Now, in almost every biography of James Churchward, it states that he served as Colonel in the Bengal Lancers and with the Royal Engineers, but what sources, other than what he wrote in his books, are available as proof that he earned this rank?

Newspaper clippings from James' scrapbooks provide some support. For instance, the November 10th, 1924 edition of the New York American periodical has an article under the title "Locates Eden in Lost Land" that identifies him as Colonel James Churchward in the text. The article further describes him as:

"Colonel Churchward, formerly of the British Army, was educated at Oxford University and the Sandhurst Royal Military College. He is widely known as a geologist, archaeologist, metallurgical chemist and as the inventor of vanadium steel, used for the armor plating of the world's navies and in automobile construction." An unfortunate mistake captioned his picture as 'Colonel James Churchyard', but sometimes that happens. In a clipping entitled, "Flying Machines 10,000 B.C." from the Madras Mail and printed in India, James is identified as Lieutenant-Colonel James Churchward. The article further states:

"Colonel Churchward, who is described as formerly of the British Army, educated at Oxford declares that the original civilization of the Empire of the Sun, is Mu, its hieratical or religious name, was, perhaps, the greatest that ever existed."

The article, dated January 3rd, 1925, announced:

"the astonishing contents of 125 tablets discovered in India and translated by himself (James) and other Buddhist scholars prove that the motherland of mankind was in a tropical continent larger than North America, known as Mu, which went to the bottom of the Pacific with the inhabitants and their templed cities 13,000 years ago."

Another clipping, entitled "Cradle of the Human Race?" and printed in Redcar, England in the Middleborough Standard uses identical words to describe James. Dated a week later, this article has a bit more content describing Mu and the awesome powers that the advanced civilizations once used.

According to 'Mysteries of the Mexican Pyramids' by Peter Tompkins, it is related that James served in the Royal Engineers and as a Colonel in the Lancers. The chapter on James also reveals that the final six chapters of James' biography by Percy Tate Griffith have been lost. Fortunately, the complete "My Friend Churchey and His Sunken Continent" is available. A version that was updated by Griffith's daughter Joan is available. Please visit our online bookstore to get the details to obtain your very own copy.

Speaking of the biography, "My Friend Churchey," Percy Tate Griffith wrote that he saw pictures of James Churchward in full military regalia. While James was known to be a good artist, he probably was not good enough to pass off one of his paintings as a photograph to Mr. Griffith unless they were old and faded.

Also included in the scrapbooks were clippings of advertisements for WNYC. Although I am not aware of a complete listing of the programs available he did, James did read stories of his travels on the radio in 1925. Clearly the management of WNYC thought he was a Colonel if they included it in their advertisements and listings of his programs.

Another point to consider is that all the books authored by James that are on sale today have the title 'Colonel' in front of his name. Certainly the publishers that receive income from his works would not include his military title if it were not true.

An article was published in 2001 by the World Explorer Club and authored by Joan Griffith entitled, "James Churchward and His Lost Pacific Continent -- Lost Continent or Lost Cause?"

The article asserts that Peter Tompkins in the "Mysteries of the Mexican Pyramids" reveals that James was a member of British Intelligence. Due to the classified nature of his service, the British government has refused to acknowledge that he served. This is the reason that nobody can see his real records. If this were true it would be very convincing.

These are the proofs that support James' assertion that he was a Colonel. If you or someone you know has further evidence, please send it along.

In part two of the podcast we will examine the evidence that indicates that James Churchward was not a Colonel.

Thanks for listening and have a great day.

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