Customer Reviews

The Glenn Miller Conspiracy: The Never-Before-Told Story of His Life -- and Death

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For those old enough to remember Glenn Miller, THE GLENN MILLER CONSPIRACY is like stepping back into the past. With familiar movie names like Marlene Dietrich, Broderick Crawford and David Niven as well as that of NBC /RCA head General David Sarnoff, the book is a literal who's who of the famous and the infamous, and calls into question the "official" death notice issued by the military regarding the death of band leader Miller.

The book purports that Miller died not in a plane crash, but was tortured to death while on a secret mission for Eisenhower. Author, Hunton Downs has managed to support some of his claims with documentation collected over 60 years of investigation into this matter. One could almost say he is obsessive in his belief that the true nature of Millers military service and the cause of his subsequent death were all part of a massive cover-up.

The allegation that Miller was fluent in German and made secret broadcasts, complete with band music, to Germany has pretty much been substantiated. Other documentation in the book appears to support Down's theory that Miller worked for the US Psychological Warfare Division. As for the statement that he was a SECRET envoy for Ike who was part of a plan to end the war more quickly and conveniently disappeared on the eve of the Battle of the Bulge, only to turn up dead in the doorway of a Paris brothel takes the reader into the "leap of faith" zone.

At lot of the information collected was supplied by individuals who "were there". Their recorded testimony was not obtained, however, until many of these people were in their 70's and 80's, and we all know what a tricky thing memory is (especially as we get older).

If you accept this book for what it really is, one man's theories and conjecture, it is not a bad read. Similar to Oliver Stone's version of the JFK assassination, Downs has come up with his version of Glenn Miller's demise. Both men have given us scenerios that are entertaining, but not necessarily true. 2 1/2 STARS

The music popularized by Big Band director Alton Glenn Miller (1904-1944) is such a standard of American culture that it's difficult to believe the man responsible for it died at the age of just 40, and under dubious circumstances at that. Look him up in any print or online reference, and you'll no doubt discover one of two explanations for his death: (a) that his plane crashed as it attempted to cross the English Channel in bad weather (the "Twinwood" theory), or (b) that his plane was accidentally hit by friendly fire from British bombers returning home from assignment (the "Lancaster" theory). According to Hunton Downs, both of those scenarios were fabrications designed to disguise what really happened.

And what was that truth? That Major Miller was on a special mission for General Eisenhower: one that involved "psywar," psychological warfare. Miller's global popularity and ability to speak German gave him the edge to reach people through his "Musik fuer die Wehrmacht" radio programs. And instead of dropping to his death in chilly winter waters, Miller was actually murdered in Paris in the line of duty, on his way to fulfill his military orders. Why else would he be posthumously awarded a Bronze Star, a distinction for which combat is a requirement? And why did no government entity ever launch an official investigation into his death/disappearance? Perhaps because the authorities who needed to know the particulars, already did.

Downs, a journalist and retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, has now spent more than half a century ferreting out documents, witnesses, and answers. He claims to be the first researcher to tackle this project (beginning soon after it happened) and he hopes to be the last, to be the one who has the satisfaction of uncovering the ultimate reality for the rest of us. While his interest in the subject borders on obsession, he is evidently not the only person for whom this event is a focus. And with the opening up of certain official American and British sources, as well as the ease of communication via the Internet, more information is being shared amongst the Miller researchers around the world. Here the author at times spends more space detailing the difficulties of his research than on the results, if any, that it eventually produced. The roadblocks are all part of the story.

That Downs is passionate about the topic, there is no doubt. But his zeal and eagerness to share every little tidbit of his knowledge gets in his way of his real message. His is almost a *Mitch* Miller approach to the subject, bouncing around like the infamous lyrical ball we used to see on the TV screen. He meanders from one aspect to another as he straddles the line between popular reportage and academic declaration. He employs a clumsy and inconsistent in-text citation style that clutters his stream of consciousness. And what may look like numbers for footnotes are really references to an appendix, where he includes 53 pages of copied primary sources that he accummulated over the years. While his bibliography is a lengthy one, it doesn't include all of the sources he mentions in the text. Overall, the result is a disjointed narrative interrupted by documentation. The text itself can be difficult to follow.

To get the most out of Downs' work, readers (even members of The Greatest Generation) should first familiarize or reacquaint themselves with the Glenn Miller story and/or with the basic details surrounding the Battle of the Bulge. Don't rely on memory alone to prepare you for these pages. The author doesn't spend much time supplying a full background biography of the musician. A book like George T. Simon's GLENN MILLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA does a great job at doing so. It explains in more detail the band's WWII service and even offers selections from Don Haynes' infamous diary, which Downs often refers to but never quotes directly. Downs also uses an alphabet soup of wartime shorthands and military names. The text and glossary don't define them all. So again, readers may want to brush up on WWII history beforehand and the Battle of the Bulge in particular, since Glenn Miller's disappearance coincided with the beginning of that initiative. The more information you have going into this book, the better.

Miller aficionados and conspiracy theorists alike will welcome this volume, as it will confirm certain facts and details for them. But some questions invariably remain. The biggest ones are: Why has this mystery been unsolved for so long? And what does this tale say about the believability of any of the Allied governments? Even if you've never before wondered about Glenn Miller's demise, you may find food for thought here.

I'll start out right from the beginning that I remember very little about WWII and Glen Miller. I heard about the story/book on Coast to Coast & heard the author speak for about 3 hours. So I was ready for the book & the basic concepts he forwards. The sentences are choppy, true. And it does help if you know about the Battle of the Bulge, true. And I really don't know (who does for sure) that this is true. But give the devil his due: he's researched this book as a life effort, tracking down people, documents, statements, probably at great cost in money, time & effort. I can't think of a reason that he'd outright fabricate, twist facts or lie. The author sounds honest and upfront. Get the book, read his (choppy~~~) thoughts, look at the banquet of documentation he has accrued & provides. Remember: we all know that the Government doesn't tell us everything (do we know who killed Kennedy?). Let's keep an open mind to what this author gives us & just ask yourself the simple question: is this at all possible, feasible? Didn't people know at the end of WWII that, most likely, the future decades would provide information that they didn't know when the war ended?? And isn't this a stellar example of such secrets?? After all, if a famous person today, someone beloved, was asked by the Government to be a go-between & the person ended up being tortured & left for dead, how much would we know of it? How much would they tell us? How much would we find out in 5 years from now? And, even if all the facts aren't correct, if the basic story is, that's what's important.
Sounds like Glen Miller deserved more than just our love & appreciation as an artist: he deserved the Bronze Star he was awarded. Sounds like he was a true hero, a giant of a man, a heart full of soul.

Updated 06/2011; see below

While I share many doubts about the "official" story of Miller's loss due to so-called friendly fire, I find the underlying premise of Lt. Col. Downs' explanation to be severely flawed. Most reviews repeat verbatim the statement that "Miller spoke German, a fact not known to many." without questioning its validity. Yes, he did grow up in a Midwestern family of German descent, BUT ... there is nothing in his biography, school records, or anywhere else to indicate that he knew the language, and certainly nothing that he spoke it fluently. In particular George T. Simon recounted that when the AAF Band began its propaganda broadcasts (yes, in England and NOT the US as Downs claims), Glenn's lines were written out entirely phonetically, and that he was taking classes in basic grammar and pronunciation.

If he had been fluent in German it would seem that ABSIE, the BBC, and everyone else involved would have been tripping over themselves to have him record entirely in that language rather than using an expatriate announcer (Ilse Weinberger) to provide narration. Several members of my family speak German and bluntly put, Miller's accent and diction are what might be expected of a beginning middle-school student. Moreover, if he were fluent it would have made very little sense to waste valuable time attending elementary language classes when the band was already working what amounted to double shifts in preparation for the trip to Paris.

Second, it boggles the imagination to think that the top brass would have trusted perhaps the most important negotiations of WWII to a man who despite his intelligence and many talents was by all accounts famously undiplomatic, and had no experience negotiating anything other than salaries and concert appearances. Many of the regular-Army types scorned him as "just a trombone player" so it seems highly unusual that he would be entrusted with a possibly history-changing mission, his language fluency - or lack thereof - notwithstanding.

Third, if Miller had in fact been on such a critical mission, why didn't the AAF or RAF provide some sort of transport for him despite the weather conditions? It's been reported by a number of sources that he spent a considerable amount of time trying to arrange a flight himself; if the trip had been for negotiations certainly the air forces could have surreptitiously set things up for him. And when a plane finally was obtained, why would the services have allowed such a woefully unqualified pilot to fly him? By all accounts Charles Morgan was known to be a "hotshot" with an inflated opinion of his flying skills - wouldn't someone better-prepared have been selected if the flight had been preauthorized?

Finally, there is the issue of who was to accompany him on the Paris flight. There is a video interview with Mel Powell in which he stated that Glenn wanted him to be on the plane as well, but that he begged off at the last minute to deal with matters in London. If Powell told the truth, why would he have been asked to go along if the flight were a ruse? If his decision not to go along was prearranged as part of a coverup, what could he have gained by taking that secret to his grave?

We probably never will know exactly what happened that awful December afternoon, but my opinion is that Downs "explanation" does not wash.

Update:

In 2010 the University of Colorado performed an in-depth analysis of Downs' book using primary records from the Glenn Miller Archives, the US Air Force, and other sources. Large numbers of Downs' statements were found to be unsubstantiated and/or incorrect. In particular the analysis verified that Miller did not speak German. Despite the family name's Germanic origin ("Mueller") his ancestors had lived in England or the US for multiple generations. Other assertions regarding purported meetings between Miller and various high-ranking military and political figures were shown to have been impossible because the people involved were thousands of miles apart at the time the meetings supposedly happened. And finally, the claim that the ill-fated Norseman C-64 wasn't decommissioned until 1947 was found to be correct, but only because it had taken years for the AAF's bureaucracy to write off the huge numbers of planes lost during the war. The C-64 was in fact just one of hundreds of missing planes whose records weren't processed until long after the war ended - remember, everything was done manually back then.

Hunton Downs has the credibility to write this book. It is unfortunate that most of the information, which proved his theory was declassified after anyone cared any more. In essence, the author makes a good case for his premise that Glenn Miller was killed while taking part in Operation Eclipse, a clandestine meeting with German Officers aimed at negotiating the surrender of Germany prior to Christmas in 1944. Lt. Col. Downs establishes that the German high command used Operation Eclipse as a ruse for a prisoner snatch, which Downs felt was conducted so that Otto Skoronzy could use Miller as a hostage to gain access to General Dwight D. Eisenhower and assassinate him prior to the Battle of the Bulge.

The exact Nazi motive may have been based on the desire to thwart a coupe and allow Hitler to remain in power. The Nazi's may have just been afraid that the German high command would give away their plans to attack the Allied lines on December 16, 1944. We will never know. We do see a chain of forged documents and policy of disinformation that amounted to criminal acts when judged by our current standards. The book was a quick read. The facts could have been organized a little better.

If you like conspiracy theories or WWII intelligence this is a good book for you! Oh, and don't let those CIA guys tell you any different!

Lt. Col. Hunton Downs has given us quite a fascinating read with his The Glenn Miller Conspiracy. In many ways this work was something of a trip down nostalgia lane for me. My father, who did serve in WWII was quite a fan of Millers and I grew up listening to Miller's music. I am also a bit of an amateur WWII historical buff, so the theme and subject were quite familiar to me. I have also felt, after reading other accounts of the Miller story, that we simply were not getting the full story. That being said though, I will fully admit that I am not much of a conspiracy fan and look at such works with a very jaundice eye. The purpose of this review will certainly not to argue for or against the findings of the author. Others can do that but it simply is not my "thing." Part of the enjoyment of works such as this is the discussion they create and I will leave these discussions for others.

In short, the author contends that Glenn Miller, one of the most famous, and arguably the greatest band leader of his time, was actually captured, tortured and killed by German agents on the eve of the Battle of the Bulge while on a secret mission for General Eisenhower in an attempt to end the war sooner. Miller was indeed killed and there are several versions of what happened to the famed band leader. For years the government has claimed that the small plane he was in went down over the English Channel and he was killed. There has also been the story that he died in a house of prostitution in Paris and that there was a government cover up to keep Miller's good name intact. And now we have Downs' theory.

Several decades of research has gone into this work and the time and money spent must have been mind boggling. The author has given us a plethora of actually documents to back his case along with many, many records of personal interviews with various individuals who were actually "there." In many cases the authors arguments hold much water, in other instances the facts, as the author sees them, could be at the very least questioned, and in some cases the reader just has (as another reviewer put it) take a great leap of faith. For me, one of the arguments for the author's case is the fact that we have learned long ago that the government is more than capable of using cover-up stories; always has, always will. This coupled with the fact that this is just the sort of story that the government would indeed want to cover up, lends believability to the author's arguments.

I do question some of the logic presented in this work. A shinning example of this would be the award of the Bronze Medal for Meritorious Service as proof that he did something heroic, dose not really prove all that much. Having spent over twenty years in the military, including Viet Nam, I saw many of these medals handed out like candy, in particular amongst the Officer Corp. In fact, one of my many jobs for a horrid time, was writing the citations and justifications for these medals, and let me tell you, that was the best training for creative writing a person could ever wish to receive. I could have become a famous fiction writer after that experience had I the stomach for it. That is not to say that many of the awards were not fully justified and well earned and deserved, but others.....

On the other hand, some of the documentation the author has come up with is quite convincing. A lot of research went into this work and the author seems to have left no stone unturned. He certainly should be admired for that. As to the writing quality of the actually book; I found this to be a very difficult and disjointed account. The author often times rambles; flitting from there to there in this thought process. He has also given us a gigantic list of names to sift through, both known individual and completely unknown. It is extremely difficult to track the many individuals through this work and many of them are mentioned only once in brief passing. Again, as I said, this is not the most comfortable read I have ever laid eyes on. I really cannot blame the author for this though, but do wonder who his editor was. A good editor would never have allowed some of the poor sentence structure and obscure syntax to get through to the final printing.

While I found this to be a fascinating read, and I am certainly glad I read it and while I do recommend it to those who are interested in such matters, I fear I am forced to down grade the book due to simple poor structure and due to the fact that there were too many aspects of the author's investigation, i.e. his conclusions, that I simply find difficult to believe. No, the government version of Miller's fate is certainly a fabrication and in fact is blatantly so, to the point of disgust, but even though Downs has given it a good try; it simply did not come together for me. My three star rating is based somewhat on personal taste. Others may quite well read this work and feel a much higher rating is deserved. Both of our views are as valid as the other.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Having been a big band fan all my life, and having played with the Glenn Miller Band (under Ray McKinley)the idea that he was working undercover when he went missing fascinated me.

That fascination didn't last long. While there may be some merit to the authors theories, he totally lost me about a quarter way through... Some people can weave a complex story without losing the reader, but I became thoroughly confused and
gave up quickly. Too bad too because there appears to be some evidence that Glenn Miller
did not die over the English Channel.

Accidental death is common, but there are times when it's not so accidental. "The Glenn Miller Conspiracy: The Never-Before-Told True Story of His Life - and Death" speaks on the famed American band leader of the 1940s and the mystery around his death, officially listed as an accident in Europe during the war. Author Hunton Downs, however, doubts this story and creates his case as to why. "The Glenn Miller Conspiracy" is worth the read.

Most conspiracy theories are wacky because they are combinations of facts and insanity. My interest in Glenn Miller remains. But this book's theory of Glenn Miller as a high-level operative is bunk. So is the fundamental claim that Glenn Miller spoke German. Nonsense. From the radio broadcasts to Germany that are available on CDs, we know that Glenn Miller's phonetic German was so awful that it was turned into a frequent joke between him and the German announcer, Ilse (Weinberger). Contrast that with Johnny Desmond's, an Italian boy from Detroit, who may have not spoken the language but at least imitated it very convincingly and naturally.
I read about anything dealing with Glenn Miller but this is mostly fiction.

This is an extremely interesting read which most likely will be proven true as time passes. Just the fact that no aircraft flew in or out of Twinwood on the day Major Miller vanished....that the aircraft he was supposed to have flown in did not vanish and has factory records of being used months after the date Miller was supposed to have flown in it....that the two adopted children of Major Miller refuse to release complete death records the Army sent them....and the fact that Miller's youngest brother was not allowed to electronically scan the grave Miller's wife had for him when rumors started that Major Miller's body had been returned for burial via Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, provides enough smoking guns to make you know there is something being hidden from the public. Don't dismiss this book as just another hoax. Too many things are beginning to add up.