DOW-UAP-D180, Final Personnel Record for McCoy, Howard M., U.S. Air Force, 1954
This file contains the final personnel record of U.S. Air Force officer Howard M. McCoy, who left service as a Colonel, a senior field-grade officer responsible for significant operational and administrative duties. From December 1946 to August 1949, Colonel McCoy served as Deputy Commanding General for Intelligence (T-2), and later as Chief of the Intelligence Department, Headquarters, Air Materiel Command, at what is now known as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. During his tenure, the Air Force initiated two significant studies centering on unidentified anomalous phenomena: Project SIGN and Project GRUDGE. He was among the senior Air Force intelligence officers involved in the early design, administration, and execution of those programs.
The summary above is sourced from the released file metadata as published to war.gov. The analysis sections below are original to this tracker.
Text of the document
Machine-extracted from the PDF war.gov published (its text layer or OCR), so expect errors, especially in names, numbers and handwriting; the PDF is the authoritative copy. Lines that did not extract as readable text are left out. Showing about 987 words from pages 4, 5, 6 of 298.
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1A. ADD RESS CODE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION 1B. TYPE OF CLAIM REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (Separation records attached) INSTRUCTION-This form may be used in lieu of VA Form 07-3101 if a DD Form 214, or equivalent, is attached by stapling to the action copies forwarded to the military records activity. 4A. NAME A~~ ~~£)UESTING VA OFFICE 5. SOCIAL SECURITY NO. ffDERAl. BUILDING - OiARLES C:f.NTER OR INJURY TREATMENT I 9 . PLACE OF T REATMENT HOSPITAL OP ~ RECORDS FORWARDED OT HER (Speci fy) NO. OF ENCLOSURES ORIG. COPY NO. ENCLS. (Cont.) O RIG. COPY DATE SIGNATURE AND TITLE PHY SICAL X-RAYS --/\ PHYSIC AL MEDICAL RECORDS 2.£?~:A.J~° /
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IA. ADDRESS CODE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION 10. TYPE OF CLAIM REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (Separation records attac!Led) INSTRUCTION-'f.his form may be used in lieu of VA Form 07-3101 if a DD Form 214, or equivalent, is attached by stapling to the action copies forwarded to the mil itary records activity. SERVICE -~, MEDICAL DENTAL OTHER FfDERAl. BUILDING - OiARLES CENTER 10. TYPE (Check) 9. PLACE OF TREATMENT OR INJURY TREATMENT HOSPITAL OP ENO EMENT BY SERVICE DEPARTMENT t HEALTH RECORDS CLINICAL RECORDS INFOR PHYSICAL X-RAYS EXAMINATIONS DATE t-A-T-=E.:..:N..:.T.:_:R.:..:A:;:N~C~E:____-+--f--·+..:D..:E.:..:N~T_.A_:.:L:..:..:R::EC::.::.0.:..:R.::.D.::.S_-j--;-::;;;,11/f--l MEDI CAL PHYSICAL MEDICAL RECORDS /' RECORDS AT SEPARATION OTHER RECORDS
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REPLY CONCERNING MILITARY RECORDS The reply to the inquiry will be found In the checked item(s). in on this subject, please return yo;ur original request, this form, and any other form you complete. ' , Copies of requested military personnel medical records are attached. We suggest you make an extra copy and guard against losslor damage. We regret if any photocopies may be of poor quality, but they are the best copies obtainable. The attached separation document may include the following information: authority for separation, reason for separation, Reenlistment Eligibility Code, and Separation (SPN/SPD) Code. If you require a copy of the separation document that does not contain the above information, you may request a deleted copy from this Center. A seal has been affixed to the enclosed copy to attest to its authenticity. Title 32, Part 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations prohibits this Center from providing to third parties copies of separation docume_nts which contain the type and character of discharge, authority and narrative reason for separation, reenlistment eligibility code, and separation program designator/number. Ifyou require a copy ofthe separation document containing the above information, the veteran must specifically authorize the release to you of an UNDELETED copy of the separation document. The Privacy Act of 1974 does not permit the release of a social security number or other personal information to the public without the authorization of the veteran concerned; therefore, we have deleted personal identifying data relating to other persons. Since September 1979 the military service departments have not issued individual separation documents for each enlistment period if the person was discharged for immediate reenlistment. Block 18 of the DD Form 214 issued at final separation reflects the full period of continuous active military service. The Reenlistment Eligibility (RE) Code issued upon releaS{l from active duty on __________is ____________ The reason and authority for separation from active duty/discharge on ______is,____________________ The record of service in the _________indicates being in a POW status from _________to _________ A discharge certificate is issued only as an original document; thus, there is no file copy from which to make a copy for you. We will obtain an appropriate substiMe certificate for a veteran or surviving spouse if you will tell us whether the original was: 1) never received; or (2) lost or destroyed. The document you have requested, DD Form 214, Report of Separation, was not used until Jan. 1, 1950. However, a similar form was used at the time the person named above was separated. A copy of it is attached. A seal has been affixed to the enclosed copy to attest to its authenticity. When the person named above was separated, it was not the practice to issue a document which served as a report of separation. The original report of separation was issued at the time of separation. Another original cannot be issued. The attached copy, however, will serve the same purpose as the original. No report of separation was issued, since the person named above had no active service, or less than 90 days of active duty for training. The service record of the person named above does not contain a copy of a report of separation, or its equivalent. Therefore, we are instead providing the attached NA Form 13038, Certification of Military Service. This will serve as verification of military service and may be used for any official purpose. That portion of your request seeking medals/awards has been referred to the office checked below, which has jurisdiction over the issuance of medals/awards. Any further correspondence on this subject should be addressed to that office. Both offices are at 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132. ARPERCEN, Attn: DARP-VSE-A Navy Liaison Office, Room 5409 That portion of your request regarding Air Force or Army Air Corps medals will be answered under separate cover. The medical records reques1ed The documents requested pertaining to discharge have been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Please phone the VA at 1-800-827-1000 for help in obtaining these records, and provide your VA Claim Number, . The Department of Defense Privacy Program, 32 CFR 310.30(f), allows for the disclosure of medical records to the individual to whom they pertain. A portion ofthe requested medical records, however, contains information which can be interpreted and explained properly only by a physician. If you wish us to send copies to a designated physician, please provide us with the name and address of that physician. The request MUST INCLUDE the written consent For the Chief. ~-p;/rForce Reference Branch □ Navy Reference Branch □ Records Reconstruction Branch NATIONAL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER (Military Personnel Records) 9700 Page Avenue NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION NA FORM 13044 (REV. 12-95)
Where this file fits in the PURSUE archive
This file is one of DoD's 282 files in the Trump PURSUE disclosure. Within the DoD agency block it ranks #174 of 282 by Anomalousness Index. Across the entire 478-file archive it ranks #298 of 478.
That places it in the lower-scoring band of the archive (298 of 478 by score), typical of investigative-record style files where the report is paper-based rather than instrumented.
Anomalousness Index: 56/100
Evidentiary weight that this encounter remains unexplained after conventional analysis. Not a probability of extraterrestrial origin - that number is not honestly computable from the released files and this tracker refuses to publish it.
🤖 AI-ASSISTED SCORING · methodology
The six rubric components break down for this file as follows. Each component has a weighted contribution to the final score; the per-component explanation below describes what this file's particular value on that component means in the rubric's framework.
Reported by a witness with no instrumented record. The lowest tier in the rubric's sensor axis. Eyewitness perception in field conditions, even when the witness is highly credentialed, scores below capture by any instrumented modality. This report reached the federal record through the Department of War.
Trained U.S. military personnel reporting from an operational mission context. A high witness-credibility tier, ranked in the rubric below astronaut, trained-aviator, and federal-agent testimony. This is the witness profile shared by the entire AARO-submitted infrared-capture cluster that anchors the 66-point score band.
Single-witness or single-instrument capture. This is the corroboration tier for the overwhelming majority of the PURSUE archive on the released metadata - the rubric records the honest limit of the underlying record rather than inferring multi-witness corroboration that the released summaries do not establish. A small number of files with an independent second witness or instrument score on the multi-witness/multi-instrument tier above this one.
No kinematic measurements - speed, acceleration, vector - are published in the released file with sufficient precision to score on the kinematic axis. The rubric does not infer kinematic anomaly from narrative observer estimates. Every file in the archive carries this value, which is itself an observation about the disclosure: kinematic-grade telemetry was not part of what was released.
A conventional candidate explanation has been considered but is not dispositive. Every file in the archive scores this way - reflecting that the underlying release metadata systematically caveats strong determinations in either direction. The released summaries warn against reading them as conclusive analytical judgments, and the rubric respects that.
Released as open after formal review by the originating agency. The file passed through a review process and was published in that posture - a stronger disposition signal than 'unresolved with no review,' because review has occurred and the open status is the agency's published conclusion.
Bottom line on the score: the Anomalousness Index of 56/100 reflects evidentiary weight that this specific file's encounter remains structurally unexplained by the rubric's six axes - it is not a claim that the underlying event involved anything non-conventional, and it is not comparable across rubrics that use different weights. For the full per-axis weights and the rubric JSON, see /methodology.
Related files in DoD
Other PURSUE files in the same category, ranked by Anomalousness Index.
DOW-UAP-PR024, Unresolved UAP Report, Middle East, 2023
DOW-UAP-PR072, "ADMINISTRATIVE REVISION: IIR 1777 J0032 22 Kazakhstan - UAP in the vicinit…
DOW-UAP-PR106, Unresolved UAP Report, Eastern United States, 2020
DOW-UAP-PR108, Unresolved UAP Report, Western United States, 2020
DOW-UAP-PR109, Unresolved UAP Report, Eastern United States, 2015
DOW-UAP-PR110, Unresolved UAP Report, Eastern United States, 2020
Verification
SHA-256:
This hash is the SHA-256 of the file body war.gov served on the verification date above. War.gov has re-processed some file bodies since first release (re-compression + OCR, no content removed - see /changes); we re-verify and record the change rather than silently serve a stale hash. How to check this yourself →