My Grandfather and the UFO

During the summer of 1996, I was watching coverage on the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. Once all the networks continued to show the same footage over and over I started flipping channels. Suddenly, my sweet grandfather's face appeared and filled the entire screen of my television set. He was speaking with an interviewer about the UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. I promptly picked up the phone and called my mom demanding to know why I had not been informed that Granddad was going to be on TV. I envisioned her "shooing" me away as she said that the interview had been filmed "forever-and-an-age-ago", and they had no idea when it was going to be aired. "Is it on there, dear?" DUH!

My grandfather was Jud Roberts. He ran the main radio station in town in Roswell, NM in 1947. He later appeared on Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack, was interviewed by Larry King, had a character portray him on an HBO special, and he was quoted in numerous books and Discover Channel specials regarding his involvement in the infamous 1947 UFO Crash and the cover-up that ensued.

My family has had this claim to fame as long as I can remember. I've had friends tease me that they knew something was "strange" about me referring to my "alien" ancestors once they find out about my CONNECTIONS. I have more t-shirts with aliens on them than the average trekkie, but most of mine say "Roberts Family Reunion" somewhere on them. I've mailed out Christmas cards with paper mache aliens standing in for missing family members in the photographs.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE reigns in the UFO community. It is more than a mantra or a creed. It implies that someone, somewhere isn't telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But here is what I know to be the truth from my granddad in a nutshell.

One of Granddad's reporters interviewed the rancher Mac Brasel (not sure of the spelling) late into the night after he had reported the miles of debris he discovered on his property several miles out of town in July 1947. Mac had taken his discovery to the local Air Force Base and they initially published a story in the local paper that a "Flying Saucer" had crashed. Within hours, that story was recanted and some General (?) was pictured next to a little pile of crap that they now claimed was from a weather balloon. (uh huh.)

Granddad was at work preparing to air the most important interview of his career. He received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Pentagon "urging" him to NOT air the recording. When he refused, quoting Freedom of the Press, Free Speech and all that, he was "ordered" to pull the interview or have his FCC license pulled. Granddad told so-and-so that he couldn't do that, and so-and-so replied that he was with the "g*$ d%@! Pentagon" and "we can do whatever we want". INTERESTING....huh?

So, my grandfather pulled the plug. Years later, the original recording from the interview along with all the written transcripts were lost in a mysterious fire at the building that housed the records. No, Granddad never listened to the interview in its entirety. No, he does not know anything more about it. No, he never received another phone call from the Pentagon or anyone else in any type of government position (military or otherwise). No, he never SAW anything.

He DID however, attempt to view the debris field shortly after it was reported to the Base, but was denied admittance to the property. He recalled a long section of ranch road being blocked off and lots of armed military personnel manning the barricade. He passed multiple trucks loaded with men and equipment coming in and out of the area. MORE INTERESTING, huh?

Did he believe it? Did he believe that a UFO had crashed in Roswell, New Mexico? Did he believe that there had been a cover-up? I asked him once in an interview of my own. I video-taped him telling stories of his life and talking about his accomplishments as an heirloom to pass down to my children and eventually their children. And I could not resist the temptation to just ask...

You know what he said? That he didn't know. The people who did know were mostly already gone. Many of the unclassified records were also gone. But he made two points. One, if there had been no cover up, or rather, nothing TO cover up, then why all the secrecy, the threats, the complete media blockout? And two, who are we as mere humans to presume that we are the only ones?

This man loved God his whole life, was married to the same woman for nearly 65 years, had 14 great-grandchildren at the time of his death, and left his footprints on the hearts of everyone he knew. To this day he remains the most profoundly intelligent person I've ever had the privilege to know, love and call my family.

I believe.