Deployment to Japan and MACS-1 Assignment
On July 9, Oswald reported at the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, California, classified as a replacement trainee in the Fourth Replacement Battalion. On August 22, he departed San Diego for Yokosuka, Japan, aboard the U.S.S. Bexar. During the voyage, he taught Powers to play chess and they played frequently, sometimes more than four hours a day. Oswald read extensively; Powers recalled he read “a good type of literature,” particularly Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.” The Bexar docked at Yokosuka on September 12, and Oswald was assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron No. 1 (MACS-1), Marine Air Group 11, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, based at Atsugi about 20 miles west of Tokyo. As a radar operator in the less-than-100-man squadron, his function was to direct aircraft to their targets by radar via radio communication with pilots, and to scout for incoming foreign aircraft such as straying Russian or Chinese planes for interception.
第二章 With the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels of the
Chapter II covers Lee Harvey Oswald’s Marine Corps service from his overseas deployment in Japan through his discharge, focusing on disciplinary incidents (a locker shooting and two courts-martial), his deployment to the Philippines with MACS-1, his reassignment to the radar crew at El Toro, his growing interest in Russia and Marxist ideology, his application to Albert Schweitzer College, and the circumstances of his dependency discharge and subsequent undesirable discharge from the Marine Corps Reserve.
Accidental Locker Shooting and Hospitalization
On October 27, while opening his locker to remove gear, Oswald dropped a derringer .22 caliber pistol, which discharged and struck him in the left elbow. Fellow marine Paul Edward Murphy, in the next cubicle, heard the shot and found Oswald sitting on the locker calmly stating, “I believe I shot myself.” Oswald remained in the naval hospital at Yokosuka until November 15.
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