ARMED FORCES: Certain Discrepancies

Air Force Lieut. David Sleeves got considerable mileage out of his dramatic story of a bail-out from his T-33 jet over California’s Sierra Nevada range and the ensuing 54 days during which he claims to have trekked (on sprained ankles) precariously through the wilderness. Returning to civilization sporting a handsome beard (TIME. July 15). Steeves. 23, was taken in tow by Air Force pressagents, sat for newspaper interviews, repeatedly told his dramatic survival story on TV. and finally got a $10.000 offer for his story from the Saturday Evening Post. Last week the sonic boom cracked around Dave Steeves’s ears; the Satevepost announced that it was canceling its contract, and Steeves’s wife Rita announced that she was considering a divorce.

The family breakup, explained Mrs. Steeves. “preceded the whole adventure in the mountains. The whole mess has been going on a long time.” But the Post cancellation was a surprise. After a Satevepost writer had interviewed Steeves for three weeks and led him back along his High Sierra trail, the Post’s writer found certain “discrepancies” in his story; e.g., his boots seemed to be in remarkably good shape; Steeves at first sturdily showed no knowledge of a small forest fire discovered in the area where he says he camped, later said that he started the fire.

Beyond these and various other items was the biggest puzzle of all: Air Force investigators could not find remnants of the jet plane that Lieutenant Steeves said he had abandoned at 33,000 ft. This raised another question: Was it as severely damaged as Steeves said it was or did it continue to fly on its pre-set course until it ran out of fuel?

At week’s end a beardless Pilot Steeves., visibly shaken, stood by his story. Said he: “They can’t disprove my story. How can they? Are they going to interview animals? Things happen miraculously to people in this day and age. I don’t have anything to hide.” Stationed at Boiling Air Force Base at Washington. D.C.. where he is undergoing tests in preparation for an instructorship in survival for airmen, Steeves waved emptily at the brandnew grey Jaguar he bought shortly before his famed adventure. “Look. I’ve lost everything in the world—my wife. What have I got with all this publicity? I’ve got a nice car. I’m lonesome as hell.”