In October 1944, amid the chaos of World War II, three American P-51 Mustang pilots—Lieutenants Daniel Garrett, Frankie Hullbrook, and Bobby Wheelen—embarked on a routine patrol over occupied Belgium from Bodney Airfield in England. The skies were clear, the mission straightforward, but at 2:47 p.m., their radio transmissions cut off mid-sentence. No distress signals, no enemy fire, no wreckage. The U.S. Army searched briefly before declaring them missing in action, presumed dead. Their families mourned with empty coffins, accepting a tragic wartime loss. For 75 years, the mystery lingered, buried in classified files and forgotten archives. Then, in October 2019, a Belgian wind farm excavation unearthed the planes—intact, arranged in a defensive triangle 12 feet underground, with the pilots still strapped in. Clutching a bloodstained journal page in Garrett’s hand: “They made us disappear.” What Emma Garrett, Daniel’s granddaughter, uncovered next exposed a horrifying conspiracy: U.S. officials murdering their own to conceal wartime atrocities with Nazi doctors on Holocaust survivors.
Emma Garrett was clearing her father’s attic in Indianapolis on October 5, 2019, after his sudden death at 75. Amid dusty boxes, she found a locked military trunk stenciled with her grandfather’s name: Lieutenant Daniel Garrett, USAF. Inside, his uniform, medals—including an unexplained Purple Heart—and a leather journal. The entries painted a vivid portrait of a 24-year-old pilot, missing his pregnant wife, Margaret, and flying with brothers-in-arms Frankie and Bobby. But the final entry, dated October 14, 1944, hinted at danger: “Something’s wrong with tomorrow’s patrol… Coordinates don’t match… Someone removed our gun cameras… We’re not hunting anything out there.”
Threats began immediately—a text warning her to stop digging. Undeterred, Emma researched Sector 7, their patrol area, restricted since July 1944. Colonel James Morrison’s report dismissed the search after one day. Walter Hullbrook, Frankie’s 98-year-old brother in Chicago, revealed Frankie’s suspicions: Sector 7 hid a secret U.S. facility. “Your grandfather found something he wasn’t supposed to see,” Walter said, sharing a photograph of the planes.
In Brussels, Elsa Vöber, a 93-year-old former Resistance fighter, shared her journal: “Three American fighters gliding… landed controlled… American trucks arrived fast.” She’d followed, witnessing the pilots—alive but injured—dragged to a barn. Gunshots followed. “Morrison’s men buried them in their planes,” Elsa said, handing Emma a sealed envelope from 1944: documents on Operation Prometheus, a classified program relocating Nazi doctors to continue experiments on Holocaust survivors for U.S. gain.
Back home, threats escalated—Emma’s apartment ransacked. Walter died suddenly of “heart failure,” his room searched. Emma met Dr. Theodore Blackwood (alias Martin Shepard), a 97-year-old Prometheus participant, dying of cancer. He’d helped Daniel smuggle evidence, building a case for decades. “I was horrified but terrified,” Blackwood said, giving digitized files: pre-war U.S.-Nazi collaborations, prisoner experiments, and Morrison’s orders.
CIA Deputy Director Sarah Coleman offered a deal: portray Daniel as a hero, bury the truth, or label him a Soviet traitor. Leaks from inside the CIA exposed everything. At Arlington’s memorial on November 11, Emma defied the script: “My grandfather was murdered by his country for exposing war crimes.” Videos went viral. Fitzgerald, Morrison’s aide, was arrested for conspiracy.
Emma visited Elsa, who revealed she’d executed Prometheus participants post-war. “I was there when they killed the pilots,” Elsa confessed. At Blackwood’s hospital bed, he died after admitting his guilt. Emma’s exposure sparked global investigations, stock crashes for implicated companies, and demands for justice. She sold her house, joining the prosecutor’s office, honoring Daniel’s legacy.
As the dust settled, the full scope emerged: hundreds of experiments, thousands of victims, decades of cover-ups. But Emma’s fight ensured their memory endured, a testament to courage against overwhelming odds.
