Frustration continued to build up as Jan’s efforts to find out if her son had been one of those who had made the jump that morning failed. No one she spoke to was able or willing to provide her with the identity of the airborne unit that the Idaho Guard was facing across the open prairie just yards from where she stood. Like everyone else in Boise, the public affairs office of the Idaho National Guard had been caught completely by surprise. The best she could do there was talk to a harried sergeant when she had called them. “Lady, there’s me and one lieutenant to take questions from a million of you folks. Please, be patient, take a number, and wait your turn. When we’re ready to pass on some information that’s worthy of a press release, you’ll be the first to know.”

It wasn’t in Jan’s nature to take an answer like that and go meekly off to a corner to sit quietly and wait. Falling back on her habit of ferreting out information, Jan scurried from one officer to another followed by her news crew. On one hand the cameraman and sound tech were a handicap, causing all but the most verbose to back off when they saw her coming. By the same token her press credentials and crew permitted her to stay within the confines of Gowen Field when everyone who wasn’t in uniform and didn’t carry proper ID was being booted out beyond an exclusion area surrounding the scene of that morning’s confrontation. So Jan continued her quest with crew in tow, going from one person to another, asking the same question: “Do you know the unit designation of the paratroopers you face out there and if so, what is it?”

The latest victim of this inquiry was a tall cavalry captain who had just exited the building. He was in the process of explaining to Jan that even if he was privy to that information, it would be wrong for him to tell her without proper authority, when GO Thomas came up. Flashing the same smile that he had given her at all their previous meetings, GO interrupted the captain. “It just wouldn’t be a crisis worth that title if Jan Fields weren’t covering it, now would it?”

Ignoring GO’s pitiful attempt at humor, Jan turned away from the captain and stepped up to the governor. If anyone could answer her question, it was this man. Already at wits’ end and not worried about appearance, Jan asked him if he knew who it was the Guard was facing across the empty prairie to the south.