A retired engineer has opened up and revealed an interview he conducted with a military welder who described cutting open the hull of the infamous crashed UFO at Roswell. The witness’s version not only matches other Roswell eyewitness accounts, including confirmation of strewn wreckage and lifeless alien bodies inside the downed UFO, but reveals new details that may forever change the Roswell saga.
The engineer who interviewed the welder explained that his interest in UFOs began while attending school at the University of California in Santa Cruz. After conducting a few amateur UFO investigations, his reputation on campus as “someone who knew about UFOs” grew. It was during his time at UCSC when a friend from his church introduced him to another friend who had asked to speak with someone who had knowledge of UFOs. The engineer agreed to a formal interview and met with the man in his home, unaware that the man was going to recount an experience with a crashed UFO at Roswell, New Mexico.
A Roswell Air Force Base welder recalls the Roswell Crash
The witness to the events was a welder by trade and employed at the Roswell Air Force Base in Roswell, New Mexico where he welded fixtures for servicing aircraft on the base. He noted that flying saucers passing above Roswell Air Force Base were not uncommon. They often flew over the base in pairs. Per the witness, the craft were circular with a dome on top, flat on the bottom, and made no sound when they flew overhead. He and others assumed they were some sort of technology obtained from the Germans. The men on the base called them “flats”.
“Grab your stuff, we’re heading into the desert”
It was just after the 4th of July holiday when the man returned to work at the base. An officer drove up in a truck and instructed him to grab a cutting torch and full tanks. He told the man “They were going out to the desert.”
By midafternoon, they had arrived at the crash site. The man noticed a flatbed truck loaded with wreckage and figured it was a downed aircraft. They drove a “little further” away from the wreckage and came upon a group of people standing around an intact UFO. Brush and small trees had been knocked down indicating the craft had skidded across the ground, coming to rest nosed into a natural berm.
The craft was about 25 feet in diameter with a large dome on top. The surface had a “burnished finish” the color of “weak tea”. The man noticed that there were no seams, marks, or rivets nor were there any visible windows or openings. He realized he had been brought to the site to cut open a UFO.
Cutting open the crashed Roswell UFO
As darkness set in, soldiers brought in a bank of portable lights. The man began cutting a hole through the base of the dome. He described the ship’s material as extremely thin but surprisingly tough. The cutting was slow. He recalled that he tried bending the metal out of the way as he was cutting but it would spring back to its original shape.
He finished the cut and had just set the piece of metal aside when he was ordered off the craft. He recalled the inside of the craft emitted a strong smell of ammonia. Glare from the portable lights and smoke from the cutting torch made it difficult to see inside. Despite the conditions and only a brief glance, he noted two beings inside that appeared to be dead. The creatures were short, about 4-feet tall, but were doubled over so their height was admittedly hard to gauge. They wore skin-tight purplish suits. He saw no sign of visible flight instruments inside the UFO.
Debriefing and threats
Upon arriving back at the base, the man was escorted by army guards into a building for debriefing. In the room were several high-ranking officers and 4-5 men wearing suits that appeared to be civilians. He was told that what he had seen was a “state secret” and that he would spend his entire life in prison if he ever divulged what he had seen. In 23 years, his friend was the only person he had ever told.
What we know about the Roswell crash is wrong
The engineer noted that the man seemed honest, calm, and exhibited nothing odd during his presentation of the story. The man told him that what the public thought they knew about the Roswell crash was wrong and that he wanted to somehow get the truth out without endangering his safety or freedom. The man asked the engineer to keep what he had heard a secret.
Since then, the man and his friend have passed away and thus, the engineer felt he could now divulge what he had been told. He noted that his friend was a strong Christian, honorable, and trustworthy – not the sort of person that would support a bogus story. The engineer admitted that he has always felt the story he was told was true.
Original report
The following appeared in a MUFON on 11/11/2016.
This is a report of an interview I conducted of a person who was at the Roswell crash site. I am a retired engineer.
I joined the staff of the then new campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz. There were several sightings of UFO’s in the mountains behind the campus in 1969 and reported to the University. I was asked to interview 3 people and file a report. I could find no credibility or evidence in these events but, because it was a small campus and everybody in the Sciences knew what was going on, I got the unwanted reputation of someone who knew about UFO’s.
One day in 1970, a maintenance worker who I knew well from my church, came into my lab and said he had a friend who wanted to talk to me but did not want to meet in a public place. I suggested we meet at my home that evening.
At the time, I did not know he wanted to tell me about a UFO incident.
That evening I was told by the two men that they had been captured by the Germans during WW2 and spent a year and a half in a POW camp. They became good friends during that time and remained so after the war.
The individual I interviewed was a welder by trade and after the war was employed at the Roswell Air Force base welding jigs and fixtures for servicing aircraft. He began by stating that the week before the 4th of July, flying saucers would fly over the base in pairs every once in a while. He said they were circular and had a large dome on the top.
They were flat on the bottom and were silent. He assumed they were some technology obtained from the Germans. He said everyone working there called them “flats”
He said that he had just returned back to work after the 4th of July holiday when a truck pulled up and an officer got out and told him to load a cutting torch and fresh tanks and that they were going out to the desert. He said that it was midafternoon when they arrived at the crash site. He said at the time he thought a plane had gone down. He said they had a flatbed truck loaded with wreckage and there were soldiers on their hands and knees picking up every piece of wreckage and putting it in cloth bags. He said the bags were the kind used for sandbags.
He said they drove a little farther out of sight from the wreckage and came upon a second group of people standing around an intact UFO. He said the brush was knocked down indicating the craft had skidded across the ground and came to rest nosed into a natural berm with the back side slightly off the ground.
He described the craft as being about 25/26 feet in diameter with a large dome on top. He said the craft was the ‘color of weak tea’ with a burnished finish. He said there were no signs of weld marks, seams, or rivets and that all of the edges had either an inside or outside radius. There were no visible windows or openings. That was why he was brought there.
He was told to cut an opening in the dome big enough for a man to crawl through. By this time it was getting to be late afternoon and there were soldiers setting up a bank of portable lights. He said he began cutting a hole from the base of the dome. He said it was a tough alloy and slow cutting but the material was surprisingly thin. He tried bending the metal out of his way as he was cutting but the metal would spring back to its original shape without creasing.
He finished his cut and set the metal piece aside and looked into the cockpit for a few seconds before he was ordered off the craft. He said it was difficult to see very far into the craft because of the glare from the portable lights and the cockpit was full of smoke from the cutting torch. He said he saw two beings who appeared to be dead. He said the cockpit had a strong smell of ammonia. He described the two beings as being about 4′ tall but they were doubled up so it was hard to say. They were wearing what he said were skin tight purplish flight suits that reminded him of sequins. He described their heads as what we now refer to as greys. He said there were no visible instruments that he could see.
He was ordered off the craft with his gear and returned to the Air Base. He said it was dark when they arrived and he was escorted by armed guards into a building for a debriefing. He said there were several high ranking officers at the table along with 4 or 5 civilians in suits. He said that after he was debriefed he was told that he was not to talk about what he had seen as it was a state secret and if he was caught divulging anything he would spend the rest of his life in prison or worse. He was scared to death by the threat and my friend and myself are the only people he ever told and that was 23 years after the event.
When we started the interview, I was told that I could not take notes or use a recorder. He was very nervous telling the story and had to be reassured by my friend that I would not betray him. He said that what had been described as the Roswell event was not true and he wanted the truth told after his death. He asked that I keep what he told me a secret until after his death which I have done. He and my friend both passed away in the late 1980’s
When I heard this story I did not know what to think. I was not a UFO buff and had never heard the Roswell story. My friend said this guy was the real thing and during the interview I never sensed anything odd about his presentation or with his mannerisms. He provided a lot more information that I have stated but the interview was almost 50 years ago and forgotten. I think he was telling the truth. My friend was a very honorable and trustworthy man who would knowingly support a bogus story. I never saw or spoke the welder again after that evening. I have shared my knowledge of this interview with a couple of investigators but I think they doubted my credibility.