In April of 1994 I was asked by the television program “Hard Copy” to travel down to Roswell New Mexico to examine some footage taken by Mr. Jose Escamilla of odd and unusual video artifacts he called “rods”. During that trip I was accompanied by my friend Dwight Schultz. Schultz was very interested in the overall UFO topic and this was the first time either of us had visited Roswell.
At that time there were two UFO museums in operation. We stopped by the “International UFO Museum and Research Center” then prior to getting ready to leave, the “John Price UFO Museum”, now no longer in operation.
Upon introducing myself and Schultz to Price, he informed me that he had just met a man who claimed to have been an airman at the 509th during the infamous UFO incident. This elderly gentleman was in the back going thru a 509th annual that Price had, looking for his photograph. We entered the back and I introduced Schultz and myself and then we started chatting after this gentleman, Mr. Thomas Gonsalves, found his photograph. He had been a part of T Squadron and as he told us, his squadron had been one group that had been tasked to help clean up the crash site.
Now, during this interview of Mr. Gonsalves he told me two things that shocked me. First, Mr. Gonsalves stated emphatically that he saw bodies that he referred to as “Moon men.” He made no bones that these travelers were alien. He stated that one was still alive when he saw him, and that this being communicated with him using what must have been telepathy. The second thing he stated was that he had “palmed” a piece of the wreak that he kept. This artifact, according to what he said, was still in his possession. I must say, we were more than intrigued. The problem was, we had to leave because we were due to fly out of Roswell to make our connections back to Los Angles.
Upon reaching the small airport we found out that our flight on Mesa Airlines was delayed because there was a problem with the aircraft. We ended up having to stay another night so I called John Price to inquire about Mr. Gonsalves. Price told me that after we left he also took off and neither Price or I thought to get contact information. All I knew was that at the time Mr. Gonsalves lived in Tomball, Texas.
Upon returning back to LA I called Price again and he had no information on what happened to Mr. Gonsalves. I began trying to track him down. I contacted the Post Office in Tomball, and began calling everyone named Gonsalves in the area that I could locate. I finally ended up reaching one of his sons. He had one hell of a story to tell me. Not long before, a year or two, Mr. Gonsalves wife of about 50 years had passed on. (At the time Mr. Gonsalves was about 78 or 79 years of age.) He ended up moving in with one of his unmarried daughters who had one or two children. As was explained to me, this woman then took over his finances and money. It seemed that there was contention between this lady and her father. One day Mr. Gonsalves saw a promo on television of Paul Davids movie “Roswell.” Mr. Gonsalves thought it was actually a military re-union of the 509th Bomb Group and decided he would go to Roswell to meet up with his old buddies. He told no one, just bought a bus ticket and left. None of his kids knew where he was and frantically they contacted their police department. A BOLO was put out on Mr. Gonsalves and somehow the police in Roswell found him, saw the BOLO and contacted the family. They drove up to Roswell and picked him up. When I contacted the son, he was already back in Tomball and we made arrangements to fly over to meet the family and see him.
My wife Vicki and Dwight Schultz and I flew down to Houston, rented a car and drove over to Tomball. As we found out, Mr. Gonsalves former home had been condemned by either the city or county and it had been “red tagged.” When I asked about the piece of wreckage he claimed to have, the family told me that he had kept it on top of his TV for years. One of the kids found a family photo that showed this “lump” lying on top of his TV. However, no one knew where it was now. After Mr. Gonsalves had moved in with his daughter, all of his belongings were stored in a rental shed and this daughter had the keys. Vicki, Dwight and I asked if we could search through his old home and they agreed. We spent a day crawling through the old house and found nothing but one hell of a lot of bug bites. If this thing was still around, it had to be in the storage shed but that daughter refused to release the key for the shed, she was still pissed off that her dad had shut off the money spigot. We never did see this alleged piece of a flying saucer.
I interviewed Mr. Gonsalves on video however, and before we left he presented me with four carvings of his “Moon Men” that he reported having witnessed.
Mr. Gonsalves has passed on and this chapter is closed. However, if this event happened, I know there has to be a piece or pieces that some of those GI’s kept. Will they ever surface? Who knows.
Don Ecker
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