City honors W.W. ‘Mack’ Brazel with Walk-of-Fame plaque | Local News

William Ware “Mack” Brazel, the ranch hand who in July 1947 discovered the crash site of an alleged out-of-this-world spacecraft, was honored Friday morning with a star on the Roswell Walk of Fame on Pioneer Plaza, across from the Chaves County Courthouse.

As City Manager Chad Cole, Ward 3 Councilor Edward Heldenbrand, Ward 1 Councilor Cristina Arnold and several people outfitted in Star Wars regalia looked on, UFO researcher and author Donald Schmitt, who represented the Brazel family, removed a piece of board covering Brazel’s new plaque.

Prior to the plaque’s unveiling, Heldenbrand talked about the important role Brazel played in the incident that made Roswell a household name around the country and the world.

“If it had not been for Mr. Brazel,” Heldenbrand said, “none of us would have known about this incident.”

According to Roswell Daily Record archives, Brazel reported the crash to then Chaves County Sheriff George Wilcox, who relayed the information to Maj. Jesse Marcel of the 509th Bomber Group, stationed at Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF), just south of Roswell.

Afterward, the air field’s intelligence office announced “the field has come into possession of a flying saucer,” as reported in the Roswell Daily Record on July 8, 1947, under the headline “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch In Roswell Region.” 

Schmitt said he was very honored to reveal Brazel’s plaque and criticized the U.S. government’s handling of the incident.

“The U.S. government is now up to four official explanations,” he said.

After 77 years, the story of the Roswell incident won’t go away, Schmitt said.

“It is considered one of the biggest UFO stories and, if true, one of the biggest stories of all time,” he said.

Schmitt said Brazel always maintained that “what he recovered was from out of this world.”

Brazel joins three previous honorees on the Roswell Walk of Fame: Robert H. Goddard, “the father of modern rocketry,”; UFO researcher Stanton Friedman and Maj. Marcel.