author. Has anybody read it? Cover of Portrait of An Intelligence Officer, published in Europe. http://jfkcountercou...andstetter.html Also note PDS's Footnote 50. from PDS Dallas COPA 2010 Talk: 50. Crichton's collaborator in the 1950s study, fellow 488th member Lt. Col. Frank Brandstetter, was in turn a friend of men like: 1) David Phillips, in charge of Covert Action at the Mexico City Station when Oswald allegedly visited there; Phillips had known Brandstetter since both men were together in Havana in the 1950s (Carlisle and Monetta, Brandy, 146-47) 2) Gordon McLendon, wealthy Dallas businessman whom Jack Ruby described as one of his six closest friends (20 WH 39); 3) George de Mohrenschildt, the oilman whom some see as a handler for the Oswalds in 1962; and also Dorothe Matlack and Sam Kail, the Army Intelligence personnel who coordinated George de Mohrenschildt's April 1963 visit with CIA and Army Intelligence in Washington 4) Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli, a French intelligence (SDECE) agent who worked closely with Angleton in Washington. On 11/22 de Vosjoli reportedly panicked on hearing of Kennedy's death, packed a few clothes into a van, and departed Washington to join Brandstetter in Acapulco. (Tom Mangold, Cold Warrior, 131-33). BK Notes: Also see references toother significant people Brandy knew or worked with including Jack Crichton, Dorothe Matlack, Sam Kail, Manuel Ray, Meyer Lansky, Fidel Castro and others of interest. Also See: Brandy: Portrait Of An Intelligence Officer by Chuck Render and Frank M. Brandstetter. (Elderbery Press, Aug. 2007) http://www.flipkart....book-193276285x Book Summary of Brandy: Portrait Of An Intelligence Officer (Europen Edition) Chuck Render was born in Southern Illinois where he joined the Air Force Reserve on his 17th birthday in January of 1955. He resigned as a Technical Sergeant flight engineer in 1965 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He completed his baccalaureate and masters degrees at Murray State University in Kentucky and taught math, reading and music in Bluford, Illinois before completing his doctorate at the University of Illinois. He became Assistant Director of Administrative Studies at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, and then Director of Institutional Analysis with rank of Associate Professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. In 1985, he was recalled to active duty in the Pentagon, serving in the Office of the Chief of Air Force Reserve and then with the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs with duties in Operations and Plans. He retired from the military as a full "bird colonel" in 1995 after 40 years as an Air Force Reservist and moved to Clarksville, Tennessee. Frank Maryan "Brandy" Brandstetter (right) was born in 1912 in Bratislava and schooled by the Sisters of Charity and military officers throughout his childhood. In his mid-teens, he became a penniless immigrant on the streets of New York and began a life-long career, working his way up through the ranks in the hotel business. In January of 1941, he was sworn in as a U.S. Army Private, was promoted to Sergeant, but was plucked from the ranks, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, and assigned to Army Intelligence. After jumping with the famed 506th "Band of Brothers" on D-Day, he served at General Matthew B. Ridgway's side throughout the war and afterward in thefledgling U.N. Organization. Brandy served his country for more than 50 years as an Army Reservist, on active duty and off, even at his own expense after his mandatory retirement age. As this book was being written, he was still residing in his fortress-like Casa Tranquilidad (House of Peace) on the mountainside in Acapulco, several hundred yards below the giant landmark cross and chapel he built. Don't you think it is almost impossible that the newer declassified documents, don't reference Frank Brandstetter? I've got to give a shot at finding a cryptonym for him, there has to be one, for that matter it seems hard to believe there isn't one for Colonel Kail either. He "Brandy" seems to pull the map of Cuba a lot closer to Dallas, if you catch my drift. From the did you know Department...... “Remnants of Truth - T. E. Beckham http://books.google.com/books?id=Vo2qJgaRmsoC&pg=PA124&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false (2007) Now a Rabbi of the Hebrew (Jewish) faith, Rabbi Dr. Thomas Beckh’am has put together a book that brings together the people whom New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison tried to prove were involved in the JFK assassination. Dr. Beckh'am was a former CIA operative and material witness in the investigation. Conspiracy theories still surround the murder that sent the world into mourning. This book offers a great deal of information and underlying facts. It also shows us what condition America is in, and where it is heading. A remarkable book of interest from a remarkable man, who has lived more than two lifetimes in one. Each book is in perfectly new condition and will be signed by Dr. Beckh'am. I am not sure, but it seems a fair portion of the book is online...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Duffy Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Bill, Robert, I want to thank you for this and all your posts. It's these men and their careers which help illuminate the word of espionage. I bookmark these pages, so that i can really explore the dense info you provide at my leisure. There is so much to wade through. Thanks for pointing the spotlight. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Howard Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 (edited) Bill, Robert, I want to thank you for this and all your posts. It's these men and their careers which help illuminate the word of espionage. I bookmark these pages, so that i can really explore the dense info you provide at my leisure. There is so much to wade through. Thanks for pointing the spotlight. Steve. Thanks Steve. There is a website that promotes Col Brandstetter's book. http://www.farthestr...y_artifacts.htm Here is a little piece of correspondence, I thought was noteworthy, from it. His papers are in the possession of the University of North Texas, from what I can tell. Obit seems in short supply. Also See American Gambling Activities In Cuba 124-90068-10122 NO TITLE http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=113554 There are other documents as well, I am reasonably sure. Edited December 2, 2010 by Robert Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter McGuire Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Bill. Just a silly question, did you ever read the book Our Man in Havana? I bought it, had it shipped to me overseas and fell asleep trying to read it. Catchy title though. http://www.amazon.com/Our-Man-Havana-Entertainment-20th-Century/dp/0140184937 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 Bill. Just a silly question, did you ever read the book Our Man in Havana? I bought it, had it shipped to me overseas and fell asleep trying to read it. Catchy title though. http://www.amazon.co...y/dp/0140184937 Yes, Peter, Graham Greene's classic was made into a neat movie that was filmed on location in Havana shortly before Castro came to power, so it captures the feeling of the city at the time. It concerns an English shopkeeper (Alic Guinnes?) who is recruited to work for British Intelligence (MI6), but when he fails to develop any good information, he sends them the drawings of a vacume cleaner that is mistaken for some sort of important device decoder or weapon. Even when he comes clean and admits what he did, they recall him to London, but can't acknowledge they were so fooled, and give him a medal and place him in charge of training new agents. It's a fine farce, played deadpan straight like Dr. Strangelove. Col. Brandy's book reads very similar, especially in how he deals with the rebels - giving them Conrad Hilton's suite as a Command Post. That reminded me of how David Phillips delt with the rebel students who took over the Swan Island radio station. He broke out some beer and they had a party and forgot about the radio station. BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Howard Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 (edited) Bill. Just a silly question, did you ever read the book Our Man in Havana? I bought it, had it shipped to me overseas and fell asleep trying to read it. Catchy title though. http://www.amazon.co...y/dp/0140184937 Yes, Peter, Graham Greene's classic was made into a neat movie that was filmed on location in Havana shortly before Castro came to power, so it captures the feeling of the city at the time. It concerns an English shopkeeper (Alic Guinnes?) who is recruited to work for British Intelligence (MI6), but when he fails to develop any good information, he sends them the drawings of a vacume cleaner that is mistaken for some sort of important device decoder or weapon. Even when he comes clean and admits what he did, they recall him to London, but can't acknowledge they were so fooled, and give him a medal and place him in charge of training new agents. It's a fine farce, played deadpan straight like Dr. Strangelove. Col. Brandy's book reads very similar, especially in how he deals with the rebels - giving them Conrad Hilton's suite as a Command Post. That reminded me of how David Phillips delt with the rebel students who took over the Swan Island radio station. He broke out some beer and they had a party and forgot about the radio station. BK Colonel Wilmeth was associated years earlier with OFLAG-64 http://darbysrangers...od.com/id65.htm Two published works contain extensive accounts of the evacuation marches from Oflag 64, both to the east with the Soviets and to the west with the Germans: Howard Randolph Holder, Escape to Russia (Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 1994), and Clarence R. Meltesen, Roads To Liberation From Oflag 64 (San Francisco: Oflag 64 Press, 1990). Albert Kadler, Report on Stalag III-A, 15 February 1945, enclosure to Gepp to Barker, 22 March 1945, SHAEF G-1 Decimal File, "383.6," box 25, entry 6, RG 331, NA. MajGen Ray W. Barker to Chief of Staff, 17 February 1945, SHAEF G-1 Decimal File, "383.6," box 25, entry 6, RG 331, NA; and SHAEF G-1 to 12th Army Group, 6th Army Group, and COMZ, 21 April 1945, Message S-85780; British Military Attache' Berne to SHAEF G-1, 26 April 1945, Message MAS 0/807, SHAEF SGS Decimal File, "383.6," box 87, entry 1, RG 331, NA. Lt. Col. James D. Wilmeth, "Report on a Visit to Lublin, Poland, 27 February - 28 March also http://www.scribd.co...I-Working-Group www.usmccca.org/pdfs/hm_chevron.pdf Also related? http://www.therestor...om/wilmeth2.htm So you have this group of people..... Colonel Orlov [friend of DeMohernschildt] Colonel Dudley Wilmeth Colonel Howard Burris Colonel Samuel G. Kail Paul Bethel - Citizens Committee for a Free Cuba James Daniel - Executive Director - Citizens Committee for a Free Cuba [CD 49] Col Brandstetter "Brandy" honorary member Association of Former Intelligence Officers David Atlee Phillips Otto Otepka - Office of Security [was linked to Security File on Lee Oswald, allegedly did not get to read it?] more..... Found in: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 53: Hemming - Lorenz) Reel 53, Folder C - SAMUEL G. KAIL RIF#: 1994.04.22.15:51:32:040005 (4/4/1961) CIA#: 80T01357A 14 April 1961 Chief/WH4/FI Chief Contact Division (Support) Military reports from Samuel G. Kail former Military attache to Cuba Attached are two reports Shirley Stetson E. M. Ashcraft http://www.maryferre....do?docId=55466 more...... BISHOP suggested to Antonio Veciana in 1960 that he go to the Embassy and contact a Mr. Smith and Sam Kail. Said Veciana: "MAURICE BISHOP suggested the names of these individuals because we needed specific weapons to carry out the jobs, and he told me that these were the people who could help me."Antonio Veciana was asked not to reveal BISHOP'S name to them. The HSCA ascertained that in 1960 there was a Colonel Samuel G. Kail at the American Embassy, Havana. The HSCA located Sam Kail, retired, and interviewed him in Dallas. Sam Kail, born June 7, 1915, was a West Point graduate who served as the Army Military Attache from June 3, 1958, until the day the American Embassy, Havana, closed on January 4, 1961. His primary mission as a Military Attache had been intelligence. Sam Kail assumed his unit was functioning for the CIA. He told the HSCA: "I suspect they pay our bills." In January 1963 he received the CIA's Legion of Merit Award. Kail said that prior to the American Embassy closing in Havana, there was a constant stream of Cubans coming through his office with anti-Castro schemes, including assassination plans, asking for American assistance in the form of weapons or guarantees of escaping. Kail stated: "We had hoards and hoards of people through there all the time." For that reason, he said, he did not specifically remember Veciana visiting him. "I think it would be a miracle if I could recall him," he said, but does not discount the possibility that he did meet him. Kail said, however, agents of the CIA would frequently use the names of other Embassy staff personnel in their outside contacts without notifying the staff individual it was being done. It happened a number of times he said that a Cuban would come in and ask to see Colonel Kail and when introduced to him, tell him that he was not the Colonel Kail he had met outside the Embassy. Kail said he would then have the Cuban point out the CIA agent who had used his name. Kail said he was not familiar with MAURICE BISHOP." Gaeton Fonzi believed that "Mr. Smith"might have been Wayne Smith, the third secretary at the American Embassy in Havana at the time Veciana claimed he met him there. Smith was a personal friend of PHILLIPS. DELORES CAO: WITNESS TO VECIANA/BISHOP ASSOCIATION Veciana told the HSCA that he had no way of getting in touch with BISHOP and that all meetings were instigated by BISHOP, a procedure BISHOP established early in their relationship. To set up a meeting, BISHOP would call Veciana by telephone, or, if Veciana was out of town, call a third person whom Veciana trusted, someone who always knew his location. Veciana said that this third person never met BISHOP but, "knew that BISHOP and I were partners in this fight because this person shared my anti-Communist feelings." Author Tony Summers found this intermediary. Her name was Delores Cao of Barrio Obrero, Puerto Rico. She was the wife of Sergio Arias. She had been Veciana's personal secretary at the Banco Financiero, where Veciana worked in Havana. Delores Cao left Cuba for Puerto Rico, where she became involved in anti-Castro activities. Veciana had recontacted her in Puerto Rico, and asked her to provide secretarial services, and to act as his answering service when he was out of town. She agreed, and in the months that followed she became familiar with the name of a man who called from the mainland. His name, she recalled, was BISHOP. Delores Cao also knew Victor Espinosa. Delores Cao mentioned that the name "Prewett" was associated with "MAURICE BISHOP." Journalist Virginia Prewett (died April 1988 at age 66) was a media asset of PHILLIPS. PHILLIPS admitted this to David Leigh. (In his offensive against Tony Summer's book, PHILLIPS had approached the Washington Post's Executive Editor, Ben Bradlee. Bradlee assigned David Leigh, an English exchange reporter, to look into the story). Virginia Prewett's columns were syndicated by North American Newspaper Alliance and she was a member of the Free Cuba Committee. [Fonzi, Last Inv. p319; HSCA OCR Remember Jack Ruby's correction of Henry Wade? I think it is a pretty safe bet that the D.A. Phillips - Maurice Bishop area, is the least mysterious for people on this Forum.... And I suppose it is no shock that once you wade through all of this the AFIO membership roster becomes even more interesting than it did before, which is really saying something. But what do I know.......lol And I am sure I will regret doing this but.....here's a quote that's thought provoking..... "I think it started in the wind. Money, arms, big-oil, Pentagon people, contractors, bankers, politicians like L.B.J. were committed to a war in Southeast Asia. As early as 61' they knew Kennedy was going to change things.....He was not going to war in Southeast Asia......Probably some boardroom or lunchroom somewhere-- Houston, New York-- hell, maybe Bonn, Germany Money is at stake. Big money. A hundred billion. The Kennedy brothers target voting districts for defense contracts. They give TFX fighter contracts only to the districts that are going to make a difference in 64'. These people fight back....' There is also an interesting Dallas news article from July 25, 1965 entitled Muscle, Readiness Shown by 49th Armored Division; by Eddie S Hughes [North Fort Hood, Texas] It was a proud 49th Armored Division that flexed its muscle of armor Saturday in the face of another world crisis. A National Guard outfit which proved itself during the Berlin crisis four years ago, the 49th paraded its awesome armored might during the divisions annual mounted review...... The divisions 149th Aviation Battalion, based in Grand Prairie, and commanded by Lt. Col. Norman Wilmeth, received the Gen. Clayton B. Kerr award as the outstanding battalion. The award is named after a former 49th Division commander who still lives in Dallas and was present for the review. Edited December 4, 2010 by Robert Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Cearfoss Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 And I am sure I will regret doing this but.....here's a quote that's thought provoking..... "I think it started in the wind. Money, arms, big-oil, Pentagon people, contractors, bankers, politicians like L.B.J. were committed to a war in Southeast Asia. As early as 61' they knew Kennedy was going to change things.....He was not going to war in Southeast Asia......Probably some boardroom or lunchroom somewhere-- Houston, New York-- hell, maybe Bonn, Germany Money is at stake. Big money. A hundred billion. The Kennedy brothers target voting districts for defense contracts. They give TFX fighter contracts only to the districts that are going to make a difference in 64'. These people fight back....' Robert: What is the source for this quote? Perhaps I overlooked it . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Howard Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 And I am sure I will regret doing this but.....here's a quote that's thought provoking..... "I think it started in the wind. Money, arms, big-oil, Pentagon people, contractors, bankers, politicians like L.B.J. were committed to a war in Southeast Asia. As early as 61' they knew Kennedy was going to change things.....He was not going to war in Southeast Asia......Probably some boardroom or lunchroom somewhere-- Houston, New York-- hell, maybe Bonn, Germany Money is at stake. Big money. A hundred billion. The Kennedy brothers target voting districts for defense contracts. They give TFX fighter contracts only to the districts that are going to make a difference in 64'. These people fight back....' Robert: What is the source for this quote? Perhaps I overlooked it . . . It is from the screenplay to the movie JFK, Donald Sutherland's Character Mr X, based on Fletcher Prouty..... With regards to the previous post, some of the names mentioned were no strangers to the Hilton Hotels, and one cannot mention Conrad Hilton, without perhaps thinking of Henry Crown, one can think of the two persons, without thinking of Del Webb, but that is a different story. Conrad Hilton and Henry Crown jointly, according to page 240, of Be My Guest, acquired the Waldorf Astoria on October, 12, 1949; the book was initially published in 1957. Additionally the Statler-Hilton which Richard Nixon visited in Dallas, late at night on November 21, 1963 was a Hilton possession, obviously I would say that I would not try to draw inferences in what I am posting, as if I were to make a statement regarding conspirators, I would have the chutzpah to do so, but I do believe the following is at least worth pointing out in all of this. Richard Nixon had a Hitlon Hotel connection with Marriana Liu See The Arrogance of Power I do not know if the following is 100% accurate, but it is interesting as well. In 1958 Vice President Richard M. Nixon was on a trip to Hong Kong. There he met a beautiful Chinese cocktail waitress named Marianna Liu. When Nixon’s term was up in 1961, he returned to Hong Kong in 1964, 1965, and 1966 to see Marianna Liu. On one night, Richard Nixon and his good friend Bebe Rebozo visited Marianna at The Den, the cocktail lounge where she was hostess. Later that night, Marianna visited Nixon and Rebozo to their hotel suite to have a drink or two. Nixon’s friendship with Marianna Liu was a bit of a special interest to investigators in Hong Kong. This is because Ms. Liu was suspected of being a Communist spy. The relationship became of greater interest when to these investigators when Nixon declared his candidacy for president in 1968. It was feared by them that when Nixon became president any recordings or photos of Nixon and Ms. Liu could be used as a way to blackmail the American President and people. Marianna immigrated to the United States in 1969. She chose to live in Whittier, California, Richard Nixon’s hometown. After she became a citizen, she visited Richard Nixon twice at the White House. Their relationship ended soon after their second visit, because as a source states, Pat Nixon was “on to it.” Did Richard Nixon have an affair, or were he and Marianna Liu just good friends. We will never know, because Nixon did not record his alleged affair on tapes. Home/Archive/Documents/JFK Assassination Documents/JFK Documents - Central Intelligence Agency/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm)/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 47: MEXI and DIR Cables)/ NARA Record Number: 104-10527-10010 Subjects: PEREZ B WAVE 7525 CABLE: CASE OFFICER AND AMLEO/2 ARRIVED ON SCHEDULE AND REGISTERED HILTON AS PLANNED [Excerpt October 17, 1963] http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=46304 1. CABLE: CASE OFFICER AND AMLEO/2 ARRIVED ON SCHEDULE AND REGISTERED HILTON AS PLANNED. UNDER PROTECTIVE SURVEILLANCE MARVIN A CABOT AND LIFIRES FROM AIRPORT. 2. A/3 APPARENTLY REGARDS THIS AS LAST CHANGE AND DETERMINED TO HANDLE OWN WAY, WHILE APPRECIATIVE KUBARK ASSISTANCE APPEARS WILL BROOK NO INTERFERENCE HIS PLANS. THUS REFUSED LEAVE HOTEL FOR SAFEHOUSE AS WISHED AVOID UNUSUAL ACTIONS WHICH MIGHT PREJUDICE SUCCESS HIS MISSION....... The document referenced above references “Vasco de Quiroga, a billet nearby; said locale is near Mexico City, which would presuppose that this was the Hilton Hotel in Mexico. The document also states ALL CONCERNED AGREE NO MONEY TO BE PASSED WITHOUT HQ CONCURRENCE..... agent defector extraction operation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Howard Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 And I am sure I will regret doing this but.....here's a quote that's thought provoking..... "I think it started in the wind. Money, arms, big-oil, Pentagon people, contractors, bankers, politicians like L.B.J. were committed to a war in Southeast Asia. As early as 61' they knew Kennedy was going to change things.....He was not going to war in Southeast Asia......Probably some boardroom or lunchroom somewhere-- Houston, New York-- hell, maybe Bonn, Germany Money is at stake. Big money. A hundred billion. The Kennedy brothers target voting districts for defense contracts. They give TFX fighter contracts only to the districts that are going to make a difference in 64'. These people fight back....' Robert: What is the source for this quote? Perhaps I overlooked it . . . It is from the screenplay to the movie JFK, Donald Sutherland's Character Mr X, based on Fletcher Prouty..... With regards to the previous post, some of the names mentioned were no strangers to the Hilton Hotels, and one cannot mention Conrad Hilton, without perhaps thinking of Henry Crown, one can think of the two persons, without thinking of Del Webb, but that is a different story. Conrad Hilton and Henry Crown jointly, according to page 240, of Be My Guest, acquired the Waldorf Astoria on October, 12, 1949; the book was initially published in 1957. Additionally the Statler-Hilton which Richard Nixon visited in Dallas, late at night on November 21, 1963 was a Hilton possession, obviously I would say that I would not try to draw inferences in what I am posting, as if I were to make a statement regarding conspirators, I would have the chutzpah to do so, but I do believe the following is at least worth pointing out in all of this. Richard Nixon had a Hitlon Hotel connection with Marriana Liu See The Arrogance of Power I do not know if the following is 100% accurate, but it is interesting as well. In 1958 Vice President Richard M. Nixon was on a trip to Hong Kong. There he met a beautiful Chinese cocktail waitress named Marianna Liu. When Nixon's term was up in 1961, he returned to Hong Kong in 1964, 1965, and 1966 to see Marianna Liu. On one night, Richard Nixon and his good friend Bebe Rebozo visited Marianna at The Den, the cocktail lounge where she was hostess. Later that night, Marianna visited Nixon and Rebozo to their hotel suite to have a drink or two. Nixon's friendship with Marianna Liu was a bit of a special interest to investigators in Hong Kong. This is because Ms. Liu was suspected of being a Communist spy. The relationship became of greater interest when to these investigators when Nixon declared his candidacy for president in 1968. It was feared by them that when Nixon became president any recordings or photos of Nixon and Ms. Liu could be used as a way to blackmail the American President and people. Marianna immigrated to the United States in 1969. She chose to live in Whittier, California, Richard Nixon's hometown. After she became a citizen, she visited Richard Nixon twice at the White House. Their relationship ended soon after their second visit, because as a source states, Pat Nixon was "on to it." Did Richard Nixon have an affair, or were he and Marianna Liu just good friends. We will never know, because Nixon did not record his alleged affair on tapes. Home/Archive/Documents/JFK Assassination Documents/JFK Documents - Central Intelligence Agency/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm)/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 47: MEXI and DIR Cables)/ NARA Record Number: 104-10527-10010 Subjects: PEREZ B WAVE 7525 CABLE: CASE OFFICER AND AMLEO/2 ARRIVED ON SCHEDULE AND REGISTERED HILTON AS PLANNED [Excerpt October 17, 1963] http://www.maryferre....do?docId=46304 1. CABLE: CASE OFFICER AND AMLEO/2 ARRIVED ON SCHEDULE AND REGISTERED HILTON AS PLANNED. UNDER PROTECTIVE SURVEILLANCE MARVIN A CABOT AND LIFIRES FROM AIRPORT. 2. A/3 APPARENTLY REGARDS THIS AS LAST CHANGE AND DETERMINED TO HANDLE OWN WAY, WHILE APPRECIATIVE KUBARK ASSISTANCE APPEARS WILL BROOK NO INTERFERENCE HIS PLANS. THUS REFUSED LEAVE HOTEL FOR SAFEHOUSE AS WISHED AVOID UNUSUAL ACTIONS WHICH MIGHT PREJUDICE SUCCESS HIS MISSION....... The document referenced above references "Vasco de Quiroga, a billet nearby; said locale is near Mexico City, which would presuppose that this was the Hilton Hotel in Mexico. The document also states ALL CONCERNED AGREE NO MONEY TO BE PASSED WITHOUT HQ CONCURRENCE..... agent defector extraction operation? Irrespective of what "it," the Perez, in question seems to bring everything full-circle, and buttresses my belief that the document is an important one. Why? Orestes Guillermo RUIZ Perez, was employed in the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City. he was the cousin-in-law of Antonio Veciana......Everybody paying attention Home/Archive/Documents/JFK Assassination Documents/JFK Documents - Central Intelligence Agency/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm)/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 17: Ruiz - Webster)/ NARA Record Number: 104-10181-10305 PEREZ, GUILLEMO http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=67648 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tom Scully Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 (edited) The odds are at least even that Frank is alive, 99 years of age as of last 2nd of August.... He was alive to appeal a default judgment in 2005 in a Texas court, and won an appeal of that judgment in 2007, although it is possible he died in the interim. Frank's legal name is apparently Hubicki, and there is no SSDI record of his death with either the last name Brandstetter or Hubicki. James Crosby was tied to many people, including to the Bushes through their close Greenwich and Jupiter Island friend, Sam Pryor, Jr. Pryor's daughter married Lowell Thomas's son. Lowell was a principle in Mary Carter Paints. I read google book excerpts on Frank's book related to Henry Crown and Conrad Hilton more than a year ago, but I stopped when I read that Frank was no longer employed by Hilton. Bill Kelly's research confirms that I should have kept on reading about Frank. Good work, Bill! I found the description of the WWI German flying ace recognizing 16 years old Frank in NYC and calling out to him by his nickname, considering he had not laid eyes on Frank since he was 6 years old, contrived to say the least. http://books.google.com/books?id=QLdqgDsVio4C&pg=PA25&dq=our+man+in+acapulco+subway+nickname&hl=en&ei=-6P6TMGOJoP88Abuw8HBCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falseBrandy, our man in Acapulco: the life and times of Colonel Frank ... - Page 25 Rodney P. Carlisle, Dominic J. Monetta - 1999 - 377 pages - Preview One cold evening that winter, while heading for the subway, he heard a voice call out, "Muky!" He had not heard the nickname for ten years. He turned to see a well-dressed gentleman speaking German, asking whether Frank was the son of .... http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_von_Brandstetter&ei=bJr6TPysJYKglAfMq9XLDA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCsQ7gEwAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DBrandstetter%2Bbrisas%2Bcrosby%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26prmd%3DivMarianne von Brandstetter Spouse (s) Frank Baron von Brandstetter Hubicki (divorced), James Crosby (widow) Marianne Porzella born in Wroclaw in Poland on 8 February 1936 , Swiss citizen, is a celebrity and philanthropist who participated in many television after committing his autobiography Baroness Flammarion in 2002 . She also starred in two films, People (2004) and Carla Rubens (2005). ... ...At 16, she did an apprenticeship as a beautician and graduated at 18. She then moved to Geneva. After a first marriage (which she won the Swiss national) which will last two years and which will have a son, John, she met during a tournament Backgammon Baron von Frank Brandstetter Hubicki. Public relations manager of the legendary hotel " Las Brisas "he also owns one of the most beautiful villas of Acapulco , Casa de la tranquilidad ", where he received the jet set for parties and dinners in the world famous wide. She marries him after a year of living together. Marianne housewife cotoie celebs, singers, writers, painters, politicians of the late 1970's . Acapulco then being the resort of the jet Society... ..After a stormy divorce, she maintains, and the name and the title of her former husband and moved with billionaire James Crosby. It is one of the richest men in the United States . Met in Monte Carlo James Crosby owns a national chain of hotels in the USA and Casino Resorts International (Paradise Island in the Bahamas , and several hotels-casinos in Atlantic City with Taj Mahal Casino and several abroad, including one in Monaco and Switzerland ).... ...She lived between an apartment of 400 sqm in the Imperial House Building in New York and Atlantic City and a villa on the private island of Paradise Island, Bahamas. She made regular trips to Paris in the Concorde for shopping, not moving by helicopter between the various residences of Crosby and collects jewelry and designer clothes, she only has to serve in the Top hotels from the group until her husband James Crosby became seriously ill. She will nurse until his death and his dedication will make the whole family will adopt Crosby and appreciated for its value, his nobility of heart. He bequeathed a small part of his fortune after his death in 1987 . From Marianne is estimated at 200 million dollars and becomes also owns 24% stake in the group, it will sell a few years later Donald Trump (his ex-wife Ivana Trump is also one of his best friends ). Today, she organizes charity galas mainly for humanitarian causes. She currently lives in a suite of Monaco Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel where she is renting for $ 15 000 monthly this year or not. USA in a loft in New York overlooking Central Park and an apartment in one of the most lavish condominiums Miami Beach (the Portofino Tower ) and a cottage Switzerland a few months a year. ... http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/historical/2007/jun/050357.htmIN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS ════════════ No. 05-0357 ════════════ Frank Maryan Brandstetter Hubicki, Petitioner v. Festina, A Liechtenstein Foundation, Respondent Edited December 4, 2010 by Tom Scully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted December 4, 2010 Author Share Posted December 4, 2010 Tom, That's pretty incredible. Col. Brandy's wife was also married to James Crosby of Resorts International? She's another addition to my ever expanding Pulp Non-Fiction Dames of Dealey Plaza. Can we get a picture of her? And besides Brandy, I think his pal Manuel Ray is also still alive and well. And didn't Ray found JURE, the group that Sylvia Odio's dad was affiliated with when he was arrested for trying to kill Castro? BK The odds are at least even that Frank is alive, 99 years of age as of last 2nd of August.... He was alive to appeal a default judgment in 2005 in a Texas court, and won an appeal of that judgment in 2007, although it is possible he died in the interim. Frank's legal name is apparently Hubicki, and there is no SSDI record of his death with either the last name Brandstetter or Hubicki. James Crosby was tied to many people, including to the Bushes through their close Greenwich and Jupiter Island friend, Sam Pryor, Jr. Pryor's daughter married Lowell Thomas's son. Lowell was a principle in Mary Carter Paints. I read google book excerpts on Frank's book related to Henry Crown and Conrad Hilton more than a year ago, but I stopped when I read that Frank was no longer employed by Hilton. Bill Kelly's research confirms that I should have kept on reading about Frank. Good work, Bill! I found the description of the WWI German flying ace recognizing 16 years old Frank in NYC and calling out to him by his nickname, considering he had not laid eyes on Frank since he was 6 years old, contrived to say the least. http://books.google....epage&q&f=falseBrandy, our man in Acapulco: the life and times of Colonel Frank ... - Page 25 Rodney P. Carlisle, Dominic J. Monetta - 1999 - 377 pages - Preview One cold evening that winter, while heading for the subway, he heard a voice call out, "Muky!" He had not heard the nickname for ten years. He turned to see a well-dressed gentleman speaking German, asking whether Frank was the son of .... http://translate.goo...off%26prmd%3DivMarianne von Brandstetter Spouse (s) Frank Baron von Brandstetter Hubicki (divorced), James Crosby (widow) Marianne Porzella born in Wroclaw in Poland on 8 February 1936 , Swiss citizen, is a celebrity and philanthropist who participated in many television after committing his autobiography Baroness Flammarion in 2002 . She also starred in two films, People (2004) and Carla Rubens (2005). ... ...At 16, she did an apprenticeship as a beautician and graduated at 18. She then moved to Geneva. After a first marriage (which she won the Swiss national) which will last two years and which will have a son, John, she met during a tournament Backgammon Baron von Frank Brandstetter Hubicki. Public relations manager of the legendary hotel " Las Brisas "he also owns one of the most beautiful villas of Acapulco , Casa de la tranquilidad ", where he received the jet set for parties and dinners in the world famous wide. She marries him after a year of living together. Marianne housewife cotoie celebs, singers, writers, painters, politicians of the late 1970's . Acapulco then being the resort of the jet Society... ..After a stormy divorce, she maintains, and the name and the title of her former husband and moved with billionaire James Crosby. It is one of the richest men in the United States . Met in Monte Carlo James Crosby owns a national chain of hotels in the USA and Casino Resorts International (Paradise Island in the Bahamas , and several hotels-casinos in Atlantic City with Taj Mahal Casino and several abroad, including one in Monaco and Switzerland ).... ...She lived between an apartment of 400 sqm in the Imperial House Building in New York and Atlantic City and a villa on the private island of Paradise Island, Bahamas. She made regular trips to Paris in the Concorde for shopping, not moving by helicopter between the various residences of Crosby and collects jewelry and designer clothes, she only has to serve in the Top hotels from the group until her husband James Crosby became seriously ill. She will nurse until his death and his dedication will make the whole family will adopt Crosby and appreciated for its value, his nobility of heart. He bequeathed a small part of his fortune after his death in 1987 . From Marianne is estimated at 200 million dollars and becomes also owns 24% stake in the group, it will sell a few years later Donald Trump (his ex-wife Ivana Trump is also one of his best friends ). Today, she organizes charity galas mainly for humanitarian causes. She currently lives in a suite of Monaco Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel where she is renting for $ 15 000 monthly this year or not. USA in a loft in New York overlooking Central Park and an apartment in one of the most lavish condominiums Miami Beach (the Portofino Tower ) and a cottage Switzerland a few months a year. ... http://www.supreme.c.../jun/050357.htmIN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS ════════════ No. 05-0357 ════════════ Frank Maryan Brandstetter Hubicki, Petitioner v. Festina, A Liechtenstein Foundation, Respondent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Howard Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 Tom, That's pretty incredible. Col. Brandy's wife was also married to James Crosby of Resorts International? She's another addition to my ever expanding Pulp Non-Fiction Dames of Dealey Plaza. Can we get a picture of her? And besides Brandy, I think his pal Manuel Ray is also still alive and well. And didn't Ray found JURE, the group that Sylvia Odio's dad was affiliated with when he was arrested for trying to kill Castro? BK The odds are at least even that Frank is alive, 99 years of age as of last 2nd of August.... He was alive to appeal a default judgment in 2005 in a Texas court, and won an appeal of that judgment in 2007, although it is possible he died in the interim. Frank's legal name is apparently Hubicki, and there is no SSDI record of his death with either the last name Brandstetter or Hubicki. James Crosby was tied to many people, including to the Bushes through their close Greenwich and Jupiter Island friend, Sam Pryor, Jr. Pryor's daughter married Lowell Thomas's son. Lowell was a principle in Mary Carter Paints. I read google book excerpts on Frank's book related to Henry Crown and Conrad Hilton more than a year ago, but I stopped when I read that Frank was no longer employed by Hilton. Bill Kelly's research confirms that I should have kept on reading about Frank. Good work, Bill! I found the description of the WWI German flying ace recognizing 16 years old Frank in NYC and calling out to him by his nickname, considering he had not laid eyes on Frank since he was 6 years old, contrived to say the least. http://books.google....epage&q&f=falseBrandy, our man in Acapulco: the life and times of Colonel Frank ... - Page 25 Rodney P. Carlisle, Dominic J. Monetta - 1999 - 377 pages - Preview One cold evening that winter, while heading for the subway, he heard a voice call out, "Muky!" He had not heard the nickname for ten years. He turned to see a well-dressed gentleman speaking German, asking whether Frank was the son of .... http://translate.goo...off%26prmd%3DivMarianne von Brandstetter Spouse (s) Frank Baron von Brandstetter Hubicki (divorced), James Crosby (widow) Marianne Porzella born in Wroclaw in Poland on 8 February 1936 , Swiss citizen, is a celebrity and philanthropist who participated in many television after committing his autobiography Baroness Flammarion in 2002 . She also starred in two films, People (2004) and Carla Rubens (2005). ... ...At 16, she did an apprenticeship as a beautician and graduated at 18. She then moved to Geneva. After a first marriage (which she won the Swiss national) which will last two years and which will have a son, John, she met during a tournament Backgammon Baron von Frank Brandstetter Hubicki. Public relations manager of the legendary hotel " Las Brisas "he also owns one of the most beautiful villas of Acapulco , Casa de la tranquilidad ", where he received the jet set for parties and dinners in the world famous wide. She marries him after a year of living together. Marianne housewife cotoie celebs, singers, writers, painters, politicians of the late 1970's . Acapulco then being the resort of the jet Society... ..After a stormy divorce, she maintains, and the name and the title of her former husband and moved with billionaire James Crosby. It is one of the richest men in the United States . Met in Monte Carlo James Crosby owns a national chain of hotels in the USA and Casino Resorts International (Paradise Island in the Bahamas , and several hotels-casinos in Atlantic City with Taj Mahal Casino and several abroad, including one in Monaco and Switzerland ).... ...She lived between an apartment of 400 sqm in the Imperial House Building in New York and Atlantic City and a villa on the private island of Paradise Island, Bahamas. She made regular trips to Paris in the Concorde for shopping, not moving by helicopter between the various residences of Crosby and collects jewelry and designer clothes, she only has to serve in the Top hotels from the group until her husband James Crosby became seriously ill. She will nurse until his death and his dedication will make the whole family will adopt Crosby and appreciated for its value, his nobility of heart. He bequeathed a small part of his fortune after his death in 1987 . From Marianne is estimated at 200 million dollars and becomes also owns 24% stake in the group, it will sell a few years later Donald Trump (his ex-wife Ivana Trump is also one of his best friends ). Today, she organizes charity galas mainly for humanitarian causes. She currently lives in a suite of Monaco Fairmont Monte Carlo Hotel where she is renting for $ 15 000 monthly this year or not. USA in a loft in New York overlooking Central Park and an apartment in one of the most lavish condominiums Miami Beach (the Portofino Tower ) and a cottage Switzerland a few months a year. ... http://www.supreme.c.../jun/050357.htmIN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS ════════════ No. 05-0357 ════════════ Frank Maryan Brandstetter Hubicki, Petitioner v. Festina, A Liechtenstein Foundation, Respondent Regarding the name Crosby, there was an article years ago, that had Arthur Wyndham Allen Cowan, seated at a outdoor table with was it Bing Crosby and Ross Pringle.... Is there any genealogical relationship between James Crosby and Bing Crosby? Resorts International had Nixon/Rebozo connections all over it...... I'm not sure if anything below is anything besides minutiae see Hubicki versus Festina, A Lichenstein Foundation CASE NO 05-0357 In August 2003, Festina, a Liechtenstein Foundation, sued Hubicki for breach of contract and fraud. Festina alleged that it had agreed to loan Hubicki more than $2 million with the understanding that the loan would be repaid in part from the proceeds of Casa Tranquilidad, a house in a house in Acapulco that Hubicki owned, upon his death. It further alleged Hubicki had represented he would execute documents necessary to ensure that the proceeds of the sale of the house would be used to pay off the loan, but he refused to do so. Festina [407] claimed Hubicki's conduct was intentional, willful, and malicious, entitling Festina to unspecified punitive damages. Festina's petition alleged Hubicki had a "residence address" in Dallas, and that he could be served at Casa Tranquilidad in Mexico. After Festina made the loan, Hubicki "refused to execute any of the documents necessary to carry out his promises" with respect to the loan. Festina sued Hubicki, asserting causes of action for breach of contract and fraud. Festina alleged Hubicki's fraud was "intentional, willful and malicious," and sought punitive damages in addition to actual damages of $2,030,000 and its attorneys' fees. The petition alleged Hubicki's "residence address" was in Dallas, but Hubicki "may be served" at an address in Acapulco. Festina unsuccessfully attempted to serve Hubicki by certified mail in Mexico. Times Union, The (Albany, NY) - January 31, 2002 Deceased Name: HUBICKI , ANNA COLONIE -- Anna Hubicki, 86, of Maplewood, died Tuesday, January 29, 2002 at her home. Born in Troy, she was the daughter of the late Wasyl and Catherine Hubicki. She was a lifelong area resident and had worked with Montgomery Wards and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance before retiring. She was a member of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Troy and was a former member of St. Olga Society. Anna was the sister of Olga Hubicki of Maplewood, Eva Gatus of Waterford, Rose Gleason of Troy, and the late Mary Hems, John, Nicholas, Michael, Anthony and William Hubicki. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews. Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. from Wm. Leahy Funeral Home, 336 Third St., Troy and at 9:30 from St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Troy. Interment will be in St. Nicholas Cemetery in Troy. Relatives and friends are invited and may call on Friday from 4-8 p.m. at the funeral home. Parastas will be at 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home. For directions and guest book visit www.leahy-bocketti.com. Times Union, The (Albany, NY) - August 14, 2000 Deceased Name: HEMS, MARY HUBICKI LANSINGBURGH -- Mary Hubicki Hems, 89, of Third Avenue, died Sunday at Van Rensselaer Manor North Greenbush, after a long illness. Born in Troy, she was daughter of the late Wasyl and Katrina Kitsela Hubicki and wife of the late Raymond Hems. Survivors include three sons, William Hems, US Navy retired of NYC, Carlton Hems of Charlotte, NC and Ronald Hems of Manchester, CT; five daughters, Patricia Ann Father of Delmar, Mary Margaret Poland of Troy, Helen Marie Hems of Orient, NY, Elizabeth Ruth Frazier of Fairport and Barbara Jean Ellis of Heritage, VA; four sisters, Anne Hubicki of Maplewood, Eva Gatus of Halfmoon, Rose Gleason of Troy and Olga Hubicki of Maplewood; 19 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by two sons, Raymond and Harold Hems and five brothers, Michael, Anthony, John, William and Nicholas Hubicki. Funeral service will be private at the convenience of the family. There will be no calling hours. Interment, Memory's Garden in Colonie. Times Union, The (Albany, NY) Date: August 14, 2000 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) - July 18, 1997 Deceased Name: HUBICKI HUBICKI, Andrew P., 72, of Morningside, died July 15. McCabe Brothers Funeral Home, Bloomfield. (DN) Charlotte Observer, The (NC) - April 22, 1996 Deceased Name: Mr. Peter Hubicki Sr. 80, for merly of Danville, PA, passed away on Saturday, April 19, 1996, at Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, April 23, 1996, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Danville, PA. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at a later date at St. Peter's Catholic Church, 507 S. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC. Mr. Hubicki recently moved to Charlotte, where his son resides. He was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Danville, PA. He was married to the late Carmel Reeder Hubicki of Catawissa, PA, who preceded him in death in 1988. Mr. Hubicki is survived by a son, Peter M. Hubicki Jr., daughter-in-law, Wanda, and granddaughter, Kathryn, all of Charlotte, NC; a sister, Eva Holleran of Middletown, PA; and a brother, John, of Danville, PA. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to the Danville Senior Center, 580 West Mahoning Street, Danville, PA 17821. David J. Brady Funeral Home of Danville, PA, is in charge of arrangements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Kelly Posted December 4, 2010 Author Share Posted December 4, 2010 Bill. Just a silly question, did you ever read the book Our Man in Havana? I bought it, had it shipped to me overseas and fell asleep trying to read it. Catchy title though. http://www.amazon.co...y/dp/0140184937 Yes, Peter, Graham Greene's classic was made into a neat movie that was filmed on location in Havana shortly before Castro came to power, so it captures the feeling of the city at the time. It concerns an English shopkeeper (Alic Guinnes?) who is recruited to work for British Intelligence (MI6), but when he fails to develop any good information, he sends them the drawings of a vacume cleaner that is mistaken for some sort of important device decoder or weapon. Even when he comes clean and admits what he did, they recall him to London, but can't acknowledge they were so fooled, and give him a medal and place him in charge of training new agents. It's a fine farce, played deadpan straight like Dr. Strangelove. Col. Brandy's book reads very similar, especially in how he deals with the rebels - giving them Conrad Hilton's suite as a Command Post. That reminded me of how David Phillips delt with the rebel students who took over the Swan Island radio station. He broke out some beer and they had a party and forgot about the radio station. BK Colonel Wilmeth was associated years earlier with OFLAG-64 http://darbysrangers...od.com/id65.htm Two published works contain extensive accounts of the evacuation marches from Oflag 64, both to the east with the Soviets and to the west with the Germans: Howard Randolph Holder, Escape to Russia (Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 1994), and Clarence R. Meltesen, Roads To Liberation From Oflag 64 (San Francisco: Oflag 64 Press, 1990). Albert Kadler, Report on Stalag III-A, 15 February 1945, enclosure to Gepp to Barker, 22 March 1945, SHAEF G-1 Decimal File, "383.6," box 25, entry 6, RG 331, NA. MajGen Ray W. Barker to Chief of Staff, 17 February 1945, SHAEF G-1 Decimal File, "383.6," box 25, entry 6, RG 331, NA; and SHAEF G-1 to 12th Army Group, 6th Army Group, and COMZ, 21 April 1945, Message S-85780; British Military Attache' Berne to SHAEF G-1, 26 April 1945, Message MAS 0/807, SHAEF SGS Decimal File, "383.6," box 87, entry 1, RG 331, NA. Lt. Col. James D. Wilmeth, "Report on a Visit to Lublin, Poland, 27 February - 28 March also http://www.scribd.co...I-Working-Group www.usmccca.org/pdfs/hm_chevron.pdf Also related? http://www.therestor...om/wilmeth2.htm So you have this group of people..... Colonel Orlov [friend of DeMohernschildt] Colonel Dudley Wilmeth Colonel Howard Burris Colonel Samuel G. Kail Paul Bethel - Citizens Committee for a Free Cuba James Daniel - Executive Director - Citizens Committee for a Free Cuba [CD 49] Col Brandstetter "Brandy" honorary member Association of Former Intelligence Officers David Atlee Phillips Otto Otepka - Office of Security [was linked to Security File on Lee Oswald, allegedly did not get to read it?] more..... Found in: HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (microfilm - reel 53: Hemming - Lorenz) Reel 53, Folder C - SAMUEL G. KAIL RIF#: 1994.04.22.15:51:32:040005 (4/4/1961) CIA#: 80T01357A 14 April 1961 Chief/WH4/FI Chief Contact Division (Support) Military reports from Samuel G. Kail former Military attache to Cuba Attached are two reports Shirley Stetson E. M. Ashcraft http://www.maryferre....do?docId=55466 more...... BISHOP suggested to Antonio Veciana in 1960 that he go to the Embassy and contact a Mr. Smith and Sam Kail. Said Veciana: "MAURICE BISHOP suggested the names of these individuals because we needed specific weapons to carry out the jobs, and he told me that these were the people who could help me."Antonio Veciana was asked not to reveal BISHOP'S name to them. The HSCA ascertained that in 1960 there was a Colonel Samuel G. Kail at the American Embassy, Havana. The HSCA located Sam Kail, retired, and interviewed him in Dallas. Sam Kail, born June 7, 1915, was a West Point graduate who served as the Army Military Attache from June 3, 1958, until the day the American Embassy, Havana, closed on January 4, 1961. His primary mission as a Military Attache had been intelligence. Sam Kail assumed his unit was functioning for the CIA. He told the HSCA: "I suspect they pay our bills." In January 1963 he received the CIA's Legion of Merit Award. Kail said that prior to the American Embassy closing in Havana, there was a constant stream of Cubans coming through his office with anti-Castro schemes, including assassination plans, asking for American assistance in the form of weapons or guarantees of escaping. Kail stated: "We had hoards and hoards of people through there all the time." For that reason, he said, he did not specifically remember Veciana visiting him. "I think it would be a miracle if I could recall him," he said, but does not discount the possibility that he did meet him. Kail said, however, agents of the CIA would frequently use the names of other Embassy staff personnel in their outside contacts without notifying the staff individual it was being done. It happened a number of times he said that a Cuban would come in and ask to see Colonel Kail and when introduced to him, tell him that he was not the Colonel Kail he had met outside the Embassy. Kail said he would then have the Cuban point out the CIA agent who had used his name. Kail said he was not familiar with MAURICE BISHOP." Gaeton Fonzi believed that "Mr. Smith"might have been Wayne Smith, the third secretary at the American Embassy in Havana at the time Veciana claimed he met him there. Smith was a personal friend of PHILLIPS. DELORES CAO: WITNESS TO VECIANA/BISHOP ASSOCIATION Veciana told the HSCA that he had no way of getting in touch with BISHOP and that all meetings were instigated by BISHOP, a procedure BISHOP established early in their relationship. To set up a meeting, BISHOP would call Veciana by telephone, or, if Veciana was out of town, call a third person whom Veciana trusted, someone who always knew his location. Veciana said that this third person never met BISHOP but, "knew that BISHOP and I were partners in this fight because this person shared my anti-Communist feelings." Author Tony Summers found this intermediary. Her name was Delores Cao of Barrio Obrero, Puerto Rico. She was the wife of Sergio Arias. She had been Veciana's personal secretary at the Banco Financiero, where Veciana worked in Havana. Delores Cao left Cuba for Puerto Rico, where she became involved in anti-Castro activities. Veciana had recontacted her in Puerto Rico, and asked her to provide secretarial services, and to act as his answering service when he was out of town. She agreed, and in the months that followed she became familiar with the name of a man who called from the mainland. His name, she recalled, was BISHOP. Delores Cao also knew Victor Espinosa. Delores Cao mentioned that the name "Prewett" was associated with "MAURICE BISHOP." Journalist Virginia Prewett (died April 1988 at age 66) was a media asset of PHILLIPS. PHILLIPS admitted this to David Leigh. (In his offensive against Tony Summer's book, PHILLIPS had approached the Washington Post's Executive Editor, Ben Bradlee. Bradlee assigned David Leigh, an English exchange reporter, to look into the story). Virginia Prewett's columns were syndicated by North American Newspaper Alliance and she was a member of the Free Cuba Committee. [Fonzi, Last Inv. p319; HSCA OCR Remember Jack Ruby's correction of Henry Wade? I think it is a pretty safe bet that the D.A. Phillips - Maurice Bishop area, is the least mysterious for people on this Forum.... And I suppose it is no shock that once you wade through all of this the AFIO membership roster becomes even more interesting than it did before, which is really saying something. But what do I know.......lol And I am sure I will regret doing this but.....here's a quote that's thought provoking..... "I think it started in the wind. Money, arms, big-oil, Pentagon people, contractors, bankers, politicians like L.B.J. were committed to a war in Southeast Asia. As early as 61' they knew Kennedy was going to change things.....He was not going to war in Southeast Asia......Probably some boardroom or lunchroom somewhere-- Houston, New York-- hell, maybe Bonn, Germany Money is at stake. Big money. A hundred billion. The Kennedy brothers target voting districts for defense contracts. They give TFX fighter contracts only to the districts that are going to make a difference in 64'. These people fight back....' There is also an interesting Dallas news article from July 25, 1965 entitled Muscle, Readiness Shown by 49th Armored Division; by Eddie S Hughes [North Fort Hood, Texas] It was a proud 49th Armored Division that flexed its muscle of armor Saturday in the face of another world crisis. A National Guard outfit which proved itself during the Berlin crisis four years ago, the 49th paraded its awesome armored might during the divisions annual mounted review...... The divisions 149th Aviation Battalion, based in Grand Prairie, and commanded by Lt. Col. Norman Wilmeth, received the Gen. Clayton B. Kerr award as the outstanding battalion. The award is named after a former 49th Division commander who still lives in Dallas and was present for the review. Thanks for that one Robert, I think I might have to start a file on just Colonels, just to keep track of them. BK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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