Plain-English summaryThis excerpt from an NSA oral history interview records a conversation between Robert D. Farley and Dr. Howard Campaigne regarding Amelia Earhart. Campaigne recounts a story from fellow operator Milton Gash, who claimed that while serving as a radio operator aboard a ship in the Pacific, he attempted to communicate with Earhart's plane after being told it was calling for a position. Farley notes that Naval officers in previous interviews stated the Navy had never been tasked with monitoring or tracking Earhart's flight.
Key line (verbatim from the document)“Gash. And Milton said that when he was a radio operator in the fleet, that he came on duty one morning and the man he was relieving says Amelia Earhart's plane is calling and wants a position”
Summary written with AI help from the document text and checked against it; the key line is matched word for word to the text. Read the original before citing.
Tags
SourceNational Archives (NARA). Original. Released 2026-01-09. U.S. government work, public domain. Text from OCR; may contain errors.
Full text (1,552 characters)
Campaigne:
Farley:
Campaigne:
Farley:
Campaigne:
—SEGRED
98
Oh yes, a number of them. Pearly Phillips is one.
He was with me in England when I was over there.
Another one who was there was Milton Gash. And Milton
said that when he was a radio operator in the fleet,
that he came on duty one morning and the man he was
relieving says Amelia Earhart's plane is calling and
wants a position. So Milt said he got on and said send
""H's," send "H's"" or some such thing, but he never got
an answer. And he thinks they were trying to find their
position at the time. And he never heard anymore about it.
Except from him, I never heard that story before.
Do you remember where he was when he heard that? Was he
sailing in the Pacific someplace?
He was in the Pacific on board ship, but I don't know just
where. He wasn't too far from Hawaii I think was where his
ship was.
Because I had asked some Naval officer in previous interviews
whether the Navy was ever tasked with following Amelia
Earhart's plane; whether they were ever told where it would
be, and when it would be, and to listen for any communication.
And they said, no. They never had any instructions at all.
So this is the first time I've ever heard this.
Yeah. Well, he wasn't tasked with it either. He just
happened to be there when they thought they heard it.
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Released pursuant to ODNI memo, dated 1 October 2025, ES 2025-01253: “DECLASSIFICATION OF US
GOVERNMENT RECORDS RELATED TO THE DISAPPERANCE OF AMELIA EARHART” and E.O. 13526, Paragraph 3.1(
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