by Jesse Marcel
Post-War History
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
Jesse Marcel, Jr.
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.
Jesse Marcel, Jr., standing next to a Blackhawk Helicopter in a landing zone just outside of Baghdad, summer zoos.
Linda Marcel
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.
She has seen the Northern Lights and Sputnik (and was terrified of it), but has never seen a genuine UFO, although she believes in life elsewhere, as well as the awesome possibility of it having visited us.
