| WWII hero & retired USAF Major Joe Gervais... |
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| ..aboard The Flying Lady on his way to Howland Island, 1983. Amelia never made there in 1937. |
Joe Gervais,
1924-2005
From the late 1960s until his passing in 2005, USAF
Major Joseph A. Gervais, who had researched and investigated Amelia Earhart's life story as thoroughly as anyone, described
how Amelia actually survived her controversial disappearance in 1937 with the national news media, and therefore the general
public never being 'officially' clued in. Is this why the governments of the United States and Japan to this day maintain
'official silence' when it comes to the subject matter of Amelia Earhart's loss? In the faces of many naysayers Joe Gervais unwaveringly maintained his assertion
of Amelia Earhart's post-loss survival as correct, and how adjacent to the WWII era it became the former Amelia Earhart's
own preference to return to and live on in the United States as a non-public, all-be-her 'still prominently regarded' person
who traveled quite a bit internationally until she passed away in 1982. Joe Gervais concluded how Amelia had acquiesced the
identity of a friend of hers from the 1930s by the name of 'Irene Craigmile.' (The original 'Irene Craigmile' whose image
appears nowhere in photos after the 1930s was a person whose past existence and family history Joe Gervais researched as well.)
He also agreed with the determination of how the former Amelia had altered her familiar look a bit, to include the 'detectible'
deviated septum rhinoplasty she no doubt endured. Although the National Geographic Channel chose to downplay the decades-old
Joe Gervais claim, and the Smithsonian Institute has traditionally managed to steer clear of seriously addressing it, after
his passing the University of Texas at Dallas archived the four decades worth of accumulated Joe Gervais investigative research
on Amelia Earhart's life and disappearance, and it currently attests how the Gervais theory represents a more plausible reality. Of note, to date the Gervais Irene-Amelia claim has never been 'officially'
disproved. At the same time, ostensibly in the interest of maintaining the status quo regard of Amelia's heroic legacy and
the sanctity of the 'mystery' of her disappearance, the survived family members of both Amelia and Irene grew to encourage
people to look beyond the years (decades worth) of investigative efforts of USAF Major Joseph A. Gervais; a WWII pilot-hero
who logged almost twenty-thousand hours of military flight time. (Gervais also served in Korea and Vietnam.) Few recall anymore how in 1960 while touring among the former Imperial
Islands of Japan, then 'Captain' Gervais with his 'Operation Earhart' partner, Captain Bob Dinger gathered over seventy sworn
affidavits of local residents and officials recalling Amelia Earhart's survival there after she turned up 'missing' in 1937.
No matter, U. S. military brass stationed at the Fuchu Air Base in Japan soon confiscated their material, along with other
information gleaned and gathered by the two Captains during their early investigation time period. Forty years later in 2001,
Joe Gervais remarked how given the circumstances of his 1965 meeting with Irene and her appearance, he knew who she used to
be right then and there. He also was sure to notate how for some undisclosed reason, dating back to FDR's administration,
the public was never supposed to know Amelia Earhart had survived in any way, shape, or form. * * *
What have you read or heard about the Amelia Earhart 'mystery' from the news
media? What did you learn about it in all of the history classes you took from elementary school through high school? How
about college... what did your history professors say about it? Likely not much, as it was never a recommended subject for
general academia in the United States. There was always a reason for such a regard towards the Earhart disappearance story.
It was meant to be left as 'a mystery.' But not in an aethereal way, rather, in an international politics 'world history'
way. Except, in recent years the truth finally revealed itself. Over a hundred pages of material on Amelia Earhart's disappearance
are featured in this website, culled from thousands over the course of the last twenty years.
| Joe Gervais, 1983, on Howland Island... |
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| ...shown standing next to the Amelia Earhart Memorial there. |
About Joe Gervais' 1965 Meeting With Irene
How It All Began:
Back in 1965 World War Two pilot-hero
Joe Gervais met a curious woman known as 'Irene Craigmile Bolam.' He noticed how she was held in high esteem by her peers,
most of whom were well known retired pilots. She described to Joe Gervais how she had been a friend of the famous pilot, 'Amelia
Earhart.' She mentioned how she 'used to fly' with Amelia. Joe Gervais was an aviaton history scholar, so he found it odd
how a former pilot who was so importantly regarded was someone he'd never heard of before. Beyond his suspicion of the Irene
Craigmile Bolam he met in 1965, Joe Gervais had been studying the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and he noticed how she looked
like 'an older Amelia.' Said Irene had been married to a British gentleman named Guy Bolam since 1958, and she was good friends
with Viola Gentry who was also a famous pilot and a past friend of Amelia's. Ultimately, Joe Gervais suspected the Irene he
met might have been the 'former' Amelia Earhart. He carefully traced her past and found one hole after another. Both Irene's
and Amelia's families refused to cooperate with him. Irene agreed to meet him a few times to 'explain things,' but she never
showed up. In 1970 Gervais released his decade's worth or investigative research on Amelia Earhart 's disappearance in the
form of McGraw-Hill's Amelia Earhart Lives by Joe Klaas. In it, he strongly implied how the Irene he met and photographed
in 1965 was not the original Irene Craigmile, rather, she was the living 'former' Amelia Earhart. He determined she had opted
out of her public life during the World War Two era adjacent to the odd circumstances of her disappearance. Joe Gervais was
never proven wrong. Instead, dismissive attitudes notwithstanding, there is no doubt anymore he was right.
| The Original Irene |
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| Click on photo for more 'original Irene' info. |
"We were always conditioned
to fear the truth about Amelia Earhart. To ignore addressing it, or plain not believe in it. We still are today. That's why
so much hogwash and misinformation came to exist about it. But there was nothing to fear except the silence that refused to
reveal the known truth. In 1965 Admiral Nimitz admitted Amelia Earhart survived; later in 1972 the 'Amelia Earhart: Special
War Problems' file was leaked... basically she wanted her privacy, except she ended up having to pull a kind of Greta Garbo
escape after things didn't turn out as she hoped. The difference was she changed her name to assure her anonymity, and Garbo
didn't." From a 2001 interview with USAF Major Joe Gervais (Ret.)
| "50th" Anniversary (1937-1987) |
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| Stamp series issued by Marshall Islands, depicts Japan's rescue of Earhart and Noonan at Mili atoll |
| In the 1987 Stamp series a Japan naval officer... |
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| ...stands with Noonan (knee bandaged) and Earhart. A "rescue," not a "capture." |
| The first stamp series image.... |
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| ...the 'takeoff' from Lae, New Guinea. |
| Final stamp series image... |
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| ...shows the bigger picture. |
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Click here to e-mail Irene-Amelia.com and/or Beyond 37's Tod Swindell with questions or comments, or for additional information
about Beyond 37's book, documentary, & feature projects. One can also e-mail EarhartTruth@Irene-Amelia.com
NOTE: To contact Beyond
37' e-mail EarhartTruth@Irene-Amelia.com. The Beyond 37' film, book, and website projects are dedicated to the
late USAF Major Joseph A. Gervais (1924-2005) and the late USAF Col. Rollin C. Reineck (1920-2007). Both were World War Two
heroes who learned the basic Irene-Amelia truth decades ago. Major Gervais, who was considered by many to have been the most
devoted Amelia Earhart researcher ever having pursued the mystery since 1960, discovered the Irene-Amelia reality in
1965. The controversial 1970 McGraw-Hill book by Joe Klaas, Amelia Earhart Lives expounded on the enormous amount of
Joe Gervais' investigative research, and displayed the first nationally published photo of Irene Bolam, AKA the Gervais-Irene.
Fallout the Amelia Earhart Lives book caused notwithstanding, and still lacking
official authoritative guidance, Colonel Reineck spent the last several years of his life trying to advance the Gervais
claim of Earhart's name-changed survival to authenticity. Colonel Reineck's book Amelia Earhart Survived published in
late 2003, was partly inspired by the Irene-Amelia forensic studies of Beyond 37's Tod Swindell. Several portions of the analysis
appeared in the Reineck book, although more samples are better displayed in this website. [Beyond 37' was formed in 2001 by
the Tod Evan Company in Los Angeles. It is run by Investigative Researcher and Filmmaker, Tod Swindell who also serves
as Chief Editor of Irene-Amelia.com. The research opinions and forensic material of Beyond 37' & Irene-Amelia.com have
been copyrighted and renewed yearly by Tod Swindell, C. 2001-2011]
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