Dr. Jesse A. Marcel Jr. of Helena, Montana, died unexpectedly at his home on August 23, 2013 at the age of 76. He was the only child born to the late US Army Lt Col (ret.) Jesse Marcel Sr. and Ms. Viaud Abrams Marcel in Houston Texas,on August 30, 1936.
Following the United States’ declaration of war on Japan in December 1941, Jesse Jr.’s father, Jesse Marcel Sr. commissioned into the US Army Air Corps (AAC) as an Intelligence Officer. Assigned to the 509th Bomb Group, he served in the Pacific theater of operations and played an integral role in planning the Group’s decisive nuclear strike sorties over Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the war.
After his combat tour in the Pacific, then-Major Jesse Marcel Sr. and his family were re-assigned to Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF), New Mexico in the mid-1940s. It was during this assignment in July 1947, that an unidentified flying object (UFO) crashed on a local ranch outside RAAF, prompting the RAAF Base Commander to deploy Major Marcel to investigate the wreckage with a fellow Army counterintelligence agent. First on the crash scene, Major Marcel loaded some of the unknown wreckage into his vehicle and drove it home to show to Jesse Jr. in the middle of the night. Young Jesse Marcel Jr., aged 10, along with this father, attempted to identify the wreckage, but could not make sense of the advanced, state-of-the-art material they had handled.
What followed became history. The US Army Air Corps issued a press release on July 8, 1947 that a ‘Flying Saucer had been recovered. This unprecedented news release generated such a dramatic response from the nation, that the US Army Air Corps retracted the statement and issued a press release the following day that a weather balloon had been recovered. Major Marcel Sr., along with all involved in the recovery, was ordered to sign a non-disclosure statement and never speak of the incident again. He kept this secret until the 1970s when he and Jesse Jr. decided to speak publicly to end what they perceived as a military cover-up and grave injustice to the American people.
Working with Stanton Friedman, Kevin Randall, Don Schmitt, and Steven Bassett, Dr. Marcel gave hundreds of lectures, radio and television interviews, and published a 2007 book entitled ‘The Roswell Legacy’ which attested to what he and his father had witnessed that night at Roswell in July 1947. Until their deaths, both Jesse Sr. and Jesse Jr. maintained that what they witnessed and handled that night at Roswell was ‘not of this Earth.’
Following in his father’s footsteps, Jesse Jr. joined the US Navy after earning a Doctorate in Medicine (M.D.) degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in 1962. He completed his residencies at the US Naval Hospital in San Diego, CA and Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore, MD. Shortly after joining the Navy, Dr. Marcel was assigned to the USS Renville (APA 227) with a US Marine Corps task force positioned off the coast of Cuba in the days leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Following the de-escalation of hostilities between the US and Soviet Union in Cuba, the USS Renville was repositioned to Southeast Asia where then-LT (Dr.) Marcel Jr. participated in US Navy and Marine Corps combat operations in Vietnam.
After returning to port in 1968, Dr. Marcel began an Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, Throat) residency at the US Naval Hospital in San Diego. Completing his residency in 1970, Dr. Marcel resigned his commission from the US Navy the following year and returned to private life in Helena, Montana to practice medicine.
While serving as an Otolaryngology specialist in Helena, Dr. Marcel was offered a commission in the Montana Army National Guard in 1971 and later sent to Rotary Wing Flight Training at Fort Rucker, Alabama where he earned his US Army Aviation Wings in 1981. During his distinguished service in the Montana Army National Guard, Dr. Marcel was appointed as the Montana State Surgeon General and retired at the rank of Colonel (O-6) in August 1996 on his 60th birthday.
Following the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Dr. Marcel requested to be re-activated for active duty to serve as a Flight Surgeon with the 189th Attack Helicopter Battalion, based at Fort Harrison, Montana. He was called back to active duty in 2004 and deployed to Balad Air Base (AB), Iraq for a 14-month tour-of-duty in October 2004, just after his 68th birthday. While serving at Balad AB, Col Marcel flew 225 combat hours as a Flight Surgeon in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Upon completion of his combat tour, Col Marcel was discharged again from active duty service in December 2005 and assigned to the Individual Ready Reserve.
After returning from Iraq, Col (ret.) Marcel suffered from a series of disabilities incurred during his service there. These disabilities, which ranged from physical maladies to PTSD, drove Jesse into permanent retirement from his medical practice. As a quiet professional, Col (ret.) Marcel completed his military service at age 68 and never complained of his disabilities or of the sacrifices he made during his 40 years of service in the US military.
Jesse was a beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather and father-in-law who loved to run, ski and mountain-bike. His experiences at Roswell were known throughout the world and his absolute integrity served as an inspiration to hundreds of UFO investigators seeking to uncover the true events that transpired at Roswell in July 1947. He was a quiet and kind-hearted man who dedicated his life to healing others and was among the most humble and accomplished senior military officers anyone has ever met. Truly an Officer and a Gentleman, Jesse Marcel Jr. will be missed dearly, not only by his family, but by the hundreds around the world that were positively affected by his testimony.
Jesse Marcel Jr. had three children (spouses in parenthesis) – Denice (Jim Fitzgerald), Jesse III. (Tricia Marcel) and John (Shirley Smythe) Marcel with his late-wife Carol Manley, who died tragically in an automobile accident in 1980. Jesse is survived by his wife Linda Brosz Marcel of 32 years with whom he had two children – Marissa Cover (Capt Leon Cover, USAF) and MacKenzie Bennetts (LT Nick Bennetts, USN). Among his immediate children, Jesse had three stepchildren – Marc (Peggy) Murfitt, Aimee (Rhett) Schein and Ashlee (Kyle) Milhelish, 17 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, September 4, 2013 at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home, 3750 N. Montana Ave. Burial with military honors will take place immediately following the memorial service at the Montana State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Harrison. A reception will follow the burial in the social hall at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. Donations can be made in Dr. Jesse Marcel Jr.’s name to the Wounded Warrior Project P.O. Box 758517 Topeka, Kansas 66675 and Florence Crittenton Home 901 Harris Street Helena MT 59601 or online at www.cfppt.org.
Please visit below to offer the family a condolence or to share a memory of Jesse.
Service Schedule
Memorial Service
11:00 a.m.
Wednesday September 4, 2013
Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home
3750 N. Montana Ave.
Helena, MT 59602
Burial with Military Honors
Following the memorial service.
Wednesday September 4, 2013
Montana State Veterans Cemetery
Fort Harrison, MT
Reception
Following the burial
Friday September 4, 0201
Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home
3750 N. Montana Ave.
Helena, MT 59602
Service Schedule
Memorial Service
11:00 a.m.
Wednesday September 4, 2013
Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home
3750 N. Montana Ave.
Helena, MT 59602
Burial with Military Honors
Following the memorial service.
Wednesday September 4, 2013
Montana State Veterans Cemetery
Fort Harrison, MT
Reception
Following the burial
Friday September 4, 0201
Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home
3750 N. Montana Ave.
Helena, MT 59602
Share
Deb Walter says
Linda and family – my thoughts and prayers are with you all. Jesse will truly be missed by many. God Bless!
Carol E. Kalberg Bonner says
Linda & family,
I will be thinking of you ~ please accept my condolences on you loss!
Hugs,
Carol E. Bonner
Dick and Lori Schultz says
Linda and Family, Jess was truly a good friend and a great Doctor to work with. We will remember him with great fondness. God be with all of you.
Lois DeFord says
Dear Linda and family
So sorry to read of Dr. Marcel’s death. My sincere Sympathy to all of you. And,yes< he was a very kind and gentle man.
Lois
Jane Piilola says
Linda and family: Our thoughts are with you in this difficult time. Jess will be missed by so many. Kind and gentle certainly describes the man I knew.
Ralph and Lynn Guay says
Peace and blessings to you, Linda, and to all of your family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Margaret Poore says
I only met Dr. Marcel once, but I was impressed by what a fine and caring man he was. I was working in a local elementary school supporting students with special needs. One of my 4th grade boys was very interested in “aliens” and so I told him about Dr. Marcel and his experience as a boy. We decided to write to Dr. Marcel to see if he would come talk to us. My student had a very difficult time both writing and speaking, but he worked hard on the letter and we were both delighted with the response. Dr. Marcel said he would come and speak to the whole class, but only if my student would introduce him to his classmates and that he also would speak about astronomy.
The children all were fascinated by the presentation and my student was happy and excited. The fact that he was the one who brought Dr. Marcel to the class, and that he did such a good job introducing him, had a very significant and positive effect on this boy’s life.
My thoughts are with you in your grief and may this one little memory help ease it.
Lynn Morrison says
Dear Linda and family: Through all the years of knowing and working for Jesse, he was always soft spoken and kind. He was a Doctor/Employer who treated you as an equal and was always willing to take the time to teach new things. His unique life experience at a young age of seeing the unknown, and military encounters created a one of a kind man. He was strong in his convictions and never waivered in what he knew to be true. Take comfort in knowing that all who love you are here to support and assist in any we can.
Andy Medlicott says
To all of Jesse,s family,I am so sorry to hear about the sad loss of what I would say was a truly exceptional man.Honest in his believes,and true to his word.I once wrote to Jesse on the off chance that he would reply to my letter.Can you imagine my surprise when I received a reply,along with a photo of Jesse,sometimes the small things mean so much.An act of kindness I will never forget.I mourn the loss of you Jesse,but so happy to have known you,God Bless you Jess.
Andy Medlicott
Stubby Williams says
To the family of a very Noble and Courageous man, our prayers go out to you. God be with you in this sorrowful time.
Paul Donaldson says
To the Marcel crew,
So many fond memories of sharing with Jesse, the care of many patients over the years. He was always sensitive, thoughtful, compassionate, and, of course, very competent.
It was a privilege to have worked with him.
Larry and Aileen Hidalgo says
Please accept our condolences for your loss. We had the honor of meeting Dr. Marcel at this year’s Roswell UFO Festival in July. He was a rare man; a genuine American hero whose courage, graciousness, and sincerity was beyond question. We feel so fortunate to have been able to meet and speak with him about his Roswell experience. We wish strength and peace for his family. God bless you all.
Illa Adams says
Linda & all your beautiful family, I am so sorry we have lost a such an intelligent, kind, loving & gentle man. So many fond memories, mine immediately went back to the guard conventions, so much fun. I remember visiting with you (Linda) while the boys were at play; so rowdy & playing pranks on each other. Jesse was always a part of the boys but just stood in their midst taking it all in with that silly grin of his. I will miss it.
Anne Seliskar says
Linda and family, I am so sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prays are with you.
Shawndra Marie Howe says
I was treated by this great man as a child and he changed my life. He also cared for my mother. A truly wonderful and considerate human. I will never forget him.
DW says
I took my son to see Dr. Marcel for an ear infection that Dr. Marcel later performed surgery on him. It was there that Dr. Marcel shared his UFO photos with us that he had hanging on his wall & his father’s experience in Roswell, NM. The rest is history.
M. S. Porter says
I never met you, but it is only through reading your brief life history am I able to write I can only imagine the impact you and your father had on the world. Rest in peace & May God continue to bless your family in the future.