Roswell's Unanswered UFO Questions.

[astr0144]

Roswell's Unanswered UFO Questions.

Another Roswell Article....

There is a link on the webpage that you can click on to listen to the interview it refers to.

LISTEN: ROSWELL'S UNANSWERED QUESTIONS



Something crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, 68 years ago. The first military authorized press release stated, "RAAF (Roswell Army Air Field) Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch In Roswell Region." That's right, the military was the first to indicate it was a flying saucer.



Then, they quickly said that was a mistake. It was just a weather balloon. But UFO researchers were never satisfied with that answer, even decades later, and the controversy only grew.

The military later revealed that this wasn't a simple weather balloon, but an aircraft used for clandestine purposes -- part of the Army's top secret "Project Mogul"-- to monitor atomic weapon testing in the old Soviet Union. The military also claimed that crash test dummies may have been mistaken for ETs. But that explanation only stirred the controversy.


The central figure surrounding the events of the 1947 Roswell UFO issue was Maj. Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field. He was assigned the initial task of going out to the debris field to collect some of the material, described as shiny wreckage, including pieces of rubber, super-resistant tinfoil, wooden sticks and metallic-looking I-beams.

Here's an excerpt from a 35-year-old interview conducted by this writer with Marcel, when he finally felt comfortable talking about the Roswell case more than 30 years after it happened:

We went out to the scene of where the crash was and started picking up the debris. It's almost indescribable. It's not the kind of material I'd ever seen in my life, nor have I seen it since. There were various types of materials which I couldn't identify. There were little members that looked like they were made of wood, but it wasn't wood and it had some kind of writing or hieroglyphics that I couldn't decipher and nobody else could. It was flexible, but you couldn't break it and you couldn't burn it.
Also, I found a piece of metal which was about the thickness of the foil in a pack of cigarettes. But the amazing part about it was you could put it on the ground, hit it with a sledge hammer and you couldn't even put a dent in it. That astounded me and I knew it was nothing from here. I was convinced it was not from anywhere on Earth and I'm still convinced of that.
I had brought a counterintelligence man with me in a staff car plus a pickup truck. We got everything we could into that and I sent the agent back to the base. Then I filled up my car with stuff. By the time I got back home, my wife said, 'What happened to you? There's been a bunch of news reporters out here, wanting a picture of you.' And I said, 'For what?' And there had been a public relations officer with them. He said, 'From what happened, your husband will be very popular by tomorrow morning.' So that's how it all started.
What amazed me most of all was the weightlessness of all this material -- it weighed nothing. I found one piece of metal -- supposedly metal -- which was about a foot wide and about two-and-a-half feet long. When I got back to the base, we [Marcel and several enlisted men] brought it all into a briefing room and set up a whole lot of tables there. One of the men said, 'Let me see if I can put some of those parts together, to see what the thing might have looked like.' He came back later and said [he tried but couldn't do it].
I consulted my CO [commanding officer], who said, 'You better fly the thing to Wright-Patterson Air Field [Ohio]. So, we loaded up the whole thing -- which was not a whole lot of material -- onto a B-29. We had only picked up one small fraction of what was out there. It was scattered over such an area about three-quarters of a mile long and several hundred feet wide. We'd been there all day, picking up the fragments.
I asked my CO if it was a better idea to stop at Carswell [Air Force Base] at Fort Worth and consult General Ramey and he said, 'Yes, you better do that.' When I got to Fort Worth, I talked it over with the general, and he told me, 'Don't open your mouth to the press. Put some stuff on the floor and let them take a picture of it.' But I was careful not to put out anything with detail on it. So they took pictures, and one picture appeared in the papers. (See image below)
Gen. Ramey told news reporters this was nothing but a crashed weather balloon, but I do know this: later on, Ramey wanted to cover his statement up, because he didn't know, himself, what it was. I went back to Roswell to resume my duties, but what they did at Carswell was to make a mock display with a battered weather balloon and they let the press take pictures of that. The whole thing was a cover-up to begin with and that was the last I heard of it.
I know it was not a weather balloon and I'd swear it on the biggest bible. It wasn't a missile or any part of an aircraft that we know of.

To mark the crash anniversary, Michael Donovan of OuterPlaces.com joined us on the HuffPost Weird News Podcast to discuss Roswell's unanswered questions.

Two years ago, Donovan was standing in the Roswell crash debris field along with Dr. Jesse Marcel Jr., a highly decorated military flight surgeon.

"It was a moving experience because we're out on the site and this large thunderstorm was moving toward us -- you could see lightning flashing -- and he's standing there with his Iraq war veteran hat on and said, 'This is amazing. Sixty-six years ago, my father was standing on this very site,'" said Donovan.

"His father had loaded debris into his car, drove back to Roswell, stopping at his house, and showed his wife and son, Jesse Jr., the material after spreading it out on the kitchen floor," said Donovan. "Here's a guy -- a doctor, a flight surgeon -- why would he make up an experience he had in the middle of the night when he was 11 years old? So, when we were standing there at the crash site, I asked him, 'When they loaded that plane up and flew it to Fort Worth, what happened to it?' And he said, 'You know what? I don't know.' But he said the base commander's secretary, a few years ago before she retired, showed somebody a box of stretchy stuff that, if you crushed it, it would pop open. Jesse Jr. said to me, 'I think that stuff must still be somewhere around, in the military's possession.'"

Donovan says his belief in UFOs and a possible cover-up surrounding the Roswell UFO incident never gets in the way of his work -- which includes co-designing the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

"No, not at all. It goes back to the idea of being on a quest, being a problem-solver, and that's what designers do. We solve problems. In the reading of science fiction, you begin on a path to discovery. That's what we do every day and it's really that kind of interest -- learning new things -- that put me on the path that I'm now on, relative to OuterPlaces.com.

"In my own mind, I keep trying to create some kind of balance between what I think is a certain appropriate level of secrecy. We're adults in this country, by and large, and I think the government owes us as much information and let us make up our own minds."

Here are some unanswered questions that continue to surround the 1947 Roswell UFO crash incident:

1) What exactly crashed there in 1947? Was it a weather balloon, high altitude spy device, extraterrestrial craft?

2) Did the military switch materials that Maj. Marcel brought back from the debris field and, instead, allow the press to take pictures of an actual battered weather balloon?

3) If the crash site debris wasn't really a weather balloon, where did the real stuff end up?

4) Why would the military decide to even issue a press release about a captured flying saucer?

5) Related to the above question, why would the military suddenly change the story from flying saucer to weather balloon?

6) Why did the military hire a local Roswell mortician to make child-sized caskets following the UFO debris retrieval?

7) Why did Jesse Marcel Sr. wait more than 30 years before finally revealing his part in the Roswell UFO events?

If true, why would the U.S. government want to cover up such a monumental event as the crash of an alien ship?

This weekend's 20th Roswell UFO festival takes off full blast today with speakers giving their presentations at different locations simultaneously. If lectures don't fit your fancy, there's always the alien pet and alien costume contests and a UFO festival light parade to check out.

It's fair to say that something happened outside Roswell in 1947 that literally put the town on the map. The debris is long gone, but the reverberations have never stopped.

Whatever it was, after almost 70 years, it still depends on whom you ask or what you read, and whether you believe them.

A 1997 CNN-Time poll showed that 80 percent of Americans think the government is hiding information about the existence of alien life forms, and nearly two-thirds of the poll respondents believed that a UFO crashed outside Roswell in 1947.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/02/roswell-ufo-crash-unanswered_n_7716828.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

[Shasta56]

Visiting Roswell is on my bucket list.  I think it would be fun to see, whether the reported events are true or not.

Shasta

[The Seeker]

May I point out the Maj. Marcel was the intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group, the only Atomic bomb wing in existence at the time, a position that would not be occupied by a Forest Gump type or below average intellect...

as to why would they change the story? Ever heard of Orson Welles and his 1939 "War of the Worlds" broadcast that damn near caused utter chaos and pandemonium?


seeker

[astr0144]

Until you mentioned about MaJ Marcel being a IQ officer for the 509th Bomb group and it being Atomic related...I had not known that fact. The Roswell Wikipedia article does refer to the 509 bomb group.

I often find it hard to recall the more likely  Roswell facts with there having been so many versions on it and without the right info in front of me to relate to, I can only try to recall some things that are in my memory.

The Article suggests it was the Military who reported the Roswell incident as being a crashed UFO.  They later then changed their story.

It was not long after the end of WW2...

Did they have issues with or Were they at the time thinking about hoaxing the Russians with a story that they may have obtained advanced technology for those who may suggest that is why they said it was a UFO..

If they did have such issues with them at that time.. then Maybe I would consider them trying to kid the public and Russia about such a story.

But at that time I think id be surprised if that was the case.

I would have thought that maybe the USA and Russia may have had closer relations just after 1945...being on the same side in defeating Germany during WW2.

And for them later to change their story...Maybe that would help deal with the public...but why tell them that it had been a UFO in the first place. certainly if it was real....I would think they would cover it up and not mention a UFO at all.

If they released the story as some form of Hoax..
to both Russia and the public.. then changed the story... it seemed to calm things down with the public for some time. but did it leave that wonder with the Russians ?

At the same time if it was a crashed Saucer , As I believe it was discovered by a land owner / Farmer... who was said to take 3 days before reporting it... Would they have been able to shut him up from telling the story ? without doing certain things.

Then another story suggest there was more than one crashed Saucer...

I can see that it would have been in the interest of the  Powers that be to cover up the story..be it either a secret project or on what would be a much more important issue if it was a real crashed UFO,  to avoid mass panic.

I see even the Wikipedia article on Roswell now initially even refers the incident as a Surveillance balloon or later ...After an initial spike of interest, the military reported that the crash was merely of a conventional weather balloon.

In mid 1947, a military Air Force surveillance balloon crashed at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico prompting claims alleging the crash was of an extraterrestrial spaceship.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident

May I point out the Maj. Marcel was the intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group, the only Atomic bomb wing in existence at the time, a position that would not be occupied by a Forest Gump type or below average intellect...

Hope you get to visit Shasta and can tell us of your journey and experience.

I also would like to one day visit it..as long as you can get to certain areas and are not restricted.

I wonder if other members have been to visit it ?

Visiting Roswell is on my bucket list.  I think it would be fun to see, whether the reported events are true or not.

Shasta

[A51Watcher]

Roswell's Unanswered UFO Questions.

The military also claimed that crash test dummies may have been mistaken for ETs. But that explanation only stirred the controversy.

Crash test dummy program was not created until over a decade after the Roswell event.

The central figure surrounding the events of the 1947 Roswell UFO issue was Maj. Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field. He was assigned the initial task of going out to the debris field to collect some of the material, described as shiny wreckage, including pieces of rubber, super-resistant tinfoil, wooden sticks and metallic-looking I-beams.

Mac Brazel also showed his neighbors a (what we now know as plastic) beam fragment that appeared as balsa wood and demonstrated how "it could not be whittled or burnt". 

His neighbor "allowed as how that was pretty dam odd Mac!"

Here are some unanswered questions that continue to surround the 1947 Roswell UFO crash incident:

1) What exactly crashed there in 1947? Was it a weather balloon, high altitude spy device, extraterrestrial craft?

With thousands of flying disc reports for 1/2 the year that year displaying "super technology beyond our means" (as mentioned in one of the mini EOTS being passed around by the brass) it appears quite likely that what all the witnesses (civilan, military, private and commercial pilots, police) claimed, is indeed what crashed.   

2) Did the military switch materials that Maj. Marcel brought back from the debris field and, instead, allow the press to take pictures of an actual battered weather balloon?

Corroboration of this comes from testimony by a young lieutenant at the time who was ordered to crash a weather balloon and burn part of the rubber balloon, pack it up and deliver it to Ramey's office. 

3) If the crash site debris wasn't really a weather balloon, where did the real stuff end up?

In that big warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

Probably at Wright-Pat until they got the S-4 facility arranged.

4) Why would the military decide to even issue a press release about a captured flying saucer?

Good question. That type of behavior is certainly not in their nature now is it?

It turns out the reason for the press release was to divert attention from the crash site and instead focus attention on the debris field, rumors of which were already circulating among civilians. One primary goal was to keep Russian spies away from the crash site.

5) Related to the above question, why would the military suddenly change the story from flying saucer to weather balloon?

Once the crash site had been recovered and the debris field cleaned, it was time to torpedo the entire story.

Coincidentally, the number of sightings peaked right after this event -




Were they frantically hunting for one of their missing ships perhaps?

The locations and times of these mass sightings after the crash are quite interesting as well.

I imagine the military were quite nervous during this time.

6) Why did the military hire a local Roswell mortician to make child-sized caskets following the UFO debris retrieval?

Cause body bags don't keep dry ice from melting very well, and it sticks to your tongue if applied directly. 

7) Why did Jesse Marcel Sr. wait more than 30 years before finally revealing his part in the Roswell UFO events?

Because of his security clearance, his devotion to country, and believing his boss when Gen. Ramey told him in the map room (during the switch of debris) to say nothing to the press, and that when this all came out in the future, he would be made a hero. 

It probably ate away at him all those years, being the fall guy for that weather balloon excuse.

And now all these years later everyone involved in the event were either dead or soon to be, and still no "when all this comes out" word from the Government clearing his name and reputation, and no sign that it was ever going to happen anytime soon.

If true, why would the U.S. government want to cover up such a monumental event as the crash of an alien ship?

The military potential of this technology is beyond belief.

Whatever it was, after almost 70 years, it still depends on whom you ask or what you read, and whether you believe them.

I tend to go with the people who were actually there.

By and large, most of these people had to be pried from the woodwork and cajoled into telling their stories, they did not voluntarily come forward.

All were still hesitant about breaking their security oaths and the specific warnings they were given about this event.

[A51Watcher]

Astro -

The 509th was the ONLY atomic air wing at that time. And Marcel was the intelligence officer assigned to it. So... like everyone else assigned there, he was the cream of the crop, the best of the best.

Walter Haut and Col. Blanchard were both assigned to the 509th together during WWII as bomber pilots over Germany and became close friends.

Hence the reason Blanchard allowed him to see the bodies and craft.

[astr0144]

Glad that you commented on the thread A51...

I was tempted to write a few answers or suggestions to those questions but would not have done it the same justice as you have with the quality of your answers and with your much more indepth knowledge and memory of the facts on the incidents story .

It seems such a lot to take in with the story and all the variations...& trying to recall what is more likely the more likely true facts.

As one sees the various articles of the story more times, parts start to sink in a bit more each time..hopefully !

I note your comments on Marcel..



If it was a for Real crashed Alien Saucer...

Why need the Military mention anything at all that it was a UFO if they wanted to keep it so secret.

If the Land owner did speak out... maybe they could have persuaded him to keep quiet or if he had informed others..that they would invent some story and lead it to being a Balloon or some other story..

if some of the locals were more aware before the Military arrived... then that would have been much more difficult to try to cover up. I am not really sure whether the land owner had informed the locals before informing the military..

As the story suggest it was 3 days after the crash..
and I am not sure if other locals claimed to have also witnessed it in one way or another and on what scale ... ie as it passed over before , or the noise made as it crashed.  Although It seemed in quite a remote area away from main population of Roswell town. So it may not have been heard by many people.

if it had been kept quite by the landowner...and he only told one or two others before informing the military... Then I would have thought that they could have persuaded who ever to keep quiet. and NOT inform anyone..

If Others were aware.. I wonder if anyone had a camera and took any photos that we have not as yet seen !

4) Why would the military decide to even issue a press release about a captured flying saucer?

Good question. That type of behavior is certainly not in their nature now is it?

It turns out the reason for the press release was to divert attention from the crash site and instead focus attention on the debris field, rumors of which were already circulating among civilians. One primary goal was to keep Russian spies away from the crash site.

[astr0144]

Again...somethings I just assumed with the Roswell story....

I either had not realised or noted on some past things that I have read or seen in video.

and some of what some may say were major facts.Sometimes I miss what may be seen as most well known or obvious.

I did not know the Crash test dummy program was not created until over a decade after the Roswell event.

Prior to this, they had been said it was the Surveillance or a weather Balloon ...

So had that lasted 10 yrs...then they came out with the Crashed Dummy suggestion. or was that said much later ..and they said that was the case back in 1947... 

and there fore very few people would be unlikely to check those facts..

Roswell's Unanswered UFO Questions.

The military also claimed that crash test dummies may have been mistaken for ETs. But that explanation only stirred the controversy.

Crash test dummy program was not created until over a decade after the Roswell event.

I had some how not noted or took in or realised the fact that it was 30 years before Jesse Marcel Sr told his story !

I had assumed that he had been a major KNOWN part of the early investigation  in the early stages  back in 1947.

or was it he had said something early on but only came forward again 30 yrs later with some other important facts..

7) Why did Jesse Marcel Sr. wait more than 30 years before finally revealing his part in the Roswell UFO events?

I just was watching the end of a Program on Roswell.. and one point made at the end was that if it had been a UFO...with so many involved..it could not have been kept fully secret for so long without some more clear evidence being released.

Another point was the program said that the actual crash site could not be determined...

so if it had really occurred..and had crashed somewhere more remote... Could they have kept it more secret.

There is still some things that are tricky to comprehend.

[A51Watcher]

Here's a rundown on the details of Walter Haut's official affidavit to be released only after his death.

The only clue I can recall him giving us early on (as to why he withheld these stunning facts), was an interview he gave in which he states "If you were a serviceman of my vintage, you learned to keep your mouth shut and do as told, especially if your monthly pension depends on it."

http://www.thelivingmoon.com/forum/index.php?topic=329.msg2604#msg2604

[A51Watcher]

Again...somethings I just assumed with the Roswell story....

I either had not realised or noted on some past things that I have read or seen in video.

and some of what some may say were major facts.Sometimes I miss what may be seen as most well known or obvious.

I did not know the Crash test dummy program was not created until over a decade after the Roswell event.

Prior to this, they had been said it was the Surveillance or a weather Balloon ...

So had that lasted 10 yrs...then they came out with the Crashed Dummy suggestion. or was that said much later ..and they said that was the case back in 1947... 

Crash test dummies were included in the Air Force's 3rd try at an official excuse in the 90's.


and there fore very few people would be unlikely to check those facts..

I had some how not noted or took in or realised the fact that it was 30 years before Jesse Marcel Sr told his story !

I had assumed that he had been a major KNOWN part of the early investigation  in the early stages  back in 1947.

or was it he had said something early on but only came forward again 30 yrs later with some other important facts..

No in 1947 he did as told and said nothing more about it until 30 years later. Upon seeing his story now appear front page in the supermarket tabloids, Pappy Henderson decided it was time to tell his wife this story was true and he was the pilot who had flown the bodies and wreckage to Wright field.


I just was watching the end of a Program on Roswell.. and one point made at the end was that if it had been a UFO...with so many involved..it could not have been kept fully secret for so long without some more clear evidence being released.

Another point was the program said that the actual crash site could not be determined...

so if it had really occurred..and had crashed somewhere more remote... Could they have kept it more secret.

There is still some things that are tricky to comprehend.

[Sinny]

I can't be bothered to compose a case for the 'psy-op' explantion which I support; although, James Carrion is currently working on his expose of Roswell; which will hopefully be completed within the next year. I excitedly anticipate his work, which I expect to shed some illumination on many of these unaswered questions, astro.
Questions which are avoided or ill-explained by the pro-ET supporters.
I'll be sure to present the piece at the first available chance.

[astr0144]

Thanks for your comments Sinny.
I hope that you manage to obtain and post the report and that it may answer certain questions..

There is so many possibilities and angles on this topic, I think it will be something very hard to prove.

Maybe since those recent awaited images appeared and have been ridiculed..many are jumping to write reports once again to doubt it further.

Some also are trying this with the Bob Lazar story.

There is no doubt there is much validity that could suggest Roswell was a Major Hoax...and no real proof that I am aware has as yet come forward.

But there is still other UFO related topic like with Bob Lazar story that for me still could have connection to keep possibilities of there being some truths.

A51s work , has certainly made me aware of things that I never new about both with Roswell and Bob Lazar..along with his videos.

That to me still suggests truth in Bob Lazars story.
But whether it and Roswell is ET related is still questionable.

I just did a quick check to see when the Cold War started.. with the USA and Russia at conflict...and to my surprise it was straight after WW2.. somewhere  between 1945 & 1947...

I wonder if some of the fall out was when the USA took many of the German Scientists..and the Russians new that they could have  be creating UFOs and would give that technology to the USA.

So I could understand that yes the USA may have come up with the Roswell story back then to make Russia believe that they had advanced technology.
even though later they changed the story.. probably  to calm down the public...

But with all the other evidence that suggested that there had been so much what seemed like UFO incidents at that time... I am amazed it they were all Manmade craft. and many suggested to be doing things beyond human technology expectation.

It is surprising if an ET craft was involved that they have managed to keep certain things not being released to prove it.


We become aware of numerous various people involved in the story we get to read about..Some have made claims to witnessing ETs..Nurse for eg..some who  soon after became deceased..

It may also have been they could have had two things going on....One small group who took the Craft and ETs away to a secret location..

and then do a false set up.. where it seemed that they had brought in bodies to a hospital ordered caskets etc and took parts of a what seemed like a craft and seen to have taken it away etc ..

From a Program that I watched earlier.. it said that no exact  true location/s was given in the surrounding area  where the Saucer / Saucers was said to have crashed..

Yet if the Land owner found them... one would think he has said exactly where...

but the program suggested several possible locations.. and the area seemed quite remote..when it showed an aerial view of some of the area.

its hard to know how these people think, who would have been involved in dealing with a real crashed UFO  or creating an incident if it was a hoax..and what extremes that they may go to..

I excitedly anticipate his work, which I expect to shed some illumination on many of these unaswered questions, astro.
Questions which are avoided or ill-explained by the pro-ET supporters.
I'll be sure to present the piece at the first available chance.

[Shasta56]

One of my dad's coworkers was at Trinity in 1945.  I really wonder about one thing following another.  To my mind, the atomic testing would likely have drawn the interest of more than just our fellow terrestrials.  Of course, I may have formed that impression from years of watching Star Trek.

Shasta

[astr0144]

That is maybe a major point that some people forget or does not get strongly stated enough...and could certainly be a reason why we may have had such a lot of UFO activity back at that time.

Maybe that is the main reason.

If so I wonder if the USA Govt had already obtained ET UFOs prior to Roswell ?

Or if not when they created, tested  and exploded the Nukes... they just got a series unexpected ET UFO visitors arriving to see what all the Noise was about ! 

Another thought if it was designed as a hoax to make out that the USA had obtained ET advanced technology..

I don't suppose they had suggested that they had obtained a fully functional Saucer Craft... They were suggesting they had a crashed craft...

Was it suggested broken or non working I wonder...

If so..Then I don't suppose they could make out that they had one in fully working order and that they could use it as an immediate threat / weapon if they wanted to...

So they may have waited some years... and then used the Bob Lazar story to then suggest that now we have fully functional operation craft that we can use..

Bob may have been genuinely set up and led to believe what he described as real.

The US then claim that they have the craft and can operate them.


An other alternative maybe that they really did obtain a crashed craft at Roswell...maybe took 30 to 40 yrs to work them out and create or make one fully functional.. and maybe what Bob describes was / is genuine truth.

One of my dad's coworkers was at Trinity in 1945.  I really wonder about one thing following another.  To my mind, the atomic testing would likely have drawn the interest of more than just our fellow terrestrials.  Of course, I may have formed that impression from years of watching Star Trek.

Shasta

[astr0144]

A51,

Can you explain how they now suggest it was plastic.
After such a long time...!

Your comments suggests it looked like Balsa wood..

but I thought that the beams or some of the other similar things looked metallic ... The article refers to metallic looking beams.

I assume these metal looking samples being the beams that may have had some Writing or  HIEROGLYPHICS on ..

I assume that the were not of the  so described memory metal samples..?

I do not recall coming across that suggestion before.
Must have missed it.

Was there other issues that you know about with any of the  other materials that they said were collected ?

I can see here that it does refer also to Balsa beams.

I need to read it...seems a very detailed website on Roswell.

http://roswellproof.homestead.com/debris1_beams.html

http://roswellproof.homestead.com/index.html


A51

Mac Brazel also showed his neighbors a (what we now know as plastic) beam fragment that appeared as balsa wood and demonstrated how "it could not be whittled or burnt". 

His neighbor "allowed as how that was pretty dam odd Mac!"

Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field. He was assigned the initial task of going out to the debris field to collect some of the material, described as shiny wreckage, including pieces of rubber, super-resistant tinfoil, wooden sticks and metallic-looking I-beams.