In 1986, on his death bed, retired Major Jesse Marcel told his son; "You must tell the world the truth about Roswell. When the military no longer has a hold over you and your family, please set the record straight!"

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Major Jesse Marcel was the head of intelligence at an Army Air Field located at Roswell, Nevada. On July 7, 1947 Major Marcel was sent to inspect what was being reported as the crash of an unidentified object on a ranch seventy-five miles northwest of the base. After inspecting the crash site, Marcel stopped by his home to show his family what he had discovered. Jesse Jr. was only eleven years old at the time, but vividly remembers his father's excitement, and seeing and handling a foil-like material that his father said was scattered around the wreckage. It was shiny and paper thin, but could not be torn or cut. It also retained a memory, mysteriously unfolding each time his father tried to fold it. And then there was that beam of metal several feet long, which was covered with hieroglyphic-type writing and markings. It was indeed something that was not of this world.

Upon return to his Air base, Major Marcel's superior officer, Col. William "Butch" Blanchard, ordered him to fly the material to Wright Patterson Air Base in Akron, Ohio, first stopping in Fort Worth, Texas to show the strange findings to Gen. Roger Ramey,,the head of the Eighth Air Force. When Ramey learned that Blanchard had issued a press release stating they had recovered a "flying disc," and that it was being flown to Wright-Pat, Ramey was livid, and immediately called a press conference. Marcel would be photographed (see photo below) holding remnants of a weather balloon, and was forced to tell the media that these were his only findings at Roswell. From that time on, and despite dozens of collaborating witnesses at the crash site, Major Marcel was forced to live with that lie the rest of his life.

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The famous photo of Jesse Marcel, kneeling and holding the remnants of a weather balloon

His father's words haunted Jesse Jr. for nearly twenty years. As his retirement finally approached, while serving his tour of duty in Iraq in 2004, Jesse Jr. decided to put pen to paper. In a few short months the U.S. Military could no longer force he and his family to keep the secret any longer. He remembered how embarrassed his father was when he was forced to tell the world that the object he inspected was only a weather balloon. The famous photo of his father, kneeling and holding the remnants of a weather balloon have been an injustice the Marcel family had endured for nearly sixty years.

Now with release of The Roswell Legacy, Jesse Sr. will finally be vindicated and the world will learn the truth. With a forward written by the renowned Ufologist, Stanton Friedman, this book clears the air.
The world has waited a long time for the inside scoop on Roswell. Truth is an excellent curative for false proclamations. The Roswell crashed saucer retrieval is one of the most important UFO cases ever, anywhere. We need more information from those directly involved, and this book provides a good deal of important new material. --Stanton T. Friedman
The Roswell Legacy will be released Worldwide on July 5, 2007 in Roswell, New Mexico, at the 60th Anniversary celebration. Interviews and appearances with Jesse Marcel are now being scheduled. Jesse will appear for book signings at the Roswell International UFO Museum July 5-8, 2007.