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Vet says government has acknowledged he was injured by UFO while on duty

A U.S. Air Force veteran believes a UFO incident he experienced while on duty in 1980 is the root of his current health problems. However, initially the government denied he was on active duty at the time. With the help of a lawyer and U.S. Senator John McCain’s office, his records have been corrected and he has received his full medical disability. He and his lawyer now claim their victory represents the “U.S. government’s de facto acknowledgement of the existence of UFOs.”

John Burroughs was serving as a U.S. Air Force police officer at Royal Air Force Base (RAF) Bentwaters, near the Rendelsham Forest in Suffolk, United Kingdom in December 1980 when the UFO incident took place. The base, along with its sister base, RAF Woodbridge, were on lease to the U.S.

John Burroughs accepting an award at the 2015 International UFO Congress. (Credit: Carlo Petrick)

John Burroughs accepting an award at the 2015 International UFO Congress. (Credit: Carlo Petrick)

Late on the night of the fateful incident, lights were seen in the forest and Burroughs and several other security personnel were sent out to investigate. They saw a bright light that grew brighter as they approached. It then flew off into the night sky.

The next night the lights were seen again. Skeptical of the whole affair, and eager to figure out what he assumed was a prosaic answer to the sightings, Deputy Base Commander Charles Halt took a group of men out again. This group included Burroughs. This time the entire group saw lights flying around the forest. Some of these orbs of light beamed rays of light on the ground near the men’s feet and on the nearby munitions storage.

Illustration simulating the UFO reported by Halt.

Illustration simulating the UFO reported by Halt.

The event became a large story in the UK, and is still debated to this day.

Burroughs, who along with an airman named James Penniston approached closest to the object, believes his health issues stem from his proximity to the UFO. He has since found a document that was created by UK Defence Intelligence that also speculates this could be the case. A section of the report that covers UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) radiation, speculates, ”The well-reported Rendlesham Forest/Bentwaters event is an example where it might be postulated that several observers were probably exposed to UAP radiation for longer than normal UAP sighting periods.”

Burroughs has since suffered from congestive heart failure, which he says he has been told by scientists can be caused by radiation exposure.

While living in Arizona, Burroughs sought to get his medical records from the U.S. Air Force to help his doctor diagnose his problems. However, they claimed he was not in the service at that time. Burroughs sought the help of a lawyer familiar with Veterans Affairs (VA) cases and U.S. Senator John McCain’s office. McCain’s office was able to get his military records corrected, but, according to Burroughs and his lawyer Pat Frascogna, McCain’s office was not confident he would ever get his medical records.

John Burroughs (right) and his lawyer Pat Frascogna presenting their case at the 2015 International UFO Congress. (Credit: Carlo Petrick)

John Burroughs (right) and his lawyer Pat Frascogna presenting their case at the 2015 International UFO Congress. (Credit: Carlo Petrick)

In an Open Minds UFO Radio interview with Frascogna, he said it was not unusual that someone who worked on classified projects in the military would have records withheld. According to Frascogna, in these cases the military typically settles and grants disability. However, these are individuals who knowingly worked on classified projects. Burroughs claims he never worked on classified projects. The government is not required to say why military records have been classified or by whom.

Researcher Linda Howe introducing Burroughs and Frascogna at the 2015 International UFO Congress. (Credit: Carlo Petrick)

Researcher Linda Howe (www.earthfiles.com) introducing Burroughs and Frascogna at the 2015 International UFO Congress. (Credit: Carlo Petrick)

At the 2015 International UFO Congress, Burroughs and Frascogna announced that, as Frascogna predicted, Burroughs was granted full medical disability. However, they say his medical records remain classified.

To Burroughs and Frascogna, the granting of the benefits signifies an admission by the VA and Department of Defense (DOD) that his health issues stem from his years in the service. Furthermore, they believe it is also an admission that his health problems are a result of his close proximity to a UFO.

In a press release titled “U.S. Government’s De Facto Acknowledgement of the Existence of UFOs,” Burroughs writes:

In January of 2015, after years of exhaustive efforts the VA settled, in full, with me. I needed someone to champion my cause, someone not afraid to put themselves at risk to help me.  I was lucky.  I found two to champion my cause, my attorney Pat Frascogna, and Senator John McCain and his staff. Through their efforts, I received lifesaving heart surgery to replace a badly shredded anterior mitral valve caused by the UAP radiation, and a settlement from the DOD and VA admitting I was injured in the line of duty in December of 1980.

Although this story has a happy ending, Burroughs and Frascogna say they aren’t finished looking into what really happened in the Rendelsham Forest in 1980, and what the UK and U.S. governments know about it.

Pat Frascogna sharing information on John Burroughs case at the 2015 International UFO Congress. (Credit: Carlo Petrick)

Pat Frascogna sharing information on John Burroughs’ case at the 2015 International UFO Congress. (Credit: Carlo Petrick)

Recent book on the Rendelsham Forest Incident written by former UK Ministry of Defence UFO researcher Nick Pope with witnesses John Burroughs and James Penniston.

Recent book on the Rendelsham Forest Incident written by former UK Ministry of Defence UFO researcher Nick Pope with witnesses John Burroughs and James Penniston.

Burroughs has submitted several Freedom of Information Act Requests in the UK and U.S. He has already been able to get the UK government to admit that they have more UFO files to release, even though they had previously claimed to have released all of their UFO files. He also says he is confident he will receive more files from the U.S. government that have not been available to the public before.

The Rendelsham Forest incident is often referred to as UK’s Roswell, and like its American counterpart, is the gift that keeps on giving with alleged new discoveries coming to light on a regular basis. Stay tuned for more revelations from Burroughs and Frasogna, and the other numerous dogged researchers out there who will undoubtedly continue their search for answers.

For his work getting the UK government to admit they had more UFO files to release, and for the discovery of the UK Defence Intelligence document speculating that the witnesses of the Rendelsham Forest Incident had been exposed to UAP (UFO) radiation, Burroughs was awarded the UFO Researcher of the Year award at the 2015 International UFO Congress. Watch the video below to view the presentation of the award.

Full text of the press release issued by Burroughs and Frascogna:

FOR RELEASE ON: February 22, 2015

U.S. Government’s De Facto Acknowledgement of the Existence of UFOs

PHOENIX, AZ — The United States Government has, for the first time ever, acknowledged by de facto the long-suspected reality of the UFO phenomenon.  John Burroughs encountered a craft of unknown origin in England’s Rendlesham Forest in December of 1980 and suffered injury there from for which the Veterans Administration has now recognized by granting him full medical disability. The December 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident in the United Kingdom is arguably the most well documented and important UFO encounter in history.  A UFO was seen over three consecutive nights by United States Air Force personnel stationed at the twin bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge, near Ipswich, England — then the largest NATO air force bases at the height of the Cold War.

The UFO was tracked on radar and physical evidence was found at a site where the UFO was seen to land, including indentations in the frozen ground, scorch marks on the sides on the trees, and radiation levels subsequently assessed by the UK Ministry of Defense as “significantly higher than the average background”.

Airman First Class John Burroughs encountered the UFO at close proximity on the first night. While for many years the U.S. Government denied that this incident had even occurred, in 2006 the UK Government declassified an intelligence study on UFOs (codenamed Project Condign and classified as Secret UK Eyes Only) in which the following statement is found:

The well-reported Rendlesham Forest/Bentwaters event is an example where it might be postulated that several observers were probably exposed to UAP [Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon] radiation for longer than normal UAP sighting periods.

John Burroughs was one of those observers who was exposed to UAP radiation in the Rendlesham Forest in December 1980.  However, despite having been exposed to UAP radiation as postulated by the UK’s own intelligence report, the U.S. Government stonewalled John, his attorney, and two United States senators for years.  Now, after decades of persistence, the U.S. Government has finally acknowledged that John Burroughs suffered adverse health effects in the Rendlesham Forest and, therefore, has recognized the link between his health problems and the UFO he encountered.  In an interesting twist, John’s complete medical records file from that time he served in England remains classified.  In regard to the VA’s action on his case, John said:

In January of 2015, after years of exhaustive efforts the VA settled, in full, with me. I needed someone to champion my cause, someone not afraid to put themselves at risk to help me.  I was lucky.  I found two to champion my cause, my attorney Pat Frascogna, and Senator John McCain and his staff. Through their efforts, I received lifesaving heart surgery to replace a badly shredded anterior mitral valve caused by the UAP radiation, and a settlement from the DOD and VA admitting I was injured in the line of duty in December of 1980.

About Alejandro Rojas

Alejandro Rojas is a radio host for Open Minds Radio, editor and contributing writer for Open Minds magazine as well as OpenMinds.tv. For several years Alejandro was the official spokesperson for the Mutual UFO Network as the Director of Public Education. As a UFO/Paranormal researcher and journalist, Alejandro has spent many hours in the field investigating phenomena up close and personal. Alejandro has been interviewed by media organizations around the world, including the largest cable and network news agencies with several appearances on Coast to Coast AM.

11 comments

  1. Michael Acheson

    Better late than never!? Hopefully.

    In addition to your loyal service to your country, hopefully you can now know peace of mind and have your medical needs resolved.

    Congratulations on your hard-fought victory and the the care you so richly deserve. You are a real American hero.

  2. Isn’t it unfortunate that a man who has served his country faithfully and suffered for it has to later fight with them to be compensated for his injury and isn’t it also unfortunate that the same man has to rely on a foreign government to give him the evidence of the cause f his injury that his own government refuses to supply?

  3. b. robert thomas

    The statement regarding more than the “usual” amount of UAP (ufo, or OVNI, if you prefer) radiation is the most damning, as the statement admits to UAP’s emitting radiation. Mr. Burroughs’ damaged mitral valve is not indicative of any “acknowledgement” of ufos by any government.

  4. terry the censor

    Is there any independent confirmation of Burroughs’ claims about the VA ruling? Otherwise, this is hearsay.

  5. USA is currently one of the most evil governments on the planet. Good people of the USA regain control of your nation and ally with Russia to remove (or contain) Islam from the world once and for all.

  6. Thank you for reporting and giving an update on such an iconic event!

  7. It’s about time the Military admitted the truth

  8. Iam convinced John Burroughs is telling the truth the reason being ,on the 20th of Dec 1980 a ufo was seen in west Yorkshire lasting over 30 mins

  9. I have to agree with ‘Terry the censor’ … … where is the independent verification ? As far as I know it is only Jim Penniston who claimed to have touched the ‘ufo’ so you would expect Jim to ‘suffer’ rather than John.
    When this ‘compensation’ story was published in the East Anglian Daily Times (the Suffolk local paper) it was only a small article tucked away at the side of the page and gave no source for the story which was very unusual and very unprofessional for a respected newspaper.

    I was gobsmacked when I read it, and being such a sensational story at the time of the ‘incident’ (1980) would have thought this (US Military finally ‘owning up’) story would have been front page news !!
    Perhaps, like most of the locals who still live near the old twin airbases, they treat it as a bit of harmless fun to cover up an embarrassing accident which took place at the time, but decided to print this unverified story (despite the name of Senator John McCain being involved) out of respect ? It is all rather strange to me.

    Even this so-called ‘document’ being found purporting to be from the British MoD ‘accepting people may have been exposed to radiation’ sounds very suspect to me as this has received no attention at all amongst British UFO followers – you would have thought they would seize upon this as evidence the MoD are now admitting something UFO’ish took place in Rendlesham Forest.

    But getting back to the USA, John Boroughs only seems to be saying the military acknowledge he received radiation during his time with the USAF without specifically saying where or when he received a stronger doze than normal.
    One hopes Open Minds will look into this in more depth to clear up these ‘anomalies’.
    P.S. Surely visiting ‘Aliens’ would avoid harming us mere earthlings at all costs … … somehow, I just cannot imagine a little green man operating a very bright beam ‘gun’ would blast John Boroughs (pleasant chap as he is) saying “Take that ya bastard” !!

  10. Alejandro Rojas

    Suspicious, you can do your own research. Go get a copy of the Condign report and you will see it states just what we have reported it states. You will also find the report to the MoD is official record as well. Burroughs’ lawyer confirms that he was granted his disability. Their interpretations of the implications are speculative, but that is there opinion and one of many things that makes this an interesting story.

  11. Was Dr. Christopher “Kit” Green the CIA interrogator for the Bentwaters incident?

    I was at a speaker conference this on 22 October, 2016 and Col Holt showed a photo and asked the audience to identify a mystery person as it relates to the Bentwaters interrogation facilitated by the AFOSI, and conducted by 2 agents unknown to Bentwaters officers: one British and one American. I identified the person in the photograph Dr. Christopher (Kit) Green MD, PhD, who was with the CIA at the time and working on CIA “weird desk” aka. UFO. Dr. Green’s history includes his subject matter expertise of mind control (with and without drugs) being a CIA monitor with the Stanford Research Institute Remote Viewing project (Startgate) in the 70’s until it was discontinued in ’78. He went onto handling certain UFO incidents from 78-83. Bentwaters was in 80, and Burroughs and Penniston were interrogated under Sodium Pentathol in Feb 1981.

    Interestingly, I found a post by Dr. Green on another site commenting on the health and medical records of Burroughs and the secret nature of his medical records.

    http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1057454/pg12

    “Q # 2 Broad-band Non Ionizing Electromagnetic Radiation caused the injuries. The RF is identified in a dozen classified and a half-dozen unclassified studies on cardiological and neurological injuries … not thousands of reports. Very, very few physicians even care about this arcane area of research…and fewer know about the injuries sustained by near-field (< 100 M) to humans. The data is sparse, it is not properly Peer-reviewed, it is not understood, it is not the subject of current research. And that is the truth.

    The decision that was made to grant medical disability to John was just. Some of his records will remain classified. Those of us in Military and Intelligence Medicine can be proud the right decision was finally, if belatedly made; we should remain both vigilant and ashamed that our profession remains improperly darkened, and we should bring it to the light when we can.

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