Holland McHolmes & White Rock Airport

[Francesca Akhtar]

Has anyone heard of him? Apparently he was a senior editor at Life magazine in the 60's and a friend of Clay Shaw? In an interview with Bill Davy on Black Op Radio recently, he mentioned him and also a story about White Rock airport -that a mechanic who worked there had met David Ferrie who had flown in to Dallas from New Orleans in October or November 63. Also another sighting of Ferrie in 64.

This would make a mockery of Ferrie's claim to Garrison that he had not been in Dallas for the last ten years when he spoke to him in the late 60's!

I was very interested to hear about this airport as had never heard of it before. According to a website I found, it was east of downtown Dallas located 'northwest of the present-day intersection of Interstate 30 & North Buckner Blvd'. (if that means anything to anyone!) Apparently it closed in 1974.

A google search on Holland McHolmes turned up nothing - pretty sure that's the name, but as its an audio interview, I could have misheard it I guess.

[James Richards]

Hi Francesca,

I think you will find that the gentleman's name was Holland McCombs. McCombs below.

James

[Francesca Akhtar]

Hi James,

aha! Well no wonder I wasn't getting very far! :-) Now I'm getting some hits on google! :-) Thanks for that and the photo - where did you get it?

[James Richards]

Francesca,

If I remember correctly, the photo came from an old 'Look' magazine.

As to White Rock Airport and the mechanic who allegedly saw Ferrie fly in, do you know if his name was ever made public? I have two possibles which I would like to check.

Cheers,

James

[Francesca Akhtar]

Hi James,

thanks for the info on the photo. Re: White Rock airport, I'm sorry I don't have any idea of the name of the mechanic - I only heard the story from Bill Davy in an interview but he didn't mention any names.

[Larry Hancock]

Hi Francesca, if you search this forum you should find some posts I made on McCombs

a good while ago when John was discussing Life magazine. Their is a McCombs

archives at a small eastern University (possibly Eastern Tenn) and it contains much of

the reserch he performed during the secret Life investigation of conspiracy which

occured prior to the Garrison investigation. As it turned out McCombs was a friend

of Shaw and apparently provided some of the research to his defense team.

Life never completed nor promoted their investigation although elements seem to

have gone into one special issue. It's a fascinating story because it appears to

have been a deadly serious investigation of conspiracy by a special team set up

and run independently. The team even insisted they hire their own admin people

and run their own security.

The gentleman that located the papers at the University presented at Lancer several

years ago but is not currently active in research to my knowledge....he was a first

generation researcher.

-- Larry

[Lee Forman]

Hello Francesca.

I was very interested to hear about this airport as had never heard of it before. According to a website I found, it was east of downtown Dallas located 'northwest of the present-day intersection of Interstate 30 & North Buckner Blvd'. (if that means anything to anyone!) Apparently it closed in 1974.

A google search on Holland McHolmes turned up nothing - pretty sure that's the name, but as its an audio interview, I could have misheard it I guess.

I did a bit of looking around on this also. There are many, many airports in and about present DFW and Love Field that would have been able to handle small aircraft, aside from Redbird [which everyone seems to focus on].

This is a good site which contains a lot of good info.

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freema...irfields_TX.htm

In addition to all of these, Texas is big and flat. You could land on a private ranch back then and no one would be any wiser. Especially useful for shorts hops over the border maybe.

Here's the specific link on White Rock.

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freema...E.htm#whiterock

- lee

Edited February 24, 2006 by Lee Forman

[Francesca Akhtar]

Hi Francesca, if you search this forum you should find some posts I made on McCombs

a good while ago when John was discussing Life magazine. Their is a McCombs

archives at a small eastern University (possibly Eastern Tenn) and it contains much of

the reserch he performed during the secret Life investigation of conspiracy which

occured prior to the Garrison investigation. As it turned out McCombs was a friend

of Shaw and apparently provided some of the research to his defense team.

Life never completed nor promoted their investigation although elements seem to

have gone into one special issue. It's a fascinating story because it appears to

have been a deadly serious investigation of conspiracy by a special team set up

and run independently. The team even insisted they hire their own admin people

and run their own security.

The gentleman that located the papers at the University presented at Lancer several

years ago but is not currently active in research to my knowledge....he was a first

generation researcher.

-- Larry

Hi Larry

many thanks for your post, I'll look up your information. I'm always interested in any connection to Shaw and the NO goings on. I wonder if it's possible to request information from his files at this archive. I had heard a vague story that LIFE magazine had abruptly stopped their investigation but not heard of McCombs before. I wonder if it was he who gave the orders for it to be stopped on Shaw's behalf?

Do you remember the name of the man you say presented at Lancer?

Thanks

[James Richards]

The two mechanics/pilots present at White Rock Airport during the later half of 1963 were John Miller and Hoss Thornton.

If any of the Dallas residents were motivated enough, tracking down the families (I think Miller is dead, not sure about Thornton), and posing some questions may bear fruit. As Lee pointed out, Texas has a plethora of small airports perfect if one wishes a low profile.

In addition to this, I have been unsuccessfully trying to find an alleged connection between Jimmy Els and David Ferrie. Els was a Dallas local who flew a small plane and may have had an association with David Ferrie. Els flew out of White Rock on a regular basis. Els' plane was co-owned with a character named Jimmy Choate.

James

Edited February 24, 2006 by James Richards

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Larry Hancock wrote "The gentleman that located the papers at the University presented at Lancer several

years ago but is not currently active in research to my knowledge....he was a first

generation researcher.

-- Larry

Wallace Milam is the researcher in question. As far as I know he still lives in Memphis and I was able to get his phone no. from Directory Inquiry when I had occassion to seek him out some years ago. He announced at Lancer NID'99 that he was writing a book on Holland McComb and Life Magazine's JFK inquiry.

John Kelin gives a summary of Milam's Lancer presentation at this link:

http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/09/fp.back_i...ue/holland.html

Apparently Holland McComb was a charter member of the board of the New Orleans Trade Mart and knew Clay Shaw well.

The most likely reason why Life backed away IMO is that McComb and others at Life quickly became disillusioned with Garrison and his methods, while McComb himself probably felt that Clay Shaw was about as unlikely a candidate for involvement in a presidential assassination as ever was.

Josiah Thompson has posted on this forum to the effect that he has never doubted the sincerity of the Life Magazine reporters who worked on the JFK case.

[Greg Parker]

Hello Francesca.

I was very interested to hear about this airport as had never heard of it before. According to a website I found, it was east of downtown Dallas located 'northwest of the present-day intersection of Interstate 30 & North Buckner Blvd'. (if that means anything to anyone!) Apparently it closed in 1974.

A google search on Holland McHolmes turned up nothing - pretty sure that's the name, but as its an audio interview, I could have misheard it I guess.

I did a bit of looking around on this also. There are many, many airports in and about present DFW and Love Field that would have been able to handle small aircraft, aside from Redbird [which everyone seems to focus on].

This is a good site which contains a lot of good info.

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freema...irfields_TX.htm

In addition to all of these, Texas is big and flat. You could land on a private ranch back then and no one would be any wiser. Especially useful for shorts hops over the border maybe.

Here's the specific link on White Rock.

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freema...E.htm#whiterock

- lee

Lee and all,

Garrison's probe uncovered the fact that Arcacha Smith had lived near White Rock airport. It was Gurvich who was told by a mechanic there that Ferrie looked familiar.

I did a bit of checking on White Rock a few years back. CAP had an office there, and the town itself had at least two gay-friendly churches - one of which held its first meeting in the CAP office at WR airport in '67. This church was formed by a conservative Baptist named Arthur Farstad, who first arrived in Dallas, Sept '63. Farstad opened his home as a haven for young, single male seminary students, and worked as a bible translator and seems to have had close ties to Wycliff Bible Translators through something called Christian Believers Fellowship. Another closely associated with this fellowship was firebrand anti-Communist crusader Fred Schwartz. Although I haven't found any link (apart from being a Baptist), it's not difficult to imagine Osborne/Bowen drifting through this crowd, as well.

Wycliff Bible Translators started SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) as a means of entering countries on the pretext of science rather than religion. Needless to say, CIA fingerprints are all over these groups.

[James Richards]

Greg,

If I remember correctly, CAP started out at the Crozier Technical High School in 1944 but soon moved to White Rock Airport.

As to anti-Communist crusader Fred Schwartz, is that the big mouth Australian anti-Red Fred Schwartz who toured around the U.S. in the early 1960's?

James

[Greg Parker]

Greg,

If I remember correctly, CAP started out at the Crozier Technical High School in 1944 but soon moved to White Rock Airport.

As to anti-Communist crusader Fred Schwartz, is that the big mouth Australian anti-Red Fred Schwartz who toured around the U.S. in the early 1960's?

James

James,

It's my assumption it's the same person... however... looking again at what I originally had, the name in association with the Fellowship was FW Schwartz. I don't know "our" Fred's middle initial, and I can't recall what made me certain at that time it was him.

[Robert Howard]

Firstly, I would like to offer an apology to Mr Carroll, regarding his contributions to the Forum. I did not realize that Mr Carroll has an impressive resume re JFK Research until I was searching through maryferrell.org and came across some of his very good research......I mean that in all sincerity and would like too point out that it is hard to know everything, and I am not beyond admitting a faux pas.....

Back to Holland McCombs, John Kelin who is likewise a very good researcher, when he wrote Holland McCombs

The Investigation that Never Was has some very good information that is very pertinent to a reconstruct of the Dallas area......

See

http://spot.acorn.net/jfkplace/09/fp.back_...ue/holland.html

Excerpts.......

Holland McCombs became associated with Time-Life after moving to Texas to recover from double pneumonia. It was in his home south of San Antonio that he began writing, with an eye toward the magazine market; before long he was a stringer for Life.

In 1938, McCombs got a break. By this time he had a solid reputation within Life, and perhaps for this reason was selected to squire Henry Luce around Texas when the magazine's founder and publisher came for a visit. McCombs and Luce, Milam said, spent about three weeks touring "what I would refer to as the Tenderloin of Texas. They had been in the cantinas. He had taken [Luce] to meet not only the dignitaries of the state --- and McCombs came to know people in high places, as we will see --- but he took him to see the real state. Introduced him to tequila, and lots of other things. And Luce was totally smitten." Luce promptly created Life's San Antonio bureau, and made McCombs its chief.

At Luce's behest, Milam said, McCombs immediately placed a spy in the offices of the President of Mexico. "Mexico was crucial in the Communist-Nazi struggles," Milam continued, adding that "There's an aspect of McCombs life that I don't even dare tell you about, yet, where he served as a spy for ONI [Office of Naval Intelligence] ... at the outbreak of the second World War."

On the day Kennedy was assassinated, McCombs was heading up Life's Dallas bureau, but was in Austin "helping a reporter do an interview on an assignment ... an article on the sex life of college girls." He immediately flew back to Dallas and began coordinating witness interviews, and the purchase of films, including Abraham Zapruder's.......

But there are indications that Life's investigation into the assassination --- or at least, Holland McCombs' investigation --- began well before the 1966 probe mentioned in the above letter. Milam read a letter from the McCombs archive dated February 1964 --- just a few months after the assassination --- from McCombs to Edward Kern. "In this letter," Milam said, "he says that ... 'we know you are working on the Hidell alias.' Remember, February '64. The Warren Commission's had two meetings. Life magazine is deep into the Hidell thing already. And he says, 'As you know, we have written to you about this previously.' Can't find that --- the previous [letter]. 'But as we know, Hidell refers to Frankie Hydell ... the bartender at the Black Lamp in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,' which he refers to as, quote, 'A queer hangout,' and that 'Frankie Lynn Hydell is the source of the alias.'"

This same letter, Milam said, also refers to the McCurley Brothers, who also hung out at the Black Lamp. The McCurley Brothers, Milam went on, have also been identified as helping Lee Oswald hand out leaflets in New Orleans. "This is what Life knows in February of '64 --- that Life's investigation has already turned up the idea that there's a Frankie Hydell, who is a bartender at a quote, 'queer joint' in Baton Rouge called the Black Lamp, and that two people who are denizens of the Black Lamp are with Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans in that WDSU footage on the street."............

One of Milam's concluding topics concerned the apparent theft of Lee Oswald's diary from Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade's office, excerpts of which were published in the Dallas Morning News. Now, Milam said, "we know what happened. Someone --- everyone suspects Bill Alexander --- took the diary from Wade's files, had them copied, passed them on to [Morning News reporter] Hugh Aynesworth --- and now we know for sure, thanks to McCombs' papers, where they went next.

"Aynesworth used them to write ... his article --- then Mrs. Aynesworth sold them to Time-Life. I have the reciepts; the arrangements by which it would be paid to her secretly, and not delivered to her at her office but her home; and we have the Western Union routing slips and everything for getting the diary, quickly, to Life magazine."............

I would say that the above information illustrates the whole dynamic of official versions appear to crash and burn.....

I will leave this tidbit for those interested in this thread........strictly for humor......

In the book JFK The Case for Conspiracy [F. Peter Model and Robert Groden; Manor Books Inc., - 1976 page 189] the authors make note of the fact that after Marina Lee and June returned from the Soviet Union in 1962, they qualified for a program which provided “temporary assistance to U.S. citizens and their dependents returning from a foreign country and are without available resources.” This program was funded through the Dallas, office of the Social Security Administration of HEW. The same organization was able to procure $ 200.00 cash through the Dept. of HEW. But what many people aren’t aware of is the fact that a June 22, 1962 letter from the New York office of HEW to the Dallas office stating with regards to the Oswald’s return trip from Russia, “instructing that arrangements be made by the Dallas Representatives of HEW for the family following arrival in Texas.” But it was what was written later in the letter that appears most odd. It simply states “Oswald apparently went directly overseas following his discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps and eventually studied as a veteran under the G.I. Bill in Switzerland.”

Oh really........

Edited February 16, 2007 by Robert Howard

[Guest Tom Scully]

Holland McCombs's stepson has been performing since at least the early sixties as a musician. McCombs married Barbara Boomer Castleman in 1959, and according to his1991 obit, Barbara died in 1979, and (Owens) Boomer Castleman is one of McComb's stepchildren.:

http://www.walb.com/story/1065651/pop-star-dies-in-wreck?redirected=true

December 30, 2002

...Fifty-three-year-old Meri Wilson Edgemon was killed after she lost control of her car on Highway 377 in Sumter County.

In 1976, she had a platinum record hit with her song "Telephone Man." ...

....Boomer's mother, Barbara, strongly encouraged her son to have Meri record the song. And of course, Boomer and Jim listened to the sage wisdom of Boomer’s mom, and took Meri into a studio in 1977 where she recorded ‘Telephone Man' and ‘Itinerary' (another Meri original).

Boomer and Jim released a 45 of these two tunes on Boomer’s own BNA record label. The 45 was initially serviced to radio stations in Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama, where ‘Telephone Man' received considerable airplay. It was then promoted throughout the United States and England, charting at #18 on the 1977 Billboard charts in the US, and had a considerable run in the top 5 in England. The single went Gold in both countries, selling over a million units in the US and a half-million units in England. The tune was also picked up in the US by the syndicated "Dr. Demento" radio program, where it has remained an "all time favorite" some twenty odd years later. In fact, ‘Telephone Man' appeared on a couple of Dr. Demento's compilation albums as well as several other "greatest hits" -type albums. ....

Edited June 14, 2011 by Tom Scully