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The Glenn Miller Conspiracy: The Never-Before-Told Story of His Life -- and Death |  | Author: Hunton Downs
Publisher: Creative Book Publishers International
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
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Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 565851
Media: Paperback
Pages: 267
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 0977913163
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
EAN: 9780977913169
ASIN: 0977913163
Publication Date: April 15, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Famed band-leader Glenn Miller was a superstar of his and subsequent generations, who previously had accepted the US Military position that Miller had died over the English Channel during World War II.
Pulitzer Prize nominee Hunton Downs discovered hints of a conspiracy and cover up during his specialized military service thoughout Europe just after the war, and embarked on a 55-year search for the truth.
Through RAF and erman secret documents he accessedo in his military work, and through information that has since been de-classified, Downs pieced together, bit by bit, the amazing story of Glenn Miller's work for the US Psychological Warfare Division and his subsequent role as a secret envoy for Eisenhower in Ike's attempt to end the war as early as possible.
Miller spoke German, a fact not known to many, and as one of the most revered stars in the world, he had great influence in his secret broadcasts to Germany which accompanied performances of his music by his band.
The subsequent cover up story is almost as fascinating as Miller's secret life.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
 All kinds of things might have happened May 9, 2010
Antero Pietila (Baltimore, MD, USA)
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.
 I Believe Him March 4, 2010
Michael Paul Sebek (Georgia, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Obviously Mr. Downs has spent a major portion of his life tracking down this story, and his passion and belief in what he says comes through "lima charlie" on every page of this book. He has dug out facts, opinions, and drawn inferences which have led HIM to conclude that the theory he puts forth about the circumstances surrounding Glenn Miller's death is true. I agree with the other reviewers who point out that there seem to be some time-line issues, as well as an inability to verify some of the facts. However, the main theory of Miller's demise - as presented by Downs - has the ring of truth for me. As a retired Army officer (albeit my service began in the Vietnam era), I find Downs' theory to be plausible and much more believable than the "official" story of Miller's death put out by the U.S. and the British governments. For me, Downs has established beyond reasonable doubt that Miller could not have been on the flight on the day he supposedly was killed, and that documents were altered to reflect that he was. Once you buy into that premise, the rest of the government's story falls apart. Mr. Downs may have not have written a literary work of art (translation: his writing style does not make for an easy read); but regardless, once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. The bottom line is this: I BELIEVE HIM. IMHO, Mr. Downs' has pieced together the most likely theory of Miller's death.
Too many smoking guns..... February 7, 2010
Sandy Hintz (Indianapolis)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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.
Now just a minute!!! October 18, 2009
R. Dixon (Arkansas USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Okay, Glenn Miller WAS involved in "secret" activities, but the "psychological warfare" consisted of beaming Glenn's music via radio to German troops (hence the BMG album entitled "Secret Broadcasts"), with Glenn speaking "phonetic" German. The purpose was to play that great music, and suggest 'you might want to surrender' (okay now I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point). Those propaganda broadcasts with Glenn and Ilse were tightly scripted, and Miller read the phonetic German in the scripts, while Ilse was clearly a native German speaker. It will take a lot of convincing before I believe Glenn actually understood German enough to speak it (I've heard a lot of the broadcasts, and Glenn's obviously reading a phonetic script). And even more convincing will be needed before I believe that SHAEF would use Glenn in the capacity suggested by this book (from the summary). The most convincing explanation of Glenn's disappearance has been out there for a long time. Essentially, a British bomber group returning from an aborted mission had to jettison their un-delivered payload over the English Channel on the same night that Miller flew to France. Bomber crewmen have reliably reported seeing a Norseman (the type of airplane that Glenn was riding in when departed England) flying at a lower altitude ditch into the Channel, obviously affected by the concussion of the bombs they were jettisoning.
 Ich glaub's nicht (I don't believe it) September 7, 2009
Jeffrey J. Karpinski (King of Prussia, PA United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
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