Larry Hancock

Thank you Sir, I will definitely try to call him on Tuesday.  While I'm of course interested in the Essex,  I would very much like to hear what his brother says about what the Independence was doing during the Bay of Pigs landings.  I have some leads on it but its something that was totally avoided in all the inquiries.

Do you know if his brother is still living?

No, until he mentioned it yesterday I did not know his brother was on the Independence. Rothstein handled the wrench in pulling up the bodies of some of those killed in the invasion who were then put in containers and lowered into in the Essex. He was present when the Captain came out and said he had just got a call from President Kennedy who told him to cease all hostile operations. When he arrested Frank Sturgis who had come to kill Marita Lorenz in 1976 he and Sturgis sort of bonded once Sturgis realized Rothstein was on the Essex during the invasion and they talked for two hours before Sturgis was booked. Sturgis must have told him things of interest about the invasion. Castro agreed later for Rothstein to come to Cuba via Mexico to reclaim the bodies of 8 who had been killed in the invasion to bring them back to the U.S. Because of his age this may be the last time he is able to tell what he knows.

Doug

I just got off the phone with him after almost an hour and it was very valuable information.  Thanks much for the introduction!! 

The one thing I really could not get clear on was how he had identified the two large bombs as atomic weapons, I didn't want to pester him too much about that - did he elaborate on that to you?  He could not recall any special markings - which is pretty unusual for anything with radioactive material, much less an actual weapon.  I just didn't want to be a pest about it, he did say they were larger and heavier than the other bombs but that was about it.