John Adrian O'Hare

[Zach Robertson]

I think it would be worthwhile to start a topic on John Adrian O’Hare. At this point, I think it is clear that O’Hare and the man known as Colonel William Bishop are two totally different people.

John O'Hare also went by the following names: Col. Richard Gray, P. Harrison and possibly Oscar Del Valle Garcia.

[Garcia may be Bishop's alias and another attempt to tie O'Hare to Col. Bishop's identity.]

O’Hare faked his own death in March of 1975, escaped the country, and lived out his days in Africa. Bishop died in 1992 in Texas.

Here are some of the resources I have dug up concerning John Adrian O’Hare:

LIFE Magazine Aug 5, 1966 [story + photos]

Weisberg Collection:

AKA Colonel Richard Gray

Report on CIA Domestic Improprieties + Phony O’Hare Death Certificate

Latin American Studies:

Ken Smith Investigation

Morning Journal - Datona Beach, Florida Friday, May 14, 1976

The Continuing Inquiry. Volume 8, Issue 8

Is John Adrian O’Hare - Superspy - Dead or alive?

The Third Decade, Volume 5, Issue 6

The Senator Must Die: A Review, by Jerry D. Rose

Oscar Del Valle Garcia on No Name Key

Author: Thomas O'Hare

Scope: Clandestine covert operations and paramilitary operations set against personnal turmoil.

Timeline: 1957 - 1975

Synopsis: Based on a true story...

A patriot takes on a dual role of CIA contractor and Special Forces member to counteract a growing communist influence in the Americas.

He is totally unaware of the emotional and personal toll serving his country in a murky world of clandestine operations will have on himself and his family.

Sometimes living for your country is much harder then dying for it...And even harder to do both...

He Is My Father

Catacombs of Salt

This photo, from the Spartacus website, was taken in 1966 in Vietnam.

Zach

Edited July 23, 2011 by Zach Robertson

[John Kelly]

Zach, you are correct. Col Bishop was not John Adrian O'hare. If O'hare didn't die in 1974, and he didn't, then an interesting player in all of this is pathologist R.G. Guzman. Private eye and ex cop James Jones was on O'hare's trail and he believed that O'hare travelled to South Africa and connected with Mike Hoare. Mike Hoare and Rip Robertson became close when Robertson and his Low Beam Cubans helped in the fight in the Congo during the mid 1960's. JK

[William Kelly]

Zach, you are correct. Col Bishop was not John Adrian O'hare. If O'hare didn't die in 1974, and he didn't, then an interesting player in all of this is pathologist R.G. Guzman. Private eye and ex cop James Jones was on O'hare's trail and he believed that O'hare travelled to South Africa and connected with Mike Hoare. Mike Hoare and Rip Robertson became close when Robertson and his Low Beam Cubans helped in the fight in the Congo during the mid 1960's. JK

Yes, thanks Zach, they certainly are two different people.

I think Jerry Rose had an article in Third/Fourth Decade that made the associations between them.

And how did he fake his death?

Is this what they were doing with some of the officers at JMWAVE after they decided to shut that operation down following the assassination of JFK?

Brad Ayers in his Zenith Secret, details how one of the officials, Gordon Campbell's deputy "Karl" was apparently intentionally murdered in Ayers' presence, to make it appear that he had died.

Then we have Gordon Campbell himself dying officially in 1962, while Ayers continued to meet with him and had dinner with him in 1963-4.

As Hem says, they "up and died," then showed up at some other hot spot with a new identity.

Can we prove this is what happened to Gordon Campbell?

BK

[Zach Robertson]

John,

Thanks for the great insight. Very interesting stuff about R.G. Guzman, the Orange County Health Deptartment and the Private Detective James Jones.

O’Hare’s “death” was March 23. The people at Cox-Parker Funeral Home also play into this. The “burial” at Glen Haven Memorial Park was March 26. And the death certificate is dated May 6.

It makes sense that O’Hare would hook up with Rip Robertson’s buddy – especially if that is indeed them together at the corner of Main and Houston in Dallas on 11/22.

Thanks Bill,

Is the Jerry Rose article available anywhere? I'd also like to see the rest of that Continuing Inquiry article as well. I wonder if they have it at Baylor?

I am not sure exactly how O’Hare faked his death although I’ve read that he was prepared to do it anytime if things went awry. I would be willing to bet a lot of those types of guys were.

I also do not know if O’Hare’s “death” had anything to do with the Church Committee forming or not. That may just be a coincidence.

I can’t make out the bottom of the Campbell death certificate. I can only speculate what happened with that guy. Hopefully some new leads will turn up on that character.

Zach

Edited March 28, 2012 by Zach Robertson

[Zach Robertson]

It has been brought to my attention that the rest of the article on John Adrian O’Hare from the March 22, 1984 [Vol. VIII No. 8] of Penn Jones’ The Continuing Inquiry has been made available online at Baylor:

http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/po-jones/id/1580

It runs from pages 2-5 of the issue. It is a well written, accurate article that deserves some attention.

The article was penned by a “Fred Williams,” which is a pseudonym. Does anyone know who that really is? Did “Fred Williams” write any other articles for Penn Jones?

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Zach

Edited March 29, 2012 by Zach Robertson