On The Road To Roswell 2007: A Discussion With Col. Jesse Marcel Jr.- Part II -

Editors note: This is the second in a special series of Raiders News Network interviews focusing on the 60th Anniversary of the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico UFO Incident. Tom Horn is joined by Col. Jesse Marcel Jr., whose highly anticipated new book "The Roswell Legacy," is being released at the Roswell Festival this year (July 5-8 https://www.roswellufofestival.com/). Col. Marcel's book claims that the famous UFO event near the city actually occurred, including the recovery of an extraterrestrial craft. Col. Marcel's father, Maj. Jesse Marcel Sr. was the lead military investigator into the crash of 1947 and is finally vindicated according to this book–FW

HORN: Col. Marcel, it is so good to speak with you again. Thank you for taking time to talk to us about Roswell and your new book. You will be speaking and on some panels at Roswell this year. One question or correction. I note in the past we had the title of your book as "Roswell: It Really Happened", but I see it advertised elsewhere now as "The Roswell Legacy". Has the book title been changed?

By Tom Horn Raiders News Network 5-20-07

MARCEL: The book has evolved with time. As I was writing it, I realized that Legacy was more appropriate than what really happened. The title of the book is "The Roswell Legacy."

HORN: This is the 60th anniversary. Does it feel that long ago to you?

MARCEL: It is hard to believe that 60 years have passed on the calendar. It seems like yesterday to me to use a cliché'.

HORN: As the only man alive who the government admits handled material from the debris field in 1947, material your dad let you and your mother see as he stopped off at home on his way back to the base, how did that night effect you. It changed the course of UFOlogy and put Roswell and your family on the map.

MARCEL: It was then that I realized that our civilization was not alone certainly in the galaxy and that we were in fact being visited by others more advanced because they could get here from where ever they come from. I took it to mean that we were being studied from a scientifically curious race just as we would be curious about other life forms on our planet.

HORN: Col. Blanchard authorized a press release saying the military had recovered a flying disc. I assume he had some facts about what was recovered before he allowed the press release.

MARCEL: Certainly he had been briefed by my dad as to the true nature of the debris and that it represented an artifact from elsewhere which went along with all of the unusual sightings seen in the skies at that time.

HORN: Your father was ordered to load the debris onto a B-29 which was then flown to Wright Field and that is where General Roger Ramey took over. Correct.

MARCEL: He took a small representative portion of the debris for General Ramey's inspection and I am convinced that he realized that this was too big of a story to be unleashed on the public at that time.

HORN: What happened then?

MARCEL: My dad was told to participate in the cover story. And when he came home he sat my mother and myself down and said in no uncertain terms that we were never to discuss what we had seen. I later recalled him stating that he was part of the cover up.

HORN: Let me ask something more personal. What was your dad's qualifications to evaluate a crash site?

MARCEL: He was the intelligence officer for the 509th and had training in aircraft accident investigation and in addition he had gone to radar school so he was familiar with the types of radar targets used on weather balloons etc. He was a natural to have been sent out on the initial investigation of the debris.

HORN: The material your dad brought home. Tell us what you saw.

MARCEL: He had pre-positioned the debris on the kitchen floor so my mother and I could realize the unusual nature of the debris. What we saw was something certainly different from mundane material. I have described the debris itself many times so I don't know if you want that repeated here.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Jesse Marcel Jr.’s first published recollections of the debris was that they were composed of: "...foil-like stuff, very thin, metallic-like but not metal, and very tough. There was also some structural-like material too - beams and so on. Also a quantity of black plastic material which looked organic in nature...Imprinted along the edge of some of the beam remnants there were hieroglyphic-type characters. I recently questioned my father about this, and he recalled seeing these characters also and even described them as being a pink or purplish-pink color. Egyptian hieroglyphics would be a close visual description of the characters seen, except I don't think there were any animal figures present as there are in true Egyptian hieroglyphics," (Berlitz, Charles and William Moore. The Roswell Incident. New York: Berkley, 1988, pgs 78-80]

HORN: You are a military man too. Have you ever saw anything that matches those materials?

MARCEL: As a flight surgeon, I was trained myself in aircraft accident investigations and have never seen anything that would match the debris.

HORN: What about the theory that this was a Mogul balloon?

MARCEL: A balloon is a balloon and the Mogul balloon had a classified mission, but it used off the shelf materials that was not unique.

HORN: Did you ever see the movie "Roswell"? Were you and the other events portrayed accurately in it?

MARCEL: For the most part it reflected what happened, there was of course some poetic license in depicting the event.

HORN: Last year in McMinnville you told me an interesting story about a trip to Washington where you wound up in the dungeons of the Capital building talking to somebody I believe was later identified as Dick D'Amato, an aide to Sen. Robert Byrd, who wanted to know where the Roswell UFO debris were. Tell us that story.

MARCEL: It was there that I was told that the event was not fiction. I don't know if you want me to go into the story again as I have related it many times. I am sorry that Mr. D'Amato's name came out because hopefully this would not cause any difficulties for him.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: To this day Jesse Marcel doesn't know how the participants in DC knew where he would be at that particular time. When he arrived at his motel, there was a message waiting for him on the phone in his room. It was from Dick D'Amato. He wanted to meet with Marcel the following day at 1:PM in a certain room at the Capital building. Marcel felt uneasy, but agreed to go to the meeting. On arrival, he was ushered into D'Amato's office, who got right down to business. He wanted to talk to Marcel about Roswell, and he asked if Jess would be more comfortable "in a secure room." When Marcel explained that he wouldn't be saying anything he hadn't said before, D'Amato pressed the idea of the alternate meeting area, explaining, "Well, maybe I want to tell you something you don't already know."

Leaving the office, they proceeded to the secure room where no listening devices existed, in an area Jess described as "the dungeons of the Capital building." They sat at a table where Marcel noticed a book about Alien Abductions, UFO technology and Roswell. D'Amato tapped on the book with his finger and said outright, "This is not fiction." He continued talking for a while and then asked Marcel if he knew where the material recovered from the Roswell ranch was being kept. Jesse found the question curious and said, "No. Don't you?" D'Amato's answer was as enigmatic as the question, so Marcel responded with a inquiry of his own: "If extraterrestrial activity is real, and you guys know it, when is the government planning Official Disclosure of what really happened at Roswell?" D'Amato said, "If it was up to me, we'd be doing it now" (as told to Tom Horn by Jesse Marcel Jr. in a 2006 interview. At that time, Jesse did not use Mr. D'Amato's name)].

HORN: I know that you are a spiritual man. How do you reconcile the idea of intelligent life somewhere else in the universe with your personal faith?

MARCEL: It strengthened my faith in God because His Creation is greater than anyone realized by populating the Universe with many different civilizations.

HORN: A lot of people are saying we are getting close to an official disclosure event from either the US Government or maybe the United Nations concerning some evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Other people point to the discovery of extra solar planets like Gliese 581 that was found recently that might be able to sustain life. What can you tell us, or what do you suspect, with regard to official disclosure?

MARCEL: It just confirms what I already new. It is only a question of time before a radio signal will be picked up by the SETI team and that will probably be the catalyst for our government to make the big announcement.

HORN: Any surprises in this new book?

MARCEL: It confirms the qualifications of my dad and proves he was who he was and that he knew what he was talking about.

HORN: Where can people get a copy of your new book?

MARCEL: We plan on releasing it at Roswell for the 60th anniversary of the event.

HORN: Thanks Jess for talking to us again. I'll be in Roswell this year and hope to see you again.

Learn more about the 60th Anniversary Roswell Festivals see both websites: https://www.roswellufofestival.com
https://www.roswellufomuseum.com/festival.htm

More . . .

See Also:

On The Road To Roswell 2007: A Discussion With Nuclear Physicist Stanton T. Friedman
- Part I -

Roswell - It Really Did Happen

Senate Staffer, Dick D'Amato's Statement On UFO Crashes in New Mexico

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