The Early Lives of Harvey and Lee

by John Armstrong

LEE Harvey Oswald's mother, 22 year old Marguerite Claverie, was first married to Edward John Pic, a Certified Public Accountant, on August 8, 1929 in Gulfport, MS.  Marguerite and Pic had one child, a son named John Edward Pic born on January 17, 1932. They were divorced on July 15, 1933. Five days later 26 year old Marguerite married 37 year old Robert Edward Lee Oswald in New Orleans, on July 20, 1933. Nine months later, on April 7, 1934, Robert Oswald was born.

LEE Harvey Oswald was born in New Orleans on October 18, 1939 to Robert E. Lee Oswald and Marguerite Claverie Oswald (shown below from ages 18-38). LEE Oswald's father died shortly after his birth and left his wife with 3 children: step-son John Pic, and sons Robert and LEE. In 1944 LEE Oswald was 5 years old, Robert was 10, John Pic was 12, and the family was living in New Orleans. In 1964 Warren Commission attorneys Albert Jenner and John Ely questioned 31 year old John Pic about different home addresses when the family lived in New Orleans. Pic, who was 12 years old in 1944, was asked about 10 different addresses for Marguerite Oswald during a two year period. Pic, however, recalled only two of these addresses. This was the beginning of many unexplained addresses for Marguerite Oswald during the next 20 years. In June, 1944, Marguerite Oswald left New Orleans and moved into a home that she purchased at 4801 Victor St. in Dallas, Texas. According to John Pic, there was an arrangement between his mother and her future husband, Mr.  Edwin Ekdahl, that afforded her the opportunity to purchase this home (actually a duplex).

Marguerite Claverie Oswald, mother of LEE Oswald, at ages (left to right) 18, 30, 35, and 38.

1945

On January 17, 1945 LEE Oswald (5 years old) had his tonsils removed. On Feb 1, Marguerite wrote a letter to Orphans Asylum in New Orleans and said, "Mr. Ekdahls work takes him from city to city. He was only in Dallas a few months when he was transferred to New York, then to Austin, now Ft. Worth. He expects shortly to be transferred to New York." In the Spring Marguerite's close friend of many years, Myrtle Evans from New Orleans, visited her at 4801 Victor for one week. Myrtle and her husband (Julian) remembered Marguerite as a beautiful woman with black hair, a real "fashion plate" who dressed beautifully.

Marguerite Claverie Oswald, mother of LEE Oswald. Close friend of Myrtle and Julian Evans for 30 years.	Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Ekdahl, May 7, 1945

On May 7, 1945 the tall, nice-looking Marguerite married Edwin Ekdahl in Rockwall County, TX. On June 4, 1945, Marguerite sold her house at 4801 Victor and moved into Ekdahl's home at 45 Granbury Road in Benbrook, a small suburb adjacent to Ft. Worth. In September (1945), according to Robert Oswald, the family drove in Ekdahl's car from Dallas to Port Gibson, MS where Robert and John entered the Chamberlain Hunt Military Academy. Robert Oswald told the FBI that his mother, Ekdahl, and LEE then drove to Boston, MA where they resided until June, 1946, but it appears that Robert was mistaken. Records show that LEE Oswald entered the "low first grade" at the Benbrook Common School on October 31, 1945. He was 6 years old and his address was Route 5, Box 567, Benbrook, TX. Young Oswald attended this school for 82 days, was absent 15 days, and his guardian was listed as E. A. Ekdahl.

On December 13, 1945, Marguerite Oswald opened a commercial account at the First National Bank of Ft. Worth in the amount of $1987.35.

On February 8, 1946, LEE Oswald was taken to Harris Hospital in Ft. Worth where he was diagnosed with acute mastoiditis behind his left ear, which was common among children before antibiotics became available. A "simple mastoidectomy" was performed by Dr. C.E. Ball with no complications and Oswald was discharged from the hospital on February 12.

In April, 1946 Marguerite Oswald wrote a letter to the Chamberlain Hunt Academy and said, "We are off on another trip. Will you please write my sister with all the details...." One month later, in May (1946), after experiencing marital difficulties, Marguerite took Ekdahl's car (a 1938 Buick) and together with LEE drove to Covington, LA. She rented an apartment from Mrs. Logan Magruder, 311 Vermont St, who told the FBI that Marguerite Oswald (with son LEE Oswald) rented from her "for about a year." Records of the Covington Grammar School show that on September 19, 1946 LEE Oswald was enrolled in Mrs. Hester Burns' first grade class.  The Oswald family--Marguerite, John, Robert, LEE--spent the Christmas holidays of 1946 in New Orleans. While the Oswald family was living in Covingon, LA (May, 1946 thru Dec, 1946), Ekdahl's whereabouts are unknown. By the end of 1946 Ekdahl had rented an apartment on the upper floor of 1505 8th Avenue in Ft. Worth and was apparently living there with another woman.

Christmas, 1947

In January, 1947 Marguerite and Ekdahl ended their 8 month separation and decided to reunite. LEE Oswald left the Covington Grammar School on January 23, 1947 with a note, "moving to Texas." Marguerite and LEE returned to Ft. Worth and moved into Ekdahl's apartment at 1505 8th Avenue. Seven year old LEE, shown above right riding his tricycle, was enrolled at nearby Lilly Clayton Elementary school on January 27 in Lois Lowimore's first grade class.  While talking to a neighbor, Marguerite learned that an unknown woman had been living with Ekdahl while she was living in Covington, LA. On Feb 1, 1947 she confronted Ekdahl, accused him of infidelity, and threw a bottle at him. On March 17, while arguing with her husband, Marguerite severely scratched him on his left arm and pounded on his chest. A few weeks later (on or about April 3) in another argument with Ekdahl, she threw a cookie jar at him. On May 9, 1947 Marguerite threw a glass at Edkahl, and narrowly missed striking him on the head. On May 30, 1947 LEE Oswald completed the first grade. His two older brothers returned home to Ft. Worth from the Chamberlain-Hunt Military Academy and the family spent the summer together in Ft. Worth. John Pic told the Warren Commission that he got a summer job at the Tex-Gold Ice Cream Parlor, 5 blocks south of their apartment, and was soon promoted to assistant manager.

NOTE: The dates of arguments and physical confrontation between Marguerite and Ekdahl were noted in Ekdahl's personal diary, which he brought to court during their divorce.

One day Marguerite telephoned Ekdahl's office to advise that Mr. Ekdahl's return from an out-of-town trip would be delayed for 3 or 4 days. The secretary, however, told Marguerite "Mr. Ekdahl is not in, he has gone out to lunch." Marguerite then drove the car to Ekdahl's office, waited, and saw him leave the building. She followed Ekdahl to an apartment house and saw him go into one of the apartments. Marguerite then drove home and told John Pic, her oldest son, what had happened. Marguerite, John Pic, and two of his friends--Marvin and Sammy--got into the car and drove to the apartment house. Sammy knocked on the door of the apartment and pretended to have a telegram for "Mrs. Clary." When "Mrs. Clary" opened the door to receive the telegram Marguerite pushed her way into the apartment. Mr. Ekdahl was sitting on the couch and Mrs. Clary was wearing a nightgown negligee. Marguerite made a big fuss, and she and Ekdahl once again separated.

NOTE: Following the assassination of President Kennedy the FBI conducted a background search on Edwin Ekdahl. Their report states, "Records do not indicate where Ekdahl worked from 1943 to 1953. The company (EBASCO Services) will not be able to furnish this information." The only other identifying information included was Ekdahl's social security number which was 001-09-9471.

Frank Wisner and World War II Refugees

Frank Wisner was a Wall Street lawyer and during WW II worked for the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of the CIA). After World War II ended thousands of Eastern European refugees were brought to the United States under his supervision. National Security Council (NSC) records show that Wisner, the CIA's director of clandestine operations, oversaw the re-location of thousands of anti-Communist exiles to the United States as a means of rewarding them for conducting secret operations against the Soviets. Wisner became the CIA and State Department’s expert on European war refugees, and secretly subsidized the refugee relief organizations that brought these Eastern Bloc refugees to the United States throughout the 1940s and early 1950s.

Wisner and his group recognized they could use these Eastern European immigrant's knowledge, customs, and familiarity with their respective homelands. Wisner asked the National Security Council (NSC) to sanction the “systematic” use of such refugees, and they (the NSC) agreed. The NSC soon issued a top-secret intelligence directive (NSCID No. 14), which even today remains "classified," that authorized both the FBI and the CIA to find and jointly exploit the knowledge, experience, and talents of well over 200,000 Eastern European refugees resettled in the USA. The CIA soon contacted the Displaced Person's Commission (DPC), which worked closely with the leaders of refugee organizations in the USA. DPC chairman Ugo Carusi sent a memorandum to all refugee organizations in the USA that read: “We would like to advise that the U.S. Commission [DPC] has a formal agreement with the CIA to cooperate in every possible way to facilitate their programs. It is, therefore, altogether desirable that local representatives of the voluntary agencies and State Commissions and Committees make available to fully identified CIA agents the addresses of displaced persons.”

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover now had the authority and means by which to contact Eastern European refugees and use them to help identify communists living in the USA and alert the bureau about potential terrorist plots against America. The CIA, however, had broader and more ambitious plans. The CIA’s office of clandestine services, under Frank Wisner, was running hundreds of covert projects. Most of the government documents authorizing the use of refugee organizations to help intelligence agencies remained secret until the ’90s, when they were declassified. Some still remain secret after more than 60 years. And many of the documents have either been lost or deliberately destroyed so that the full truth will never be known.

Many of these Eastern European refugees were resettled in and around New York City, where they learned to speak English and continued their propaganda efforts against the Soviet Union, with help from the CIA. One of these refugees, a young boy, was given the name "HARVEY Oswald" and, along with his caretaker (a woman who was given the name "Marguerite Oswald"), may have been subjects of a CIA "security file." In January, 1953, the House on Un-American Activities in New York had a file on a "Marguerite Oswald." This file contained references to 1941, Nazi's, New Jersey, and was eventually discovered in a CIA office of Security file. In 1995 the Assassination Records Review Board requested this file, which obviously contained background information related to a "Marguerite Oswald," but their request was denied.

Following the assassination of President Kennedy a Mrs. Jack Tippit, of Westport, Connecticut, telephoned the FBI and said that she had just received a phone call from an unknown foreign woman who asked if she (Mrs. Tippit) was related to police officer J.D. Tippit who was killed in Dallas. The unknown foreign woman said that she knew Oswald's father and uncle, who were from Hungary, said they used to live near 77th and 2nd Avenue in Yorkville, New York City, were unemployed, and spent all of their time on "Communist activities" (click here to read the FBI report).The unknown woman could not have known LEE Oswalds father, Robert Edward Lee Oswald, who died on August 19, 1939 in New Orleans, two months before LEE Oswald was born. But she could have known HARVEY Oswald's father, who she said was from Hungary and lived near 77th & 2nd Avenue in Yorkville, where many eastern European refugees were then living. We should remember Dr. Renatus Hartog's description of HARVEY Oswald while at the Youth House. Hartogs said "he (13 year old HARVEY Oswald) had an underfed look, reminiscent of the starved children I had seen in concentration camps at the end of WWII."  

If HARVEY Oswald's father and uncle were from Hungary, it is likely that HARVEY Oswald's native language was Hungarian and/or Russian (after the Soviet Union annexed Eastern Block countries, those countries were required to teach the Russian language in all schools). This would explain HARVEY Oswald's proficiency in the Russian language, his ability to pass a Russian language exam at age 19, and his familiarity with communism.

In the early 1950's J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI were fanatic in their efforts to identify and prosecute communists. The FBI was so successful in infiltrating communist and subversive organizations that they often had more undercover FBI agents and informants posing as "members" than there were actual members. In addition, many legitimate members of these organizations became paid government informants. The woman who telephoned Mrs. Tippit may have thought Oswald's father and uncle were communists, but it is far more likely they were working as paid undercover informants for the US government, either for the FBI or CIA.

The unidentified foreign woman said she had two names to give to Mrs. Tippit and mentioned the name "Weinstock," the editor of Woman's World. She also mentioned the name "Emile Kardos" and said something about a "brother-in-law" before ending the conversation. The unidentified woman with a foreign accent could have said Workers World, instead of Woman's World. Workers World was the newspaper of the Workers World Party, which separated from the Socialist Workers Party in 1957.

In the early 1950's Louis Weinstock was head of the Communist Party in New York City, and one of 25 people arrested and indicted by Robert Kennedy for failing to register as a Communist. Of the 25 people arrested, Weinstock was the only one allowed out on bail, which suggests that he may have been working for the US government. The name "Weinstock" may be familiar to JFK researchers. In the early 1960's Louis Weinstock was General Manager of the Worker, a publication that HARVEY Oswald wrote to in late 1962 requesting literature and pamphlets.

The identity of the foreign woman who telephoned Mrs. Tippit remains unknown, but her statements about Oswald's eastern European heritage and the neighborhood in which he lived seem more and more plausible as we study and learn about the life and background of "Lee HARVEY Oswald," the man accused of assassinating President Kennedy in 1963.

Why young LEE Oswald, a US citizen born in New Orleans, LA in 1939, was chosen to share his identity with HARVEY Oswald is unknown. In the author's opinion, the secret/covert plan for two young boys to share the same identity began either when Marguerite Oswald was working for the Navy in WW II, or during her relationship/marriage to Edwin Ekdahl, or perhaps both. This was the beginning of the CIA's "Oswald project," code named RX-ZIM. This project was created for the purpose of merging the identities of young foreign speaking people (from Eastern block countries) with American youths of similar age. The foreign speaking youths would learn English while living in the USA and, when young adults, act as interpreters and translators of their native language. If recruited and trained by the military or a US intelligence agency, these young adults could then return to their home countries and spy on behalf of the United States government.

The CIA has retained the services of professors and academics at schools throughout the USA for many years. These people act as covert "spotters," and their role is to identify, assess, and casually question their students for the purpose of recommending those young people who might prove useful to the CIA in the future. For reasons that may never be known LEE Oswald was chosen and likely sent to New York City in the fall of 1952 to begin the process of sharing his identity with a Russian speaking boy from Eastern Europe (given the name "HARVEY Oswald"). Seven years later this young man (now age 18), who read, wrote, and spoke near perfect Russian, as well as English, would assume the identity of LEE Harvey Oswald and "defect" to the Soviet Union.

1947

In the summer of 1947 Marguerite Claverie Ekdahl (Oswald) and her son LEE were living in the upstairs apartment at 1505 8th Avenue in Ft. Worth (the Marguerite Oswald impostor incorrectly told the Warren Commission they lived in the apartment downstairs). In the summer (1947) John Pic worked at Walgreen's for a few weeks and then began work at the Tex Gold Ice Cream parlor. This store was located at 1920 5th Avenue, four blocks south of 1505 8th Avenue. By the end of the summer 15-year-old Pic was promoted to assistant manager. On July 7, 1947 Tarrant County land records show that Marguerite C. Ekdahl purchased a home at 101 San Saba in Benbrook, TX., a suburb of Ft. Worth.

That summer Georgia Bell and her husband Walter were building their home directly across the street when a Mrs. Oswald and her young son moved into 101 San Saba. This is the first known appearance of the "Marguerite Oswald impostor" and young "HARVEY Oswald," and it occurred at the same time Marguerite Claverie Ekdahl (Oswald) and her family were living with Edwin Ekdahl at 1505 8th Avenue in Ft. Worth.

Long-time JFK researcher Jack White and I visited Georgia Bell at her home in Benbrook on two occasions. Georgia, who lived at 100 San Saba for more than 50 years, remembered buying groceries for the short, fat Mrs. Oswald, taking her to the store, and remembered that the young boy played with neighborhood children. Georgia said, "Mrs. Oswald often wore a white nurse's uniform, did not have a car, and was not a very nice person." Georgia remembered, "a neighbor, Lucille Hubbard, drove Mrs. Oswald to pick up some clothes from another house when she got a job as a nurse." Mrs. Hubbard said that Marguerite had furniture and lots of clothes stored at this house which was located "across from Stripling School." We shall soon see that this was almost certainly the same house in which 14 year old HARVEY and Marguerite were living in the fall of 1954, when HARVEY was attending Stripling Junior High. This was also the house where the short, fat Marguerite Oswald impostor was living on November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated (2220 Thomas Place). I showed Georgia a photo of the "Marguerite Oswald" impostor standing in front of a kitchen sink. Georgia said, "That's her, short and fat just like I remember her. She was not a very nice person." I then showed Georgia a photo of tall, nice-looking Marguerite Oswald standing next to Edwin Ekdahl on their wedding day in 1945, taken only two years before Georgia met "Mrs. Oswald." Georgia replied, "I don't know who that is."

Neighbor Otis Carleton, a school teacher, said that young Oswald (HARVEY) attended the first grade at the Benbrook Common School (located at the intersection of Old Benbrook Rd. and Winscott Rd.) where Carleton's daughter taught 5th and 6th grades. At the same time (Spring semester of 1947) LEE Oswald was enrolled at the Lilly Clayton Elementary school, 5 blocks west of their apartment in Ft. Worth.

During the summer of 1947 John, Robert, and LEE Oswald were living at 1505 8th Avenue with their mother and Mr. Ekdahl. Marguerite suspected that Mr. Ekdahl was having an affair with another woman. John Pic told the Warren Commission, "Yes, sir; this is still during the summer, my mother had strong suspicions that Mr. Ekdahl was seeing another woman and she was following him.... she knew where the woman lived. So, one night Marvin, Goldie, Sammy, my mother and I all piled into this young couple’s car, went over to these apartments, and Sammy acted as a messenger, and knocked on the door and said. “Telegram” for this woman, whoever she was. I don’t remember the name. When she opened the door, my mother pushed her way in, this woman was dressed in a nightgown negligee, Mr. Ekdahl was seated in the living room in his shirt sleeves and she made a big fuss about this. She’s got him now and all this stuff. That is about it." While John, Robert, and LEE were living at 1505 8th Avenue, the Marguerite Oswald impostor and HARVEY Oswald were living at 101 San Saba in Benbrook.

In September, 1947, seven year old LEE Oswald enrolled in the second grade at Lilly Clayton Elementary school in Ft. Worth, while John and Robert returned to the Chamberlain-Hunt Academy in Port Gibson, MS.

Georgia Bell said the Oswalds moved from 101 San Saba around Thanksgiving, 1947, and then a family named "Charbenaur" moved in. The FBI interviewed Otis Carleton, who allegedly said the Oswalds left Benbrook sometime in 1946 or 1947 when he purchased 101 San Saba. However, Georgia Bell said that Carleton purchased the house after his home (Carleton's) burned down. Tarrant County land records show that Carleton did not purchase 101 San Saba until November 6, 1951. Mr. Cartwright, a supervisor with the Benbrook Water Department, recalled that the Oswalds lived in the house next door to where the water department eventually located.

Forty one year old Marguerite Claverie Ekdahl (Oswald) separated from 53 year old Edwin Ekdahl in March, 1948. Marguerite Claverie Oswald and LEE Oswald left 1505 8th Avenue and moved to 3300 Willing St. (next to railroad tracks, as remembered by John Pic). On March 18, LEE Oswald transferred from the Lilly Clayton Elementary School and began attending the George Clark Elementary school. When John Pic and Robert returned from Chamberlain Hunt to Ft. Worth in June, 1948, his mother and brother LEE were living at 3300 Willing. Unfortunately, neither the FBI nor the Warren Commission interviewed Mrs. Ora Winfrey, the landlord of 3300 Willing, to determine the exact dates of the Oswald's residence. After Marguerite and Ekdahl's divorce was final, on June 24, 1948, Pic said they moved to a little house in Benbrook (101 San Saba; in July/August, 1948) and then moved to 7408 Ewing (Ft. Worth) in September. Life at 7408 Ewing was the longest period of stability in LEE Oswald's young life. He completed grades 3 through 6, was given several IQ tests (which averaged 102), and was described by his friends as well-built, husky, and the tallest kid in class (as told to me by former classmates Phillip Anderson, Frank Norwood, Joe Skiles, Nancy Kuklies and other classmates). Robert attended Stripling Junior High School, then high school, and joined the Marines in July, 1952. John Pic attended high school and in early 1950 joined the Coast Guard and moved to New York City.

After the Marguerite Oswald impostor and young HARVEY Oswald moved out of 101 San Saba, Marguerite C. Ekdahl rented out this property for the next four and a half years. In June, 1950 she wrote a letter to her son, John Pic, and said she was renting the house in Benbrook. A week later she listed the property for sale with J. Piner Powell Real Estate. At Christmas, 1949, LEE Oswald's 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Clyde Livingston, gave him a small puppy. The following year, 1950, a photograph was taken of LEE Oswald and this dog at 101 San Saba. Another photo shows the Oswald family car (a 1938 Plymouth) and a small "tourist" building across the street that was being built by Mr. Sells.

Georgia Bell said that after Otis Carleton's home burned down (1951) he purchased and moved into 101 San Saba. Tarrant County land records show that on November 6, 1951, Marguerite Claverie Oswald sold 101 San Saba to Otis Carleton.

NOTE: In 1951, when Carleton purchased 101 San Saba, Mrs. Marguerite Claverie Oswald had been living at 7408 Ewing, in Ft. Worth with her 3 sons, for the past 3 years. There is nothing to suggest or prove that Marguerite Claverie Oswald had any contact with Otis Carleton either before, during, or after her ownership of 101 San Saba (July, 1947 to November, 1951). If Carleton did have contact with "Mrs. Oswald," then he met the Marguerite Oswald impostor.

Nine days after selling 101 San Saba, on November 15, 1951, Marguerite Claverie Oswald purchased a small home at 4833 Birchman in Ft. Worth. She rented this property for a year and a half, and then sold it on April 27, 1953 while she was living in New York. The WC supposedly researched all of the addresses where the Oswald family lived and the properties owned by Mrs. Oswald. But for some unknown reason they never reported, or intentionally failed to report, that Mrs. Oswald owned 4833 Birchman.

The summer and fall of 1947 is the earliest known confirmation that two different Oswald families were living at two different locations at the same time. John Pic told the WC that in the summer of1947 he was living with his mother at 1505 8th Avenue in Ft. Worth and working at the Tex-Gold ice cream store. Robert Oswald discussed family matters in detail during his WC testimony, but when asked about the summer of 1947 commission member Allen Dulles, former Director of the CIA, asked for an adjournment. Dulles was likely concerned that Robert, like John Pic, would confirm that his family was living at 1505 8th avenue during the summer of 1947, which would conflict with a 2nd Oswald family living at 101 San Saba at the same time. Dulles' request for an adjournment strongly suggests that Dulles had intimate, detailed knowledge about the backgrounds of HARVEY and LEE. When Robert Oswald's testimony resumed he was questioned about events that occurred beginning in the fall of 1948. No further questions were asked about the summer of 1947.

FBI SOLUTION

In an FBI interview with the Marguerite Oswald impostor she allegedly said that on one occasion, while living at 101 San Saba, she "insisted/demanded" that Otis Carleton buy her house, which she said Carleton agreed to do. But this conversation never happened because the woman interviewed by the FBI--the short, heavy-set Marguerite Oswald impostor--never owned this property. It was owned by the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Claverie Oswald and there is no evidence whatsoever that she ever met Otis Carleton or "insisted or demanded" in 1947 that Carleton buy the property. When interviewed by the FBI neighbor Otis Carleton allegedly said that Mrs. Oswald and her 3 sons lived at 101 San Saba in 1947.

Both FBI reports (interviews of Georgia Bell and Otis Carleton) were altered in an attempt to resolve the conflict of Marguerite Claverie Oswald and her 3 sons living with Mr. Ekdahl at 1505 8th Ave, in Ft. Worth in the summer of 1947, while at the same time the Marguerite Oswald impostor was living with HARVEY Oswald at 101 San Saba in Benbrook, TX. The date on the FBI report/interview of Georgia Bell had to be changed from 1947 to 1948, because in 1947 Marguerite Claverie Oswald was living with Ekdahl at 1505 8th Ave. in Ft. Worth. The number of family members (circa 1947)  on the FBI report/interview of Otis Carleton had to be changed from 1 son to 3 sons. The FBI report/interview of the Marguerite Oswald impostor wherein she allegedly insisted/demanded that Carleton purchase her property was an attempt to confirm that she and her family members had contact with Carleton.

Tarrant County records show that Carleton did purchase 101 San Saba, but not in 1947 as alleged in the FBI interview of the Marguerite Oswald impostor. Carleton purchased the property from Marguerite Claverie Oswald on November 6, 1951--FOUR YEARS AFTER THE FBI'S ALLEGED CONVERSATION between MRS OSWALD AND OTIS CARLETON !!

In  July, 1952 Robert Oswald joined the Marines. A month later, on August 20, Marguerite sold her home in Ft. Worth, and drove her 1948 Dodge to New York City with LEE. She and LEE moved in with John Pic and his wife (Marge) in an apartment on 92nd St in Manhattan that was previously occupied by Marge's mother (Mrs. Mary Fuhrman). Mrs. Fuhrman was then living with her sister, Mrs. Emma Parish, in Virginia. This was the first of three occasions when Pic would have personal contact with his brother while in NYC. John Pic told the WC that his mother enrolled LEE in a school between 89th and 90th Streets (name of school unknown) and between 2nd and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, only a couple of blocks from Pic's apartment. Pic told the Warren Commission that his brother, LEE, did not like this school because negroes were allowed to attend with white children, an understandable attitude for southern born and southern raised LEE Oswald. The FBI may or may not have located and secured records from this school, but no records from any school in Manhattan were given to the WC.  The WC knew about this school from the testimony of John Pic, but never attempted to locate or secure any records from any school in Manhattan. LEE Oswald's attendance at a school near the Pic's apartment or any other school he may have attended in Manhattan remains unknown.

After Marguerite Claverie Oswald and LEE moved from Pic's apartment, Robert Oswald said his brother attended junior high school in Manhattan. After the assassination, Robert Oswald wrote a book titled LEE, a Portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald.

On leave from the Marines in 1952 Robert Oswald visited New York City and spent time with his mother and brother LEE. On page 63 of his book, Robert Oswald described the location of the junior high school that his brother was attending, "Lee entered the 8th grade at P.S. 44 on Columbus Avenue at 76th St." This school is William J. O'Shea Junior High School, PS 44 (in Manhattan), and is 2 1/2 miles from the Pic's apartment.  There are no WC or FBI records nor any information about Oswald's seventh or eighth grade attendance at any school in Manhattan at the National Archives. It is interesting to note that both John Pic and Robert Oswald said LEE attended two different junior high schools in Manhattan, but the FBI only gave the WC school records for Oswald's attendance at PS 44 in the Bronx, which was 8 miles from the Pics' apartment. There is no doubt that LEE Oswald attended a school close to the Pic's apartment and, according to Robert Oswald, LEE Oswald also attended PS 44 (William J. O'Shea Junior High School) in Manhattan. However, neither the FBI nor the WC has any records from a school or schools in Manhattan. Those records disappeared long ago.

PS 44 Manhattan (Google)	PS 44 Bronx (Google)

It is well worth remembering that Oswald's original school records were given to Judge Florence Kelley, who gave those records to the FBI. However, weeks later the FBI provided the WC with only photographs (not original records) of Oswald's attendance records. And the only school records given to the WC were records from PS 117 and PS 44 in the Bronx. (It is also worth noting that there are five PS 44 schools in New York City: PS 44 Manhattan; PS 44 Bronx; PS 44 Staten Island; PS 44 Brooklyn; PS 44 Queens.) Multiple junior high schools identified as "PS 44" in New York City… how convenient to place LEE Oswald at one PS 44 in Manhattan, while at the same time placing HARVEY Oswald at a different PS 44 in the Bronx... and how utterly confusing for researchers and historians who might try to untangle and understand Oswald's attendance at "PS 44" in New York City.

The FBI and WC ignored the Warren Commission testimony of John Pic and Robert Oswald, who both said their brother (LEE Oswald) attended junior high schools in Manhattan. The FBI, after receiving Oswald's school records from Judge Kelley, provided the WC with photographs of school records from the Trinity Evangelical School and PS 117 in the Bronx--eight miles away from the Pics' apartment. Mrs. Dorrit Woolf was an art teacher and remembered young Oswald as one of her seventh grade students. She described him as a very intelligent young boy, who was very small, introverted, "slightly deaf," and who constantly truanted--this was HARVEY Oswald (NOT the tall, husky, boisterous LEE Oswald who was likely attending junior high school in Manhattan at the same time. Copies of school records for PS 117 show that (HARVEY) Oswald attended only 15 of 62 days in school during late 1952 through March 23, 1953. Mrs. Woolf remembered writing "reams" of letters to school counselors requesting help for young Oswald. HARVEY Oswald lived with his caretaker "mother" at 825 E. 179th St. from autumn, 1952 until the end of summer, 1953--only three blocks from the Bronx Zoo. HARVEY Oswald constantly truanted or attended various schools briefly, while LEE Oswald's attendance record at all schools was always very good.

John Pic's second of three contacts with his brother in New York City: In October, 1952 Robert Oswald took leave and visited John Pic and his family at their apartment in Manhattan. Pic, his wife, and Robert were invited for dinner by their mother at her apartment in the Bronx. Pic told the Warren Commission that when they sat for dinner LEE ignored them, and took his food in the living room and watched television.

HARVEY Oswald's apartment at 825 E. 179th St.  (marked "A") was just a few blocks  from the Bronx Zoo (Google).	The apartment building at 825 E. 179th St. in the Bronx

HARVEY was remembered as a "loner" by fellow student Lana Greenburg, his 12 year old neighbor. Their small apartment was only a few blocks from the Bronx Zoo, where Robert Oswald took a photo of the young, small, slender HARVEY in 1953. Robert Oswald most certainly knew this small, quiet, introverted boy was not his brother. When this photograph was shown to John Pic he told the Warren Commission, "Sir, from that photo I could not recognize that is Lee Harvey Oswald." John Pic refused to identify HARVEY Oswald as his brother.

LEE Oswald 1952--Fort Worth 6th grade photo	HARVEY Oswald 1953--Bronx Zoo, NYC

The Warren Commission also asked John Pic to identify a photo of HARVEY Oswald handing out leaflets (FPCC) in New Orleans in 1963. Pic said, "No, sir; I would be unable to recognize him." John Pic told the WC that he did not recognize the man handing out leaflets, the same man accused of killing JFK, that he did not recognize this man as his half-brother.

I personally spoke with John Pic over the telephone during a trip through Lynn Haven, Florida. When I asked Pic about his refusal to identify HARVEY Oswald as his brother he replied, "I gave my testimony to the Warren Commission. I stand by that and have nothing further to say." Robert Oswald, however, always identified photos of HARVEY Oswald as his brother.

NOTE: Robert knew about HARVEY and LEE since 1952. John Pic first met HARVEY Oswald on Thanksgiving day, 1962 at Robert Oswald's home.

John Pic's third and final contact with his brother (LEE Oswald) in New York City: In February, 1953, Marguerite Claverie Oswald once again invited Pic and his wife for dinner. Pic told the Warren Commission, "As my wife and I walked in, Lee walked out and my mother informed us that he would probably go to the Bronx Zoo. We had Sunday dinner, and in the course of the conversation my mother informed me that Lee was having a truancy problem and that the school officials had suggested that he might need psychiatric aid to combat his truancy problem." This was the last time Pic would see his brother in New York City. In September, 1953 Pic was transferred to Norfolk, VA.

HARVEY Oswald's continual truancy at PS 117 came to the attention of the Bureau of Attendance. On April 14, 1953 HARVEY Oswald was adjudged a "school truant," ordered to appear in court, and then remanded to the Youth House in Manhattan. Psychologist Irving Sokolow described young Oswald as a slender youngster and gave him an IQ test. HARVEY achieved a score of 118, considerably higher than the IQ score of 102 that LEE Oswald received in Ft. Worth. Probation Officer John Carro interviewed the Marguerite Oswald impostor and HARVEY Oswald. Carro described young Oswald (HARVEY) as a small boy, a bright boy, a likeable boy, and remembered that he was extremely guarded when discussing certain areas of his life. Carro took Oswald (HARVEY) to the office of Psychiatrist Milton Kurian.

click to see 1998 interview of Dr. Kurian

Dr. Kurian was surprised to learn that Oswald was 13 years old. Dr. Kurian said, "He appeared quite small for his age and stood no more than 4 ft 6 or 4 ft 8. He was very quiet and introverted. Oswald (HARVEY) told Dr. Kurian that he never went to school but, on occasion, his brother would substitute for him and take his place in school. On May 1, Youth House Psychiatrist Renatus Hartogs examined Oswald. In his book, The Two Assassins, Hartogs described Oswald (HARVEY) as "a slender, dark-haired boy with a pale, haunted face.... I remember thinking how slight he seemed for his 13 years. He had an underfed look, reminiscent of the starved children I had seen in concentration camps."

Dr. Kurian later became President of the New York Chapter of the American Psychiatric Association. Following the assassination he wrote a letter to Jackie Kennedy and told her about his meeting with young Oswald in 1953, but Dr. Kurian was never interviewed by the FBI, HSCA, or any government agency.

While Harvey Oswald was in the Youth House, John Carro interviewed the short, heavy-set Marguerite Oswald impostor. This "Marguerite" told Carro that Oswald's father died at age 45, when in fact he died at age 42. She said that she and her husband were married for the first time on July 19, 1929, when in fact Marguerite Claverie and Robert E. Lee Oswald were married on July 15, 1933 and it was the second marriage for both. This "Marguerite Oswald" impostor told Carro that their family owned a home in Corning, Texas, but there was never a city in Texas with the name "Corning."She gave an incorrect date for Oswald's birthday, and then mistakenly identified her sister as Lillian Siguorette, when in fact her sister's name was Lillian Murrett. This impostor told Carro that her son was baptized at the Trinity Lutheran Church, but LEE Oswald was baptized at the Redeemer Lutheran Church in New Orleans. These are just a few of the errors made by the "Marguerite Oswald" impostor during her interview with John Carro, but she made many, many more errors as we shall see. The FBI and Warren Commission reported that young Oswald attended only 15 days of school at PS 117, failed to attend PS 44 (Bronx),and was then remanded to the Youth House. But neither the FBI nor Warren Commission explained why this habitual truant (HARVEY) waspromoted from the 7th to the 8th grade. The reason, of course, is that it was HARVEY who truanted from PS 117 and PS 44 (Bronx) and was never promoted. It was LEE Oswald, with a good attendance record from PS 44 in Manhattan (Spring, 1953), who transferred to PS 44 in the Bronx. While HARVEY Oswald and his caretaker/mother were living on 179th Street, Marguerite and LEE were living in a basement apartment at 1455 Sheridan when LEE began attending PS 44 (Bronx).

Summer of 1953

During the summer of 1953 Louise Robertson worked for the Marguerite Oswald impostor as a housekeeper 2 or 3 days a week for 6 weeks. Mrs. "Oswald" (the impostor) told Louise that she had brought her son to New York so that he could have mental tests performed at the Jacobi Hospital. Could young HARVEY Oswald, instead of truanting, have been spending some of his days at the Jacobi Hospital? Mrs. Robertson told the FBI that Mrs. Oswald (the impostor) left New York City in the summer of 1953, but she did not know where they had gone.

Stanley, North Dakota

In the summer of 1953 12-year-old William Henry Timmer was living with his grandmother in the small community of Stanley, North Dakota. Timmer and his friends were riding bicycles when they noticed an older boy riding a bicycle nearby. This boy introduced himself as HARV or HARVEY, said he came from New York City, and soon began talking about communism. He took a pamphlet about communism from his back pocket and showed it to the boys. Following the assassination, Timmer's mother wrote a letter to President Johnson and advised that young Oswald had briefly lived in Stanley, North Dakota and knew her son. This was the first time that the small, slender, introverted Oswald referred to himself as "HARVEY." Mrs. Timmer's letter was sent to the FBI, who then interviewed Timmer. (Read more about North Dakota here)

Fall, 1953

In the fall of 1953 LEE Oswald entered the 8th grade at PS 44 in the Bronx.  After the assassination SAC John Malone, the FBI agent in charge of the New York Office, inspected Oswald's original court file in the presence of Judge Florence Kelley. Judge Kelley would not allow Malone to take the file to the FBI office, but she did allow Malone to take notes. Malone took notes and sent a report to FBI Director Hoover the following day. Malone wrote, "Oswald's attendance record at PS #44  was 171 and 11 half-days present and 18 and 11 half days absent. If LEE Oswald's 182 days of attendance (171 full days, 11 1/2 days) and 18 absences are plotted on a 1953 calendar it is easy to see that LEE Oswald attended PS 44 full time during the entire 1953 school year (January thru December, 1953). A normal school year is 180 days. The only way LEE Oswald could have attended 171 days of school at "PS 44" in the 1953 school year is if he attended both PS 44 in Manhattan (Spring, 1953) and PS 44 in the Bronx (fall, 1953).  We now understand that it was the small, thin HARVEY Oswald who was interviewed by John Carro, appeared in Childrens Court, and was placed in Youth House. The taller, huskier LEE Oswald was never interviewed by John Carro, never appeared in Children's Court, and was never in the Youth House.

In 1953, while HARVEY and his caretaker/mother were living on 179th Street, Marguerite and LEE were living in a basement apartment at 1455 Sheridan while LEE was attending PS 44. After the assassination SAC John Malone, the FBI agent in charge of the New York Office, inspected Oswald's original court file in the presence of Judge Florence Kelley. Malone took notes and sent a report to FBI Director Hoover the following day. Malone wrote, "Oswald's attendance record at PS #44 from 3/23/53 to 1/12/54 was 171 and 11 half-days present and 18 and 11 half days absent. If LEE Oswald's 182 days of attendance (171 full days, 11 1/2 days) and 18 absences are plotted on 1953 and 1954 calendars it is easy to see that LEE Oswald attended PS 44 full time during the entire 1953 school year. LEE Oswald attended PS 44 regularly, was not truant from January through March 23, 1953, did not attend court, and was not placed in Youth House from April 16 through May 7, 1953.  LEE Oswald attended PS 44 in Manhattan while HARVEY Oswald was truanting from PS 117 in the Bronx during the fall semester of 1952. In 1953 LEE Oswald attended PS 44 in Manhattan, while HARVEY Oswald truanted and was eventually placed in the Youth House (Spring semester, 1953).

This New York City Board of Education record shows that LEE Oswald attended Public School 44  starting 3/23/53 and extending through mid-January 1954

The photograph above allegedly shows that HARVEY Oswald attended 171 days of school at PS 44 in the Bronx, which is impossible.It was HARVEY Oswald who was chronically absent/truant from PS 117 in October, November, December, 1952 and in January, February, and March, 1953. It was HARVEY Oswald who was placed in Youth House from April 16 through May 7. It was the small, thin, 4 ft. 8 inches tall, malnourished HARVEY who appeared with the Marguerite Oswald impostor in court on numerous occasions and was interviewed by psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers at Youth House. While HARVEY was truanting school, and confined in the Youth House (in Manhattan), LEE Oswald was attending PS 44--first in Manhattan, and later PS 44 in the Bronx.

Further confirmation that LEE Oswald (not HARVEY) attended PS 44 (Bronx) in 1953 can be found by looking at Oswald's health card which is dated "May, 1953," likely when he first entered PS 44 in the Bronx. This health card shows LEE Oswald's height at 5 ft 4 1/2 inches and his weight as 114 lbs--clearly not the 4 ft. 8 inch HARVEY Oswald who was interviewed by Dr. Kurian at Youth House the previous month. Or the malnourished youth remembered by Dr. Hartogs in the Youth House. Or the small boy remembered by probation officer John Carro. The boy who attended PS 44 for 171 days was the tall, well-built LEE Oswald from Ft. Worth--the tallest kid in his sixth grade class who always attended school regularly. Three months later, in September, 1953, LEE Oswald's height was listed on his eighth grade health card at 5 ft. 4 inches. The 1952-53 junior high school records (New York) are very important "smoking guns" because they show the school records of HARVEY and LEE were merged together (by the FBI), photographed (original records destroyed) and then given to the WC in an attempt to show there was only one "Lee Harvey Oswald."

In the fall of 1953 LEE Oswald was attending the eighth grade at PS 44 in in the Bronx (New York). HARVEY Oswald and his caretaker/mother moved from Stanley, North Dakota to New Orleans and were living at 126 Exchange Place. HARVEY Oswald was enrolled in the eighth grade at Beauregard Junior High, and because he attended school only part-time he was not assigned a home room. On page 817, of Warren Volume 22, there is a copy of Oswald's cumulative school records at Beauregard.  The first row, highlighted in yellow, is the fall semester of 1953 and shows that Oswald attended a General Science class, a Physical Education class, and attended 89 days of school with only one absence. The second row is for the last half of the eighth grade (spring semester).  The third row shows final grades, absences, and tardies for the entire 53-54 school year (eighth grade).

1953 Beauregard JHS record showing HARVEY Oswald attended 89 days of school during the fall semester of 1953, at the same time LEE Oswald attended PS 44 in New York City. See HARVEY's complete attendance and grade information for the fall 1953 semester directly below.

Wilfred Head, assistant principal at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, provided HARVEY Oswald's grade and  attendance records for Beauregard JHS (8th & 9th grade) and Warren Easton HS (10th grade) to the FBI. The record above  shows HARVEY'S grades under "1953-54 REPORT 1" (General Science & Physical Education), which is the 1st half  of the 1953-54 school year--the fall semester of 1953.

The document above shows that HARVEY Oswald attended 89 days and was  absent just one day in the 1953 fall semester at Beauregard JHS  (1953-54 REPORT 1).		The above record continues the text from the bottom of the page at left. Assistant Principal Wilfred Head advised the FBI that the abbreviation "Re ad," represented "Re Admitted" and added that the numbers set forth opposite these abbreviations would represent the total number of school days attended. HARVEY Oswald attended 89 days of school at Beauregard JHS during the fall semester of 1953.

THE  3 DOCUMENTS ABOVE CLEARLY SHOW THAT HARVEY OSWALD ATTENDED BEAUREGARD JHS IN NEW ORLEANS IN THE FALL OF 1953 (HIGHLIGHTED IN YELLOW). THE NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL RECORD PUBLISHED BY THE WARREN COMMISSION (CE 1384), SHOWS THAT LEE OSWALD WAS ATTENDING PS 44 IN NEW YORK CITY AT THE SAME TIME (FALL OF 1953--HIGHLIGHTED IN YELLOW). HARVEY WAS IN NEW ORLEANS, WHILE LEE WAS IN NEW YORK, FROM SEPTEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER, 1953.

At the beginning of the 2nd semester (eighth grade), in January, 1954, HARVEY walked into Myra DaRouse's eighth grade home room in the basement cafeteria at Beauregard Junior High. The 1953-54 school year was the only year during which Myra had a home room, and she remembered the day she met young Oswald. Myra told me, "Well, the first day he came into my homeroom he handed me his file. When I read that his name was Lee Harvey Oswald, I said to him, 'how do you want to be called,' and he told me to call him HARVEY. So, I always called him HARVEY. I knew him only as HARVEY." This was the second time that the thin, slender young man called himself "HARVEY." In the summer of 1953 and the Spring of 1954 young Oswald wanted to be called "HARVEY," so after talking with Bill Timmer and Myra DaRouse I began referring to the smaller, thinner, quiet Oswald as "HARVEY."

click here for 1997 interview of Myra DaRouse

Myra described young HARVEY as "a little fellow, scrawny, skinny, and quiet. He came to the middle of my chest-about 4 ft 6 inches tall." When LEE Oswald began attending Beauregard JHS in January, 1954, he filled out a personal history sheet whereupon he listed his height at 5'5" and his weight at 135 lbs. LEE Oswald was much heavier and slightly taller than Myra, whereas HARVEY Oswald was very thin and quite a bit shorter than Myra. She saw HARVEY nearly every day before school, sitting on the front steps waiting for the school to open, and thought he was lonely. She saw him in her homeroom class, in the school library, and after school riding bicycles on the school grounds with Ed Voebel. On one occasion, after school, Voebel ran up to Myra and shouted, "Miss DaRouse come quick... come quick... a piano fell on HARVEY." Myra and fellow teacher Dorothy Duvic followed Voebel into the basement cafeteria and found HARVEY, on the floor, with a small upright piano lying across his legs. The two women lifted the piano off of HARVEY and then, with the Principal's permission, Myra drove HARVEY to the Monte Lepre Clinic on Canal Street. After examination by a physician, Myra drove HARVEY to his home on Exchange Alley and asked where his mother was. HARVEY replied, "She's working in a bar." A photograph of HARVEY's caretaker, the Marguerite Oswald imposter (photo below left), was taken during the spring of 1954 in the apartment on Exchange Alley.

Marguerite Oswald imposter in 1954 in the apartment at 126 Exchange Place, New Orleans	1994 image of 126 Exchange Alley in New Orleans (J. Armstrong)

March 2, 1954 was Mardi Gras, and young Harvey Oswald was watching the parade on Canal St, a half-block from his home on 126 Exchange. In the National Archives I found and copied several photos that were taken of the parade, and Harvey Oswald is in one of these photos. In 2002 I sent Myra DaRouse a photo of a young boy watching the parade with a handwritten notation on the back of the photo "Mardi Gras, 1954." I asked Myra if she could identify the young boy in the photo. Myra wrote to me and said, "I have had four people look at these photos who knew Oswald at his time at Beauregard and they (and myself) agreed it was a picture of him."

In early January, 1954, Marguerite Claverie Oswald and LEE left New York and relocated in New Orleans. LEE Oswald and his tall, nice-looking mother rented an apartment at 1454 St. Marys St. The apartment building was owned and operated by Julian and Myrtle Evans, who had known the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Claverie Oswald for over 20 years. Mrs. Evans told the FBI that Marguerite and her son (LEE) lived in their building for 8 months (January thru August, 1954). Julian described Marguerite as, "a beautiful woman with black hair, a real 'fashion plate' who dressed beautifully." While LEE Oswald and his mother were living at 1454 St. Mary's HARVEY Oswald and his caretaker mother were living 3 1/2 miles away in the small apartment on Exchange Alley.

Marguerite Oswald (mother of LEE) in 1957	1994 image of 1454 (and 1452) St. Marys St., New Orleans, owned by Myrtle Evans, Marguerite Oswald's friend for 30 years. Marguerite and LEE lived here from January, 1954 thru April, 1955. (J. Armstrong)

Myrtle Evans had known Marguerite Oswald since the early 1930's and visited her 9 years earlier in Dallas in 1945 when Marguerite was dating Mr. Ekdahl. On February 19, 1954 Marguerite began working at Burt's Shoe Store and listed her address as 1454 St. Marys. This is the same month that Myra DaRouse LaRue drove HARVEY Oswald to his home on Exchange Place, after taking him to the Monte Lepre Clinic because a piano had fallen on his legs. Marguerite Claverie Oswald's former sister in law, Hazel Oswald, visited her on several occasions at Burt's Shoe Store. The New Orleans Retail Credit Bureau reported that Marguerite was living on St. Marys Street from May through October, 1954. While LEE and his mother were living at 1454 St. Marys, HARVEY and the Marguerite Oswald impostor were still living at 126 Exchange Place in the French Quarter.  In late August Marguerite and LEE moved from 1454 St. Marys to 126 Exchange in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

In the spring of 1954, while HARVEY was in Myra DaRouse's eighth grade homeroom class in the basement cafeteria, school records published in the Warren Commission volumes show that LEE Oswald was in homeroom 303 on the 3rd floor of Beauregard. On each and every one of LEE Oswald's eighth grade report cards is the notation "303" and a student progress report that read, "Lee Oswald, grade 8, homeroom 303." These records show that tall, husky LEE Oswald was in homeroom 303 in the eighth grade at Beauregard (spring semester of 1954), while at the same time the short, thin, quiet HARVEY Oswald was in Myra DaRouse's homeroom class in the basement cafeteria. When I told Myra that "Oswald's" school report cards listed his homeroom as "303" she said, "That's impossible. He was in my homeroom in the basement cafeteria." I then showed Myra the photo of HARVEY Oswald, taken at the Bronx Zoo in 1953 in New York. She said, "That's him, just like I remember him." And then I showed Myra the classroom photo of the tall, husky LEE Oswald taken in October, 1954 at Beauregard that appeared in Life Magazine. She looked at the photo a long time and then said, "That's not HARVEY. That's not the boy from my homeroom. Look at this boy. He looks like a football player and HARVEY was skinny." Myra saw HARVEY Oswald every day during the Spring semester of 1954 at Beauregard, before school, in her homeroom, in the school library, and after school. Ed Voebel and HARVEY were good friends, and were always riding their bicycles together after school. Voebel was with HARVEY when the piano fell on his legs. But after school ended in early June, 1954 (8th grade) neither Myra nor Voebel ever saw HARVEY Oswald again.

4'8" HARVEY Oswald at Bronx Zoo in 1953. John Pic testified this did not appear to be his half-brother.	5'4" LEE Oswald at Beauregard  JHS in 1954, John Pic's real half brother.

About ten years later, on Aug 16, 1963, HARVEY Oswald was passing out Fair Play For Cuba  Committee literature in front of Clay Shaw's International Trade Mart in New Orleans.  John  Pic told the Warren Commission, again, he could not recognize this man as his half-brother.

In September, 1954 Ed Voebel and LEE Oswald, who did not know each other, entered the ninth grade at Beauregard. In October Marguerite Oswald wrote a letter to her son, John Pic, and said that she was working at Burt's Shoe Store, three blocks from her apartment. The return address on the envelope was "126 Exchange Place." From this letter we now know that LEE and Marguerite moved from 1452 St. Marys St (apartment building owned by Julian and Myrtle Evans) to 126 Exchange in the fall of 1954.

NOTE: as we shall soon see, HARVEY Oswald and the Marguerite Oswald impostor left New Orleans and moved to Ft. Worth, Texas

In October, 1954, Ed Voebel saw a young boy in a fight with Johnny and Mike Neymeyer. After the fight ended Voebel helped to clean up the young man. He thought the boy lost a tooth during the fight, and soon became friends with the tall, husky LEE Oswald. A few days later Voebel was with Oswald on the steps of Beauregard when a young man named Robin Reilly punched LEE Oswald in the mouth, cutting his lip badly. Once again Voebel helped clean up LEE Oswald and their friendship began to develop. Soon after the fight Voebel took a photo of LEE Oswald sitting at his desk in Helen DuFour's English class at Beauregard, which he later sold to Life Magazine for $75. Seven months later Voebel attended a pre-high school conference with LEE Oswald at Warren Easton High School. A month later, in June, 1955, Voebel and LEE Oswald began to attend Civil Air Patrol meetings.

As their friendship developed Voebel began visiting Oswald in his apartment at 126 Exchange Place in the French Quarter. Following the assassination of JFK Voebel saw the Marguerite Oswald impostor's photo on TV and in the newspaper and told the Warren Commission, "I had a picture in my mind which was different from when I saw her in the paper after all of this happened. I didn't recognize her."  When Ed Voebel visited LEE Oswald, at 126 Exchange Place, he saw and met Marguerite Claverie Oswald, the woman in the photo below on the left. When Voebel saw "Mrs. Oswald" on television after the assassination he saw the "Marguerite Oswald impostor," in the photo below on the right. Now we can understand why Voebel did not recognize the woman that he saw in the newspapers (circa 1963) as the woman he had previously met at 126 Exchange.

5'7" Marguerite Oswald at Pauls Shoe Store in 1957	Marguerite impostor looking up at 5'1" Marina after the assassination of JFK

Voebel was a young man who befriended the short, skinny HARVEY Oswald in the 8th grade (winter/spring, 1954) and tall, husky LEE Oswald in the 9th grade (fall, 1954). He met LEE's mother, the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Oswald, but did not recognize the Marguerite Oswald impostor after the assassination. Voebel's friendship with the small, quiet HARVEY Oswald in the 8th grade, and later with the taller, husky LEE Oswald in the 9th grade, was nothing more than a coincidence but was likely the reason he died at age 31.

After President Kennedy was assassinated, anyone who had known or had come in contact and befriended both HARVEY and LEE was of serious concern to the CIA. The man accused of killing President Kennedy was not the tall, husky, American born LEE Harvey Oswald. The accused assassin was the small, quiet, Russian-speaking HARVEY Oswald who was brought to this country along with thousands of refugees after WWII. He was given to a "caretaker" (the Marguerite Oswald impostor) and both were given new names--"Marguerite Oswald" and "Lee HARVEY Oswald." This was the beginning of the "Oswald Project." For the next 10 years, the short, heavy-set caretaker and HARVEY Oswald would follow and mirror the activities of the real Marguerite Claverie Oswald and her son, the tall, husky LEE Harvey Oswald. These "families" often lived in the same cities and HARVEY and LEE often attended the same schools. As young adults HARVEY and LEE joined the Marine Corps, both went thru basic and ITR training, and both attended radar school. In the fall of 1957 LEE Oswald joined the Marines and was sent to Japan, while HARVEY Oswald and his mother lived at the Hotel Senator in New Orleans. HARVEY Oswald got a job at the Pfisterer Dental Lab, directly across the street from the Hotel Senator. HARVEY Oswald soon became close friends with fellow co-worker Palmer McBride and worked at the lab until May, 1958. In September, 1958 HARVEY Oswald returned to the Marine Corps and was sent briefly to Japan and then to Taiwan. In late October HARVEY was sent to the Marine base in Santa Ana, Calif., where he took and passed a Russian language test, listened constantly to Russian records, read Russian newspapers, and let everyone know of his interest in Russia, Cuba, and communism. Russian speaking HARVEY had now replaced LEE Oswald. On November 2, 1958 LEE Oswald boarded the USS Barrett in Japan, and on November 15 he arrived in San Francisco and took military leave. In early 1958 LEE Oswald was assigned to the 5000 man Marine Corp jet base in El Toro, CA. According to Assistant Provost Marshall Gorsky, who was stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station (the jet base) at El Toro in 1959, LEE Harvey Oswald was discharged from the Marine base in March 1959. During the remainder of  1959, LEE Oswald was seen in Florida and Louisiana. In September, 1959, HARVEY Oswald traveled to Europe and soon "defected" to the Soviet Union. The CIA now had a trained and Russian-speaking agent in Russia.

HARVEY Oswald and his Russian wife and child returned to the USA in June, 1962. A year later HARVEY would be "set-up" and "framed" as a communist-minded supporter of Castro and accused of shooting and killing President Kennedy and Officer J. D. Tippit. Following the assassination, anyone who knew or came in contact with both HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald posed a serious threat to the CIA. Knowledge of two "Lee Harvey Oswalds" could uncover and expose the CIA's Oswald project, and establish a direct link with the CIA to the assassination of President Kennedy.  If Ed Voebel were to realize that the accused assassin of JFK was HARVEY Oswald, who he knew in the 8th grade at Beauregard JHS, and not LEE Oswald, who he knew in the 9th grade at Beauregard JHS and the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), then Voebel's coincidental friendship with HARVEY and LEE had the potential to expose the "Oswald project."
 
What did Ed Voebel know? From Myra DaRouse we know that Voebel and HARVEY Oswald were good friends (interview of Myra DaRouse) in the Winter/Spring of 1954. An FBI document (below) refers to an interview of Voebel wherein he (Voebel) states that he visited Oswald at his apartment in the Senator Hotel. JFK researchers, however, have been unable to locate this FBI interview of Voebel, and there are no existing documents that show the FBI, Warren Commission, nor anyone asked or questioned Voebel about his friendship with HARVEY Oswald during the spring semester of 1954. . We know that Voebel met LEE Oswald for the first time in October, 1954, when LEE got into a fight with Johnny Neumeyer. Voebel frequently visited LEE Oswald and his mother at 126 Exchange Place, after his weekly music lesson. Their friendship continued thru the early summer of 1955 when both attended meetings of the CAP at Moissant Airport in New Orleans (television interview on 11/23/63, FBI reports, and his Warren Commission testimony). Below is a photo of LEE Oswald, wearing a CAP uniform, purchased by Robert Oswald in July, 1955. This uniform, cap, tie, and attached CAP logos belonged to LEE Oswald, and were not found among HARVEY Oswald's possessions after the assassination.

Lee Oswald, July 1955

Ed Voebel's knowledge of HARVEY and LEE may have been the reason that he died at the young age of 31, only one day after being admitted to the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans in May, 1971. Voebel's father said that his son, healthy one day and dead the following day, died under mysterious circumstances.  He told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he thought his son's death had something to do with Oswald and the JFK assassination, but he had no proof.

NOTE: In 1961 Dr. Alton Ochsner, founder of the Ochsner Clinic, set up the Information Council of the Americas (INCA). CIA-connected Ed Butler was appointed executive director and in 1963 conducted a radio interview with HARVEY Oswald on WDSU radio. This radio station was owned by Edgar and Edith Stern, who were major financial contributors to INCA. Another major supporter and financial contributor was Eustis Riley, of the Riley Coffee Company, who hired HARVEY Oswald in June, 1963. Another supporter and close friend of Ochsner's was the CIA's Clay Shaw, director of the International House, the large building where CIA agent William Gaudet watched HARVEY Oswald pass out FPCC literature. Shaw was indicted by DA Jim Garrison and charged with participating in the assassination of President Kennedy. While Clay Shaw was director of the International House, Dr. Alton Ochsner was president of the International House. The FBI file on Dr. Ochsner shows a long and involved relationship with the US military, the FBI, and other US government agencies. According to Ed Veobel's sister, her brother was admitted to and died at the Ochsner Clinic. The local newspaper, however, reported that Ed Voebel died at the Memorial Hospital.

After graduating from the eighth grade at Beauregard (June, 1954), HARVEY Oswald and his caretaker/mother relocated to Ft. Worth, TX and lived in a small duplex apartment at 2220 Thomas Place. In September 1954, HARVEY Oswald entered the ninth grade at Stripling Junior High in Ft. Worth (at the same time LEE Oswald was in the ninth grade at Beauregard Junior High in New Orleans and living at 126 Exchange Place). That same year, an eighth grade student at Stripling, Francetta Schubert, ate her lunch on the school grounds every day and watched HARVEY as he walked across the street to his house at 2220 Thomas Place for lunch. She described Oswald (HARVEY) as a skinny, quiet boy who wore a brown leather jacket and blue jeans. Fran used to see Oswald's mother and remembered that she was short, heavy-set, and always wore a white nurse's uniform.

click here for 1997 interview with Fran Schubert

2220 Thomas Place was probably the same house where the Marguerite Oswald impostor stored clothes and furniture when she lived across the street from Georgia Bell in 1947. In the fall of 1954 Marguerite and HARVEY lived in a small apartment at the rear of this white, one story, wood-frame building. Nine years later, on November 22, 1963, after moving many times and living in many different cities, the Marguerite Oswald impostor was once again living at 2220 Thomas Place, and wearing a white nurse's uniform. From 1940 through 1963 this house was owned by Mary Anne McCarthy and Martha M McCarthy. The Marguerite Oswald impostor's repeated contacts with 2220 Thomas Place in 1947, 1954, and 1963, while always wearing a white nurse's uniform, makes this location a possible "safe house" and a "smoking gun." Oswald's fellow classmate Doug Gann remembered that Oswald (HARVEY) played basketball, shot baskets after school, and lived in a white house across the street. Bobby Pitts used to play touch football in front of 2220 Thomas Place and remembered that Oswald often stood on the front porch and watched. Gym teacher Mark Summers, who began teaching at Stripling Junior High in 1950, remembered that Oswald was in his gym class.

Early Saturday morning, the day after the assassination, Mr. Wylie, principal of Stripling Junior High, called the assistant principal, Frank Kudlaty, at his home. Mr. Wylie told Kudlaty to immediately go to Stripling and meet two FBI agents who would arrive shortly and to give them Oswald's school records. In 1963 school records from prior years were kept at each school. In the mid-1960s school records from all Ft. Worth schools were transferred to the new Ft. Worth Independent School District where they were organized and stored. Frank told me, "I lived close to the school at that time and arrived at the school before they (the FBI agents) got there. I went into the school and located Oswald's records. In fact I found both Lee Harvey and Robert Oswald's records for Stripling. I opened Lee Harvey Oswald's folder and briefly looked over his records and noted that he had attended less than a full semester at Stripling. He had been there long enough to receive grades for a 6-week period, but not long enough to receive semester grades. I think he was in the 9th grade. I put the records back into the folder and waited for the FBI agents. When they arrived, they showed me their badges for identification and asked for the records. I told them that I had located both Lee Harvey and Robert Oswald's records and asked if they wanted both. They told me they only wanted Lee Harvey Oswald's records. After I handed the records to them, they thanked me and left. I locked up the school and went home." HARVEY Oswald's junior high school records from Stripling, confiscated within 20 hours of the assassination, clearly show that FBI Director Hoover knew those Stripling records could expose the two Oswalds. The confiscation and disappearance of the Stripling records is another "smoking gun" and shows that Hoover probably had prior knowledge of HARVEY and LEE.

click here for 1997 interview with Frank Kudlaty

A pre-requisite for admission to Stripling Junior High, and most schools, were records from the previous school. According to Mr. Kudlaty, there were no records from a previous school in Oswald's file. This may have been the reason that HARVEY Oswald left Stripling before completing a full semester in the fall of 1954. In early 1955 HARVEY Oswald and his caretaker/mother left Ft. Worth and returned to New Orleans. The Marguerite Oswald impostor soon found work at the Dolly Shoe Company, while HARVEY applied for a work permit on March 11, listing his address as 126 Exchange. HARVEY soon began working full-time at Dolly Shoe, along with his caretaker/mother. A copy of his work permit was sent to Mary Miller, a social worker at Beauregard. Mary recalled handling a case that involved a student who lived on Exchange Alley and remembered there was an attendance problem. HARVEY had the attendance problem because he was working full time at Dolly Shoe in the Spring of 1955, when he should have been attending junior high school. While HARVEY was working at Dolly Shoe, LEE Oswald was attending Beauregard with a near-perfect attendance record. Store manager Maury Goodman and co-worker Rita Paveur remembered that the short, heavy-set Marguerite worked as a bar-maid at local bars both before and after she worked for Dolly Shoe. A year earlier, in the spring of 1954, HARVEY Oswald told his homeroom teacher, Myra DaRouse, that his mother worked at a bar. I sent Mr. Goodman and Rita photographs of the short, heavy-set Marguerite Oswald impostor in 1954 and photographs of HARVEY Oswald from the 1956/57 Arlington Heights High School year book. They immediately recognized HARVEY and the Marguerite Oswald impostor as their former co-workers. They remembered Oswald as skinny boy-about 4 ft 10 inches tall, and Marguerite as short and heavy-set. I also sent them a photo of the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Oswald taken at Christmas, 1957 (Pauls Shoe Store) and the classroom photo of LEE Oswald taken at Beauregard in 1954. Nether Mr. Goodman nor Rita recognized either of these people.

In April, 1955 Mr. Goodman hired Louis Marziale as store manager, and his first day at work was Tuesday, April 12--the day his first son was born. Louis arrived at 10:00 am and began observing HARVEY Oswald and other store employees. While having lunch with Mr. Goodman, Louis recommended they fire young Oswald, which they did. Marguerite was also fired because she repeatedly refused to fill out insurance company bonding forms, which if completed may have raised unanswerable questions relating to two different women both using the name "Marguerite Oswald". After Marguerite was fired, Louis recalled that she worked at the Tradewinds Bar on Decatur Street.

click to see 1997 interview with Louis Marziale

It appears as though the Marguerite Oswald impostor did her best to find employment where she could be paid in cash and avoid providing a social security number, personal information, be subject to withholding tax, reporting by the credit bureau--anything to keep from creating duplicate records for Marguerite Oswald. It may come as no surprise that Marguerite Oswald's federal tax returns remain classified to this day. According to the New Orleans Realty Company, when Marguerite Oswald (the impostor) moved from 126 Exchange Place (fall, 1954), she left behind unpaid gas and electric bills. HARVEY Oswald's full-time employment at Dolly Shoe (January thru April, 1955), which conflicts with LEE Oswald's near perfect attendance record at Beauregard in the spring of 1955, is another "smoking gun."

In late August, 1954, HARVEY and the Marguerite Oswald impostor left the apartment at 126 Exchange and moved to 2220 Thomas Place in Ft. Worth, Texas. LEE and Marguerite left 1452 St. Marys (Myrtle and Julian Evans' apartment building) and moved into 126 Exchange Place. It was here (126 Exchange) that Ed Voebel met the tall, nice-looking Marguerite and visited LEE Oswald nearly every time he had his weekly music lesson at nearby Werlein's Music Store (winter, 1954; spring, 1955). After LEE completed the 9th grade in May, 1955, he began working at the Gerard F. Tujague Company under the direction of Frank DiBenedetto. LEE's employment at Tujague's was remembered by his brother Robert, who stayed with LEE and his mother for a week in mid-summer 1955. Frank DiBenedetto told the HSCA that Oswald worked at Tujague's "a year to a year and a half," which was much longer than reported by the Warren Commission.

NOTE: According to Mr. DiBenedetto LEE Oswald worked at Tujague's "a year to a year and a half." The Warren Commission, however, said that Oswald worked at Tujague's only 2 months. I needed to meet and talk with Frank DiBenedetto.

I met Frank at the Tujague office in the Sanlin Building in 1995, the same address and the same office where LEE Oswald worked from June, 1955 thru August, 1956.

Frank told me, like he told the HSCA, that Oswald (LEE) worked with him "a year, maybe longer." I asked Frank if he remembered when Oswald quit working and he said, "when he quit it was hot. And he quit to join the Marines." which means that LEE Oswald worked at Tujague's a little over a year, from early summer, 1955, until the end of summer in 1956 (LEE moved to Texas and joined the Marines in Oct, 1956). Frank described Oswald, then 16 years old, as well-built and about 5 ft 10 inches tall--very different from the skinny, 4 ft 10 inch HARVEY Oswald who worked for Dolly Shoe just a few months earlier. In 1995 Tujague secretary Gloria Callaghan was still working for the company. She remembered that LEE Oswald was still working at Tujague's when she went on maternity leave in March, 1956.

THE FBI MERGES SCHOOL AND WORK

RECORDS FOR HARVEY AND LEE 

LEE Oswald working at Tujagues from June, 1955-July/August, 1956 was a serious problem, as it conflicted with HARVEY Oswald's attendance at Warren Easton HS in Sept, 1955, HARVEY Oswald's employment at J.R. Michaels in January, 1956, and HARVEY Oswald's employment at the Pfisterer Dental Lab in 1957-58. The day after the assassination the FBI confiscated all of LEE Oswald's original payroll records, time cards, and pay checks from Tujague's. The FBI then selected and photographed time cards and payroll records that purported to show that Oswald worked at Tujague's only two months--in late 1955 (Nov, Dec, 1955) and early 1956 (Jan--2 weeks).  By limiting the time that LEE Oswald worked at Tujague's, the FBI was now able to include HARVEY Oswald's attendance at Warren Easton High School (fall, 1955),  HARVEY Oswald's employment at J.R, Michaels (January, 1956) HARVEY Oswald's employment at Pfisterer's (Oct, 1957--June, 1958), and HARVEY'S attendance at Warren Easton High School (Sept,Oct, 1955).  By altering the time that LEE Oswald worked at Tujague's from 15 months to 2 months the FBI was now able to show the Warren Commission the teenage background of a ficticious Lee Harvey Oswald, as shown in column #3.

HARVEY OSWALD	LEE OSWALD	COMBINING HARVEY AND LEE
Sept, 1955: HARVEY attended Warren Easton HS in New Orleans Jan, 1956: LHO 1 week at J.R. Michaels Co, New Orleans Oct, 1957--June, 1958; HARVEY at Pfisterer Dental Lab, New Orleans	June, 1955--Sep-1956: LEE Oswald work at Tujague's Oct, 1956--Mar, 1959: LEE Oswald in Marine Corps	Sept, 1955: LHO at Warren Easton HS, New Orleans Nov, Dec, 1955--Jan-1956: LHO work at Tujague's Jan, 1956: LHO 1 week at J.R. Michaels Co, New Orleans Spring, 1956 (NO DATES!!) LHO at Pfisterer Dental Lab

NOTE:  Both the JR Michael Co. and Tujague's were located in the Sanlin Building on Canal St. During one week in January, 1956, HARVEY Oswald worked for Nick Mazza at the JR Michaels Co on the 3rd floor while LEE Oswald worked for Frank Dibenedetto at Tujague's on the 4th floor. When I met Nick Mazza in his office, he gave me a copy of a payroll check written to Oswald in January, 1956. HARVEY Oswald only worked for JR Michaels for one week, and I always wondered why? One possibility was the requirement by US Customs that personnel working for shipping/freight forwarding companies be "authenticated." Somehow, 15 year old LEE Oswald, who began working for Tujague's in June, 1955, had been properly "authenticated." But it is very unlikely that HARVEY Oswald could have been "authenticated" by local US Customs officials using the same name, same birthday, and similar identification as provided by LEE Oswald. This may be the reason that HARVEY quit JR Michaels after working only one week.

The Warren Commission accepted FBI photographs of Oswald's time cards from Tujague's that were used to "merge" the work and school history of both HARVEY and LEE into one ficticious person. If either the FBI or the Warren Commission had wanted to verify Oswald's employment, they could have done so by obtaining payroll records from the Louisiana Dept of Revenue, tax information from the IRS, or employment records from the Social Security administration. However, if they secured these records then the existence of HARVEY Oswald and LEE Oswald would have been exposed.

In the fall of 1955, while LEE was working at Tujague's, HARVEY Oswald was attending Warren Easton High School (September 10 through October 10, 1955). In order for 15-year old LEE Oswald to legally obtain employment, a work permit was needed from the Louisiana Department of Labor. And anyone who worked for a customs broker, like the Tujague Company, was required to be authenticated by the Export Control Section of the US Customs office. All employees were required to appear in person at the Customs Office, fill out forms, provide identification, and were interviewed and photographed. But there is no indication the FBI located or tried to locate a work permit or authentication file for LEE Oswald, and none exists today.

While LEE Oswald was working for Tujague's and living at 126 Exchange, from the fall of 1954 through the summer of 1956, where were HARVEY and the Marguerite Oswald impostor living? We know that in the fall of 1954 HARVEY and the MO impostor were living at 2220 Thomas Place in Ft. Worth, Texas, across the street from Stripling Junior High. In early 1955 HARVEY and the MO impostor returned to New Orleans and began working at the Dolly Shoe Company (January thru April, 1955), but where were they living? HARVEY Oswald began attending Warren Easton High School on Canal Street in September, 1955, so they probably lived nearby. Their address, however, is unknown. The New Orleans City directory for 1956 (which provides information on residents from 1955) lists two Marguerite Oswalds. One listing is for Marguerite Claverie Oswald, who was then working at Kriegers Dept Store and living at 126 Exchange. A second listing shows "Margt Oswald" at 120 N. Telemachus, with no employment information. 120 N. Telemachus is just off Canal St. and is midway between Beauregard Junior High and Warren Easton High School. I was curious to find two "Marguerite Oswalds" listed in the 1956 New Orleans City directory, and only in the 1956 directory. I wanted to know more about 120 N. Telemachus.

I visited the Land Records Division of Orleans Parish and located land ownership records for 120 N. Telemachus. What I found, to my amazement, was completely unexpected. This property, since the early 1930's, was owned by the first wife of Robert Edward Lee Oswald--the father of LEE Oswald. Her name was Margaret Emma Keating (Oswald), and she was married to Robert Oswald from 1920 to 1933 (no known children). Soon after the divorce was final, in 1933, Robert Edward Lee Oswald married Marguerite Claverie (her second marriage). The divorce decree allowed Margaret Keating to keep her maiden name.  During the next 33 years, 1933 thru 1966, title to 120 N. Telemachus was in the name of Margt Keating. The 1940 Orleans Parish census shows her living at 120 N. Telemachus and employed at a local department store. The 1942 and 1944 City Directories shows a Mrs. M Keating living at 120 N. Telemachus with phone number AU 6395. The 1956 City Directory shows both a Margt Keating and a Margt Oswald living at 120 N. Telemachus. Mrs. Keating was working at Holmes Dept Store (where Marguerite Claverie Oswald and Julian Evans had worked), while LEE Oswald's mother, Marguerite Claverie Oswald, was working at Kriegers Dept Store. Why, in 1956, does the New Orleans City Directory show Marguerite Oswald and Margt Keating, both former wives of Robert E.L. Oswald, living at 120 N. Telemachus? Why?

New Orleans 1956 City Directory lists two Marguerite Oswalds, one abbreviated as "Margt."

From August, 1954 thru Sept, 1956 LEE Oswald and his mother (Marguerite Claverie Oswald) were living at 126 Exchange. Oswald's neighbor, Mildred Sawyer, told the FBI that Mrs. Oswald was working at Goldrings Dept. Store. LEE Oswald was working at Tujague's. But where were HARVEY Oswald and the MO impostor living while working on Canal St. at Dolly Shoe (winter/spring, 1955)? Where were they living from Sept thru mid-November, 1955 when HARVEY Oswald attended Warren Easton High School? They could have been living at 120 N. Telemachus, which is midway between Beauregard Junior High and Warren Easton High School.

Recent image of 120 N. Telemachus (Google)	Margaret Keating with her mother at 120 N. Telemachus

Following the assassination of JFK Margaret Keating moved into apartment #708 at 1205 St. Charles Street for two years, and then returned to her home at 120 N. Telemachus.

In Oswald's school file, at Warren Easton High School in New Orleans, there is a note that reads, "We are moving to San Diego" and is dated October 8, 1955. This is the first indication that HARVEY Oswald and his caretaker/mother may have moved to San Diego, California in late 1955 or early 1956. The second indication comes from Laura Kittrell, who interviewed HARVEY Oswald in early October, 1963 at the Texas Employment Commission. HARVEY told Mrs. Kittrell that he had lived in California. He said, "It was before I went into the Marines. It was when I was just sixteen [Oswald was 16 on October 18, 1955]. I had this messenger-boy job in California. It was a motor-scooter messenger-boy job, but I worked in the office too, filing and taking care of the mail. It was for an investment company, and I worked there six months. The name of it was the ETI Realty Company" and Laura remembered the name of the city as Encino, Calif. When Oswald mentioned the name "Murray Chotiner" Laura asked Oswald how he knew the name “Murray Chotiner.” She said, “Did you work for Murray Chotiner in California?” The young man replied, “He's a crook.” Laura wondered how the young man could have known the name of a little-known political figure in another state.  (Click for more about Kittrell)

If HARVEY Oswald lived in California in late 1955, as suggested in the note found in his file at Warren Easton High School, and the job description shown in the Folsom Exhibit below, this would explain how he knew about Murray Chotiner. The 4/12 "YEARS EXPERIENCE," shown below and listed as one of LHO's "Civilian Occupations," indicates he worked four months (4/12) as an Office Boy, likely for Murray Chotiner in California. HARVEY Oswald's only other work experience as a teenager was working in New Orleans at Dolly Shoe.

NOTE: In the year 2000, JFK researchers William Weston and Stephen Gaal searched for an “ETI Realty" in Encino, CA in 1955-56. They did not find "ETI Realty," but did find a company named “Encino Escrow Company” and another company named “Escrow Title Insurance” (possibly ETI ??) located at 16000 Ventura Blvd. and listed in the 1958 telephone directory white pages. Additional research is needed on this subject, focusing on companies owned or represented by attorney Murray Chotiner.

HARVEY and his caretaker/mother may have left New Orleans near the end of 1955 and moved to San Digeo. Six months later, in June, 1956 HARVEY and the Marguerite Oswald impostor re-located once again to Ft. Worth, and moved into an apartment in a two-story brick building at 4936 Collinwood. Robert Oswald moved in with them and opened a savings account at the West Side State Bank, listing his address as 4936 Collinwood. Robert and his future wife, Vada Mercer, became engaged while he was living in this apartment. According to their landlady, Mrs. James Taylor, Lee (HARVEY) Oswald lived in this apartment until he joined the Marines in October. Robert Oswald stayed in the apartment until he and Vada were married on November 21, 1956. Robert never introduced his future wife to HARVEY or to the Marguerite Oswald imposter, even though he was living with both of them, probably because these people were not related to him. It should also be noted that John Pic told the FBI that in his estimation Robert Oswald knows considerably more about Lee Harvey Oswald than he does. These are some of the reasons that Robert Oswald, and his knowledge of both HARVEY and LEE, is one of the few living "smoking guns."

While HARVEY, the Marguerite Oswald imposter, and Robert were living at 4936 Collinwood in Ft. Worth, the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Oswald and LEE were still living in New Orleans. On July 31, Marguerite terminated her employment at Goldrings Department Store. LEE Oswald ended his year-long employment at Tujague's around the same time and mother and son moved to Ft. Worth. John Pic told the Warren Commission, "He (Robert Oswald) told me about a trip that he made to pick them up or something down there. They called him up one time and he drove down and got them and drove back all in the same trip." Upon returning to Ft. Worth, LEE Oswald and his tall, nice-looking mother moved into an apartment in a small four-unit building at 3830 W. 6th in Ft. Worth, next door to fellow tenant Lee McCracken. In November the Ft. Worth chapter of the Red Cross received a letter from the tall-nice looking Marguerite Oswald who listed her address as 3830 W. 6th and gave her phone number as PErshing 22737. Additional records, statements from Lee McCracken, and the Ft. Worth city directory show the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Oswald lived at this address from August, 1956 through early 1958. The short, heavy set Marguerite Oswald impostor lived at 4936 Collinwood (PErshing 87259) for only one year. When she moved out of the apartment, on June 1, 1957, she owed past due utility bills. Mrs. Taylor (landlady) located her in an apartment on 5th St., but Marguerite (the impostor) once again refused to pay the past due bills, just as she had refused to pay past due utility bills when she moved out of 126 Exchange in New Orleans in 1954.

After relocating to Ft. Worth, HARVEY Oswald enrolled in Arlington Heights High School on September 6, 1956. But the short, thin HARVEY Oswald was not recognized by classmates who knew the much taller, husky LEE Oswald only three years earlier in grammar school. Richard Garrett knew LEE Oswald quite well in grade school and watched as (HARVEY) Oswald walked up to him in the hall at Arlington Heights. Garrett told Life Magazine, "I remember I had to look down to talk to him, and it seemed strange, because he had been the tallest, the most dominant member of our group in grammar school. He looked like he was just lost. He was very different from the way I remember him. And he tried to sell me on communism." Phillip Anderson, who knew LEE Oswald well in grade school and spent the night at his house on several occasions, said the Oswald he met at Arlington Heights High School was "not the same person" that he knew in grade school. Three weeks after enrolling at Arlington Heights, HARVEY Oswald withdrew from school and joined the Marines.

LEE Oswald, 1952	HARVEY Oswald, 1956