Lumpkin, Gannaway, and the DPD-Army Intelligence network

[Bill Simpich]

Here is an interesting FBI memo written by Robert Barrett from 3/15/63, entitled Crime Conditions in the Dallas Division.  It names Jack Revill as FBI T-1, who wants his identity confidential.  

Revill reported to Barrett that a close relationship continued between Gannaway and private detective Robert B. Denson - even though Denson had recently been convicted in the Tyler federal court for wiretapping.  

The word was that Gannaway was going to retire soon and go into the private detective business with Denson.  Denson ran the Tri-State Detective Agency.  

Denson was later hired by the Ruby defense team.  He would shoulder reporters aside and ask them not to photo him - but both he and Belli denied that he was Belli's bodyguard.

When Karen Lynn Bennett testified on 12/23/63 at a Ruby bail hearing, she was followed out the door by defense attorney Tom Howard and Denson.

[Steve Thomas]

2 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

Here is an interesting FBI memo written by Robert Barrett from 3/15/63, entitled Crime Conditions in the Dallas Division.  It names Jack Revill as FBI T-1, who wants his identity confidential.  

 

Bill,

On pp. 24-26 of that document (pp13-15 of the file), it mentions Lieutenant D.A.Byrd of the Vice Section of the Special Service Bureau of the DPD. I wonder if he was related to the D. Harold Byrd of TSBD fame.

Steve Thomas

[Mark Stevens]

I ran across this some time ago, thought it might be of interest to those interested in 488th.

[Paul Brancato]

Thank you for posting. There is so little evidence for the existence of the 488th, whose first commander was Col. Jack Crichton. Possibly the mention of the 90th Army Reserve Command provides a clue as to where to search for official Army records of the 488th. He moved to Dallas Ft Worth in 1963, so perhaps that was when he joined Crichton’s MID. Does his work in private security for Lockheed-Martin ring any bells? 

[Mark Stevens]

50 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

Thank you for posting. There is so little evidence for the existence of the 488th, whose first commander was Col. Jack Crichton. Possibly the mention of the 90th Army Reserve Command provides a clue as to where to search for official Army records of the 488th. He moved to Dallas Ft Worth in 1963, so perhaps that was when he joined Crichton’s MID. Does his work in private security for Lockheed-Martin ring any bells? 

Wright was promoted to Lt. Col. in 1981. At that time he was still a member of the 4159th. I believe his association with the 488th is after this, but I'm not sure.

[Steve Thomas]

2 hours ago, Mark Stevens said:

I ran across this some time ago, thought it might be of interest to those interested in 488th.

Mark,

In his 1991 study, entitled, Reforming Military Intelligence Reserve Components: 1995-2005, Colonel, Thomas Cagley showed that there was a real 488^th Military Intelligence Detachment.

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a233391.pdf

On page 14 of his Study (p. 21 of the pdf file), he shows that the 488^th MID was one of the Military Intelligence Detachments that reported directly to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

 

There is also a 2012 obituary of a Captain Jack E. Earnest who served with the 488^th between 1956 and 1962.

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?pid=160976735#sthash.mX3LJS6E.dpuf

“In June 1956, he was assigned to the 488th Strategic Intelligence Detachment until 1962, achieving the rank of Captain.”

 

I still haven’t found out what ARCOM (Army Reserve Command) the 488th was attached to.

It is my personal belief that Jack Crichton co-opted the 488th’s name.

I think that Paul’s suggestion that the 488^th was attached to the 90^th Infantry Division is a good one.

I’ve also toyed with the possibility that it might have been attached to the 49^th Armored Division.

PS: Where did you learn that Wright was promoted to Lt. Col. in 1981 and at that time he was still a member of the 4159th?

Steve Thomas

Edited September 27, 2020 by Steve Thomas

[Mark Stevens]

16 minutes ago, Steve Thomas said:

PS: Where did you learn that Wright was promoted to Lt. Col. in 1981 and at that time he was still a member of the 4159th?

[Steve Thomas]

15 minutes ago, Mark Stevens said:

Mark,

Thank you.

Oooooooh - Security Analyst for General Dynamics huh? That raises some questions.

4159th US Army Reserve Forces School

A group portrait of the soldiers of the 4159th U.S. Army Forces School prior to the unit's demobilization. The company was a reserve unit called to active duty during Operation Desert Storm

They were based at Fort Hood.

https://nara.getarchive.net/media/a-group-portrait-of-the-soldiers-of-the-4159th-us-army-forces-school-prior-2b3041

 

Training and Organization of the US Army Reserve Components, June, 1989.

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a236572.pdf

page 81 They were attached to the 5^th U.S. Army

4159TH USARF SCHOOL 2800 Crestline Road (817) 571-6822

Sergeants Major Academy Fort Worth, TX 76107-308

Steve Thomas

 

[Paul Brancato]

Steve - how do you figure that Col. Crichton coopted the name 488th MID? Like he would do interviews and claim something that wasn’t real? Aren’t there articles naming him related to the underground communications bunker? He was well known in Republican circles, certainly well known to George H W Bush. PD Scott didn’t make up the connection to Ilya Mamantov. And we know his work as an oil geologist, his trip to Spain as part of a team negotiating for drilling rights in the early fifties. I don’t have the facility that you do to draw up documents supporting these claims, but you’ve read them and are familiar with them I’m sure. Spartacus covers most of it in his bio. 
 

 

[Mark Stevens]

I believe I have others, as I go through my unsorted things I will post them.

[Paul Brancato]

Thanks Mark. There are many such articles that I saw while searching on Newspapers.com. It was no secret.

[Joseph McBride]

There are some interesting FBI reports from November and December 1963 regarding

Priscilla Mary Post Johnson, indicating Bureau interest in her before as well as after the assassination as having been a possible

target of recruitment by the KGB. And the Bureau was interested in her contact with Oswald in the USSR. A December memo indicates she was cleared of the

suspicion of being a target of KGB recruitment interest. According to a Nov. 29 FBI memo, she was interviewed in Cambridge, Mass., by two FBI agents from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 23-24,

supposedly at her request, "to obtain information regarding LEE HARVEY OSWALD. Incidental thereto

and without indicating possible Bureau interest in her as a suspect in the captioned case [i.e.,

the one about possible KGB recruitment], she was advised that inasmuch as she is a potential witness

[evidently in the JFK case referred to in the same paragraph],

that biographical and background data on her would be desirable. Accordingly she willingly furnished

the following information . . ." She denied one of her brothers was a pilot, as had been reported of the possible female subject of KGB interest, whose brother was said to have been an Air Force pilot who had flown President Eisenhower. The FBI reports indicated that Johnson received (unusual) help from Richard Nixon, Llewellyn Thompson, and Nikita Khrushchev with an extension of her visa and that she claimed her activities in the USSR were innocent. These documents are posted at the Mary Ferrell website. Earl Golz interviewed Johnson when the documents were released in 1977: http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/M Disk/McMillan Priscilla Johnson/Item 07.pdf

Edited September 28, 2020 by Joseph McBride

[Steve Thomas]

13 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

Steve - how do you figure that Col. Crichton coopted the name 488th MID? Like he would do interviews and claim something that wasn’t real? Aren’t there articles naming him related to the underground communications bunker? He was well known in Republican circles, certainly well known to George H W Bush. PD Scott didn’t make up the connection to Ilya Mamantov. And we know his work as an oil geologist, his trip to Spain as part of a team negotiating for drilling rights in the early fifties. I don’t have the facility that you do to draw up documents supporting these claims, but you’ve read them and are familiar with them I’m sure. Spartacus covers most of it in his bio. 
 

 

Paul,

I say that he co-opted the name because there was a real 488th Military Intelligence Detachment. It had an organizational structure with a recognized chain of command. It's been claimed that Crichton's 488th had only one commander during the life of its existence. It's been said that Crichton reported to the Assistant Chief of Staff Intelligence at the Pentagon. The real 488th reported to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Crichton ran for Governor of Texas in 1964 and lost to John Connally.

As far as him being “related to the underground communications bunker”, I have seen those claims repeated over and over again, but I don’t know what they are based on. I’ve seen claims that he was somehow “in charge of” the communications at the Continuity of Government communications network at the Fairgrounds, but I’ve never seen any real evidence or proof for that.

Steve Thomas

[Paul Brancato]

9 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

Paul,

I say that he co-opted the name because there was a real 488th Military Intelligence Detachment. It had an organizational structure with a recognized chain of command. It's been claimed that Crichton's 488th had only one commander during the life of its existence. It's been said that Crichton reported to the Assistant Chief of Staff Intelligence at the Pentagon. The real 488th reported to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Crichton ran for Governor of Texas in 1964 and lost to John Connally.

As far as him being “related to the underground communications bunker”, I have seen those claims repeated over and over again, but I don’t know what they are based on. I’ve seen claims that he was somehow “in charge of” the communications at the Continuity of Government communications network at the Fairgrounds, but I’ve never seen any real evidence or proof for that.

Steve Thomas

Steve - where was the ‘real’ 488th MID headquartered? 

[Steve Thomas]

10 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

Steve - where was the ‘real’ 488th MID headquartered? 

Paul,

I don't know. I suspect Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, but that's just a guess.

Steve Thomas

Edited September 29, 2020 by Steve Thomas