Lee Harvey Oswald, US Marine
JFK’s assassin through the eyes of his fellow marines
As we approach the anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22nd, we take a look at the events surrounding the assassination through a series of short articles, each reflecting its authors different take on the subject. The following is taken from Gerald Posner’s Case Closed. View more books on the JFK assassination here.
Oswald reported for duty at the Marine Corps recruit depot in San Diego on October 26, 1956, and was assigned to the Second Training Battalion. There, he was given a series of aptitude tests and scored slightly below average.1 He was also trained in the use of the M-1 rifle.2 On December 21, 1956, after three weeks of training, he shot 212, two points over the score required for a “sharpshooter” qualification, the second highest in the Marine Corps.3 Such a score indicated that from the standing position, he could hit a ten-inch bull’s-eye, from a minimum of 200 yards, eight times out of ten.4 Shortly before he left the Marine Corps, in May 1959, Oswald again certified himself on a firing range. Although he then had no motivation and his disgust for the Marines was high, he still managed to score 191, enough to qualify as a “marksman.”5 Sgt. James Zahm, the NCO in charge of the marksmanship training unit, said, “In the Marine Corps he is a good shot, slightly above average … and as compared to the average male … throughout the United States, he is an excellent shot.”6 . . .
Oswald did not discuss his personal life with his fellow Marines, and the more he refused to fit in, the worse he was treated. Corporal Thomas Bagshaw recalled Oswald “was almost frail, shy and quiet,” when he arrived at Atsugi. He felt sorry for him because so many other Marines picked on him.26 When Oswald spent his liberties reading instead of bar-hopping and chasing women, others ridiculed him. They taunted him as “Mrs. Oswald,” threw him in the shower fully clothed, and provoked him in every possible way. Fellow Marine Dan Powers recalled, “He was a different individual.… He was quiet … feminine … and a lot of times you felt sorry because the rest of the guys were most of the time picking on him …”27 When Oswald had been in school, since he was a year older than his classmates, he was larger than most, and he often bullied them. In the Marines, he was far from the toughest and, at five feet nine inches, hardly the biggest in his unit. Initially, he did not fight back, instead walking away from any provocation, the anger bottled inside.
Despite his efforts, Oswald was never completely accepted. Slowly, he became more aggressive, using his knowledge of current affairs to belittle others, especially officers. John Donovan recalled, “He would listen interestedly, ask questions in an interested manner, and then … point out a dozen places they didn’t know what they were talking about.”30 Nelson Delgado, one of Oswald’s fellow Marines, said Oswald tried to “cut up anybody” in those arguments and “make himself come out top dog.”31 Powers noticed that Ozzie Rabbit had changed at Atsugi: “[H]e had started to be more aggressive … he took on a new personality, and now he was Oswald the man rather than Oswald the rabbit.”32 Peter Connor remembered that the new Oswald got into several fights and began responding to orders from officers “with insolent remarks.”33 John Heindel said Oswald started drinking a good deal and “was often in trouble for failure to adhere to rules and regulations and gave the impression of disliking any kind of authority.”34. . .
“Thornley thought he was “emotionally unstable” and “unpredictable.” “He got along with very, few people,” he recalled. “He seemed to guard against developing real close friendships.”55 Before long, Thornley and Oswald had a falling out, when Oswald griped about a march they were scheduled to be in. Thornley commented, “Well, comes the revolution you will change all that.” Oswald’s voice cracked as he screamed at Thornley. He put his hands in his pockets, pulled his cap low over his eyes, and sat by himself. He never spoke to Thornley after that. “Well, at the time I just thought,” recalled Thornley, “well, the man is a nut.… He had a definite tendency toward irrationality at times, an emotional instability.” He also found Oswald “impulsive,” burdened by a “persecution complex,” and said that he never showed any affection to anyone, and nobody ever showed any in return.56 By the end of their relationship Thornley thought Oswald was “pathetic.”57*”. . .
Only after arriving at El Toro, and following his two court-martials and nervous breakdown while on guard duty, did Oswald flaunt his controversial and brazen behavior. By then, he had been busted to buck private, had spent time in the brig, and was already known as an eccentric troublemaker. Instead of working as a trained radar operator, he had been reduced to doing janitorial work around the base.58
Only one officer is known to have taken him seriously. When an El Toro mailroom clerk informed his operations chief, Captain Robert E. Block, that Oswald was receiving leftist literature, Block confronted him. Oswald dissembled that he was merely trying to indoctrinate himself in the enemies’ philosophy, according to Marine Corps policy. Although skeptical, Block dropped the matter. Except for Block, others viewed Oswald as peculiar but harmless.
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Citations:
1. Folsom Exhibit 1, WC Vol. XIX, pp. 1, 7.
2. Testimony of Maj. Eugene Anderson, WC Vol. XI, p. 302.
3. Testimony of Lt. Col. Allison Folsom, WC Vol. VIII, p. 304.
4. Testimony of John E. Donovan, WC Vol. VIII, p. 296.
5. Testimony of Lt. Col. Allison Folsom, WC Vol. VIII, p. 304.
6. Testimony of Sgt. James A. Zahm, WC Vol. XI, p. 308; see also Folsom, WC Vol. VIII, p. 305.
26. Edward Jay Epstein, Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978), p. 68.
27. Testimony of Daniel Powers, WC Vol. VIII, p. 287.
30. Testimony of John Donovan, WC Vol. VIII, p. 297.
31. Testimony of Nelson Delgado, WC Vol. VIII, p. 265.
32. Testimony of Daniel Powers, WC Vol. VIII, p. 275.
33. Affidavit of Peter Connor, WC Vol. VIII, p. 317.
34. Affidavit of John Rene Heindel, WC Vol. VIII, p. 318.
55. Ibid., pp. 94, 95, 102.
56. Ibid., pp. 101–2.
57. Ibid., pp. 101–2, 108.
58. Affidavit of James Anthony Botelho, WC Vol. VIII, p. 316; testimony of Kerry Thonley, WC Vol. XI, p. 84.
