George Hodel UNRRA 1946 Return to Los Angeles Aboard the USS General A.E. Anderson AP-111 Transport Ship Established by New Found Document
Dr. George Hill Hodel Photo by Man Ray–October, 1946, Los Angeles, California Photo on right shows UNRRA insignia
Despite the publication of the Man Ray, George Hodel photographs taken at the Sowden/Hodel residence in October, 1946, some naysayers have questioned whether George Hodel had actually returned from China in time to have the “opportunity” to have seen and slain Elizabeth Short in January, 1947. They claim no documentation supports the fact that he was actually back in Los Angeles from his service in China.
A recently discovered document now offers that proof. Below is the ship’s passenger manifest from the USS General A.E. Anderson AP-111 which shows he was aboard the Navy transport and arrived in the Port of San Diego on September 17, 1946. (San Diego is a two hour drive from Los Angeles.)
GHH Discharge from UNNRA September, 1946
Dr. George Hill Hodel was a passenger on this Navy transport
ship, USS General A.E. Anderson AP-111, which departed from China on September 3, 1946, arriving in the Port of San
Diego on September 17, 1946. Ship’s manifest
shows Dr. Hodel gave his First Street Clinic
address of 369 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, as his residence address.
USS General A.E. Anderson Passenger Manifest
(George Hodel M.D. listed on bottom line.)
USS General
A. E. Anderson (AP-111) in
1944
After hostilities
General A. E. Anderson then
commenced troop rotation and Magic Carpet duties.
From 8 August 1945 to 15 April 1946 she made eight transatlantic voyages
to France (Marseilles, Le Havre), England (Southampton),
and India (Karachi). Of
these active voyages, six were from New York, and one each from Norfolk
and Boston.
The
ship stood out of Norfolk 9 July 1946 for San Francisco, arriving 24 July, and
commenced a pattern of troop carrying and supply runs from West Coast ports
to China, Japan, the Philippines, and Guam.
Dr. George
Hill Hodel listings copied from Los Angeles City Directory 1948
Mr. Hodel,
In BDA, you wrote that Jeanne French worked as a nurse for Millicent Rogers, a Standard Oil heiress. She was also a serious collector of Native American art and lived in Taos, NM from 1947 to her death in 1953.
Did George Hodel know Rogers? They had some similar interests relating to Native American art and culture.
(Ironically, there was a torn oil company card at the French murder scene and Rogers and Georgette Bauerdorf were both oil heiresses.)
KarenH
Karen H. Thanks for the information. Don’t know if my father knew Ms. Rogers or not? Never seen her name connected but certainly is possible? Suspect the oil heiress connections just coincidental. Best Steve
The Millicent Rogers Museum is in Taos. Maybe they have an archive of her papers?
http://millicentrogers.org/index.php/millicent-rogers
Questions: Isn’t the UNRRA a communist organization? (was) And, What are your true thoughts on Ellroy’s decision to no longer support the “Hodel theory”? I hope to see your reply in your comment section-thank you.
UNRRA was an organization started by President Truman at the close of WWII.
For my comments on Ellroy suggest you read my response to a French journalist written some years back at the follow blog link:
http://abytesgen01.securesites.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&id=4199&blog_id=89
Did you ever find an early picture of Kent Kane Parrot to compare with the one on page 349 of BDA?
There is a picture of KKP in his ex-wife’s autobiography. Unfortunately, it’s a three-quarter view. Not much to compare.
Source: “Flicka’s Friend: The Autiobiography of Mary O’Hara. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1982.
KarenH
Karen H: Thanks for the reference. No, I never found a really good photo of KKP, but many years ago I did order and check out the autobiography of Mary O’Hara. As I recall, interestingly, she had the same piano teacher in L.A., Mr. Vernon Spencer who also taught my father piano and predicted “George Hodel has a fine future ahead as a concert pianist.” Best, Steve
Dear Steve, Hi! Just finished re-reading your Most Evil book. In connecting the dots or drawing the lines of the map with the radians, etc., it looks like a depiction of how people are taught to draw eyes in beginning art classes. Sometimes the medicine wheel also is a type of God’s eye. Is it possible he also may be alluding to the oculus, the eye that was Man Ray’s sculpture? I have a belief that the bath tub stopper in the pupil area of the Man Ray “eye” was the bath tub stopper from the Sowden house. I tend to think that the two high school girls killed in San Jose may also have been part of the “tally” for the Zodiac killer as well as the girl killed in Reno…
Best wishes!
Kathy
Steve,
I am fascinated by your theory especially with the new events of this year. Forgive me if I repeat something obvious because I have just started to become interested in this case.
My question is twofold:
1.) What is your theory on Walter Bayley as a suspect as put forth by Larry Harnisch?
2.) Has anyone ever considered the possibility that if your father did the murder that he may have placed the body on that lot thinking it would be easily found and implicate Dr. Bayley given the circumstances?
Hi DCHI: Suggest you read BDA I and BDA II for all the details and linkage. I prefer not to get into discussions of other “theories” and let mine stand on its own merit. (Along with the backing of “Case Solved” from Head DDA Steve Kay and LAPD Dep. Chief of Detectives James McMurray.) That said, Dr. Bayley became a suspect in Harnisch’s mind in a 1997 article/interview with retired FBI profiler, John Douglas who said, “The killer may have had some connection to the neighborhood as his reason for placing the body there.” Apparently, Harnisch “ran with that as Dr. Bayley was a surgeon and lived in the neighborhood and (a fact, not told to the public by Harnisch) was that the original Black Dahlia witness, Betty Bersinger, after discovering the body, ran south and after knocking at the door, called the police using the Bayley’s home telephone. Dr. Bayley was never a suspect in any police investigation and his name never came up in any Dahlia lore other than in Harnisch’s own mind. Apparently, Harnisch has dropped his theory on Dr. Bayley after 17-years and now claims he never said Bayley was the suspect, only that “he might be.” As documented in my book, Dr. Bayley may have been a member of the downtown “Abortion Ring” and could have known Dr. Hodel as their medical practices were just a few miles apart. As to your second question, we now know why he placed the body at that location and you will find the answer well documented in BDA. Had to do with the name of another victim (Degnan) connected with Elizabeth Short, who was “investigating her and other Lipstick Murders” as found in the secret Hodel/DA Files.
Hi 🙂 I was browsing Facebook and stumbled onto a silly urban legend that made me think of your books. Did your father have a connection to Japan prior to 1946, and between 1970-1979?
Macj: Don’t know but doubt Japan connection prior to 1946 other than he was in China that year for about 7 months. As far as Japan 1970-1979, yes, he had his Tokyo office there during those years and hired June Hirano as his office manager in 1969. She would become his constant companion and Girl Friday and he would marry her in 1982. Regards, Steve