Belle Chasse Training Camp

[William Kelly]

In response to the Garrison's investigation claim that the Houma Arms Cache and Lake Pontchartain training camp were official CIA operations, the CIA checked its own records, and concluded that neither the Houma Arms Cache nor the Lake Pontchartrain MDC training camp were official CIA operations.

Another training camp however, at Belle Chase Naval base, ten miles from New Orleans, that had avoided previous publicity, had also been mentioned in print for the first time during the Garrision investigation, and was indeed an officially CIA sanctioned training camp.

In response to Garrison's allegations, four days before his Halloween birthday, David Atlee Phillips wrote a memo on the subject that explains the security surrounding the operation, which concluded on April 21, 1961, four days after the Bay of Pigs.

The base was used to train some 300 Cuban commandos in underwater demolition, and despite all the security precautions taken, Orlando Piedra, a former Batista policeman, recognized the Cubans at the airport and took down their transport license number.

In his memo, Phillips notes that they can't locate a copy of the lists of Cubans who were trained at the base, though they would keep on looking.

If there is a list I haven't found it.

BK

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2

Edited May 24, 2009 by William Kelly

[Thomas H. Purvis]

In response to the Garrison's investigation claim that the Houma Arms Cache and Lake Pontchartain training camp were official CIA operations, the CIA checked its own records, and concluded that neither the Houma Arms Cache nor the Lake Pontchartrain MDC training camp were official CIA operations.

Another training camp however, at Belle Chase Naval base, ten miles from New Orleans, that had avoided previous publicity, had also been mentioned in print for the first time during the Garrision investigation, and was indeed an officially CIA sanctioned training camp.

In response to Garrison's allegations, four days before his Halloween birthday, David Atlee Phillips wrote a memo on the subject that explains the security surrounding the operation, which concluded on April 21, 1961, four days after the Bay of Pigs.

The base was used to train some 300 Cuban commandos in underwater demolition, and despite all the security precautions taken, Orlando Piedra, a former Batista policeman, recognized the Cubans at the airport and took down their transport license number.

In his memo, Phillips notes that they can't locate a copy of the lists of Cubans who were trained at the base, though they would keep on looking.

If there is a list I haven't found it.

BK

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2

Glad to see that you finally found the one (and only) true Agency training camp.

Now, in event that you will look at a map, you will find a considerable difference between the Belle Chase Naval Facility and the old Houma Blimp field.

The question being, exactly what do these two facilities have in common?????

Think "SMOKE"!

P.S. Still has nothing to do with LHO and the later facilities which were raided in 1963, and were more in the nature of "private enterprise".

[William Kelly]

In response to the Garrison's investigation claim that the Houma Arms Cache and Lake Pontchartain training camp were official CIA operations, the CIA checked its own records, and concluded that neither the Houma Arms Cache nor the Lake Pontchartrain MDC training camp were official CIA operations.

Another training camp however, at Belle Chase Naval base, ten miles from New Orleans, that had avoided previous publicity, had also been mentioned in print for the first time during the Garrision investigation, and was indeed an officially CIA sanctioned training camp.

In response to Garrison's allegations, four days before his Halloween birthday, David Atlee Phillips wrote a memo on the subject that explains the security surrounding the operation, which concluded on April 21, 1961, four days after the Bay of Pigs.

The base was used to train some 300 Cuban commandos in underwater demolition, and despite all the security precautions taken, Orlando Piedra, a former Batista policeman, recognized the Cubans at the airport and took down their transport license number.

In his memo, Phillips notes that they can't locate a copy of the lists of Cubans who were trained at the base, though they would keep on looking.

If there is a list I haven't found it.

BK

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2

Glad to see that you finally found the one (and only) true Agency training camp.

Now, in event that you will look at a map, you will find a considerable difference between the Belle Chase Naval Facility and the old Houma Blimp field.

The question being, exactly what do these two facilities have in common?????

Think "SMOKE"!

P.S. Still has nothing to do with LHO and the later facilities which were raided in 1963, and were more in the nature of "private enterprise".

Well, it certainly seems like the Lake Pontchartrain Camp was not an officially approved CIA operation, but it still most certainly has something to do with LHO if ha had been there, read about the FBI raid in the papers, clipped them, and was living in the Magazine St. apartment said to be owned by William Julius McLaney, who also owned the Lacome, La. north shore camp site that was raided.

The loose nature in which it was run also suggests that it was not an official CIA operation, comparing it to the way DAP describes how the Belle Chasse camp was run. Despite their security, and enclosed within a gated US Navy facility, they still were IDd by Orlando Piedra, the former Batista officer.

Does anybody have anything interesting on Orlando Piedra, the guy who got the license number of the bus used to transport David Atlee Phillip's Cuban commandos undergoing UDT training at Belle Chasse?

While the Belle Chasse camp was used to train the Bay of Pigs brigade, and closed in April 1961, some of those men may have been part of the official CIA maritime operations out of Florida in 1963.

The Lacome camp on the lake was said to be run by Richard R. Davis, Jr. and Gus J. LaBarre with the MDC - a blatently Christian anti-Communist org. that recruited Cubans in Florida to train at the camp. There were reportedly a few dozen men at the camp when ten more were on their way from Florida in two cars, however both cars broke down before they got to New Orleans. The Louisiana State Police made arrangement through the Cuban Catholic Welfare Society for the men to be put up in a motel until Davis and La Barre could rescue them.

When this group got to the camp, and the newspaper exposure and raids had blown their cover, they were told that they were going to be trained as loggers and sent to Guatemala to work, and not trained as commandos to fight Castro.

While the men were upset, Davis got rid of them by arriving at the camp and telling them that the invasion was on, and leaving from Florida, and he dropped them off at the New Orleans bus station and gave them all one way tickets to Miami and waved goodbye. It could have been a Marx brothers or Woodly Allen movie (Bananas).

But before dismissing the North Lake MDC camp at Lacome, there's still the possible Oswald connection to McLaney in the ownership of the property, and the fact that Gus J. Labarre, an old New Orleans family that goes back generations, had an office at 710 Pere Marquette, an office building in downtown New Orleans.

Jim Braden, the oil man swindler also used an office in that building, as did G. Ray Gill, Marcello's attorney, for whom David Ferrie worked and made phone calls to other subjects in the JFK assassination.

And since David Atlee Phillips officially asked for a list of the Cubans who attended the Belle Chasse camp, I think that list is around somewhere and can be located if the effort is made.

BK

Edited May 26, 2009 by William Kelly

[Robert Howard]

In response to the Garrison's investigation claim that the Houma Arms Cache and Lake Pontchartain training camp were official CIA operations, the CIA checked its own records, and concluded that neither the Houma Arms Cache nor the Lake Pontchartrain MDC training camp were official CIA operations.

Another training camp however, at Belle Chase Naval base, ten miles from New Orleans, that had avoided previous publicity, had also been mentioned in print for the first time during the Garrision investigation, and was indeed an officially CIA sanctioned training camp.

In response to Garrison's allegations, four days before his Halloween birthday, David Atlee Phillips wrote a memo on the subject that explains the security surrounding the operation, which concluded on April 21, 1961, four days after the Bay of Pigs.

The base was used to train some 300 Cuban commandos in underwater demolition, and despite all the security precautions taken, Orlando Piedra, a former Batista policeman, recognized the Cubans at the airport and took down their transport license number.

In his memo, Phillips notes that they can't locate a copy of the lists of Cubans who were trained at the base, though they would keep on looking.

If there is a list I haven't found it.

On the NSA Webpage, there is a document regarding the Bay of Pigs Investigative Report, conducted by Maxwell Taylor, in the supporting documents, it lists the Belle Chase Camp as being under the command of Gil Strickler, Chief Training, Nino Diaz Group.

See

http://www.gwu.edu/~...EBB29/02-02.htm

The whole Chain of Command seems to be listed, in which there were some names not familiar to me.

Might try searching MFF under "Nino-Diaz Group," Belle Chase, La. and Taylor Report and, or variations thereof.

BK

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2

Glad to see that you finally found the one (and only) true Agency training camp.

Now, in event that you will look at a map, you will find a considerable difference between the Belle Chase Naval Facility and the old Houma Blimp field.

The question being, exactly what do these two facilities have in common?????

Think "SMOKE"!

P.S. Still has nothing to do with LHO and the later facilities which were raided in 1963, and were more in the nature of "private enterprise".

Well, it certainly seems like the Lake Pontchartrain Camp was not an officially approved CIA operation, but it still most certainly has something to do with LHO if ha had been there, read about the FBI raid in the papers, clipped them, and was living in the Magazine St. apartment said to be owned by William Julius McLaney, who also owned the Lacome, La. north shore camp site that was raided.

The loose nature in which it was run also suggests that it was not an official CIA operation, comparing it to the way DAP describes how the Belle Chasse camp was run. Despite their security, and enclosed within a gated US Navy facility, they still were IDd by Orlando Piedra, the former Batista officer.

Does anybody have anything interesting on Orlando Piedra, the guy who got the license number of the bus used to transport David Atlee Phillip's Cuban commandos undergoing UDT training at Belle Chasse?

While the Belle Chasse camp was used to train the Bay of Pigs brigade, and closed in April 1961, some of those men may have been part of the official CIA maritime operations out of Florida in 1963.

The Lacome camp on the lake was said to be run by Richard R. Davis, Jr. and Gus J. LaBarre with the MDC - a blatently Christian anti-Communist org. that recruited Cubans in Florida to train at the camp. There were reportedly a few dozen men at the camp when ten more were on their way from Florida in two cars, however both cars broke down before they got to New Orleans. The Louisiana State Police made arrangement through the Cuban Catholic Welfare Society for the men to be put up in a motel until Davis and La Barre could rescue them.

When this group got to the camp, and the newspaper exposure and raids had blown their cover, they were told that they were going to be trained as loggers and sent to Guatemala to work, and not trained as commandos to fight Castro.

While the men were upset, Davis got rid of them by arriving at the camp and telling them that the invasion was on, and leaving from Florida, and he dropped them off at the New Orleans bus station and gave them all one way tickets to Miami and waved goodbye. It could have been a Marx brothers or Woodly Allen movie (Bananas).

But before dismissing the North Lake MDC camp at Lacome, there's still the possible Oswald connection to McLaney in the ownership of the property, and the fact that Gus J. Labarre, an old New Orleans family that goes back generations, had an office at 710 Pere Marquette, an office building in downtown New Orleans.

Jim Braden, the oil man swindler also used an office in that building, as did G. Ray Gill, Marcello's attorney, for whom David Ferrie worked and made phone calls to other subjects in the JFK assassination.

And since David Atlee Phillips officially asked for a list of the Cubans who attended the Belle Chasse camp, I think that list is around somewhere and can be located if the effort is made.

BK

[Robert Howard]

On the NSA Webpage, there is a document regarding the Bay of Pigs Investigative Report, conducted by Maxwell Taylor, in the supporting documents, it lists the Belle Chase Camp as being under the command of Gil Strickler, Chief Training, Nino Diaz Group.

See

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB29/02-02.htm

The whole Chain of Command seems to be listed, in which there were some names not familiar to me.

Might try searching MFF under Nino-Diaz Group, Belle Chase, La. and Taylor Report and, or variations thereof.

[Stephen Roy]

Just an FYI: One of Dave Ferrie's former "Falcon Squadron" cadets told HSCA that Ferrie took them to several locations for training, and he mentioned Belle Chasse (correct spelling; correct pronunciation is bell chase)as one of them.

The Falcons were a non-CAP sanctioned group created by Ferrie, which also included his "Internal Mobile Security Unit" or IMSUs. The boys recalled, however, that this was all American boys, except for one visit by a couple of Cubans (which probably included Buznedo).

The interesting thing is that this Ferrie activity at Belle Chasse was also in the spring of 1961.

[Robert Howard]

Just an FYI: One of Dave Ferrie's former "Falcon Squadron" cadets told HSCA that Ferrie took them to several locations for training, and he mentioned Belle Chasse (correct spelling; correct pronunciation is bell chase)as one of them.

The Falcons were a non-CAP sanctioned group created by Ferrie, which also included his "Internal Mobile Security Unit" or IMSUs. The boys recalled, however, that this was all American boys, except for one visit by a couple of Cubans (which probably included Buznedo).

The interesting thing is that this Ferrie activity at Belle Chasse was also in the spring of 1961.

Thanks for that Stephen, nice to see a familiar face posting good stuff.....

One of my surprises is the fact that Mike McLaney was apparently in touch with Bobby Kennedy as I recall, which was something of a shock.

I mention that as an aside, as McLaney does not ring a bell, in conjunction with Belle Chase. Which is not to say he wasn't associated with that location, only that I don't recall.

Buznedo, is definitely one of the more interesting names.

Edited June 19, 2010 by Robert Howard

[William Kelly]

Just an FYI: One of Dave Ferrie's former "Falcon Squadron" cadets told HSCA that Ferrie took them to several locations for training, and he mentioned Belle Chasse (correct spelling; correct pronunciation is bell chase)as one of them.

The Falcons were a non-CAP sanctioned group created by Ferrie, which also included his "Internal Mobile Security Unit" or IMSUs. The boys recalled, however, that this was all American boys, except for one visit by a couple of Cubans (which probably included Buznedo).

The interesting thing is that this Ferrie activity at Belle Chasse was also in the spring of 1961.

Thanks for that Stephen, nice to see a familiar face posting good stuff.....

One of my surprises is the fact that Mike McLaney was apparently in touch with Bobby Kennedy as I recall, which was something of a shock.

I mention that as an aside, as McLaney does not ring a bell, in conjunction with Belle Chase. Which is not to say he wasn't associated with that location, only that I don't recall.

Buznedo, is definitely one of the more interesting names.

it is interesting that Ferrie was operating at Belle Chasse camp, the one tightly held by CIA officers.

Bill McLaney was with or neighbors of the Lacombe Lake Ponchartrian camp, the one raided and the one the Yahoos attended before they were sent home on a bus.

I don't know of any connection between Mike McLaney and RFK, though JFK and Mike played golf on occassion.

BK

[Robert Howard]

I suppose I am just citing sources, I am not a big admirer of Gus Russo, but he provides "information" in Live By The Sword regarding the relationship between the Kennedy's and Mike McLaney.

See

page 67,

"I liked old man Joe Kennedy, said renowned sports hustler/casino operator Mike McLaney "We used to golf together two or three times a week at the Palm Beach Country Club. McLaney also played golf with President John F. Kennedy. And he met Bobby "many times," though he was quick to add that, of the Kennedy clan, Bobby was "the only one I didn't like."

Russo goes on to state in his book that the McLaney's were at least, names associated with Castro assassination plots.

I am also aware of a plot to kidnap Caroline at the Kenndy's Palm Beach Compound, although my memory regarding who was allegedly involved would require perusing some files; and I certainly don't accept anything Russo says as gospel.

Cheers

Edited June 19, 2010 by Robert Howard

[Guest]

Belle Chasse training camp, with thanks to Malcolm Blunt.

[Larry Hancock]

We've made a lot of progress on this in recent years, we now know the names of several individuals who went through Belle Chase -  there were actually several groups destined for different missions.  UDT training for the actual landing was done there, but so was explosives and other training for the maritime infiltration personnel who were taken from there to safe houses in Miami and then on to missions out of the keys, also Nino Diaz group was brought in there virtually last minute and given minimal training before being shipped out to their mission. 

The camp itself had to be cleared and put into at least minimal shape for training, that was done by Grayston Lynch before he went on to Florida to pick up the landing ship he would command into the Bay of Pigs - Robertson was already there with the second ship.

Some of this detail is already on line in the early version of David and my Wheaton Names paper....the rest will be coming soon.