SOMERTON MAN: THE BATTLEFRONT & THE PLAYERS. PART 1.

THE BATTLEFRONT & THE PLAYERS 

PART 1.

This is a Battle map that shows the situation on Australian's Northern flank, it is of course centered on New Guinea and the islands from Guadalcanal up to Rabaul and the Admiralty Islands, Manus and then through Rabaul to Buna, Kokoda, and Port Moresby not forgetting Milne Bay.

How does this map have anything to do with the Somerton Man case? Well, from where I sit it seems to me that a lot of players in the case at one time or another spent part of their lives here.

Not only people are involved, so are vessels. It's these vessels plus the people that Clive and I have been researching and quite thoroughly and we based the research on what was found in the letter Q on the code page:

In this image the focus is directly on the XCA sequence

J232 X RAN X 35 X CA25 or CA35

We have been able to identify two vessels and possibly a third that we can tie directly to the case. It's the knowledge of just where those vessels were deployed and from where they may have been viewed that could hold the key to unlocking the code page.

The year in focus is 1944 and the vessels are:

1. HMAS Deloraine, a Corvette (minesweeper) Hull number J232, (This ship was also known as M232) We do not have its Radio call code as yet:

2. USS Salt Lake City, Pensacola class Cruiser, Hull number: CA-25. Radio code letters: NISK:

3. USS Indianapolis, Heavy Cruiser, Hull number CA-35. Radio code letters NABD.

STATUS

The HMAS Deloraine we are quite certain about and are of the belief that one of the 2 USS Vessels is also very relevant in this research.

At a point in time, HMAS Deloraine and one of the other two vessels were in close physical proximity to each other, close enough to be visible to someone who could have been:

1. On one of these named ships 

2. On yet another ship 

3. Or perhaps on a shore base. 

Whichever it was, that person recorded viewing the Deloraine and one of the other two ships at or around the same time and date and entered the Hull number in microcode into the letter Q on the SM code page.

Apart from the vessels, we have two people in mind at this stage and whilst we can place one of them directly in the area, the other is more problematical.

We are working on a time-based matrix that should show us just which of these two men fit the profile. To make it extra interesting, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that both men will fit.

For all the keen researchers out there, finding a crew list for the Deloraine might be useful.

CALL SIGNS

All sea vessels had fixed radio call signs and whilst we currently have the call signs/codes for both US ships, tracking down the RAN equivalents is proving something of a challenge although I think we're now in touch with the right people.

Radiocommunications played a very large part in the winning of the Battle of the Coral Sea and others, The US, in particular, relied heavily on its use with some VT, Visual transmission, used as a backup, I am sure most would be familiar with the often seen shipboard 10 inch Aldis lamp

COASTWATCHERS
Off the Northern shores of Australia and right throughout the huge number of islands in the South Pacific, there was a network of Coastwatchers, in fact in an earlier post I had the great privilege of speaking with one of their number.  As a result of that discussion I followed up at the time and found that the frequency used by Coastwatchers was in the 6 mhz band, the individual frequencies were known as X Frequencies. 

Given the instances of number sets on the code page, many of which begin with the letter X, it could be that what we are seeing are written down Costwatchers frequencies call signs.

https://www.ozatwar.com/sigint/crs.htm

The Coastal Radio Stations at Darwin, Thursday Island, Townsville, Port Moresby, and Rabaul assisted the RAN Coast Watching scheme. They received and relayed information about the enemy military activity to and from Coast Watchers who operated behind Japanese lines. These Coastal Radio Stations had a dedicated receiver constantly tuned to a particular frequency in the 6 MHz band, which was known as "X" frequency. The Coast Watchers used Teleradios which were fitted with specially cut crystals which operated on this same frequency. The "X" frequency receivers at the Coastal Radio Stations were left on loudspeaker 24 hours a day to ensure all messages were heard.

USS INDIANAPOLIS

I should note that the USS Indianapolis has a very special place in history, just days after it had broken a speed record for a dash from San Diego to Hawaii with some highly classified cargo (enriched uranium) related to the Manhattan Project, it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine resulting in a massive loss of life. For those interested, more than 1500 photographs of the ship, equipment, maps, and its crew survived the episode. It's a story well worth reading and you will find more here.

Paul Allen, the joint Microsoft founder, led the recovery team that eventually found the wreck of the Indianapolis in 5500 meters of water in the North Philipines Sea in August 2017.

SOMERTON MAN: MEN IN THE STREET, AN ADELAIDE STREET...

AN ADELAIDE PHOTO CIRCA NOVEMBER 1948

This very blurry image is, in fact, part of a larger image I believe. It shows two men walking alongside a building which might be Adelaide Railway Station supposedly in November 1948.

You can see that one of the men is carrying a suitcase which, I think, could be a Globite and it appears to have what looks like a label on the top surface.

Let me be very certain about this, there is no way we could identify these men from this image. It was interesting that it should turn as it originally did around 2010 in the Adelaide University Facebook page.

The smaller of the two men may be someone who could be recognised by a descendant?

On watching an ABC programme earlier this week about the Migrant Reception Centre at Bonegilla, a Globite suitcase, similar to the one found at the Adelaide Railway Station, was shown.

Here's the YouTube clip to that specific programme, you'll see the Globite suitcase about 40 seconds or so into the clip.

It begs the question whether such suitcases were gifted to migrants as perhaps they were also gifted to internees at Hay and Tatura. It appears that many thousands of Balts arrived and stayed here at Bonegilla, they traveled far and wide for work including to South Australia and to Woomera.

here's a Trove link to an article related to the employment of Balts at Woomera: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48577458

SOMERTON MAN: IN THE WORDS OF THE PROFESSOR

LIEUTENANT COMMANDER
G A ROBSON

This document is from NAA files and it is for the Graeme Alvin Robson, he was the brother in law to Dr. Douglas Buxton Hendrickson. You may remember him as the man first identified by Professor Abbott at the showing of the 'Missing Pieces' film recently in Glenelg.

So, you may well ask, what are we doing looking at this man when another man, a chemist has more recently been identified as the fabled Mr. Francis?

Before I go any further, I must share with you that, as you will read,  it is believed that G A Robson spent some time at North Shore Hospital in the early 1940s. That should peak some interest as perhaps some of the entries in this particular file may do.

So, back to the point, or rather points. Like Nick Pelling, I have also received an email from Professor Abbott, and I found it most interesting.

Rather than selectively choose which parts I would publish, I have opted to share the email almost in it's original form. There are certain aspects that would be best left unpublished and they have been removed. I hasten to add that these aspects do not have any real impact on the main content of the email:

Hi Gordon

The identity that was announced at the Glenelg screening wasn't revealed, as far as I am aware. It was something the producer of the movie came up with and my understanding is that it is only a possibility:  it isn't the same as XXXX "Ronald Francis", and the producer is no longer sure about it anymore anyway.  So I think we better let that one go! False alarm I think.

The fact is that more than one Rubaiyat was handed in to the Police back in 1949. We can't assume it was only the ones mentioned in the newspapers.  Undoubtedly there would be more. 

And the question is: is even XXXX own "Ronald Francis" the correct one?  

What due diligence has XXXX done to double and triple check he got the right guy?   XXXXX hasn't given out any information on that so hard to confirm "Ronald's"  story.

Also Gerry once told me that when he interviewed "Ronald" it appeared that he had onset of dementia, and so it was difficult getting information out of him.  So questions like "are you sure you handed in Whitcombe and Tombs edition?" were probably not going to go anywhere.   

 Thus I question Ronald Francis on the grounds that the story is totally unverifiable.

If you look at the Reddit thread you will see how I described the lengths I went through to double and triple check that Jo Thomson was in fact "Jestyn".     When I first deduced her name I wasn't 100% sure that I had got the right one.   I've publicly laid out the exact process of how I became 100% certain.

Regarding Hendrickson he was a possibility that XXXXXXXX came up with back in 2011 and I dismissed it back then.

Back in 2011, XXXXX made a complete list of doctors that lived near J.

I've been working my way through these and a "Dr D. B. Hendrickson" that XXXX found does look a bit interesting.

We probably dismissed him before because he was born 1911 and died in 1979 and we thought 1979 was too long ago for Gerry to have met him alive....as Gerry did not really get active until after 2000.

However, if we now make an assumption that Gerry got the wrong guy, then Dr D. B. Hendrickson begins to have a whiff of looking interesting.

This is what I found out about him:

a) Full name: Douglas Buxton Hendrickson

b) He's in Sands & McDougall at 13 Pier St and 51 Moseley St. Presumably one address is his practice and the other is his residence. Both are 5 min walk from J.

c) He was a child polio specialist so almost certainly worked closely with the Crippled Children's Home outside which SM was found dead (but any link to the children's home is yet to be established).

d) He did drive a car.

e) When the Beaumont children disappeared he took it upon himself to spend a whole month digging sand dunes in an attempt to find bodies! 

f) His brother in law was also a doctor (Graeme Alvin Robson) and worked at the Royal North Shore Hospital in the early 1940s.

g) He's a man with motivation to hide his identity:  he was a womaniser and also was being done for medical malpractice in the 1940s.  So if he handed in the book he might not want his name in the papers if the car was parked on a street where his wife busted him for womanising him (for example).

Yes, all these connections could be meaningless coincidences, but there is something tantalizing about them that builds a picture.

Could he be our man?  Dunno.   But it is as good as any other guess that has been proposed so far.

A huge problem is he has been dead since 1979, so even if he is the man there is the issue of verifiability.  If his family have retained essential knowledge that links him to the real poetry book, this would be the only way to verify.  But it is a very long shot.

Best,
Derek.

IN SUMMATION

Having read this through it is clear to me that both candidates are as likely as each other to be the 'Mr. Francis'. As Professor Abbott says, there is insufficient evidence to make the call.

This also means that the first Post that we put on here regarding Dr. Hendrickson remains valid, probably better to say as valid as Mr. Freeman.

I sincerely hope that this information from the Professor will be of interest and of some use to the serious researchers including JS and Milongal, that's on the assumption that you weren't aware of the email contents.

Clive and I will be digging deeper on this topic and others which are based around areas of London, Hampstead to be more precise. Who knows what we will turn up next.

SOMERTON MAN: GERRY FELTUS REVEALS THE REAL NAME OF MR. FRANCIS?

With thanks to Gerry for posting this information on his website, it seems that the information given out by Professor Abbott at the Glenelg screening of the film could be incorrect. 

Clive attended the event and he sent me the previous information re Hendrickson in all good faith.

All credit to Nick Pelling at the Cipher Mysteries blog, he posted this news from Gerry first.

The decision to publish that was mine and I unreservedly apologise for the previous Hendrickson post if people feel that they have been misled by it, that certainly was not the intention.

On the upside, it does seem that there is new life in the discussion and let's hope that it keeps moving forward and then who knows what turns up next?

The map above is navigable.

As further information becomes available I will add to this post and possibly others. Finally, I believe that if you screw up then you own up. On this occasion, it looks like I may have done just that.

SOMERTON MAN: SOVIET COLD WAR COVER ROLES & COVER NAMES

COVER ROLES & COVER NAMES

Profile 1:

This man was the main handler of espionage agents for the Soviets and their 'ENORMOZ' project, The Atom Spies.  He was extraordinarily effective in the role and he organised the systematic illicit acquisition  of the critical plans and details for the US Manhattan project via a network of well-placed spies within the US. His cover role was that of the General Consul of the Consulate- General of the Soviet Union based in New York City between 1940 and 1946.

Amongst his team was Harry Gold, Pavel Fedosimov and Alexander Feklisov. Working through them he became the controller of information from the Rosenbergs, Morton Sobel and David Greenglass and was ultimately responsible for organising the flow of high-grade information from Klaus Fuchs.

In 1946 he ws recalled to Russia and resumed work in the scientific and technical intelligence field under his real name, ANATOLY YATSKOV. He worked repeatedly on intelligence projects in Europe and Asia into the 1950s.

In a 1992 interview he disclosed that only half of his spy network had been uncovered and that the main player, still unnamed, had the code name PERSEUS.

He was a much-decorated intelligence operative and amongst the awards was a posthumous 'Hero of the Russian Federation'.

Yatskov is a relatively rare surname within Russia, ranked at approximately 16000, with a higher density found in Ukraine, approx. 6000, and Belarus approx. 8000.

Profile 2:

Mentioned above is a man known in the US as ALEXANDER FEKLISOV:

Attached to the Soviet Consul in New York between 1940 and 1946, he was the NKVD officer responsible for recruiting agents in the field and he reported directly to Anatoly Yatskov.

Apart from directly handling Julius Rosenberg with whom he developed a close friendship, he recruited Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant, Barr was in the US Army Signal Corps. Sarant was known to Barr and he was instrumental in his recruitment. Both were later to be charged and imprisoned for spying.

Feklisov returned to Russia about the same time as Yatskov. He later served in London in the late 1940s and went returned to the US serving as the KGB station chief between 1960 and 1964. He is credited with developing the solution to the Cuban Missile crisis.

Fekislov used a cover name on his second tour in the US, that name, believed to be his real name, was ALEKSANDR FOMIN.

Feklisov is an extremely rare surname, raked at approximately 73000,  just as is the name Fedosimov. FOMIN is a common name in Russia.

Profile 3.

This next man needs no introduction to followers of this blog, 
PAVEL IVANOVICH FEDOSIMOV:

This man was named by Harry Gold as the man who turned up at the Earl Cinema in the Bronx in 1946 just prior to Yatsov's and Feklisov's departure for Russia.

It is this man who asked the right ID pre-qualifying question and it is this man who produced the torn piece of paper given to him by Yatskov and matched it to the piece given by Yatskov to Harry Gold thus proving their respective IDs. Read more here:

It is this man who I believe is the Somerton Man, my belief was predated by long-time researcher John Ruffels. He was the man who proved most helpful to the producers of the 1978 documentary on the Somerton Man organised and hosted by Stuart Littlemore. 

It was John who gave me the initial lead given by Senator Cavanagh who pointed directly to the ATOM SPIES book and from there the inclusion of the Earl Cinema meeting between Gold and the big fair-haired man with large hands and who walked on his toes. As you can see in this photograph, he also had unusual teeth.

The only thing John wasn't able to do was to put a name to the man. That only became possible later with the release of FBI files covering the event some years later. Hats off to you JR!

This is the only photograph that we have of Fedosimov and despite exhaustive searching, we have not been able to find any further photographs of him. We do not know what other names he may have used.

There can be little doubt that this man, a known NKVD officer, used other names and the name he went under, Pavel Ivanovich Fedosimov whilst he worked at the Soviet Consul in New York was most likely not have been his real name as was the case with the two other Soviet agents and  handlers, Yatskov and Fomin.

There are many mentions of a Yakovlev, the name of one of the Russian's most famous aircraft manufacturers.

Fedosimov is a rare name in Russia, ranked at 38000 approximately.