Radio station KGFL reporter Frank Joyce informed his boss, Walt Whitmore Sr.
about the recent developments, and Whitmore drove out and picked up Brazel and
took him to his home in Roswell. There an interview took place, all taped into a
recorder, but the interview would never be made public. Threats from the
military would prevent the transmission of the tape. The next day, Whitmore took
Brazel to the radio station, and called the Roswell Army Base. What Whitmore
told the Base is not known exactly, but the military came and picked Mac up, and
transported him to the base, where he was a “guest” of sorts, for about a week.
On July 8, the military returned Mac to the Roswell Daily Record, where a press
conference was conducted.
Oddly enough, Mac’s story was somewhat different after his “stay” at Roswell
Army Base. Mac now said that he and his son had discovered the debris on June
14, but he was so busy, that he didn’t pay it any attention. He stated that some
weeks later, on July 4th, he, his wife, and two children drove out to the debris
field, and collected some samples. Among the collection were gray rubber strips,
tinfoil, a type of heavy paper, and small wooden sticks. Mac further asserted
that he had found balloons on several occasions, but that this debris was
totally different from the other finds. “I am sure what I found was not any
weather observation balloon,” he said. “But if I find anything else beside a
bomb they are going to have a hard time getting me to say anything about it,” he
said.
Mac’s military escort led him out to a car after the conference, and drove
him to KGFL. Eye witness accounts say that as Mac left the newspaper office, he
kept his head pointed to the ground, and did not speak to any of his friends who
were present at the time. Brazel went into the radio station without his escort,
and began telling Frank Joyce the same story he had related at the press
conference. Joyce was shocked by the sudden change in the story’s details, and
interrupted Brazel at one point, asking him why he had changed his story. Brazel
became upset at the question, and stated, “It’ll go hard on me.”
After this interview, Mac was taken back to the Army Base. After finally
being released from Roswell Base, suddenly Mac didn’t want to discuss his find
anymore. Those who knew him say that in private, he complained about his harsh
treatment by the military. He was not allowed even to call his wife during his
stay at the base, and he told his children that he took an oath to never discuss
the details of the debris field. Within a year after finding the strange debris,
Mac had moved off the ranch he loved so much, into the town of Tularosa, where
he opened a small business of his own. He passed away in 1963. All of this for a
weather balloon?
Major Jesse A. Marcel was the intelligence officer at Roswell Army Air Force
Base, which was home of the only bomb group in existence at the time. It should
be noted that all of the personnel at the base had high security clearance.
Marcel was a veteran officer, who was trusted fully. He had been a highly
skilled cartographer before World War II, and was sent to intelligence training
by the Army, because of his impeccable character. He was even an instructor for
a time at the training school. He also logged over 450 hours of combat duty as a
pilot during the War, and was highly decorated with five air medals for shooting
down enemy aircraft. After the War ended, he was chosen as a member of the 509th
Bomb Wing, handling security for “Operation Crossroads,” which conducted nuclear
testing in 1946. After being awarded a commendation for his work on the nuclear
project, he was named the intelligence officer for Roswell AAFB.
Marcel was on a lunch break when he received a phone call from Sheriff
Wilcox. Wilcox informed him that rancher Mac Brazel had found debris from a
crash of some object on a sheep ranch. Marcel went to town, talked to Brazel,
and reported his findings to Colonel Blanchard. Marcel was given orders to go to
the site, which he did, accompanied by CIC officer Sheridan Cavitt. Arriving too
late for ample light for a search, the two soldiers spent the night with Brazel,
and then proceeded to the sight the next morning.
Marcell related the events of the search through the debris in his own words:
“When we arrived at the crash site, it was amazing to see the vast amount of
area it covered.”
“…it scattered over an area of about three quarters of a mile long, I would
say, and fairly wide, several hundred feet wide. “It was definitely not a
weather or tracking device, nor was it any sort of plane or missile.”
“I don’t know what it was, but it certainly wasn’t anything built by us and
it most certainly wasn’t any weather balloon.”
“…small beams about three eighths or a half inch square with some sort of
hieroglyphics on them that nobody could decipher. These looked something like
balsa wood, and were about the same weight, except that they were not wood at
all. They were very hard, although flexible, and would not burn at all. There
was a great deal of an unusual parchment-like substance which was brown in color
and extremely strong, and great number of small pieces of a metal like tinfoil,
except that it wasn’t tinfoil. I was interested in electronics and kept looking
for something that resembled instruments or electronic equipment, but I didn’t
find anything.
“…Cavitt, I think, found a black, metallic-looking box several inches
square. As there was no apparent way to open this, and since it didn’t appear to
be an instrument package of any sort, we threw it in with the rest of the
stuff.” “It had little numbers with symbols that we had to call hieroglyphics
because I could not understand them. They were pink and purple. They looked like
they were painted on. I even took my cigarette lighter and tried to burn the
material we found that resembled parchment and balsa, but it would not burn ,
wouldn’t even smoke,” “…the pieces of metal that we brought back were so thin,
just like the tinfoil in a pack of cigarettes,” “…you could not tear or cut it
either. We even tried making a dent in it with a sixteen-pound sledgehammer, and
there was still no dent in it.” Having rode to the site in two vehicles, Marcel
sent Cavitt back to the base with his Jeep full of the material, and Marcel took
his Buick, and stopped by his house to show his wife and son his amazing find.
Jesse Marcel Jr.
“The material was 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
were hieroglyphic-type characters.”
When Marcel arrived back at the base, he was instructed by Colonel
Blanchard to load the debris on a B-29, and fly with it to Wright Field in
Ohio, stopping on the way at Carswell AAFB in Ft. Worth, Texas. The military
was hard at work at Roswell. Colonel Walter Haut was given an order from
Col. Blanchard to write a press release stating that the RAAF had in its
possession a “crashed saucer.” According to Haut, the saucer was transported
to the 8th Air Force, to be turned over to General Ramey. Haut discharged
his duty, and finished the press release he’d been ordered to write, giving
copies of the release to the two radio stations and both of the newspapers.
The famous headlines hit the newspapers.
“RAAF CAPTURES FLYING SAUCER ON RANCH IN ROSWELL REGION”
When Marcel arrived at Carswell, Brigadier General Roger Ramey, Commander
of the 8th Air Force took full charge of the case. The debris from Brazel’s
field was taken into Ramey’s office, and photographed. The photographer was
James Bond Johnson. Marcel was in one photo with the real debris. Ramey took
Marcel into another office, and upon their return to Ramey’s office, some
new and different material was spread on the floor. Marcel, under orders,
stated that this debris was from a weather balloon. After more photos were
taken, Ramey sent Marcel back to Roswell, along with a stern warning not to
disclose anything he had seen at Carswell. It was then reported that General
Ramey recognized the remains as part of a weather balloon. Brigadier General
Thomas DuBose, the chief of staff of the Eighth Air Force, after many years
of silence would state: “[It] was a cover story. The whole balloon part of
it. That was the part of the story we were told to give to the public and
news and that was it.” There can be NO doubt that the orders to cover-up the
saucer story came from our Chief Executive.
General Ramey
made a laughing stock because he ignorantly misidentified the balloon
material with that of “something unknown.” Some three months later, however,
Marcel was promoted to Lt. Colonel, and assigned to a new program. He was in
charge of testing atmospheric particles to detect Russian atomic discharges.
When he was interviewed in 1978, he maintained that the debris he found on
the Foster ranch was definitely NOT a weather balloon. He insisted that it
was like nothing he had ever seen…
Through the first part of the Roswell story, we have heard of strange
debris, and two different explanations of what that debris was. So what
about the alleged alien bodies, an actual saucer on the ground, or an alien
autopsy? To accurately continue our quest for all of the facts behind the
Roswell case, me move to a new location. The site is San Agustin, near
Magdalena, New Mexico. This story is based upon the testimony of Vern and
Jean Maltais. The couple states that in February 1950, an engineer friend of
theirs, Grady L. “Barney” Barnett told them that while working in the fields
near Magdalena, July 3, 1947, he had come upon a crashed disc-shaped object.
This flying disc had alien bodies strewn about it. There were aliens inside
and outside of the craft. As important as this seems, there is a flaw in his
story. It seems that Barnett’s wife kept a diary of his comings and goings.
His wife stated that his diary did not corroborate the date as July 3, 1947.
This may or not mean anything, as surely a mistake could have been made, or
a date mixed up, or plans changed after the entry was made.
Barnett’s claims were controversial though, until yet another witness
would come forward which would shed new light on his claims. After an airing
of a “Roswell Crash” segment on the popular “Unsolved Mysteries” show in
1990, Gerald Anderson came forward with some fascinating details. Anderson
states that he and his family were hunting rocks on the Plains of San
Agustin in early July 1947, when they also came upon a crashed saucer-shaped
craft. The craft had four dead aliens inside. Though Gerald was only six
years old at the time, the extraordinary sighting was one he would never
forget. To take matters a step further, archaeologist, Dr. Buskirk, and five
of his students also came upon the crash scene. Anderson’s story also has
holes in it, however. It seems that Dr. Buskirk was a former teacher of
Anderson. Records indicate that the Doctor was in Arizona at the time of the
alleged sighting.
There is also a case for a second crash near Roswell. Testimony of
mortician Glenn Dennis, along with Captain Oliver Wendell “Pappy” Henderson
seem to substantiate this theory. The actions of the military can tell us a
lot. Supposedly cordoning off the area, and removing every iota of the
debris field does not make sense if all that was there was weather balloon
material. Much importance must also be put upon Marcel. His word seems to be
above reproach. He states without wavering that the debris was NOT balloon
material. He should know. He also states that the debris he brought from
Brazel’s field was NOT the debris in the newspaper photographs. What about
all of the eyewitnesses? In all fairness, it must be said that many of the
witnesses are NOT first hand. We know how stories can be changed, or amended
by being passed down the line. But there are also many firsthand witnesses.
What about their testimony? If their stories are all lies, then a large
group of people, some unbeknownst to the others, have perpetuated one of the
best organized conspiracies in the last century. Let’s examine the testimony
of these “first hand” witnesses. Maybe the truth is out there after all. Is
there a way to reconcile all of the different theories into one authentic
account of the events of Roswell? Continue to Part 3