In 1965, Major Joseph Gervais was invited to speak at a gathering of retired pilots. While he was there, he was introduced to Mrs. Irene Bolam by one of Amelia Earhart's closet friends, Viola Gentry. Gervais felt he instantly recognized her as an older version of Amelia Earhart and commenced to research her past. Using Gervais' research, author Joe Klaas documented his assertion in his book Amelia Earhart Lives released in 1970. Bolam denied being Earhart, filed a $1.5 million lawsuit and submitted a lengthy affidavit refuting the claim. The book's publisher McGraw-Hill pulled Klaas' book from the market shortly after it was released, and court records indicate they made an out of court settlement with her after she refused to give a set of fingerprints to the court upon her victory. On Bolam's death, Gervais sought permission to photograph and fingerprint the body, but permission was denied. After Amelia Earhart Lives was published in 1970, three additional books were subsequently ...