HISTORIAN SEEKS TO CLOSE CASE ON EARHART : GIVEN FALSE IDENTITY.

Byline: Kristi Belcamino Scripps-McClatchy Western Service

Carmel resident Joe Klaas has spent more than 30 years trying to unravel what has been called the greatest aviation mystery in American history - the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart.

It is widely believed that Earhart died in a plane crash over the Pacific Ocean near the Marshall Islands 60 years ago. But wreckage of her Lockheed Electra 10E plane was never found; nor was her body or that of her navigator, Fred Noonan.

Klaas just returned from a two-week stay in the Marshall Islands, researching his own theory on what happened: He believes Earhart survived the crash and lived in obscurity in New Jersey until she died of cancer in 1982.

``I came back with no doubt whatsoever that Amelia Earhart did not simply crash and drowned at sea,'' said Klaas.

Klaas, the grandfather of murder victim 12-year-old Polly Klaas, is the author of a 1970 book, ``Amelia Earhart Lives,'' which named a New Jersey woman, Irene Bolam, as the missing aviator.

The book, which was researched by Joe Gervais, was a best seller and was nominated by Columbia University for the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction biography.

Klaas said he believes Earhart was an American spy, nicknamed Toyko Rosa, who was shot down and then taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. He believes she was returned to the American government after the war and given a false identity, which she guarded until her death.

Even though some have called it the most off-the-wall explanation of what happened to Earhart, Klaas is out to prove them wrong.

He and Gervais, along with 10 other members of the Amelia Earhart Society - including Bolam's brother-in-law and sister-in-law - interviewed friends and family members of residents of the Marshall Islands who claimed to have seen the famed pilot after her crash.

Many of the islanders have shared stories of seeing Earhart, but since many of them are now dead, Klaas' plan was to interview their friends and family.

``My idea was to find out what they told their own people,'' he said. ``What did they tell their neighbors and their children? I have published reports of 40 people who saw Earhart in Saipan (another Micronesian island).''

Beliefs confirmed

He said the interviews with seven islanders confirm what he already believes: that the Japanese and American governments continue to hide what happened to Earhart, because she was a spy.

``That's why it is such a secret,'' he said. ``She was on an overnight trip photographing the area. It was espionage.''

While they were in the Marshall Islands, the group interviewed Paul Arimon, the brother of one islander, a medical assistant named Bilamon Arimon, who claimed to have given first aid to Noonan when he and Earhart were brought into the harbor at Jaluit Atoll island.

Although Bilamon died last year, in a previous interview with Gervais he claimed that Earhart and Noonan were brought in on a Japanese ship, with the wreckage of their plane hung in a sling behind it.

Paul Arimon told the group that when Bilamon found out he was dying, he told his brother again what he had seen 60 years ago.

``This was a very important validation, because whereas Bilamon might have lied to impress strangers, he had no reason to lie to his family, particularly on his deathbed,'' wrote Irene Bolam, the sister-in-law who has the same name as the woman they believe was Earhart. She has written a play-by-play account of the recent trip for the group members.

Islanders claiming to have seen Earhart described a white woman dressed like a man, who had short hair. They said they believed she was taken to the island of Saipan, and then to a Japanese prisoner camp.

Klaas said despite the numerous interviews over the years, there is one sure way to prove that Earhart and the New Jersey woman were one and the same. But that proof lies in a file at the State Department in Washington, D.C.

It is called the Special War Problems file. It has been in the national archives for the last 15 years and despite numerous Freedom of Information requests, neither Klaas nor others, including journalists, have been able to gain access to it.

Gervais met Irene Bolam in 1965 under what he calls suspicious circumstances.

Viola Gentry, Earhart's best friend, urged him to cancel a family trip and instead go to Long Island for a pilot's group meeting.

She paid for the air fare and hotel bills for Gervais, his wife and two children.

While he was there, Gentry introduced him to Irene Bolam, a woman he had never heard of. He believes he met Earhart that day on an East Hampton beach boardwalk.

``I looked at her, straight in the face, and knew who she was,'' said Gervais, who is a resident of Las Vegas.

Gervais said the woman was wearing a miniature lapel button that is only given to those who have received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Earhart was the only woman to have received one.

``When I saw that and looked her in the face I thought to myself, Gervais don't say something stupid,'' he said. ``I asked her if she knew Amelia Earhart. When she said yes, I asked her how. She said, `We flew together a few times.' ''

When Bolam died in 1982, her body was given to science with the explicit instructions that no photographs or fingerprints be taken. Then her body was cremated and scattered with other ashes in a common grave.