REDS FREE FLIERS-CLAIM SPY DATA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000400060014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 14, 1998
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: March 28, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

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NE~V ~r~'~~it~ed -Approved F~~~I~,: CIA-
~I1?h:AI1?? '.t~i~ ~ 1
11iY~' ~.~~L~.1~"_~LV
By Myron Kandel
OJ Tke fleraid Tribune Staff
];GNN'.
captive by Soviet forces for
17 days after their RB-66B
reconnaissance plane tivas
shot down over East Ger-
many, were released yester-
day.
As the two men were
handed over to United States
authorities. official Soviet
anti East German statements
said investigation of the
plane's wreckage - presum-
ably meaning its photo-
graphic equipment and film
-"established ,.beyond a
doubt" that its mission was
Spyillq.
The fliers-with. wham the
U. #. Air Porcc says it lost
ratio contact, perhaps be-
cause of Communist jamming'
--tiverc said to have admitted.
under int~:rrogation that they
were in steady contact with
U. S. bases and "knew where
they were throughout the en-
tire flight." The U. S? the
statements said, had ex- ~,
pressed .regret over the in-~
cident and promised to avoid
further "transgressions.t'
G~#~i~I-FrS~LI~
7n Washington, Secretary
of State .Dean Rusk repeated
the U. S.. stand that the.'
RR-G6B had strayed over
r.ast Ger;nany by mistake.
Mr. Rusk said he Icnew of no.
dc:els or, conditions surround-
ng the fliers' release.
The two airmen, Capt..
avid I. 1-TollaiZd, 35, of Hol- .
and, Mich., pilot of Ilia
iowned plane, and Capt. Mel-
ia J. I~.essler, 3D, of Phila-
.clTlhia, navigator, crossed
:: uc 1'Vest Germany in a U. S.
?:.::Kr sedan at the Iielmstedt
ronticr checkpoint. They'd
verc smartly s
ail of Soviet ~~~~~~e `;
~ n02U relnainS 2.12 an ,
Hast German prisolx. He is Frederic Loba, 3G, ,
of Altadena, Calif., sentenced to ~~/~ dears last.
October for Itelpinq refugees flee to freedom.
1'Ite three Americal2 fliers are free-and so is -
a Jackson Hei~ltts opera silt~er lvlto 2vas i1t a
Red jail for .20 molxtTts. Hcr retul"n 2vas a1x-
- outer st1?a1x~e chapter i12 the sltadoxvl/ stor?/ of
lion Curtain Ita.ytar/es. Sca~?rtar?/ of State Ru41c
said ~esterda~ that the stra~i;c~ ofj' course of ~?
the fliers' plane was "rrtjstorious:' Sn 2vas the
simqq~~ul,~~tv'aneous{{77~~1?clc~rscppro~f flee for?yotte~2 sin~ler.
~17 ,'.n .rul~11. Yi ~1~~ fill Y'/u UYlY I. IiJ--~ ?
Ci"Spy" mystery. Only 36 hours after release from ai
East Berlin prison, apcra singer Gabrielle Iia,mmerstei
was sitting at home in Jackson Heights in fine fettle de
spite 19 months incarceration on charges of being a spy
Details were vague, but she was arrested January, '196
(she lived in West Berlin) when she drove into the East
-ern (Communist) Zone. She..was released as inexpli
cably as she was arrested. Tate Qverall puzzle: Wh:y ,i
Soviet Russia ~ cleusin~ Americans charged as. spies?- ;~
,.
CPYRGHT CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
Approved For Release :CIA-RDP75-00149
S~t~TC~~, TIC
By Maurice C. Carroll ~
O/ The !lerald Trlbuse StajJ
I
East Iieriin as a "spy" for th
West. Tried in secret.
capti:i' 27 months. Freed a
myst~riousiy as she was ar
1'c6ted.
At home yesterday in Jack
~,~r~,: [ieights, Queens, le
;i1~an 3u" hours after her re
lease, buxom Gabrielle Ham
~merstein, 39, told about he ?
chilling experience in boom
ping good spirits that seeme
somehow as strange as he
mysterious reticences.
"I was a lousy prisoner,'
she said with a deep chuckle
"They told me I vas th
worst thing they ever en
countered.
"I refused to work-to ai
the Communist ,ystem.
"I refused to eaL potatoe
-they were ~iretty rotten
even thougl: our diet wa
mostly Iiquid, and there ~rer
some days when we had th
same soup all three meals:
CdIEE~ts~LTI. ~
Shc talked for 1'ep01'tCl'
and TV camcra.s with grca
'good cheer. An opera so
prano, she even ro. 1?r..d out
few sample notes from ~"Di
Valkyrie" that shoved th
needle on a sound man'
gauge out of sight.
But the story she told i
those cheerful tones was o
strange and sorpet.imcs b;u
tai imprisonment ai:d it u~a
laced with areas oP "no co:;i
ment" to protect, she said
prisoners still in Communis
hands who were "fight8i
for our way of life :'
Someone ventured the be
lief that most pcoplo arreste
as spies have actually bees
spying. Was she a spy?
,~~~~it `ti3y,5t~u31y is
? Her whole story, and i
.. fvr011'~~IlUB