Mission 22: www.mission22.org

James’ site & tour: www.jamesbwells.com

Book: Because: A CIA Coverup & A Son's Odyssey To Find The Father He Never Knew — available at independent bookstores, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

00:00 — The “official story”
The family is told it was a civilian crash; next day it’s “Air America shot down.”

00:30 — Welcome to Season 3
Marcus introduces James and the memoir Because; Mission 22 shout-out.

01:14 — “Speak the truth and what happens is good”
Marcus reads the prologue: bullet holes that appear to come from inside the aircraft.

03:31 — Why open with the crash scene
James on storytelling structure and framing the investigation.

04:32 — The drawer of letters
1991 move uncovers ~400 letters; the hunt begins.

05:55 — Decoding damaged letters
Ink bleed, mildew, and the one nearly-dismissed letter that proved pivotal.

06:40 — Who was Jack Wells?
SF/CIA work in ’62; counterinsurgency, CIB, early civil-rights era investigations stateside.

09:58 — Back to Vietnam with USAID/OPS
Training national police; immediate run-ins with corruption and edited reports.

10:45 — A lifelong whistleblower
From Nuremberg to Vietnam—patterns of telling the hard truth.

12:21 — The 16-year-old who defended others
Character backstory and a combustible sense of justice.

14:31 — The cost of doing right
Moral injury, integrity, and echoes of the father in the son.

17:05 — James’ toolkit
Criminology, statistics, MFA in creative writing, meticulous field notes.

20:09 — Poking holes in the narrative
Lack of fuselage hits; seats showing inside-out bullet paths.

20:34 — What likely happened
Unauthorized passengers, a gunfight in-flight, and a missing crash report.

27:00 — Why small arms fire doesn’t add up
Aviation experts and the C-45’s resilience.

28:56 — Living with incomplete answers
Therapy, faith, and chasing peace without closure.

32:22 — Moral injury & shattered stories
When institutions fail and meaning must be rebuilt.

33:56 — Finding the crash site
FOIA wins, missing log pages, and… directions from a former NLF official.

38:30 — Eyewitnesses on the ground
The house it hit, the bamboo, the immediate cordon—and no smoke before impact.

41:10 — Another official claim falls apart
Local accounts contradict “7 policemen killed in rescue.”

41:42 — The “smoking gun” colonel
Embezzlement, ruthlessness, minimal punishment, and realpolitik tradeoffs.

45:32 — Lessons for veterans & anyone with trauma
Talk, seek community, and tell the truth to enable forgiveness.

48:55 — Throw yourself under the bus
Radical honesty as a writer’s duty.

51:33 — Where to find Because + tour dates
Independent bookstores, Amazon/B&N, and JamesBWells.com.

53:20 — The odyssey continues
Close and thanks to Mission 22.

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