I don't know if we will ever know the entire truth about the Roswell Incident. According to the "official" story, the truth was revealed more than a dozen years ago, and we should all close the book on Roswell and turn our attention to something else. But to me, and to thousands of others all over the world, the concluding chapter has yet to be written. It might even be said that the Roswell Incident is but one volume in a very long series.
In the years since my father's death, I have shared as much of the Roswell story as I know. But as for the rest of the story, and the story beyond Roswell… those are not mine or yours to tell. Those are the stories for our children and our grandchildren. It is my deepest wish that their eyes, their minds, and their hearts will remain always open, so that they may experience a universe filled with wonders we can scarcely imagine.
Appendix
History of the 509th
Because the 509th Composite Bomb Group is so deeply associated with Roswell, I thought it would be appropriate to add a Ifew words about them. In short, the 509th was an air combat wing organized for basically one purpose only: to engage in atomic bomb warfare against the Japanese empire during World War II. It was an elite wing composed of hand-picked officers.
The 509th was constituted December 9, 1944, and activated December 17, 1944, at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, and commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. It was his job to organize a combat unit to deliver the atomic bombs to either German or Japanese targets. because the flying components consisted of both bomber and transport aircraft, the group was designated as a composite squadron. Colonel Tibbets had selected Wendover as the training site because of its remoteness and ease of keeping activities under cover. I recall my mother getting mail from my dad during this time of highly censored letters in which entire sentences were clipped from the onionskin paper they were written on.
On September 10, 1944, the 393rd Bomb Squadron, which was a B-29 unit, arrived at Wendover and was assigned directly to the Second Air Force until creation of the 509th Composite Bomb Group. Originally consisting of 21 crews, 15 were selected to continue training and were organized into three flights of five crews.
The 320th transport portion of the 509th became known as "The Green Hornet Line," and utilized C-46 and C-47 aircraft. B29s, designated as "silverplate B-29s" in the combat wing of the 509th, had extensive modification to the bombay area with the installation of a weaponeer station. Reduction in the overall weight of the aircraft was also accomplished to offset the heavy loads they would be required to carry. A total of 14 silverplate B-29s were delivered to the 509th combat wing.
A rigorous candidate selection process was used to recruit personnel for the 509th, with an 80 percent washout rate. Those made a part of the unit were not allowed transfer until the end of the war, nor were they allowed to travel without escorts from Military Intelligence units. With the addition of the 1st Ordnance Squadron to its roster, the 509th Combined Group had an authorized strength of 225 officers and 1,542 enlisted men, almost all of whom were deployed to Tinian. The 320th TCS did not officially deploy to Tinian but kept its base of operations at Wendover.
The 509th began replacement of its 14 training silverplates in February of 1945 by transferring four to the 216th Base Unit. Each bombardier completed at least 50 practice drops of inert pumpkin bombs, and at that time Col. Tibbets declared his group combatready. On July 26, the USS Indianapolis delivered the components of Little Boy to Tinian. The 509th then delivered its deadly war-ending load to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima was devastated by Little Boy, the uranium bomb, on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki was devastated by Fat Man on August 9, 1945. The instruments of Japanese surrender were signed on the battleship Missourri BB 63 on the morning of September 2, 1945.
In November 1945 the 509th Composite Bomb Group was relocated to Roswell Army Air Field, and the eight silverplate bombers that had been delivered to Wendover in August also joined the group. Colonel Blanchard replaced Colonel Tibbets as the group commander on January 22 of 1946, and also became the first commander of the 509th Bomb Wing.
The group was assigned to Strategic Air Command in March of 1946, one of 11 units. At the time SAC was formed, the 509th was the only unit that had experience with nuclear weapons. In April of 1946, the 509th took part in Operation Crossroads, which was a series of two atomic bomb tests at Bikini at Kwajalein islands. One was an over-water explosion, the Able test, and one was a subsurface explosion, the Baker test.
In July of 1946, the group was renamed the 509th Bombardment Group as the transportation portion of the 509th was disbanded, and in November of 1947 the group became the combat component of the 509th, operational in September of 1948. The 27 operational silverplate B-29s were transferred in 1949 to the 97th Bomb Wing at Briggs Air Force Base, El Paso, when the group converted to B-50 Superfortresses. The 509th was deactivated June 16, 1952. The group was redesignated 509th Operations Group in March of 1993, and activated as the flying component of the 509th Bomb Wing for B-2 stealth bombers at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The 509th is equipped with all 20 of the USAF's B-2 Spirit bombers.
About the Authors
Born August 30, 1936, in Houston, Texas, Marcel is a retired military officer who served as a medical officer in the United States Navy from 1962 to 1971, having received his specialty training in Otolaryngology while in the Navy. He joined the Navy in 1962 just in time to take part in the Cuban Missile Crisis by serving on board a troop transport ship, just missing being part of the invasion of Cuba when the crisis was peacefully concluded. Marcel opened his medical practice in Helena, Montana, in 1971, and eventually joined the Montana National Guard as a medical officer in 1975, earning his flight surgeon wings at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. In those days the flight surgeons were allowed to solo in helicopters.
During his career in the National Guard, he was appointed State Surgeon of the State of Montana, and retired from the military a second time on his 60th birthday in 1996. The Iraqi war (Operation Iraqi Freedom) required his return to the military in September of 2004, and he spent the next 13 months as a flight surgeon for the 189th Helicopter Battalion in Iraq. He spent his 69th birthday there, and eventually flew more than 225 combat hours in a Blackhawk helicopter. Currently he is employed by the VA Hospital at Ft. Harrison, Montana, but is in the process of retiring. He and his wife, Linda, live outside Helena and look forward to slowing down and enjoying life.
More than 40 major media outlets have interviewed Jesse, including Fox News, Larry King Live, Channel 9 from Australia, Fox's Sean Hannity, Smithsonian Television, NBC's Today Show, CBC Radio, Jeff Rense, Coast to Coast, and the National Geographic Channel.
Born in Montana on July 29, 1951, of a veterinarian/cowboy and a dedicated nurse, Linda's grandparents were Montana homesteaders with roots in Russia and Germany.
At this time she is a semi-retired nurse, mother of five, and grandmother of 10, so she keeps quite busy entertaining her grandchildren as well as maintaining her flower garden and taking care of a 4H club.