Gone to Earth a Young American Woman Disappears in the South Pacific: Based on a True Story

By Anthony R. Wells

Anthony Wells is unique insofar as he is the only living person to have worked for British intelligence as a British citizen and US intelligence as a US citizen and also served in uniform at sea and ashore with both the Royal Navy and the US Navy. He is a fifty-year veteran of the Five Eyes intelligence community. In 2017, he was the keynote speaker on board HMS Victory in Portsmouth, England, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the famous Zimmermann Telegram intelligence coup by “Blinker” Hall and his Room 40 team in British Naval Intelligence. The guest of honor was Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, with the Five Eyes community, past and present, representing the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in attendance. Dr. Wells, or Commander Wells, was trained and mentored in the late 1960s by the very best of the World War II intelligence community, including Sir Harry Hinsley, the famous Bletchley Park code breaker; official historian of British intelligence in the Second World War; master of St. John’s College, Cambridge; and vice chancellor of Cambridge University. Sir Harry Hinsley introduced Dr. Wells to the Enigma data before it became public knowledge. Dr. Wells received his PhD in war studies from King’s College, University of London, in 1972. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Durham and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. He was trained at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and received his advanced training at the School of Maritime Operations. He was called to the bar by Lincoln’s Inn in November 1980. Anthony Wells has four children and eight grandchildren and lives on his farm in Virginia. He is a member of the Naval Order of the United States and was appointed an honorary crew member of USS Liberty by the USS Liberty Veterans Association. USS Liberty is the most highly decorated warship in the history of the US Navy for a single action: when it was attacked by Israeli air and surface forces on August 8, 1967, in the eastern Mediterranean. Dr. Wells is the third chairman of the USS Liberty Alliance, succeeding the late Admiral Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and chief of Naval Operations, and the late Rear Admiral Clarence “Mark” Hill, former distinguished US naval aviator and battle group commander. He is a retired US National Ski Patrol patroller and instructor and a life member and former president of The Plains, Virginia, Volunteer Fire Rescue Company. Wells is an FAA commercial pilot with single and multiengine, land and sea, instrument, and flight instructor ratings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669853558

Anthony R. Wells

Anthony Wells is unique insofar as he is the only living person to have worked for British intelligence as a British citizen and US intelligence as a US citizen, and to have also served in uniform at sea and ashore with both the Royal Navy and the US Navy. He is a 50-year veteran of the Five Eyes intelligence community. In 2017 he was the Keynote Speaker on board HMS Victory in Portsmouth, England, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the famous Zimmermann Telegram intelligence coup by “Blinker Hall” and his Room 40 team in British Naval Intelligence. The guest of honor was Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, with the Five Eyes community, past and present, represented from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Dr. Wells, or Commander Wells, was trained and mentored in the late 1960s by the very best of the World War II intelligence community, including Sir Harry Hinsley, the famous Bletchley Park code breaker, official historian of British Intelligence in the Second World War, Master of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University. Sir Harry Hinsley introduced Dr. Wells to the Enigma data before it became public knowledge. Dr. Wells received his PhD in War Studies from King’s College, University of London, in 1972. He holds Bachelor and Masters Degrees from the University of Durham, and a Masters degree from the London School of Economics. He was trained at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and received his advanced training at the School of Maritime Operations. He was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn in November, 1980. Anthony Wells has four children and eight grandchildren, and lives on his farm in Virginia. He is a Member of the Naval Order of the United States and was appointed an Honorary Crew Member of USS Liberty by the USS Liberty Veterans Association. USS Liberty is the most highly decorated warship in the history of the US Navy for a single action, attacked by Israeli air and surface forces on August 8, 1967 in the eastern Mediterranean. Dr Wells is the third Chairman of the USS Liberty Alliance, succeeding the late Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chief of Naval Operations, and the late Rear Admiral Clarence “Mark” Hill, former distinguished US naval aviator and battle group commander. He is a retired US National Ski Patroller and Instructor, and a Life Member and former President of The Plains, Virginia, Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company. Wells is an FAA Commercial pilot with single and multi engine, land and sea, instrument, and flight instructor Ratings. He is a Senior Member of Number 60 Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. Dr. Wells was the Technical Director of Fleet Battle Experiments ALPHA and BRAVO in the Third Fleet, United States Pacific Fleet. He was the Chief Executive Officer of TKC International LLC, a specialist company supporting the US Intelligence Community and Department of Defense, for twenty-five years. He held Top Secret SCI and Special Access Clearances.

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GONE TO EARTH

A YOUNG AMERICAN

WOMAN DISAPPEARS IN

THE SOUTH PACIFIC

Based on a True Story

Anthony R. Wells

Copyright © 2022 by Anthony R. Wells.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/28/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

846781

CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction And Acknowledgments

Chapter 1So Near Yet So Far: Zermatt and Jackson Hole Beckon – The Grand Hotel Zermatterhof and the Alpine House, Jackson Hole

Chapter 2Yes, True Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

Chapter 3The First Turn of the Screw

Chapter 4May the Gods Be with You

Chapter 5May You Have Fair Winds and Following Seas

Chapter 6The Little More and How Much It Is, the Little Less and What Worlds Away

Chapter 7Mangonui, North Island, New Zealand, Beckons

Chapter 8Arrival, Departure, and Disaster

Chapter 9And the Sea Shall Give Up Her Dead in the Life of the World to Come

Chapter 10Denouement or a New Beginning and a New Life?

Epilogue

About The Author

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the late Dan Morrow, a great human being and friend, a fine journalist and author, and the person who introduced me to this story in 2016. Without Dan’s comprehensive knowledge of the background to this story and him introducing me to the key family member and sister of the subject of my story and providing detailed critical information about her life and disappearance, I could not have written this book. I owe Dan a lasting debt, and his influence and spirit pervade my book. Thank you, Dan, and God bless.

Below is the obituary I wrote for Dan in the Fauquier Times in October 2019.

Daniel S. Morrow, known as Dan by all, publisher and an editor of the Middleburg Eccentric, passed away in his 75th year on Saturday, October 26, 2019after a three weeks long courageous battle against fungal lung disease. Dan was beloved by all in the wider community. Raised in southern Virginia Dan had a transformational undergraduate career at the University of Virginia, where he became a lifelong civil rights advocate and foregoing the racial intolerance that he had experienced growing up. After UVA he went on to postgraduate research at the University of North Carolina, specializing in modern German history, with documentary research at the West German Institute for European History, and writing a thesis on Black Troops in the Weimar Republic and Post World War One Germany. Dan then began a distinguished career in publication, working for the Washington Post as market research director, Whitney Communications Newspaper Division in Maryland and the Village Companies in North Carolina. He founded the Jamestown Exploration Company and was the first Executive Director of the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program, and Dan served on the boards of several local organizations, including the Mosby heritage Area Association. He was a leading defender of the environment and he united across all political boundaries those dedicated to the preservation of rural life. On giving the Fall Commencement Address at Dakota State University on December 8, 2015 the university’s introduction to their lead speaker said, Jamestown Exploration Company’s groundbreaking initiatives address a connection of academic, corporate, and federal needs and is well known and highly regarded as both an academic and corporate leader. Dan was a true renaissance man, publishing in 2013 his major non fictional historical crime book, Murder in Lexington: VMI, Honor, and Justice in Antebellum Virginia, a true story of a love triangle and murder in pre-Civil War Virginia. Dan was a huge proponent of the worldwide rights of journalists and writers and freedom of speech. He was a passionate believer in accurate and truthful reporting, unvarnished by prejudice and bigotry. Dan married his wife of 35 years, Glenda Cudaback Morrow, in 1982 and later Glenda co-founded the Middleburg Eccentric. Before meeting Dan she had a highly distinguished career in journalism, working for the Chicago Tribune and New York Times, and as a Paris based correspondent for the International Tribune. Glenda wrote for the Eccentric and Dan followed in her footsteps, becoming renowned for his editorials, and as the lead Blue writer in the monthly literary political jousting match with a series of equally passionate Red writers, a column enjoyed by many readers. Glenda passed away on February 16, 2017 after a long fight with cancer. When their partner at the Eccentric, Deanne Dee Dee Hubbard was arrested by the Middleburg police on November 3, 2010 in the most controversial of circumstances Dan came out with every ounce of his wisdom and fortitude, to expose a sad and appalling litany of local incompetence, leading in due course to the release of the Middleburg Chief of Police whose recruitment had also foregone full due diligence into past errors of judgment. Dan Morrow was a man of the highest principles and was imbued with a deep and abiding sense of what is right and always without exception erred on the side of reason, based on knowledge and wisdom accrued from philosophical discourse and study. Dan was intolerant of any form of prejudice, abuse, or words or ideas that expressed not just intolerance but a clear and present danger to the great humanistic traditions of science and reason to take each generation forward in peace and harmony. He was a kind, generous, engaging, loyal, cheerful, and humorous man, with a quick wit to accompany his fine intellect, and an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and unceasing quest to keep his mind engaged in the great issues of our times. Dan was the best of the very best. Our community will dearly miss him but his legacy will endure and his spirit will go on. He believed that a person never dies when they live on in our hearts. Dan is truly in our hearts. To his beloved companion Paula Campbell who cherished Dan for all his many virtues and who nursed him through his final weeks the community sends our heartfelt condolences.

INTRODUCTION AND

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The dedication pays special tribute to the role of the late Dan Morrow in the writing of this book. Without Dan, this book would not exist. Dan introduced me to the sister of Mercedes Mercy Ewing, Christine Andreae. Christine was outstandingly helpful in providing family information and a copy of the Ewing family book and record regarding Mercy’s disappearance, Searching for a Sister Lost at Sea: A Family Memoir by Christine Andreae. Christine’s book has been absolutely invaluable in providing crucial family background and information that she and her father gathered regarding Mercy’s disappearance in the South Pacific.

I have paid great respect in my novelistic nonfiction book to the Ewing family’s privacy and also to Christine’s fine book that stands in its own right as a record. As a result, there are no references to material in Christine’s book, with the indirect exception of key dates and the