Jim Penniston

U.S. Air Force Security Police

One of the first military personnel to investigate the lights in Rendlesham Forest. Reported approaching and examining a structured object. Jim Penniston is a retired United States Air Force Sergeant who served for over twenty years, entering the service in 1973 and retiring in 1993. He held a Top Secret/SCI security clearance and served in key roles including the Strategic Air Command Elite Guard, providing security for the President and General Officers, as well as participating in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Penniston is best known as a primary witness and first responder to the Rendlesham Forest Incident on December 26, 1980, at RAF Woodbridge in England. As the Senior Security Officer for the 81st Security Police Squadron, he investigated a landed craft of unknown origin, claiming to have touched its surface and recorded binary code glyphs that he later transcribed from memory.