The Roswell Legacy - Jesse Marcel, Jr., MD 10/20/2008 2:23:27 AM
Dr. Jesse Marcel, Jr’s book, The Roswell Legacy, ISBN 978-1-60163-026-1 (see link below) is not, as he states in the book, meant to be an end-all/tell-all missive, rather...it is meant as a promise-kept and a tribute to his father, Major Jesse Marcel, Sr.--the first officer on scene of the 1947 Roswell “incident.” In this short book (187 pages), Dr. Marcel presents additional credentials for his father, including photographs of his Army Air Force training diplomas. Details his father’s graduation from not only Army Air Force Intelligence training in 1942 (in which the elder Marcel not only graduated, but became an instructor--an honor reserved only for the most talented and brightest of graduates--and was designated an S-2 Intelligence Officer, one well-versed in all military intelligence and counterintelligence operations), but also Radar Intelligence Officer training in 1945 (where he studied advanced radar technology by studying what was then state-of-the-art radar devices; this training included all types of radar targets, such as the Rawin and ML-307 targets, used in Project Mogul). All this, including the hand-picked status of being part of the elite 509th Bomb Group--the only unit at the time to possess nuclear weaponry. The constant pummeling Major Marcel’s reputation received is utter nonsense. Major Marcel knew what he’d found that summer day in 1947 was not part of any Mogul balloon program, and what he’d been ordered to handle in that now famous balloon photograph in Ramey’s office clearly shows on his face (as his son describes) as exactly that “You’ve got to be kidding...” look. He knew the difference between balloon and radar target material and apparently alien debris.
Dr. Jesse Marcel, Jr. also discusses some of his views on the subject of UFOs (his wife, Linda, also wrote a chapter and discusses her role and views), and how the entire Roswell legacy had affected their family. Described how his father and mother, Viaud (pronounced “Vee-oh”), later spiraled down into an alcoholic tailspin. Tragic. A man who was all military, and proud of his service, and his wife, both allowed to disintegrate. Of all those involved in the Roswell incident and who had been promoted and supported for their efforts, the very man at the center of it all was left to unravel and fall apart.
The Roswell Legacy is a good read, provides a “sense of completeness” regarding the experience and character of Major Jesse Marcel, Sr. A man who, as the book says, was left as nothing more than a footnote in history, is seen in these pages as more rounded a figure, a man who did what he did for the good of the country. A man who knew full well what he was doing, knew full-well what he’d found was not part of any balloon project. An intelligent and highly trained military intelligence officer left out of the loop. This book was not only a tribute to Major Marcel, but a promise kept from his son.
