Just a few observations from all of the reports.
First the two men in "khaki uniforms with a company logo". A couple of things strike me. First is that it 1947, right after the war, I believe that Joan's sister would probably know if these were military uniforms or those provided by a company and therefore having a company logo. So that raises the question; what companies in the local area were using khaki with a logo?
Second, I don't think there were any search and rescue or military people there yet when Joan was taken. According to the National Weather Service (
The Woodward Tornado of 9 April 1947 ) the tornado hit Woodward at 8.42PM and a neighbour took them to the hospital at 9.30pm. Joan was apparently taken at about midnight.The town was ablaze with fires and there was no telephone links to outside. Everything was chaos. It was dark and there were bodies everywhere. Joan and her sister had been placed in the basement of a hospital later that night. Apart from the sheriff's men I am not convinced that outside help had yet reached the town, and if it had then I doubt their focus was on moving a little girl with a minor leg injury while the town was essentially burning down. So this makes me believe that these 2 men were not hospital workers, SAR or sheriff's men (who the sister would probably recognise anyway). I found that by the next day the red cross had arrived, but they appear to have worn a grey, not khaki, uniform.
Third; These men asked for "The Croft children", but only took Joan. Apparently a nurse had witnessed them take Joan and questioned them and she was told they were taking Joan to Oklahoma City Hospital where her family was waiting for her, so she let them go. They must have been believable. It seems like the men didn't actually know what Joan looked like herself since they asked for the children and then only took Joan.
Fourth; I do not believe that these can have been "official" government or hospital workers simply because in the widely publicised search for Joan later they would surely have come forward to explain their actions if they had nothing to hide?
So where does that leave us? Well I am struggling to believe that in all this chaos, after only about 3 hours from the tornado hitting, there were opportunists about randomly stealing children in the area, or that they had been specifically paid by a childless couple to do so...how could you find someone to pay to steal a child after only 3 hours from finding out the torndao had hit? It also seems unlikely there were murderers and child abusers using this as an opportunity (though I admit not impossible).
So I have 3 ideas.
1) These men took Joan because she "had family waiting for them in Oklahoma", but apparently that family was not also waiting for her sister Geri. So that suggests this was Cleta's family who came to get her?
However--by all accounts Cleta's family were very active in the searches so that seems unlikely too.
2) The nurse, Bess Irwin. She was under the impression that both of Joan's parents were dead. Did she contact someone like Georgia Tann who was running a child stealing ring believing that since both her parents were dead it wouldn't matter and earn herself a little money at the same time?
Problem- The phones were out, how did she call anyone to come and get her?
3)That these two men were actually genuinely trying to be helpful and took Joan to the hospital in OKlahoma City. In the confusion nobody took note of who Joan was and she was unable to tell them who she was and where she came from and therefore the hospital turned her over to the state?
Problem- 1) who told the men to take Joan? 2) I am sure in all the later publicity someone would have realised!
Every theory I have has several obvious flaws. This cannot have been planned much in advance since no one knew a tornado was coming. And these werent just random men stealing a child for nefarious reasons since they specifically asked for the Croft children. Could her father have been involved somehow...but then ...why??
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