Captive!
This is a reconstruction of events that I have tried to record and reconstruct as best as I am capable at this time. Most of this narrative is based on bits and pieces of “memory recalls” that I have had since I began to study the Kinross F-89 disappearance. A few parts are lifted from other sources. In particular, my reconstruction of the actual intercept is partially derived from a number of sources. I have tried to place these into a context so the story is told as I “recall” experiencing it as Lt. Moncla.
My recollection of parts of the occurrences in the ET spaceship were first partially derived from my partial recall of something my parents told me when I was very young. At the time, much of it I couldn’t understand (why the men couldn’t leave if they weren’t already in jail).
Incident Over Lake Superior
It is late afternoon of November 23rd, 1953. Lt. Moncla and Lt. Wilson are sitting at a table in the ready room with the other crew on five minute alert. They are playing cards to pass the time by. Moncla is still thinking about the news they received when he arrived at base a few hours earlier about the crash of an F-89 in Madison. The plane was flown by his neighbor and friend, John Schmidt. Moncla is restless and just wants the shift to end so he can be alone with his thoughts and not with the other squadron members.
The other alert crews on fifteen minute alert are just returning from dinner and are preparing to take over the five minute alert status when a loud blast sounds from the alert horn. Lt. Moncla jumps up from the table and calls out to his radar operator “That’s us Wilson”. Just before rushing out of the room, he slips his hand into a pocket of his flight suit and pulls out his wallet. He stares across the table at Lt. Bill Mingenbach and without a word, drops his wallet on the table.
He spins around and rushes from the room to the neighboring hangar where the ground crews are starting the number one plane. Moncla and Wilson slip on their flight jackets, life vests and harnesses and flight helmets and climb into the waiting F-89. The doors to the hangar are already open and the crew performs their pre-flight checks before rolling out of the hangar into the cold November night.
Moncla contacts Naples GCI and is given his initial bearing and flight altitude directions. They have been assigned the callsign “Avenger Red” for the mission.
Several minutes pass. They are having some problems at GCI receiving radio transmissions from the F-89 and are directed to switch channels. The other channels are no better. About fifteen minutes into the mission, they are switched over to Pillow GCI which is based out on the Keeweenaw Peninsula. They are now way out over Lake Superior and headed in a north north westerly direction. Wilson tells Moncla that they should be approaching the Canadian border and wonders if they should continue pursueing the bogie into Canada. Moncla doesn’t think he should question the GCI about this because they obviously are tracking their position and would know that they are crossing into Canada. Instead he radios GCI and asks them if he should discontinue mission because of the poor radio reception. He is told that the mission was called by Horsefly and that it is his call. Not wanting to make any waves with the higher up authorities. Moncla decides it is best to continue.
GCI tells him to make a port turn to 270 degrees and drop to angels 7 for the intercept. As he begins his dive, his mind starts to wander, thinking about the dive and crash that killed his friend earlier that afternoon, back in Madison. He calls in his altitude as angels 25, but GCI asks for a confirmation as their altitude radar is reading angels 15. Moncla recognizes his mistake and realizes that he is making mistakes because his mind is wandering, thinking about his dead friend.
They are starting to fly through cloud and light snow that is streaking past the canopy. GCI tells him to make a starboard turn to 20 degrees, steady at angels 7 as the intercept angle. Wilson is still trying to pick up the return on his radar. He finally calls, “Got it”. The radio starts acting up. Moncla just hears static when GCI transmits. Wilson now has the target on scope and is giving him directions.
Suddenly Wilson says “I see it, one O’clock”. Moncla stares out at the snow and cloud and then sees it too. It is just a dark form, no navigation lights. No cockpit glow. He can’t see any wings. As he pulls in closer, he realizes that the craft is huge. They can now see that the craft is an enormous domed disk. Moncla sees a large bay open in the side that is dimly lit.
He calls back to Wilson “We had better head back”, and starts to jerk his stick to make his turn. There is no response from the plane. He jerks the stick the other way, and still no response. He calls to Wilson “My sticks stuck, try yours!” A moment later, Wilson calls back “Mines not working either!”
Moncla stares out at the craft and feels the plane being pulled towards the open bay. There is only one thing to do. “I’m launching the rockets!” he calls out. Wilson shouts back in alarm “We’re too close” but Gene has already launched. There is a bright flash of light followed by a big shock wave that hits the plane. That is the last thing Moncla remembers.
Note: One thing that seems completely wrong about this memory, is that so far, I have found no confirmation that the F-89 was equipped with any rockets. The standard armament for the F-89C was six machine guns in the nose. It seems that the F-89C could be configured for under-wing rockets, but in all the photos I have seen and all the accounts I have read, I have not once seen any actually being used. I noted that before I had my memory regression, I had written that I had a memory of Moncla firing on the UFO. I didn't write down whether this was a memory of him firing with guns or rockets, so I don't know if this detail was something that only crept in while I was trying to remember the incident in greater detail.
Awakening in the Spaceship
Gene Moncla slowly comes to consciousness. He is lying on his back, and is still wearing his flight suit, boots and helmet. “The plane… Where is the plane?” he is groaning and mumbling to himself. He becomes aware of the strangeness of his surroundings and he is starting to feel alarmed. He senses something by his side as his eyes and mind come to. He looks over and sees a strange face with large dark eyes that have no pupil. A jolt of recognition hits him “Its an alien” he thinks to himself. He is shocked and horrified by the being that is staring at him. Moncla is thinking that the alien looks very unfriendly. He hears the alien’s thoughts in his mind. “You should not have fired on us. You killed two of us.”
The Decision
When Moncla awakes again he is in a small and very sparsely furnished room. He is awake and alone for a long period. For some reason, he really, really needs to defecate. He suffers for some time because there is no facility in his “room” for this. Finally, unable to bear the pain, he defecates on the floor. He really finds it awfully disgusting to have to stay in the room with his waste smelling up the room. A while later, one of the ET enters the room and expresses great displeasure at the smell and mess. The ET expresses the view that Moncla could have waited but Moncla insists that he was in quite a bit of pain and had to go. He also expresses his need for facilities for hygiene, like water. Moncla is taken from his cell and while he is gone, someone cleans up the mess for him. I think that he gets water and some other stuff a while later.
The ET leads Moncla through corridors in the ship. As he walks behind the ET, he notices that it has a strange way of walking. It looks like it is sliding its feet along the floor, like you would if you were cross country skiing. I seem to remember that it was also moving its arms in an exaggerated manner, like you might if you had poles, but the ET is not wearing skis and is not carrying poles. Moncla is lead to a room in another part of the ship. When he gets there, he asks about the status and whereabouts of his radar observer, Lt. Robert Wilson. He is told that Wilson is fine and is being kept in another part of the ship. Moncla asks when he will be allowed to meet with him, and is told this will happen in a day or so.
Moncla asks if he will be returned and is told that they will not be allowed to be returned to earth with their current identities. I don’t know if they explained why he would not be allowed to go back, but I think that they were told that if they returned, that he would be put in prison. Moncla is told that they each have two choices, one is to “assume a new identity” on earth, the other is to go with the ETs on a long trip back to their planet. They tell Moncla that if he chooses to return to earth, he will not be allowed to go back to his family, friends and old life. If he chooses to go with the ETs, he may never return to earth. Moncla is told that Wilson will be provided the same options. Moncla was then returned to his room to think about his options.
Note: Back in 1999, before I had my UFO sighting, I had a series of memory flashbacks that went back to the period when I was a very young baby. The last flashback was like a near-death experience, but seems to refer to my birth. I am aware of the process of being born and all is darkness. But then, I suddenly went into a very brightly lit place where about five or six entities surrounded me. They told me that I had to go back, because I had my whole life to live. I told them that the baby was sick. They said that I should not have fired on the spaceship. I then am returned to the hospital room which is also brightly lit, but is full of doctors and nurses rushing about. After I had this recall, I believe it was then that I had this recall of an event in the past, where I am being held captive in a big rather empty room. The lighting is dim and I think it is rather cool, but I am dressed in a warm flight suit and boots. I am feeling very unhappy, more unhappy about things than I can remember ever feeling in my whole life. The room seems very strange and depressing. The walls have a strange sort of raised pattern or texture. Everything seems to have a sort of reddish or rust colored look.
At this time, Moncla is thinking about his wife and children. He can’t imagine that he will never be able to see them again. This is very hard for Moncla to accept, especially because he does not really know the reasons why he is not being allowed to return to them. He tries to focus his thinking about how he might be able to escape. He knows he is in a large spaceship that is controlled by the aliens, and he thinks his only way of escaping would be to get back to the bay he remembers seeing in the side of the ship, before the F-89 was captured. He tries to think about how similar situations were handled. He thinks about the western movies he has seen where a guy is locked in jail and manages to get the key from the jailer or sheriff.
He thinks that his first challenge would be to get out of the room, so he needs to figure a way out. He searches the walls of the room, trying to find the edges of the door and the locking mechanism. He has to examine every minute detail of the intricately textured wall, but he is unable to find anything that looks like the edge of a door, or a latching or locking mechanism. After searching the wall for maybe an hour, he finally gives up, and starts again to think about his fate.
After a while of mulling over the dreadful circumstances he has gotten into, he somehow gets back to thinking about the decision which he must make. He tries to think each alternative out in terms of what he imagines to be the best option. On one hand, he thinks he might like to return to earth because this way he would be amongst humans and might theoretically have a chance to see his family again sometime in the future. But he also thinks that he might not mind going with them if Wilson also made the same choice. That way he would at least be able to stay with someone he knew and the trip might be a bit of an adventure for the two of them. But what if Wilson made the other choice? Then he would be a lone human amongst the extra-terrestrials on a long, long journey through space. At one point, Moncla almost decides to go with them. But it is only after some degree of consideration of how lonely he would feel if he were the only human on this space trip, that he realizes that this would probably be the worst outcome. He then weighs the options and decides that the new identity on earth choice avoids the worst outcome and therefore he decides that this is the choice he will make.
I think it is very soon after this that they come to get Moncla. It is somewhat like they know he has made up his mind (as they probably are aware of his thoughts). He is taken back to the room where he was told his options. When he gets there, he sees Wilson. Before he is able to say anything to Wilson, he is asked what his decision is. He tells them that he has decided to stay on earth with a new identity.
The F-89
I think that this maybe occurs within a day or two of the encounter. This might have happened as he was taken to the room where he announced his decision. Moncla is lead through the ship from his quarters to the bay where the F-89 is kept. It is a very large space that is normally used to house the shuttle craft that are kept on the spaceship. The bay has a sort of large portal that opens and allows the craft to enter or exit the spaceship. When the F-89 was captured, the aliens were able to override the control systems of the F-89 and guide it into the bay. Moncla was not conscious when the plane went inside the bay, and was also not conscious when he was removed from the F-89, so this is the first time he is able to see the plane. When they enter the bay containing the F-89, Moncla sees that the F-89 is sort of just hanging in mid-air, about ten feet above the floor. They have brought Moncla to show him the plane and so he can see that it is not flyable as it was damaged during its capture. I seem to recall that there was black residue on the front facing parts of the plane, like it had been scorched by heat and smoke from an explosion. I seem to recall that the canopy was discolored and maybe partially melted. I don't know how this would happen unless there were rockets fired from the F-89., and from what I know now, there were no rockets deployed on the F-89Cs, although they could be equipped with rockets beneath the wings.
He is told that they are going to dispose of the F-89 because they can’t keep it. Moncla tries to convince them that they should keep the plane. I think at this point, Moncla is still thinking that he might be able to escape using the plane. They are no doubt aware that he has been making these plans also. They reiterate that they cannot keep the jet.
The following "memory recall" was triggered a few years ago. I had ordered several topographical maps of the terrain of northern Ontario, where I had some sort of hunch that the F-89 wreckage might be found. I had focused on the following areas:
· the region surrounding Wawa, Ontario, particularly areas to the east and south of Wawa,
· the shoreline of Lake Superior from Wawa south to Cozens Cove
· the shoreline of Lake Superior from Wawa west to Pukaskwa National Park
· Michipicoten Island (a large island on the eastern side of Lake Superior)
When I received the maps I had ordered, I pinned them to the wall of my living room, and tried to make a contiguous map of the area. After I had put the maps on the wall, I was studying the map, when I suddenly started to experience a sense that I could recall Moncla looking at a large map on the wall of the same parts of northern Ontario. Moncla is with one of the aliens, who is explaining to Moncla where they have placed the wreckage of the F-89. My recollection is that they told him it was cut up and placed in three separate locations. The tail and some parts were placed in one location, one wing was placed in another location with some other parts, and the fuselage and another wing were placed in a third location.
I think they tried to explain to Moncla why they did this, but I can't recall the explanation. One thing I recall is that they are pointing out the town of Wawa on the map. Moncla says to them something like, "You're kidding me. There really is a place called Wawa?" He thinks it is a very funny sounding name. They show him "Michipicoten Island" and then "Michipicoten Bay" and "Michipicoten River", I believe in that sequence. I recall that Moncla associated the name "Michipicoten" with the name "Michigan", and thought it would be pronounced as "MISHI-picoten". They told him that the "ch" sound was pronounced in this case, like the normal English "ch" in "church". I believe that the map they showed Moncla was very much like a topographical map. It might have been compiled from the real maps made by the Canadian government which the aliens had somehow been able to retrieve. The map had detailed information of towns, lakes and rivers, all labeled with the English names. I don't know if it was printed or an image, but it was presented to him at this time on a large vertical surface that they were examining while standing up.
The alien also pointed to "Anjigami Lake", which is a medium sized lake, south of Limer, Ontario. I think this is maybe the time when they told him that they had created the sound of the jet and the crashing plane, which had been heard by the railway crew. On one hand, this sounds like deliberate deception by the aliens, but I believe that they may have had a reason behind this apparent act of deception. If my recall is correct, it was done as an affirmation that the incident was not a simple accident as they knew the Air Force would tell the public. I believe they were also using this as a clue that would later be used to locate the wreckage of the F-89. My sense is that the aliens were maybe planning that this would be later used to reveal that Moncla's and Wilson's disappearance in the F-89 was not due to an accident.
I am not sure about this, but I think the reason Moncla was shown this information was so he would later recall this in his next incarnation. Perhaps I am reading toomuch into this, but I seem to remember that they had told him that Moncla would go out and search for the plane in his future incarnation, many decades in the future. Moncla was intrigued by this idea that he would remember things about his previous life. I suppose he must also have wondered how the aliens would know or be able to guess about these future events. This is one of the mysteries of the whole thing that seems strangest to me. My recollection is that the aliens did seem to have some knowledge about the future. Whether this was just because they were able to predict based on knowledge of the present and there knowledge about human nature is one possibility. This seems more likely than a scenario that the had actual real knowledge about the future, which would imply that our ideas of free choice are perhaps an illusion. This idea contradicts my fundamental belief systems, so I guesss it is something I cannot seriously entertain.
Related to this topic is the general notion of reincarnation and past life memory. I don't know how they explained to Moncla the mechanisms involved in his next incarnation, but they did tell him that he would initially not remember much about his past life and this was simply a better way than to remember too much about his past life. This certainly was resisted by Moncla, as he knew that his self identity was contained by his memories, and losing his memories would mean he would lose his identity. It was as part of this discussion or these discussions when Moncla realized that he would retain some of his past life memories and would retrieve others at a later date, that he realized the possibility that he might at some point remember his family from his past life. It is my recollection that he asked him if he would ever see his family again in his future life. It is my recollection that they told him he would see his wife and children in fifty years. Moncla complained bitterly about this, that the elapsed time was way too long. I think he was worried that his wife might not be alive when this would come to pass, and of course, his children would have long ago forgotten their father. It is my recollection that they told him that this was just the way it was. I think they also told him it would be a little less than fifty years in the future that he would see his family, but I have no explanation as to how they would know this.
News From Earth
After Moncla has been kept on the spaceship for a while, the ETs slowly begin to communicate more with Moncla and Wilson. They showed them around the spaceship but there only certain parts of the ship that the two of them were allowed to freely visit. The entrances to the rooms are aware which ones Moncla and Wilson have access to, and they will automatically open when they approach if they are permitted to enter.
Moncla is taken to a room where there is some sort of instrument that can be used to view information from earth. I recall that it can convey visual information, but I think that it can also present audio information (like the voices of people) and may also be able to provide a method of reading the recorded thoughts of persons. I don’t know the full extent of this information, but it seems that there is quite a vast collection.
There is certain information that Moncla can not see, or maybe that is not collected. He is not able to access any information about his family at all. He is however able to access lots of information that relates to his and Wilson’s disappearance. He is able to read the newspapers that covered the event and is even able to watch the proceedings of the accident investigation board, just as if he were there in the room.
It is quite shocking for him to see the ways that the circumstances of his disappearance have been covered up.
One question that was on Moncla’s mind is whether the ETs were also somehow responsible for the crash that killed his neighbor, Lt. John Schmidt and Capt. Glen Collins. When he asks the ETs if they were involved in this mishap, they deny this but tell Moncla that they have recorded the incident. I am unsure how it is that they explain the fact that they have recorded this incident. Were they monitoring the aircraft for some reason?
They show Moncla the last several minutes of the flight and he is able to see all that happened. It is very shocking for Moncla to see and hear the crew as they are in the dive. At the last moment, Capt. Collins tries to eject the canopy, but he is too late, and they plunge into the marsh beside Lake Wingra and there is a big explosion.
Note: I had a recall of seeing a recording of the whole Schmidt/Collins F-89 crash event after reading the newspaper accounts when I was at the archives at the Wisconsin Historical Society building in Madison in the fall of 2001. I have not and will not discuss all the memory recall as there is no way for me to be sure this is not just something I have imagined and I see nothing to be gained by revealing my memory of seeing this tragedy unfold.
After Moncla has seen the recording, he realizes that the ETs were only spectators, but this still makes him feel upset at the way they are covertly gathering all this information about his friends and colleagues.
“In Line of Duty”
When I was in Madison in the fall of 2002, I again paid a visit to the archives in the Wisconsin Historical Society building in Madison . I was looking at newspapers after the November F-89 incidents, and found an editorial cartoon in one of the papers that was titled “In Line of Duty” and showed an F-89 flying over a silhouette of the State Capital and downtown area. I think it was meant to be a dignified memorial to the Air Force officers from Madison who had recently died in accidents.
"In Line of Duty"
from Wisconsin State Journal, early December, 1953
When I saw the editorial drawing, I suddenly started to experience a strong sense that it was most familiar. After studying the picture, I began to realize that I could remember studying the picture before, and how certain details really seemed to stick out. I remember how I immediately could recognize that the skyline was downtown Madison. I remember that I was with Lt. Wilson when I looked at the drawing. We were talking about the picture as we had discussed all the news stories and other recordings that we had viewed concerning the two F-89 incidents. By the time we saw this cartoon, we were both fully aware of the way in which information on the F-89 disappearance over Lake Superior had been withheld. When Moncla saw this cartoon, he immediately noticed that there was just one F-89 in the picture. This upset him because he felt like the media was deliberately trying to make people forget about the F-89 disappearance over Lake Superior by focusing on the F-89 that had crashed in Madison the same day. Lt. Wilson tried to offer some reassuring words to Moncla that maybe the single plane was meant to symbolize all the Madison based USAF pilots who had been lost in several recent incidents, such as the mid-air collision that had occurred in early November. Lt. Moncla thought about this and then noticed the steeple of the church with the clock in it. He said that he thought that was his church (a Catholic Church off State Street), but Wilson corrected him saying it looked more like another church that is SW of Capital Square.
Despite Lt. Moncla’s initial negative reaction to the cartoon’s apparent oversight of the Lake Superior incident, he certainly did like the artistic presentation of the F-89 flying over the Madison skyline and did appreciate the cartoonist’s remembrance of his fallen squadron members.
Meeting the Heaths
It was not long after Moncla had made his decision to "take a new identity" that he was told that he would be introduced to his future parents. I am not sure about this, but I think it seemed important to the aliens that they receive Monclas approval for this choice. I also guess that they also were doing this introduction because they also were trying to get the permission of his future parents for their plans to create a new incarnation for Moncla. I think Moncla asked them that what would happen if he didn't like the man and woman they had selected. Moncla was told that he should not worry about this until he had a chance to meet them.
My recall is that he was first introduced to Jean Heath. I don't remember much about the meeting. I think he felt very strange to be introduced to a woman who was about the same age as his wife as someone who would possibly be his future mother. I think that he had some misgivings about her, although he was not really sure what it was that was bothering him. Maybe he sensed that she was perhaps somewhat attracted to him and this made him feel both uncomfortable and guilty because of his forced separation from his wife.
I recall that it was a day or two later that he was introduced to Doug Heath who would be his future father. I think that this meeting went much better. I think this was because they were able to both talk about their experiences in the Air Force and also were able to talk about other things like where they came from.
After the meetings, I believe that Moncla agreed that it would be okay if the Heaths were to be his future parents. He understood that they lived in Canada, and this sounded quite interesting to Moncla. I am guessing that part of the reason that Canada was selected, was to minimize the chance of Moncla accidentally uncovering his past while he was young, and perhaps also to ensure that he was outside of the legal reach of the US government authorities, in case they found out what had happened to Moncla.
It was about this time that I recall Moncla was told that his next incarnation would actually be genetically his son. His genetic mother would be Jean Heath, and he would be the father of his next incarnation. I am not sure why this was done and if they explained this to Moncla. He was mainly concerned how this was going to take place. He was reassured when he was told that this incarnation was to be artificially conceieved, using the aliens knowledge of science and technology. My recall is that they did collect sperm from Moncla using a collection device and something that was used to cause ejaculation by inducing an orgasm in his brain. It was a most unsettling experience for Moncla, and he left the lab feeling very much humiliated to have been treated like an animal.
It was not long after this that Moncla would again meet his parents. I believe that they usually came alone, and not together. I am guessing that this was to ease their anxiety about there two children being left alone without a parent in the house.
I experienced this recall after I had got the topographical maps of Ontario. I was looking at the map of Alona Bay and Cozens Cove because I had read that aircraft parts had been found there by two prospectors in October 1968. The OPP (Ontario Provincial Police), said they believed the parts were from a military plane. The speculation at the time was that these parts were perhaps from the F-89 that disappeared in November 1953, on a mission over Lake Superior. While looking at the map, I discovered there was a creek in this area called Dobson's Creek. I thought this was an odd coincidence, since my first name was chosen by my father after a friend and roommate named Gordon Dobson. I had been told this since I was young. Now, looking at the map, I could suddenly remember that I (as Moncla) had been sitting with Lt. Wilson and Doug Heath, while he was visiting us on the spaceship. I think that Moncla was pointing out to Doug on the map the locations where they aliens had told him that the F-89 parts had been placed. On this occasion, I believe they were looking at the map on a horizontal surface, like a table. Again, I can't remember if the maps were printed or projected, but they depict geographical features and were labeled with the names of these features, like they are on a topographical map. It was Doug who mentioned that the nearby creek had the same name as a friend of his that he roomed with in university or college. When Moncla heard this, he thought this was very interesting. He suggested that maybe his next incarnation could be named after Doug's friend, so that he might be reminded of his connection to this event and the location of the aircraft parts if he should ever hear about them. Like all of these memories, this one seems both strange and common sense to me. It makes some sense to me, even if the event described seems so highly improbable. I hardly know what to think about it.
The Gift
As I narrated above, Wilson and Moncla sometimes received visits from Doug and /or Jean Heath while they were in custody. Moncla has told them that they don’t have the things they need for keeping their personal hygiene. He very much does not like to have company see him when he is not properly presentable. On one visit, Moncla receives a gift from Jean who is pregnant with his next incarnation. At first he feels very uncomfortable about receiving a gift from a woman who is not even his wife. He misses his family very much and he wonders how he can possibly accept a gift when he can’t be with his family for Christmas, and he knows nothing about how they are doing without him.
He reluctantly accepts the medium sized box and places it on his lap. He opens it up and is pleased to see that it contains many mens’ toiletry products, such as shaving soap.
At some time Wilson asks if he can borrow some of the stuff from the kit. For some reason, Moncla is very insistent that the toiletries are his, and he therefore won’t share them with Wilson. I don’t know if it is common for persons to become this possessive about these sorts of things, when they are held in custody, but I can imagine that this might be the case. I still figure that he should have shared this with Wilson, and it bothers me that I recall that he didn’t.
On another visit, Doug Heath shows him some model airplanes he made while he was in the Air Force. They are made from the transparent plastic window material in the cockpit canopy. I don’t know if Doug Heath left the planes with Moncla, or if he took them. Based on my memory from when I saw the planes and badges in the jar when I was seven, I am guessing that Doug probably gave one of the planes to Lt. Moncla, the model of the spitfire fighter. He kept the others so he would still have these as mementos from his time in the RCAF.
Gene gets the idea that he should make an airplane model of the F-89 to pass the time away while he is in custody. He could then give this as a present to the Heath’s to pass on to his next incarnation, so he will have something to connect with his past. One specific memory I have about this, is that Moncla goes into a particular room to work on the model. I think that he has to go into a specific room that he uses as his workshop, because it has been outfitted to collect all the fine plastic dust from his filing. I remember that one day he is working on the model which is probably almost ¾ complete. He is getting quite impatient to complete his work on a wing and applies too much pressure to the file. The wing snaps off. He is really upset about this. I remember that he storms out of the room, angry at all the work that has gone to waste. I think the ETs tell him he should be more careful and take his time. He decides he will try to make another model and he resolves to be more patient in his work on this next model.
Note: I can’t exactly remember when I first experienced this recall. What I first recalled was
As it comes close to time to begin his next incarnation, he decides he is going to put the model airplane in the tin that contained the shaving soap, which is now almost empty. He cleans out the tin and puts the model into it. He also carefully removes all badges, patches and insignia from his flight suit and places them into the tin.
While he is doing this, Wilson drops by. I guess he has come by to say good bye while there is just the two of them. Gene tells Wilson that he can now have the rest of the toiletries. I think he regrets hoarding them, now that he must say goodbye to Wilson. Wilson asks what he is doing with the badges and patches. Moncla explains that he is going to give it to the Heaths so they will have something to show his next incarnation to explain his past life and identity. Wilson decides he wants to give his ID badge into the same gift. I think he tells Moncla that he hopes that this way he will be able to remember him in his next life.
I think that my mother and father may have talked about the Moncla and Wilson story one time while I was very young and at that time, I think my dad may have shown me some of the stuff that was in the box, such as the airplane. Or it may have been a separate time where he once said to me that the airplane models were mine. Note that I am certain that the incident where I found the badges in the box happened years later.
It may be that my dad was a little jealous of Moncla, and decided that he didn’t want to acknowledge that I was not his son. So maybe he decided to get rid of the badges and some of the other stuff to erase this part of my history. This is just a guess, and it is possible that something else explains the disappearance of the badges. I wonder where they are now? I wonder if the F-89 airplane model still exists out there some where?
The Log Book
In my memory of the incident when I was very young and my parents told me about visiting two men who were captive (but not in jail), I remembered that they had told me that the one man had given them the jar with the planes and badges the last time they saw him. They also told me that he had a diary, but that his captors would not let him give it to my parents.
I don’t know when or how I remembered this, but I can remember that Lt. Moncla did occasionally short entries in a log book. My memory is that the log had various forms in it. It wasn’t intended to be used for the purposes of writing narratives. I am guessing that this book that was maybe in the plane or one that the pilot carried in his flight suit. I don’t think it had a huge number of pages in it and this might be the reason why Lt. Moncla’s entries in it tended to be quite intermittent and short.
I am also guessing that Lt. Moncla used a pen or pencil that he had in his flight suit at the time of the intercept. I don't know what he wrote in the book, but it did describe some of his experiences relating to his capture and his time in captivity. It probably said things about the aliens and their spaceship, but I am guessing that Moncla also wrote some things about his life and his family.
I am making the guess, that when Moncla was told that he could not present the "diary" to my parents, that that was the moment when he asked if he could at least take a page from his flight record and include it with the other stuff in the jar. It would have been at that point that he would have taken the pink form from the book, and neatly folded it so it would fit into the jar. I don't know if that is what happened, but I am just now guessing that perhaps that is how the form found its way into the jar.
The End
Moncla is told that it is time. Moncla feels a little like a man on death row. The aliens have told him that when he wakes up that he will have forgotten almost everything about his past life. But he has other worries as well. He is worried that he will feel pain, but they reassure him that it will be just like falling asleep. He has removed his clothing down to his boxer shorts. He is to immerse himself into a fluid. I recall that he “steps down” into this. The fluid is cold and Moncla is afraid of drowning, but they try to reassure him this won’t happen. I think that Jean Heath is nearby (probably under anesthesia) and that Doug was there also, as was Lt. Wilson. As he lies down he is thinking, “this is the end of Gene Moncla ..this is the end of Gene Moncla… this is the end….”
And as he drifts off to sleep, he is thinking about bluebirds and singing larks in songs about hopes and dreams.
There’ll be bluebirds over,
The white cliffs of Dover,
Before you know,
Just you wait and see.
..
As you walk through a storm,
Hold your head up high,
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of the storm,
There's a golden sky,
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
