Jack Alston Crichton

[Steve Thomas]

On 4/15/2006 at 12:43 AM, John Simkin said:

Thought Jack Alston Crichton deserved his own thread.

Squadron CO's
Left to Right: Howard C. Todt (839th), John W. Hammett (837th), Major Jack A. Crichton (Group Intelligence Officer), Francis C. Eberhart (838th), Lyndall J Avery (836th)
(photo provided Jack Crichton through Ivo de Jong)

http://www.487thbg.org/Photos/SquadronCOs.shtml

487th Bomb Group (H)

Station 137 - Lavenham, Suffolk, UK

22-Sep-43 to 7-Nov-45

http://www.487thbg.org/roster/487thRosterIntro.shtml

 

Steve Thomas

 

[Steve Thomas]

On 4/9/2018 at 10:04 AM, Steve Thomas said:

 

 

George Bouhe was Lewis McNaughton's personal accountant for nine years.

See his WC testimony.

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/bouhe.htm

Mr. BOUHE - "For 9 1/2 years I was employed as a personal accountant of a very prominent Dallas geologist, and probably capitalist if you want to say it, Lewis W, MacNaughton, senior chairman of the board of the well-known geological and engineering firm of DeGolyer & MacNaughton, but I was MacNaughton's personal employee."

 

Steve Thomas

Edited December 13, 2019 by Steve Thomas

[Tom Hume]

Hi Steve,

According to the Spartacus article on Jack Crichton, “In an interview Crichton claimed that there were ‘about a hundred men in that [488th Military Intelligence] unit and about forty or fifty of them were from the Dallas Police Department.'”

It might be instructive to know who those forty or fifty policemen were. Do you know if such a list has ever been compiled?

Edited April 9, 2018 by Tom Hume

[Steve Thomas]

7 minutes ago, Tom Hume said:

Hi Steve,

According to the Spartacus article on Jack Crichton, “In an interview Crichton claimed that there were ‘about a hundred men in that [488th Military Intelligence] unit and about forty or fifty of them were from the Dallas Police Department.'”

It might be instructive to know who those forty or fifty policemen were. Do you know if such a list has ever been compiled?

Tom,

 

I spoke to a former Colonel of a real live Military Intelligence Detachment.

When I floated this idea of Crichton's "100 man" 488th, he snorted.

He told me that what I was describing was a social club, not an MID.

Real Military Intelligence Detachments consisted of no more than 9 men.

This idea of a 100 man Intelligence Unit, of which 40-50 were members of the Dallas Police Force grew out out of an oral interview that Crichton gave to the Sixth Floor Museum.

That oral interview is no longer available.

There were members of the Dallas Police Force who were active in the Army Reserves who were Intelligence officers (like Lumpkin), and who knew each other, but whether they were part of "Crichton's group" is seriously open to question in my mind.

You can read through the Forum thread entitled, Revolt of the Colonels?, if you're interested.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/23478-revolt-of-the-colonels/

 

Steve Thomas

 

[Paul Brancato]

On 4/9/2018 at 10:37 AM, Steve Thomas said:

Tom,

 

I spoke to a former Colonel of a real live Military Intelligence Detachment.

When I floated this idea of Crichton's "100 man" 488th, he snorted.

He told me that what I was describing was a social club, not an MID.

Real Military Intelligence Detachments consisted of no more than 9 men.

This idea of a 100 man Intelligence Unit, of which 40-50 were members of the Dallas Police Force grew out out of an oral interview that Crichton gave to the Sixth Floor Museum.

That oral interview is no longer available.

There were members of the Dallas Police Force who were active in the Army Reserves who were Intelligence officers (like Lumpkin), and who knew each other, but whether they were part of "Crichton's group" is seriously open to question in my mind.

You can read through the Forum thread entitled, Revolt of the Colonels?, if you're interested.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/23478-revolt-of-the-colonels/

 

Steve Thomas

 

Steve - given the mystery surrounding the 488th I’d put more faith in Crichton’s oral interview than in your interview with a former colonel, whose comment to you seems quite dismissive and glib. 

As you know I’ve read your thread ‘Revolt of the colonels’ and posted on it several times. It was your thread that clued me into Colonel Frank M. Brandstetter. Reviewing his life always brings fresh revelations. Before he joined Crichton’s 488th he worked for ACSI - Army Chief of Staff Intelligence out of the Pentagon. His relationship with ACSI continues for 18 years. He was hired by Hilton to oversee the Havana Hilton, and moved there in early 1958. It was in Havana that he became friendly with Phillipe de Vosjoli, head of SDECE, French Intelligence in the US, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and the Caribbean. He moved to Acapulco Mexico in 1959 to manage Hilton’s Las Brisas property there, and shortly after that was approached by Bronfman to head Seagram’s Mexico. Recall that the Bronfman family lawyer was Mortimer Bloomfield, of Permindex fame. 

On November 2, 1963, De Vosjoli, who had defected from SDECE earlier that month, presumably because he thought they were riddled with KGB agents ( think Angleton and Golitsyn) - he was staunchly anti-Communist - fled the US and joined Brandstetter in Mexico. Hmm. I read in Fensterwald’s essay and FOIA request which you posted a few times, one on the new OAS thread, that Vosjoli was sympathetic with OAS. 

Among Brandstetter’s friends appears the name Gordon McClendon, apparently one of Ruby’s closest, according to Ruby himself. They both  joined with David Phillips in 1975 in creating the Association of Former Intelligence Officers.

as for Jack Crichton, good to remember that among his many roles he was the Director of the H.L. Hunt Foundation. That should tell us a bit about his political leanings. I think there is a lot still hidden about him.

[Steve Thomas]

1 hour ago, Paul Brancato said:

Steve - given the mystery surrounding the 488th I’d put more faith in Crichton’s oral interview than in your interview with a former colonel, whose comment to you seems quite dismissive and glib.

Paul,

 

The person I mentioned was dismissive of Crichton's 488th. When he talked about it being a "social club", it was more along the lines of a VFW or an American Legion, or the Military Order of World Wars.  I put a lot more faith in him than I do Crichton. I spent a lot of time trying to track this "unit" down. I could not find any trace of it in any chain of command I ever looked at. I've asked before if anyone could tell me to what company, regiment, or division it belonged. No one can tell me. As far as I am concerned, it only existed in Crichton's mind.

 

Steve Thomas

[Paul Brancato]

We can disagree on this. Crichton was a man with many connections and talents. The fact that you can't find official corroboration to me means it's shrouded in secrecy. Your info on Brandstetter, said to be part of the same unit, led me to lots of discoveries. There is so much circumstantial evidence of ties between OAS and American right wing. Surely you don't get to be head of the HL Hunt foundation without right wing credentials. Peter Dale Scott, whose research I trust, is keen on Crichton. Maybe he has some documentation on the 488th. He is probably the source for most of this. Do you have his books? I'll give a look when I have time. 

[Paul Brancato]

The PD Scott book I have at hand refers to two documents. If you know how to look up WC documents it's WCD 386, SS 1058. The other is 9 WH 106. Not sure what WH stands for. The 488th is not specifically mentioned in this book Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. But Army Intelligence Reserve, and local Army Intelligence Unit, are.

In Dallas '63 he also quotes Our Man in Acapulco, where the unit is called 488th Strategic Intelligence Team

Edited April 13, 2018 by Paul Brancato

[Steve Thomas]

7 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

The PD Scott book I have at hand refers to two documents. If you know how to look up WC documents it's WCD 386, SS 1058. The other is 9 WH 106. Not sure what WH stands for. The 488th is not specifically mentioned in this book Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. But Army Intelligence Reserve, and local Army Intelligence Unit, are.

In Dallas '63 he also quotes Our Man in Acapulco, where the unit is called 488th Strategic Intelligence Team

Paul,

 

Drop the W. It's just 9H106.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=43#relPageId=114&tab=page

 

Let me put it this way. In his capacity as "Head of a Local Intelligence Unit", who did Crichton report to?

 

Steve Thomas

[Paul Brancato]

Steve - I don’t know. I appreciate your efforts to find documentation. I hope you weren’t insulted when I said I would trust the oral history more than the statement from the Intel officer you interviewed. There are many references on this thread to Crichton’s long service as a member and founder of this unit. It’s even in his obituary. I recall from reading in your thread Revolt of the Colonels that you were unable to fully document the 488th and the connection to Whitmeyer. What do you think is the reason?

[Steve Thomas]

51 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Steve - I don’t know. I appreciate your efforts to find documentation. I hope you weren’t insulted when I said I would trust the oral history more than the statement from the Intel officer you interviewed. There are many references on this thread to Crichton’s long service as a member and founder of this unit. It’s even in his obituary. I recall from reading in your thread Revolt of the Colonels that you were unable to fully document the 488th and the connection to Whitmeyer. What do you think is the reason?

Paul,

 

Sorry. I just get frustrated with the same second-hand and third-hand references repeated over and over. As far as who Crichton reported to, many people say he reported to George Whitmeyer, but Whitmeyer was defined as:

DallasMorning News 11-16-1965
"Lt. Col. George L. Whitmeyer, deputy East Texas sector commander said the same units were listed more than a month ago..."


Whitmeyer is referred to in combined Batchelor, Lumpkin, and Stevenson, report to Curry as, “ Lt. Colonel George Whitmeyer, U.S. Army, Dallas Sub-section Commander.”
DPD Archives Box 14, Folder# 14, Item# 10 p. 20.
http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box14.htm



On April 22, 1964 Police Chief, Jesse Curry told the Warren Commission, “I had Deputy Chief Lumpkin, and he had two Secret Service men with him, I believe, out of Washington, and a Colonel Wiedemeyer who is the East Texas Section Commander of the Army Reserve in the area, he was with him.
Testimony of Jesse Curry. Warren Commission Hearings and Exhibits, volume IV, p. 170, as cited in the History Matters Archive, http://history-matte..._Vol4_0089b.htm

 

The thing is, there is no such job title in the U.S. Army, or Army Reserve chain of command. So what was he the "Commander" of?

The only time I've seen these kind of references is the head of a VFW Post, and the head of a regional Military Order of World Wars organization.

 

Crichton has been referred to as the founder and head of the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment. As you pointed out, this unit was also called the 488th Strategic Intelligence Team.

So what exactly was it? If a person can't identify what it was, how can you trust it had 100 members, 40 or 50 of which were members of the Dallas Police Department?

 

As far as the military intelligence officer I referred to, he and I corresponded for about a year. He's not part of the JFK Assassination research community, so I kept him out of it.

 

Steve Thomas

[Paul Brancato]

Steve - I feel your frustration. Something is obscured. But can we agree there is good reason to be interested in Army Intelligence and the men named, like Crichton, Whitmeyer, Brandstetter, Lumpkin? 

[Steve Thomas]

32 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Steve - I feel your frustration. Something is obscured. But can we agree there is good reason to be interested in Army Intelligence and the men named, like Crichton, Whitmeyer, Brandstetter, Lumpkin? 

Paul,

 

Yes, I think there is good reason.

 

The one area I haven't been able to explore are the records of the Texas Military Department.

https://tmd.texas.gov/state-guard

"The Texas Military Department is composed of the three branches of the military in the state of Texas. These branches are the Texas Army National Guard, the Texas Air National Guard, and the Texas State Guard. All three branches are administered by the state Adjutant General, an appointee of the Governor of Texas, and fall under the command of the Governor."

 

Their records are stored at the Texas National Archives at the State Library in Austin.

 

This would make a good research project for a grad student history major I think.

 

Steve Thomas

[Tom Hume]

Hi Steve,

My guess is that you're not going find information about the 488th, an Army Reserve outfit, by searching Texas National Guard records. Have you tried the 90th Military History Detachment (GEN Richard G. Stilwell United States Army Reserve Center, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas)?

The unit has a “B” in its name (90th MHD-B), which supposedly means that there are three people (Military Historians) to hopefully help you: a Major (0-4), and two NCOs (Normally an E-7 and an E-6).

New Topic: Even though I thought it was a good read, there’s a lack of documentation in the series of posts linked below about Lt Col John Alston “Jack” Crichton. The author, “nonsqtr”, claims that Crichton reported directly to the President.

http://thepoliticsforums.com/threads/40077-here-are-the-people-who-killed-Kennedy

Tom
 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Tom Hume

[Paul Brancato]

On 4/14/2018 at 2:23 PM, Tom Hume said:

Hi Steve,

My guess is that you're not going find information about the 488th, an Army Reserve outfit, by searching Texas National Guard records. Have you tried the 90th Military History Detachment (GEN Richard G. Stilwell United States Army Reserve Center, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas)?

The unit has a “B” in its name (90th MHD-B), which supposedly means that there are three people (Military Historians) to hopefully help you: a Major (0-4), and two NCOs (Normally an E-7 and an E-6).

New Topic: Even though I thought it was a good read, there’s a lack of documentation in the series of posts linked below about Lt Col John Alston “Jack” Crichton. The author, “nonsqtr”, claims that Crichton reported directly to the President.

http://thepoliticsforums.com/threads/40077-here-are-the-people-who-killed-Kennedy

Tom
 

Tom - Interesting link. I think it’s curious that Colonel Frank M Brandstetter, who apparently was in the same 488th Army Intelligence Detachment, reported to ACSI - Assistent Chief of Staff Intelligence (Army), for 18 years. Even though your link is not well sourced the info about Pegasus is curious. There is not a lot about it available on the internet. Maybe there are hidden chains of command within the military.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Paul Brancato