Post by JoannaL on Dec 7, 2020 16:34:40 GMT -5
'Roswell: The First Witness' Airs Saturday, December 12, at 9 p.m.
“Roswell: The First Witness,” the final episode in the series History’s Greatest Mysteries, will air Saturday, December 12, at 9 p.m. on the History Channel. The investigation will feature the grandchildren of Maj. Jesse A. Marcel (May 27, 1907 - June 24, 1986), a decorated intelligence officer, who was assigned to investigate the mysterious crash in July 1947 and report his findings to Col. William H. Blanchard.
According to the grandchildren, Jesse Marcel III, Denice Marcel and John Marcel, their granddad (pictured above) snatched some of the debris, which he identified as “pieces of a flying saucer,” to show to his wife and son, Jesse Martel Jr.
“My grandfather was an intelligence officer,” Martel III explained. “His job was not only to know the secrets, but keep the secrets. This is so big, such a large part of his life and our family’s life. We are looking where he would have left traces behind. A treasure hunt if you will. In this treasure hunt they made discoveries, some answers and more questions.
“This is Roswell and my family. My grandfather went through a lot; it was hard on him, but he always thought he was lucky to be the person he was, the place he was, and I feel the same. This Roswell story has helped directly and indirectly guide my adult life, and it has changed a lot of people’s lives; there are scientists, astronauts because of the story. So we as a family have embraced it on a positive level. To condense it, this is a very positive thing in general.”
Marcel III said his father, Jesse A. Martel Jr., M.D. (who died in 2013), shared many details of the incident, often at dinnertime with Star Trek playing in the background for effect. He [Dr. Marcel] spoke of having seen foil sheets that were incredibly strong, yet light as a feather. He also described beams with hieroglyphic-type markings that were visible when one looked at them at an angle.
“This is not a rehash,” Marcel III insisted. “People who know the story well will love it. People who have never heard about it are going to be excited learning about it. It covers everybody. It’s going to be a personal experience for everybody who watches it.
“You are not getting a history book/documentary view of what happened; you are hearing from the first family of Roswell, so to speak. And we spent a lifetime growing up with them, going fishing with them – we learned the inside and outside of the story. So I would say that this is as much as a personal side of investigation for discovery as it is a revelation on some of my grandfather’s analytics that were brought to light.”
When questioned about new material, Marcel III hesitated before saying, “If I can talk about just one piece of evidence that hasn’t been seen before, and that’s my grandfather’s personal diary. It has been passed down through our family. It is a legacy of our family. It hasn’t been opened for public eyes before. It’s the first time it’s been looked at and more than just what it says, but what it means. I’ve been lucky enough to have been down there [at the Roswell UFO Festival] and spoken to the crowds and even been in the parade, which was a lot of fun. But at no point have we ever discussed or disclosed anything about the diary – until now. I got a chuckle out of it. There has been that mystery about a lost diary about Roswell, and I can tell you, it is real and we have it and everybody is going to learn from it.”
Sources: Christina Stock, The Roswell Daily Record, December 7, 2020; Jesse Marcel III, Denice Marcel and John Marcel, Newsweek, December 7, 2020; The Helena Independent Record; and IMBd.