FOUR U.S. PILOTS-THEY DIED WHILE 'SERVING THEIR COUNTRY'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100230008-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 26, 1999
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: March 16, 1963
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

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Sanitized - Approved For FW ais@ 1 1A-R
FOIAb3b
CPYRGHT
A SEQUEL TO THE BAY OF PIGS
~s-, -20FUnq-
by BILL SURFACE
11
One con uscc , controversial sto-
y of the four American fliers who
vere killed in the 1961 Bay o
igs invasion finally drew veri-
ication from the White House last
veck. President Kennedy said that
he airmen died while "serving thei
ountry as volunteers." But, he
uldcd, it would not be helpful
o the U.S. to go into details a
his time.
If the facts of the fatal mission
vere to be kept locked in gov-
rnmcnt files, the opinions-ane
motions-of those close to the
cad fliers were revealed in inter-
'iews in Birmingham, Ala. Three
f the four widows have lived there
ince the disappearance of their
usbands. A fourth, Mrs. Cathe-
ine Baker, moved to California
nd is now in seclusion. All have
cen receiving twice-a-month pen-
ions of S225 and up-and noth-
ng is known of the source o
his money except that it is paid
hrough the Bankers Trust Co. in
few York. For these women, their
amilies and friends, the long or-
cal of doubt and grief has turned
to resentment over recent head-
Sanitized - Approve
CPYRGHT
N 'M 4 Chu i o r
cial silence. This is what they say:
MRS. MARION 'JANE SHAMBUR-
GER, 37, is the widow of Riley W.
Shamburger, who had been a test
pilot for Hayes Aircraft Corp. in
Birmingham and a major in the
Alabama Air National Guard. She
said: "t never suspected a thing
until a few days after the Cuban
business. I came home and the
maid had let this man in. He said
lie was a lawyer from the Double
Check Corp. of Miami and that
Riley and the other three boys had
been flying cargo. They were last
heard from on April 19-our 15th
wedding anniversary-and had ra-
dioed the engine was going out.
Later we received death certificates
and I held a memorial service..
"I've accepted the fact that Ri-
ley's gone and this is the way he
would have wanted to die. Riley'd
be disappointed in me if I talked
too much about it. But I'll tell you
one thing-1 don't believe that
business about the engine going
out and Riley losing altitude. Any-
one at Hayes can tell you Riley
brought planes in with an engine
on fire and then went out and
p aye golf a few minutes later.
"Riley was a good pilot and was
making good money before he was
involved in this thing. I got Candy
[her daughter, 15] a new car and I.
got one, too, but I can't stand to
get rid of the old one. I don';
think it's been away from the
front of the house since Riley went
down."
MRS. RILEY W. SHAMBURGER SR.,
63, mother of Pilot Shamburger,
holds to the hope that her son is
still al; C ,i. She wrote Pres-
ident Kennedy and received an an-
swer from Brig. General Godfrey
McHugh of the Air Force, stating
that he could give her no pertinent
information. "I don't want any-
thing secret," she said. "All I want
to know is, is Riley dead or alive?"
MRS. VIOLET GRAY, 35, widow of
Wade C. Gray, has denied that
her husband was a "soldier of
fortune," as the four have been
described, but declined to make
further comment. Her silence was
explained by her friend, MRS.
MARGARET RAY, 31, widow of
Thomas W. (Pete) Ray and the
mother of two children. "Violet
Gray came by here the other
night," said Mrs. Ray, "and we
drove over to Jane Shamburger's.
The three of us talked it over and
agreed is shock-
ing. We can'tletjtt go on. The kids
turn on TV and see a news show
and it frightens them."