New Orleans Residential Moves and 1955 Family Visit
After a short stay with the Murrets, Mrs. Oswald and Lee moved to an apartment owned by Myrtle Evans at 1454 Saint Mary Street, then to a less expensive apartment at 1452 Saint Mary Street, and in spring 1955 to 126 Exchange Place in the French Quarter. The school authorities were not advised of the moves earlier because Mrs. Oswald did not want Lee transferred from Beauregard. During summer 1955, Robert left the Marine Corps and spent a week with his mother and Lee in New Orleans before moving to Fort Worth, finding Lee unchanged.
Warren Easton High School Dropout and Marine Enlistment Attempt
Lee entered the tenth grade at Warren Easton High School that fall. After about a month, he presented a forged note in his mother’s name dated October 7, 1955, claiming the family was moving to San Diego. He dropped out shortly before his sixteenth birthday. After turning 16, he tried to enlist in the Marines using a false affidavit from his mother claiming he was 17; the attempt failed. He then spent the next year reading and memorizing the “Marine Manual” obtained from Robert, waiting until he was old enough to join.
Pre-Enlistment Civilian Jobs
Lee worked for the rest of the school year. Between November 10 and January 14, he worked as a messenger boy for Gerald F. Tujague, Inc., a shipping company, earning $130 per month; his employer remembered him as quiet and withdrawn. In January he briefly worked as an office boy for J. R. Michels, Inc., and for several months thereafter was a messenger for the Pfisterer Dental Laboratory. His military record later described his prior civilian jobs as performing clerical duties such as distributing mail, delivering messages, answering the telephone, filing records, and operating ditto and letter-opening/sealing machines.
Fort Worth Residency and Socialist Party Inquiry
Anticipating Lee would join the Marines at 17, Mrs. Oswald moved to Fort Worth in July 1956, taking an apartment at 4936 Collinswood for herself, Lee, and Robert. In September, Lee enrolled in the tenth grade at Arlington Heights High School but attended only a few weeks, dropping out on September 28. A few days later, he wrote a letter dated October 3, 1956, to the Socialist Party of America, stating he was sixteen, a Marxist who had been studying socialist principles for over fifteen months, and requesting information about the Y.P.S.L. youth league. He turned 17 on October 18 and enlisted in the Marines on October 24.
Marine Corps Recruit Training at San Diego
On October 26, 1956, Oswald reported for duty at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, assigned to the Second Recruit Training Battalion. He was 68 inches tall, weighed 135 pounds, and had no physical defects. On October 30, aptitude tests showed him significantly above the Marine Corps average in reading and vocabulary and significantly below average in arithmetic and pattern analysis, with a composite general classification score of 105 (2 points below average). He scored near the bottom in a radio code test. His duty preference was recorded as Aircraft Maintenance and Repair. He trained with the M-1 rifle; his practice scores were not very good, but he scored 212 on the December 21 record fire, qualifying as a “sharpshooter.” He also practiced with a riot gun and .45-caliber pistol, with no scores recorded. He received 4.4 ratings in both “conduct” and “proficiency.”
Camp Pendleton Training and Peer Isolation
On January 18, 1957, Oswald reported to Camp Pendleton for further training, assigned to “A” Company, First Battalion, Second Infantry Training Regiment. After a little more than 5 weeks, he was rated 4.2 in conduct and 4.0 in proficiency. Fellow recruit Allen R. Felde stated that Oswald was generally unpopular and that his company was avoided by other men. On weekend leaves, Oswald accompanied the group on the bus to and from camp but did not stay with them in the city, instead leaving to be alone; this practice was repeated on other trips. On February 27, he went on a 2-week leave, possibly visiting his mother in Fort Worth.
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