This is the second part of my exploration into the story of Valiant Thor and two of the closest individuals connected to the story: Dr. Frank Stranges and today’s subject, Dr. Harley Andrew Byrd, who wrote the introduction to Stranges’ book “Stranger at the Pentagon”.

In reading the introduction to the book we are introduced to Dr. Harley A. Byrd, listed as the nephew of Admiral Richard Byrd. This is what primarily interested me in this case as I am a distant relative of the good Admiral.

The introduction includes Harley Byrd in his naval uniform to complete the authentication. It lends certain credit to the book surely if someone who was not only a member of Project Blue Book, but also the nephew of Admiral Byrd confirmed the story Dr. Stranges was telling…it was very exciting information to come across, and it was at that moment that I entered into the proverbial rabbit hole that has occupied weeks of my research time.

So who is Dr. Harley Andrew Byrd? How does he factor into all this? We have to take into consideration the clues left in his introduction:

The Valiant Thor Landing
002741-57 Room 4D-717
Project Blue Book

During the winter of 1956-57, the Washington, D.C. area was extremely cold, but it was a good feeling to be working in a high security position in the Pentagon. I lived only a short distance away in Georgetown, the old section of the Nation’s Capital. Senator J.F. Kennedy lived on “O” Street just a block away from our house on Prospect.

During a successful tour with the U.S. Naval Ceremonial Honor Guard, we had met with astronauts Glen, Cooper, Waly Sherrar, who were the first wave of successful space travelers. Also we had visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier numerous times. It seemed like every time a visiting dignitary came to Washington, they lay a wreath at the tomb.

We had met the Queen of England several times at the airport, as these were some of the duties I performed as a young officer in the Navy. After carrying the 2-Star flag at the funeral of my late uncle, Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, I was recommended for a security clearance and was granted a Top Secret Clearance after a lengthy six-month background study (B1 complete 1957). After being transferred to the Chief of Naval Information (CHINFO), I worked in the Security Clearance section before being indoctrinated into the branch office of the Air Force called PROJECT BLUE BOOK. It was a joint service office; that is, two Marines, two Army, two Navy and three Air Force officers.

The work was routine, opening incoming mail, sorting out what was called actual sightings as opposed to many fake UFO photos. We also acted as a Public Information Office (PIO), much like a public relations office. Every publisher’s dream was to get the real low down on the UFO situation, which was suppressed by the group that dictated national policy on the UFO matter.

In mid March, 1957, we received an urgent message from the Alexandria Police Department. The message indicated that two of their on-duty police officers had picked up an alien who had landed some 14 miles south of Pentagon Boulevard, and the occupant was transported to the Pentagon to meet with the Under Secretary of Defense and then shuttled underground to meet with President Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon. The meeting lasted for nearly an hour and then, the alien visitor was put on VIP status and was shuttled back to the Pentagon where he spent the night in the Army reception office on the first floor near the concourse. This alien’s name was Valiant Thor.

Commander James was on duty at the Security Clearance and Review for the branch officer of the Project Blue Book. He oversaw the meeting through official channels and reported the landing and meeting of the “space emissary”, as he was labeled by the Department of Defense, to a governing group of high military officials including Secretary of Defense F.F. Forestall and other scientific men of which there were twelve. They in turn made recommendations to the President and Cabinet members, the CIA, FBI, NSA, and so on.

The landing of Valiant Thor was perhaps the first documented landing of a human-type alien by military officials. He contacted an individual in the Pentagon who was an advocate of the UFO alien situation. “Nancy Warren” in turn contacted a minister, who was also a private investigator and theologian, a Dr. Frank E. Stranges, who then met with this individual. Dr. Stranges had been a guest speaker at the National Evangelistic Center for two weeks.

Val Thor landed in Alexandria and met with the President to discuss the world’s problems and offer advice and counsel on how to deal with and eliminate them. He indicated to Mr. Eisenhower that the world was in a precarious situation and that if the world continued to proceed on a war footing – it would cause an economic imbalance throughout the world. Val Thor stayed on Earth until March 16, 1960, and then disembarked to his home planet Venus.

He indicated that his race of people lived and dwelled underground and that many of the planets throughout the universe sustain life in this same manner. He also mentioned the waves of aliens who would land around the world to help with the Earth’s seemingly insurmountable problems. He stated that a group from a distant planetary system would be coming to give aid and data to help the Earth’s progress. Val Thor spoke of Christ’s presence in the universe and that it was heartwarming to see Christ’s advanced teaching continuing. This visitation at the Pentagon marks perhaps a new era in knowledge, wisdom and understanding on our planet.

– Harley Andrew Byrd
Nephew to the late
Rear Admiral Richard R.E. Byrd
United States Navy

I started looking at what came after the introduction of the book, interviews, articles, etc. In 1993, Dr. Byrd was still the nephew of Admiral Byrd and was pressing the story of the Hollow Earth theory:

One interesting story came from the Art Bell radio show where Dr. Byrd was interviewed 2 years later on October 19th, 1995. While I haven’t been able to secure a personal copy of the show in question, there are easily googled discussions like this one on the validity of his claims. It seems in this interview, Harley has become the *grandson* of Admiral Byrd and has gone all-in on the Hollow Earth legends attached to Admiral Byrd, and is purported to be the owner of the secret diary. From the book Occam’s Nightmare by S. Peter Davis:

The second piece of evidence marched out for Byrd’s knowledge of the hollow earth is a purported “secret diary” of Byrd’s actual adventure in the underworld. The diary came to light around 1995 when a man named “Harley Byrd”, who variously claims to be either the grandson or the nephew of the Admiral, found it among Byrd’s possessions. The diary, available through Amazon and reprinted on various hollow earth websites, is dated the 19th of February, 1947, right after his “beyond the pole” quote, and details his flight over the Artic towards the North Pole. Instead of an icy wasteland, he unexpectedly finds himself in a green valley populated by mammoths. As the flight continueshe comes upon a shimmering city, whereupon strange, tall Germanic-looking beings approach in a strange aircraft, take psychic control of his plane, and engage him in a lengthy philosophical conversation about the dangers of nuclear war.

There are several dozen reasons for us to suspect that none of this actually happened,. But, no matter what your thoughts are regarding mammoths and inner-earth aliens, the diary reveals itself to be conterfeit in one more verifiable way- although it documents Byrd’s adventure to the North Pole in February of 1947, basic research shows us that Admiral Byrd, was, at this exact time, assisting the US Navy to establish a research base…at the South Pole.

When discussing “Hollow Earth, a whole article would be necessary to discuss that in full, but this video is a great primer into that particular rabbit hole, from a source you would expect- Ancient Aliens:

A recap of the Art Bell episode was included at the website “Hollow Earth” According to Dr. Byrd, while at his now *Grandfather’s funeral*, he was given the secret diary that Admiral Byrd had been keeping hidden.

Dr. Harley Byrd, or just plain “Harley” as he preferred to be called claimed, sighting network coverage of his grandfather’s funeral that showed him as the flag bearer, that when he presented his grandmother (the Admiral’s wife) with the flag (the one that was draped over “the Admiral’s” coffin) as is customary, she, at grave side at the Arlington National Cemetary and with camera’s rolling, walked over to the coffin, it being still partly open, rumaged around in the inside breast pocket of the jacket “the Admiral” was wearing and handed it to him. Upon receiving said envelope, Harley, a bit embarrased, not knoing what was in it (money perhaps?) considering how public the whole affair was (the network camera’s and *extremely* high Dignitaries in attendance and all) slipped it into his pocket to be looked at later. What was in the envelope? Well none other than *the Secret Log* of the Admiral’s first trip to the North Pole in 1927.

The actual service is widely available, proving the casket of course was closed at the cemetery.

What’s even more disturbing is not only did he claim now to be a Grandson, but continued to tell about the mysterious death of his father, his family last seeing him as he left the family home on his way to address a National Geographic Society group on certain aspects of the story … how he was found a few days later in a warehouse dead, seemingly having suffered dehydration and malnourishment. This sad part is this part is absolutely true, as listed here…however, Harley Andrew Byrd *is not* one of those sons.

So who is Harley Byrd? Let’s look away from the Virginia Byrds and look to Oklahoma. Beginning with his early Navy career.

The above clipping validates that Byrd was a member of the Honor Guard detail, which certainly places him at the location to have been part of Admiral Byrd’s funeral…but the question remains, did he use this name familiarity as a stepping stone? I asked a buddy of mine who was in the Navy and he had this to say about the various clippings I sent him in trying to make sense of this story. We’ll call him Buck. “it also mentions his futures duty station of Honor Guard in DC! That is a big deal! I don’t know about then, or now. But when I was in getting selected for the Honor Guard was a big deal! They had specific weight and height requirements before you could even apply.“

Buck had this to say: Yeoman training was his “A” school. So his rate at the time. He was an E4 or Petty Officer 3rd class. A Yeoman is basically a book keeper or secretary! Not a glamorous job, but vital to keeping up with everyone’s advancment, ribbons medals, time in service, pay rates, ranks etc.

I asked my friend about this one: “At this time he was an E5 or Petty officer 2nd class so his Rank was YN2 (Yeoman 2nd class) not familiar with that training. Typical to do a news blurb though. It would have been good for his advancment etc..” Interestingly when I talked to Buck about the connection to Valiant Thor and the introduction to the book he had this to say: “I’m surprised the alien stuff made it into print as it would have to have been declassified.”

When we track Harley through the seventies we find this article:

From a Geneological standpoint, Harley is the son of Everett Byrd, who was in turn the son of William Byrd…which makes him neither the nephew nor the grandson of Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. Ee can trace Harley’s paternal line of Byrd/Bird all the way back to Andrew Bird, who was not directly connected to Richard E Byrd or the Byrds of Westover.

So what we have in essence is a non-related (or possibly a distant related) Byrd who has capitalized on his last name to connect himself with the conspiracy theories of both Admiral Byrd’s “secret diary” and to aid his friend Frank Stranges’ book on ‘Valiant Thor’ by claiming to be part of Project Blue Book (and he may have worked in the office, but with so much of Blue Book open to the public now it’s strange that the Valiant Thor file mentioned in the introduction is seemingly non-existant). If Harley used just enough truth to construct a story…If the very introduction is a false narrative made to legitmize the story, what does that say about the subject itself? In our next installment on Valiant Thor, we’ll look at the long crazy story of Dr. Frank E Stranges and try to make sense of all this and the true meaning of the “Stranger at the Pentagon”.