Re: Korea War List of Aces-Gun Camera's

[jose castillo <felizguajiro@yahoo.com>]

Hello Cookie & KU Korean War forum:

I must share immediately with everyone a startling new
development in the death of jet ace Pete Fernandez.
Here is an email I just received this evening:

Greetings:
 
I was Pete's "Case Officer" after I recruited him at
the Officers Club at the then Homestead Air Force
Base. Pete agreed to worked with me and the South
Florida DEA/FBI Drug Interdiction Task Force, which
later [1982] was renamed "The Vice-President's Drug
Interdiction T/F" (VP Geo. H. W. Bush).
 
Pete was not supposed to be flying alone in that
highly modified aircraft that he crashed in on Grand
Bahama Island. His primary Op was to gather
intelligence [by flying loads to the Bahamas] in order
to get all of the Intel on the Colombian/Bahamian Drug
Cartels.
 
Pete was one of many of my assets for these operations
against the "Drug Lords"!  He was one of the few that
knew who and what he was working for. Many other of my
assets, to this day, don't know that they were working
for the Task Force. This protected them from the leaks
and outright selling of identities and Intel by
corrupt Gov't agents to the criminal bosses.

While we were working together I had a very unique
plaque made for him that I never had a chance to
present to him.  It was lost in a mini-storage auction
in Ft. Lauderdale during the '90's, much to my
regret.  I would have liked to have presented it to
his family, and moreover, give them some of the
details of Pete's extremely dangerous and very
patriotic work.

If you can put me in touch with the family, I would be
most grateful.

Respectfully [and sadly]submitted,
 
Gerry Patrick Hemming 
Fayetteville, NC [Ft. Bragg "Green Beret Country"]
Google my name for more info & Bio data



My response to Mr Hemming:

Thank you so much for contacting us! This is hugely
important news to the Fernandez family, who have never
believed Pete died the way the newspapers made it out.
I must admit I have been more skeptical of these
notions, but never ashamed of my uncle, even as I
believed he ran some pot for money. On the webpage I
have posted, I leaned heavily on the 1980 Fitz McAden
account in the Miami Herald; I now must rethink the
whole equation! 

I have been seeing signs of this as I have delved into
the research about Pete. My cousin David, who is 59
years old and knew Pete better than any of us cousins,
let me know just last week that Pete's intelligence
work was much more extensive than just the plane theft
from Peru. Of course I would like to find out
everything I can. I contacted Pete's family
immediately; I just got off the phone with Julie,
Pete's daughter. She lives with her mother Jill,
Pete's widow. I then called my cousin Lori, another of
Pete's daughters(he had four kids in all). They were
also extremely excited about this information, and
want you to call them as soon as you are able, or they
can call you, as you prefer. 

I have many more questions, but I will get this off to
you quickly to put you in touch with Julie & Jill &
Lori. 

I will be in touch soon, and I thank you once more for
this tremendous present you have given the Fernandez
family, after all these years!

I susequently added this:

The Fernandez family is very excited tonight. I just
spoke for the second time to my cousin Lori, and she
told me that the news put Jill Fernandez, Pete's
widow, into tears. Apparently, Jill is a pretty tough
cookie normally, because Lori mentioned that neither
she nor Julie had ever seen their mom cry before...

This is obviously a huge development in Pete's
biography, changing the whole complexion of his death.


First of many questions: Why was Pete landing at night
on Grand Bahama Island? If the pot was picked up
further south, e.g., in Jamaica, why not fly it right
in to Miami? Why take the extra flying risks and
possible exposure to witnesses by such a landing, one
so dangerous that it took his life?

Best Regards, Jose Castillo


Here is a interesting website RE Gerry Patrick
Hemming: 
http://spot.acorn.net/jfkplace/09/fp.back_issues/14th_Issue/hemming.html

More soon! This is big stuff, possibly "clearing" Pete
Fernandez's name! 

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus