Castro, AEMMI celebrate Earhart’s 124th birthday
Another July 24 has arrived, and had she somehow lived to this day, Amelia Mary Earhart, born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897 to Amy Otis and Edwin Stanton Earhart, would be celebrating her 124th birthday. (Boldface emphasis mine throughout.)
Some certainly have lived this long, and much longer if Old Testament Biblical history is accurate. But if Amelia had escaped the wretched fate the prewar Japanese military on Saipan cooked up for her, her lifespan would likely have been similar to her genetically endowed younger sister, Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey, affectionately known to Amelia as “Pidge,” who passed away at age 98 in March 1998. Most importantly, Amelia lives on in the hearts of real, freedom-loving Americans, and so we celebrate another First Lady of Flight’s birthday.
Amelia, or “Meelie,” left, was two years and four months older than Muriel, known as “Pidge.” “We never played with dolls,” Muriel wrote, “but our favorite inanimate companions were our jointed wooden elephant and Amelia’s donkey. Ellie and Donk lived rigorous lives which no sawdust-filled, china-headed beauty could have survived. . . . We never slept until the two battered but faithful creatures were on guard at the foot of our beds.”
This season has been particularly lacking in any Earhart-related news, which is a good thing. All the usual parasites seem to be taking a breather in 2021, and neither the Earhart leeches nor the media care about Amelia’s birthday, much less in the truth. This leaves it with us, or most of it, anyway.
In Atchison, Kansas, where the facts about the horrific fates of the doomed fliers are labeled lunatic fringe “conspiracy theory” when it’s considered at all, the tone-deaf members of the “Amelia Earhart Committee” have again capitulated to the Covid lie that’s turned half the nation into cowering hysterics.
The Atchison Globe announcement on March 10, 2021 that the “AE Committee cancels Amelia Earhart Festival for 2021,” marks the second straight year the benighted citizens of Atchison have caved to the irrational terror created by the ghoul Tony Fauci and his CDC minions over a bug that 99.8 percent of the population survives easily, according to the CDC’s own inflated numbers. “The safety and well-being of volunteers and all who would attend are the highest priority,” according to a news release from chief surrender monkey Jacque Pregont, AE Festival Coordinator. Once again, it’s the short end of the stick for Amelia, who, in this age of Covid-obsessed panic, gets no respect even in her own birthplace.
To review the events and the state of the current zeitgeist for several recent Earhart birthdays, please see “July 24, 2012: Happy Birthday, Amelia; July 23, 2014, “For Amelia Earhart, another unhappy birthday;” “July 24, 2017: Happy Birthday, Amelia;” and my July 24, 2019 post, “For Amelia Earhart, it’s Happy Birthday No. 122!”
Since 2017, the only decent, consistent news about Amelia Earhart has come from Saipan, where my friend Marie Castro, now 88, continues her apparently hopeless campaign to erect an Amelia Earhart Memorial Monument at the site of the great flier’s wretched demise. I’ve written often and passionately about Marie’s selfless devotion to the truth, and we’re blessed that this unique woman has the fortitude to stand up and demand justice in a world where lies, greed and cowardice predominate.
AEMMI Inc. President Marie Castro delivers the opening address at the CNMI Museum on Saipan to kick off July 24 events for Amelia Earhart’s 124th birthday celebration.
Today, Marie and her small, devoted group, the Amelia Earhart Memorial Monument Inc. (AEMMI), paid their respects to Amelia and Fred Noonan in a modest celebration at the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Museum. Following a public greeting by Manny F. Borja, Marie began addressing the attendees with the following prepared remarks:
“The Amelia Earhart Memorial Monument”
by Marie Castro, President of the AEMMI Inc.
In 2019, we initiated Amelia’s 122nd birthday celebration for the first time on Saipan in the CNMI.
It has been four years since the inception of this project to build a Memorial Monument to commemorate the two heroes, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan.
I believe that any unusual, significant event that took place on land, either political or non-political, pleasant, or unpleasant should be recorded in the history of that place. Or do we continue to sit and ignore such a significant event on Saipan in 1937?
Most of our people of Saipan do not know the story, perhaps a few have read stories written about Amelia’s plane that came down in the Pacific and disappeared and was believed to be a mystery. But the disappearance and death of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan is not a mystery, the true evidence is found here on Saipan. Our elders’ accounts of what they witnessed of the two fliers’ presence on Saipan were extremely significant and true accounts. Josephine Blanco Akiyama was the first Chamorro woman who saw Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan at Tanapag Harbor.
In 1960, Fred Goerner, a San Francisco radio newsman, visited Saipan four times and interviewed about 200 Chamorros about the two American fliers. A few of the witnesses interviewed by Goerner and later by others were Manuel Aldan, Jesus Salas, Antonio Cepada, Carlos Palacios, Gregorio Camacho, Jesus Boyer and Francisco Tudela. Except for Manuel Aldan who heard the name “Earnhardt,” all described the American woman as having short hair and wearing a man’s outfit. The closest contacts with Amelia Earhart, who I myself knew and interviewed, were Matilde F. Arriola, her sister Consolacion and Joaquina M. Cabrera who washed Amelia’s clothes. Jose Sadao Tomokane attended the cremation of Amelia Earhart.
Members of the Amelia Earhart Memorial Monument Inc. recently gathered at Shirley’s Restaurant in Garapan, Saipan, as they prepared for Amelia’s 124th Birthday Celebration. (L to R) Allen K. Castro, Technician; Rosa P. Powers, member; Remedio R. Sablan, member; Frances M. Sablan, Vice President and temporary Secretary; Herman Cabrera, Architect; Marie S. Castro, President; Manuel F. Borja, Treasurer; Glenn Manglona, member. Missing: Ed Williams, Ambrose and Lillian Bennett, John C. Reyes, Avelina Yamagata, Carlos and Evelyna Shoda, Cinthia Kaipat, Cynthia Pangelinan, Stanley Torres Oscar Camacho, Rita Demapan, Ana S. Teregeyo.
We understand the reluctance and hesitations in our community about building a memorial monument to Amelia Earhart on Saipan; we know very well the doubts in peoples’ mind, and we respect everyone’s opinions and beliefs. But the truth can’t be changed to suit people’s whims or political preferences.
Our culture is deeply rooted in religious ceremony caring for family relatives and individual who departed from us giving the final honor he or she deserves.
Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan sadly met their tragic ends on Saipan, and the fliers have never been given any such honor as human beings. Let us be the first to initiate this recognition as a human community to celebrate their end on July 24, 2021 at the CNMI Museum, celebrating the birthday of Amelia Earhart.
Thank you,
Marie S. C. Castro
Following Marie’s birthday address, the local Marianas High School Choral & Canon group performed the classic hymns “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art.” After Rev. Michael D. Linden, S.J.’s invocation, he shared early memories of his father telling him about Amelia Earhart.
Next Marie and Mr. Borja treated the gathering to a dual-recitation of a poem, “To Amelia Earhart: The Woman That You Are,” recently composed by Marie, which they read in both English and Chamorro:
“TO AMELIA EARHART: THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE”
The woman that you are,
A role model for us
The path for the truth
By the bravery of your heart.
Always trail blazing,
Looking for adventure
Determined to accomplish,
The goal finally conquered.
Navigating your plane
On toward the Atlantic
Following on to the Pacific
A destination you found.
Unclear on the intent
Of your arrival location
Such unfortunate destination
With Fred Noonan, your beloved friend
You were taken by force,
By the Japanese soldiers
To the island of Saipan
Out of your free will
A deserving recognition
Patiently have waited,
Eight decades of uncertainty
An acknowledgement finally accomplished,
Facing a perilous journey
Unknown to your strength
Bravely endured to the end,
For the love of your country.
Marie Castro
Ed Williams and Marie Castro pause near the Amelia Earhart 124th Birthday cake during the celebration at Saipan’s CNMI Museum July 24.
More music followed, as the Marianas High School Chorale & Canon performed “I’ll be There” and group member Donato Santiago sang “You Raise Me Up.”
Finally, Marianas High School teacher Gina Aquilar led everyone in singing “Happy Birthday” to guest of honor Amelia Earhart, whose life was so tragically cut short on Saipan so long ago, a prewar Japanese atrocity that the U.S. government refuses to acknowledge to this day.
Happy Birthday, Amelia, wherever you are!
Update: On July 26, Saipan’s newspaper Marianas Variety published a story about Marie Castro and the AEMMI’s July 24 event, “Group commemorates Amelia Earhart’s 124th birthday,” by reporters Emmanuel T. Erediano and Bryan Manabat. To read, please click here.
On July 26, Saipan TV did a report on the AEMMI’s July 24 Earhart celebration. To watch, please click here and forward to 16:30.
Earhart Society Newsletter’s mystery 1998 entry
The following entry, from the March 1998 edition of the Amelia Earhart Society Newsletters, is notable, not only because it entirely lacks any source or byline information, something rarely seen in Bill Prymak’s well-accredited publication, but for what it purports to tell us. Simply headlined “BITS & PIECES,” the three paragraphs present explosive revelations that, if true, explain much of what we’ve long suspected about our “trusted” Washington leadership. Presented for your information and cogitation (boldface emphasis mine except where noted):
“BITS & PIECES”
Several miles west of Washington, D.C., in the Maryland countryside, a large hill rises above the flat surrounding farmland. Passing motorists who take the time to notice the anomaly think of it as merely a geological trick of nature. Almost none know that it was secretly man-made from soil that was excavated for a command center and shelter for the capital city’s politicians and military leaders in World War II.
During the cold war, work never stopped, and the subterranean spread was enlarged into a vast storeroom for the nation’s records and artifacts dating back to the first pioneers who settled the eastern coastline in the 1600s. The interior space is so expansive it is not measured in meters or acres but in square miles or kilometers. To those few who are aware of its existence it is known as ASD (Archival Safekeeping Depository).
Paul Rafford Jr., in 2014 at age 95, was the elder statesman of Earhart researchers. As a Pan Am radio flight officer from 1940 to 1946, Rafford was uniquely qualified as an expert in Earhart-era radio capabilities. He joined the U.S. Manned Spaceflight Program in 1963, was a Pan Am project engineer in communications services at Patrick Air Force Base, and joined the team that put a man on the moon. He retired from NASA in 1988 and died in 2016.
Thousands of secrets are buried away in the seemingly unending archival storage bins of the depository. For some strange reason, known only to certain very few bureaucrats, entire sections of the depository hold classified material and objects that will never be revealed to the public. The bones of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan and Japanese records of their execution on Saipan (boldface emphasis in original), the secret conspiracy files of both Kennedy assassinations, the intelligence of Soviet sabotage behind American space rocket and shuttle accidents and the retaliation at Chernobyl, staged films of the Apollo moon landing hoax, and much, much more . . . it was all filed and stored away, never to see the light of day.
The original source of the foregoing information is beyond me. Hints and rumors of such an ultra-secret depository of establishment secrets outside Washington have occasionally passed by my attention, but I can’t put my finger on where or when. Bill Prymak, as the AES Newsletters editor, approved of the inclusion of this cryptic piece, but for some reason he chose not to include any attribution. So obscure is the subject of this small entry, the so-called Archival Safekeeping Depository, or ASD, that an Internet search on this term results in absolutely nothing of substance. Does anyone have anything more on this Archival Safekeeping Depository hinted at by the March 1998 AES Newsletter?
Did Prymak agree that “staged films of the Apollo moon landing hoax” was an accurate characterization? He never mentioned this to me, but I questioned Paul Rafford Jr. a few times about the popular “conspiracy theory” that the 1969 moon landing was a phony, staged event.
Rafford was vehement that the July 10, 1969 moon mission was real, as were the other six crewed missions to the moon that landed a total of 12 astronauts (all men) from 1969 to 1972 in a series of Apollo missions numbering up to Apollo 17.
Bill Prymak and Joe Gervais pause with the iconic Earhart eyewitness Bilimon Amaron at Amaron’s Majuro home in 1991.
Rafford began his aviation career with Pan American Airways as a flight radio officer in 1940, flying with Pan Am until 1946. He worked with crew members who had flown with Fred Noonan, and talked with technicians who had worked on Amelia Earhart’s Electra 10E. After a promotion with Pan Am, he continued to fly as a technical consultant before transferring to the U.S. Manned Spaceflight Program in 1963. During the early space shots he was a Pan Am project engineer in communications services at Patrick Air Force Base, and joined the team that put man on the moon. He retired from NASA in 1988 and passed away at age 97 in 2016.
Other than a questionable mention of the NASA moon missions, what else can be gleaned from this strange entry in the AES Newsletters?
UPDATE, July 13: A longtime reader found a story titled “Top 10 Secret United States Government Bunkers” on an obscure site called Listverse.
It’s possible that one or more of these “secret bunkers” houses the sacred cows that Bill Prymak’s AES Newsletter references, but perhaps not. None of the listed sites are said to be located in Maryland, for one thing, and secondly, if a list of “Top 10” secret U.S. government bunkers can be published on the Net, they aren’t secret anymore, are they?
UPDATE, Oct. 26, 2021: A reader named Jimmy White has informed me that he had seen the three paragraphs in question “while reading Clive Cussler’s book Sahara. The three paragraphs you list under Bits and Pieces are a direct quote from that book (see page 443). The book is copyrighted 1992. I hope this clears up at least a part of that mystery!”
We appreciate Jimmy White’s information, and though I do not have a copy of Sahara, I trust that these three paragraphs are contained therein, as Jimmy states. I hope that Mr. Cussler will forgive me for the delayed attribution!
84th anniversary of Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight
July is Amelia Earhart’s month, for those of us who still honor the memory of this great American, and we don’t forget Fred Noonan, Amelia’s intrepid navigator whose sad destiny was inextricably bound to her own.
July 2 is the 84th anniversary of Earhart and Noonan’s fateful takeoff from Lae, New Guinea in 1937, officially bound for Howland Island, 2,556 miles distant, a tiny speck in the Pacific, never flown before and the most difficult leg of their world-flight attempt. What happened that compelled the fliers to land their Electra 10E off Barre Island at Mili Atoll, about 850 miles to the north-northwest, twenty-some hours later, remains the true mystery in the Earhart disappearance. All else is smoke, mirrors and endless lies.
Guinea Airways employee Alan Board is credited with this photo of the Electra just before leaving the ground on its takeoff from Lae, New Guinea on the morning of July 2, 1937. This is the last known photo of the Earhart Electra.
No missing-persons case has ever been as misreported and misunderstood. As I’ve said and written countless times, the widely accepted canard that the Earhart disappearance remains among the 20th century’s “greatest mysteries” is a vile, abject lie, the result of eight decades of government-media propaganda aimed at perpetuating public ignorance about the fliers’ wretched ends at the hands of the pre-war Japanese military on Saipan. Considering the lengths to which the U.S. government has gone to obscure, cover-up and deny the truth, it appears this state of affairs will persist until the Last Day. At that time, many will have much to answer for.
To review some of the anniversary articles posted here in past Julys, please see my 77th anniversary post of June 24, 2014; “July 2, ’17: 80 years of lies in the Earhart ‘Mystery’ ”; or last year’s story, “July 2020: Earhart forgotten amid nation’s chaos.”
As for any Earhart news, this year is among the quietest in memory — virtually nothing is happening, at least to my knowledge. A pair of pathetic cranks are claiming they’ve found the Earhart plane just off Nikumaroro and have even started a website with strange, inscrutable photos and nonsensical gibberish.
View of group posed in front of Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Model 10-E Electra (NR 16020) at Lae, New Guinea, July 1937. Second and fourth from left are identified as Mr. and Mrs. Joubert (manager of Bulolo Gold Dredging and his wife), while Mrs. Chater (wife of the Manager of Guinea Airways) is seen third from left. Amelia Earhart can be seen third from right, and Fred Noonan is at far right.
No one in the mainstream media — or anywhere else — has paid a gnat’s worth of attention to the latest crap, and I won’t dignify this absurd, backhanded swipe at TIGHAR’s 30-plus years of propagandizing and fruitless searching off and on Nikumaroro by linking it here. You certainly don’t need to know about it, but if you insist, you can search under “Road to Amelia Earhart” and you’ll find it unless it’s already been circular filed under “lies no one will believe.” I only mention it because things are so currently comatose in Earhartland, and this latest is more proof that nature abhors a vacuum.
The below cartoon from the Kansas City Star goes back to early 1994, but its misplaced humor perfectly captures the zeitgeist that’s always defined the Earhart matter. Far from being one of history’s “most perplexing questions,” as an angel explains to a newly arrived soul, the truth about the loss of Amelia Earhart is well-known and one of the most precious sacred cows in the corrupt archives of the U.S. national security apparatus.
On a rare positive note, Polish author and publisher Sławomir M. Kozak recently informed me about his forthcoming book, Requiem for Amelia Earhart, which will introduce the Polish people to the truth about the Earhart disappearance. Requiem is scheduled for publication on Sept. 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of possibly America’s greatest betrayal, another sacred cow whose truth has eluded as many Americans as the Earhart cover-up, and another subject that the erudite Slawomir has studied closely. His website is www.oficyna-aurora.pl.
On July 24, Marie Castro and the Amelia Earhart Memorial Monument Inc. (AEMMI) will get together on Saipan to celebrate Amelia’s 124th Birthday, and I’ll have photos and comments when that time rolls around.
![This story appeared at the top of page 1 in the July 13, 1937 edition of the Bethlehem (Pennsylvania)-Globe Times. “Vague and unconfirmed rumors that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan have been rescued by a Japanese fishing boat without a radio,” the report began, “and therefore unable to make any report, found no verification here today, but plunged Tokio [sic] into a fever of excitement.” The story was quickly squelched in Japan, and no follow-up was done. (Courtesy Woody Peard.)](https://earharttruth.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/fishing-boat-story-5.png?w=616&h=352 "Fishing boat story 5")
Amelia Earhart: The Truth at Last 
Recent Comments