The Mystery of how Famed Band Leader Glenn Miller died during WWII finally solved.

At the time, it made sense. Concocting an "official" cover story to mask the unpleasant details of the death of beloved bandleader, Maj. Glenn Miller. The truth would have been extremely hard for World War II era Americans to accept and comprehend and might've played into German "propaganda" and disinformation at the time, i.e. that Miller died in the arms of a Paris prostitute.

He did not. Miller was a patriot and on a mission for Gen. Eisenhower that might have helped bring a quicker end to World War II. An elderly but alert retired officer on Gen. Omar Bradley's staff, Army Lt. Col. Hunton Downs, has spoken to MilitaryCorruption.com about the facts of the case from his home in Asheville, N.C.

This respected officer has spent 60 of his 90-plus years of life following the trail; gaining access to OSS/CIA files on Miller; U.S. and German documents long hidden away on the case; relentlessly chasing down leads; and now, the military investigator believes he has "solved the final mystery" of what really happened to Glenn Miller.

We agree, and while there are other researchers out there with differing conclusions (as you will see later on in this extra-length article), Downs comes the closest to "nailing down" the true facts by coming up with a very plausible explanation for what we now know to be a "cover-up" that has lasted since 1944.

"CRASH IN CHANNEL" STORY A "COVER-UP" FOR THE TRUTH

The heroic "myth" that Miller's plane went down in bad weather in the English Channel in December of that fateful year, was born of wartime necessity. The aircraft—a single-engine Norseman—was never found, and although numerous theories have been offered as to what really happened to Alton G. Miller, the epitome of Middle America and "musical magic" of that time, Downs has the most documented findings.

One of the first clues that the "official version" of Miller's death was wrong—dramatically portrayed by Jimmy Stewart in the great 1950's movie "The Glenn Miller Story"—was the MACR (Missing Air Crew Report) on file at Maxwell AFB in Alabama since the end of World War II.

Dipping into Scotland Yard, RAF records in England (the "Ansell Report") and The Imperial War Museum in London, as well as extremely valuable investigative documents discovered by the late Miller researcher Wilbur Wright, Downs discovered the "adjutant's signature" on the "official" form had been "falsified," and Miller's name had been "added to the passenger list" (different typewriters had been used).

"The falsifiers had even gotten destinations wrong, trying to fit in pre-conceived plans of what Supreme Headquarters (Gen. Eisenhower) claimed had taken place," Downs said.

GLENN MILLER WAS A PATRIOT - HIS LAST MISSION COST HIM HIS LIFE

But that wasn't all. His dogged research over the years led to an important find in documents stored at the RAF Museum in Croydon. A female driver named Joan Heath—remember, dear reader, Gen. Ike had a British subject (and alleged mistress) Kay Summersby driving his staff car—had reported in writing she had taken Maj. Miller in an Army sedan to an airstrip in France the night of Dec. 16-17, 1944.

Downs tells in his new book, "THE GLENN MILLER CONSPIRACY: THE NEVER-BEFORE-TOLD TRUE STORY OF HIS LIFE AND DEATH" (Global Book Publishers of Beverly Hills, Calif.) he believes the German-speaking Miller was carrying "peace feelers" from Gen. Eisenhower to German generals, reportedly eager to end the war and save their homeland from complete destruction.

It is important to recall that in July of 1944, an assassination attempt had already been made on Hitler. The German High Command knew full well that the Allies were going to win the war.

Down's investigation shows Miller was to be secretly flown in a small Bobcat two-motor aircraft from a French airfield near Versailles to German Army headquarters at Fichtenhein near Krefeld. The short-hop, pre-arranged flight was to be made through the Ruhr "flak zone" towards Gen. Von Rundstedt's command post.

MILLER CAPTURED BY GERMANS, BEATEN TO DEATH DUMPED ON DOORSTEP OF PARIS BROTHEL

Miller's mission, however, was revealed by a spy to the die-hard Nazis, who preferred to fight to the death. The band leader, at some point in the trip, was captured and brutally interrogated. Hating Miller ("Mueller," of German heritage) for his radio broadcasts in the German language to enemy forces urging them to "quit the war" and "surrender" to the Allies, chief Nazi propagandist Dr. Joseph Goebbels ordered the falsehood spread that Miller had been "found dead in a Paris brothel."

The story was only half true. The whorehouse, long a hangout for high-ranking Nazis during the German occupation, was indeed where Miller's battered and nude body was discovered, sprawled on the doorstep. But Downs says the major was left there by the enemy in an effort to smear the bandmaster's memory and score points in the all important propaganda war.

"Broderick Crawford, the Academy-Award winning movie actor, was a close friend and drinking buddy of Miller's," Downs told an MCC reporter. "He served as announcer for the band's radio broadcasts and live performances in England. Before the star of "ALL THE KING'S MEN" died, Crawford told Downs, during a booze binge in Paris that loosened his lips, that his hero, Glenn Miller, had "been on a mission for Ike" and been "killed in the effort."

Down's fascinating book details MP reports that a man meeting Miller's physical description had been found at the brothel location—Rue Pigalle—and a U.S. Army doctor (his name is in the book) signed Miller's death certificate. Allegedly, Maj. Alton G. Miller's body was in short order flown to Wright-Patterson Field in Dayton, Ohio and he was buried in a secret location.

There is so much more in the way of detail and documentation in "THE GLENN MILLER CONSPIRACY" that we cannot emphasize enough that this book is the quintessential volume of what actually happened in one of the last great mysteries of World War II. Anyone having any interest in the Miller story needs to read this book for themselves and draw their own conclusions.

ANOTHER AUTHOR CLAIMS MILLER DEAD IN SEPTEMBER 1944

While Col. Downs has assembled the most information on the case, including a superb "back section" of photographs and copies of never-before-seen documents, another author claims he helped mistakenly shoot down Glenn Miller in a small plane on Sept. 9, 1944, more than two months before the musical icon left England to travel to recently liberated Paris, France.

Clarence B. Wolfe, a World War II enlisted man, tells Susan Goodrich Griffin in "I KEPT MY WORD: THE PERSONAL PROMISE BETWEEN A WORLD WAR II ARMY PRIVATE AND HIS CAPTAIN ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO GLENN MILLER" that his "drunken" officer, the late Capt. Lawrence Foley, made him "promise never to reveal" the officer's belief he had mistakenly ordered the "shoot down" of Glenn Miller in a small unidentified aircraft in the fall of 1944.

Foley is now dead, and Wolfe, whom an MCC reporter interviewed by phone, feels he is released from his promise and has written his book to "clear the air" and tell his story while he's still alive to do so.

There's no doubt that Wolfe is sincere and believes what he says. But his slim volume—just 122 pages (available at AuthorHouse.com—copies can be ordered by calling toll-free 1-800-839-8640)—offers little in the way of actual proof.

ALLEGES HE HEARD TWO DAYS OF BROADCASTS ON ARMED FORCES NETWORK IN ENGLAND THAT MILLER KILLED

Wolfe swears he heard two days of broadcasts on AFN (Armed Forces Network) in England "confirming" Miller's death right after the alleged "shoot down." But no one at AFN can confirm the so-called broadcasts, and a search of STARS & STRIPES and British daily newspapers in this writer's personal collection of that date shows no such thing.

In fact, Miller was seen in public numerous times between Sept. 9 and mid-December. 1944 when he either crashed in the English Channel (official version) or was killed in Paris (more likely scenario). It would be hard to have a "double" traipse around portraying Miller, and the thinness of documentation Wolfe can point to, quite frankly makes his account hard to believe.

In fairness to the first-time author, an associate tells us Wolfe is "hard at work" on another book that may reveal more "details" of what the former anti-aircraft gunner and spotter says happened to Maj. Miller. The former Army enlisted man from Bloomington, Ind., hopes to travel to England for the 65th "anniversary" of Miller's death, which he contends took place on Sept. 9, 1944.

For updates on Wolfe's plans, go to www.9-9-44.com. Those preferring THE GLENN MILLER CONSPIRACY can purchase that 271-page soft cover book for $17.95 at Amazon.com or go directly to the publisher's homepage at www.bookpubintl.com.

Didn’t they know for years that a RAF plane accidentally bombed it.

Wow, Hell of a movie (or mini-series) that could make.

Didn’t they know for years that a RAF plane accidentally bombed it.

That was the prevailing theory but never proved because they never found the Norseman.

R.A.F. BOMBS MAY HAVE DOWNED GLENN MILLER PLANE

I’m glad. The official story was too pat, and in recent years as we have realized how much of history has been hoaxed by Elites, it’s good that the official story has been debunked.

But none of what I just read reads true, either.

> a Nazi spy in General Eisenhower’s HQ betrayed Miller’s mission to meet with German representative of anti-Hitler forces to bring early end to war in Europe <

I never completely bought the official version of Miller’s demise. But the above seems even less likely. Why would Ike send a musician - of all people - on such a sensitive and important mission?

Nope, not buying it.

It’s complicated

I thought some on the plane admitted it.

If Downs is 90 now he would have been 17 in 1944 when he was an officer on Bradley’s staff. Hmmmmm.....

Or why would the Germans set up a propaganda victory and never use it?

Inglourious Basterds complicated.

Not sure I buy this but it does explain what my uncle told me. He was a hospital medic in France at the time. A week or so after Miller’s death rumors circulated that he had been killed by Allied counter Intel because he was a German spy. This of course referenced his German roots. My uncle said the story was rampant and he believed it till the day he passed

“If Downs is 90 now he would have been 17 in 1944 when he was an officer on Bradley’s staff. Hmmmmm.....”

Good thinking, applying a little math. Yeah, a 17 year-old officer on Bradley’s staff - I am rather skeptical. And how likely is it that there was a Nazi spy in Eisenhower’s staff? A spy high up enough to have known about the secret mission? Somehow any spies missed out on important details about, I don’t know, D-Day, but a spy knew all about Miller’s alleged mission?

Ike used the most famous musician in the world to contact German generals? Miller made it to France secretly but nobody ever saw him? He was captured and killed in Germany, and the Germans smuggled his body all the way back to Paris? It was secretly discovered and flown back to Ohio, where it was buried secretly?

Why not? It was a secret mission, after all. /sarcasm

I can see why an American celebrity who speaks German might be chosen to communicate with Germans who wanted to end the war, but I cannot buy the story.

#7: "Why would Ike send a musician - of all people - on such a sensitive and important mission?"

Hmmm … maybe Miller was a double-naught spy?

Jethro Bodine Double Naught Spy

There’s a Hunton Leache Downs in Asheville who is 98.

Somebody should send this to Nory at Coast to Coast radio this would be on for years