Evening star., 1954-01-05
Marines Seekinq
Flying Saueers Find
NewAviation Light
BY jack Jonas
Sfcr Stcn Correspondent

YUAN 11CO, va, Jan. 0.-1ne
Marines looked for flying saucers
last night and saw weather bal
looms, airplane lights and stars.
Intelligence officers, armed
with high-powered night binoc-
ulars, scanned the skies above
the Marine base for three hours.
They were there because for the
past five nights sentries reported
seeing strange lights in the sky.
The verdict: The sentries had
indeed seen something strange
to them, but it was merely re-
Gently installed powerful anti
collision lights on commercial
aircraft.
Today, the sentries we're to be
briefed on the latest develop
ments in night flying.
Pvt. Norman Vietz of Green
vile, Pa. a sentry on duty at
the Tank Park in Camp Barrett.
a few miles from the main base,
spotted the oddity first. That was
on December 80 at 9:05 pm.
ut looked like a big. flashing
red light" Pvt. Vietz said. Il
would have thought it was an
airpIane. but I couldn't hear any
motor noise"
Called for Sergeant.
He called for Sergt. Francis
r. Salinder. the sergeant of the
guard, and together they
watched the lights.
1T just looked like a big red
light to me-" Sergt. Salinder
said.
The next three nights. Pfc.
Harrison j. Bennett, another
sentry. saw the strange objects.
And, oddly, he saw them first
at the same hour, 9:05 pm.
| Pvt. Bennett saw two lights
Thursday night. One travelled to-
ward the southwest, and the
| other toward the northeast.
They seemed to hover to-
gether for a while" he said.
Then one DISAPPEARED. and the
other moved away from the spot
and finally disappeared"
| At 6:40 pm. Friday, Pvt. Ben
nett saw them again. The same
thing happened Saturday night.
this time at 7 pm. and 7:57 pm.
Then Sunday night, Sergt. Har-
Ian Young saw them at $40 pm,
8:48 pm, 1854 pm. and 9:20 pm.
/ They seemed to be about 1000
yards in the sky, and pretty
close" he said.
And SO last night, Maj. John
Shearer. of the intelligence unit,
and Maj D. D. Pomerleau, the
provost marshal, were on hand.
you can expect them at
6:40," some one said positively.
! At $40 pm, there was
shout: There it isl"
| The shout brought Maj.
Shearer. Maj. Pomerleau, re-
porters and photographers in
rush outside.
| A faint, flashing red light
glowed in the sky toward the
southeast. near the horizon. Maj.
Shearer trained his binoculars
on it.
Il can see something" he said.
Later: 1T looks a little like
an airplane"
And still later: Nov l can see
his navigational lights, too"
See Weather Balloons.
At 7:45 pm. there was an
other shout from outside. Maj.
Shearer went to work with his
glasses again. These lights
seemed to rise from the horizon
almost directly upward.
Weather balloons" Maj.
Sheerer said.
A few minutes later. some one
spotted another blinking light.
The experts said that one was
a star.
At 8:15 pm, the shout went
up again.
The flashing red light this
time followed an orderly course
from the northeast toward the
southeast, just above the horizon.
Even to the naked eye, airplane
navigational lights also were Wis
ible.
Mai. Shearer did some tele-
phoning to the Civil Aeronautics
Authority in Washington and
asked for more information
about the light.
This light, he reported later.
is being installed on commercial
aircraft because of higher speeds
of today's airplanes. The light,
known as the Grimes Beam. is
of $4,000 candlepower and can
be seen at a greater distance by
other pilots.