第八章
CHAPTER VIII traces Lee Harvey Oswald’s trajectory from his United States Marine Corps service through his defection to the Soviet Union, his residence in Minsk, his employment, and his courtship and marriage to Marina Prusakova. The chapter draws on Folsom deposition exhibits, Commission exhibits, and testimony of fellow Marines, State Department and consular officials, and Soviet acquaintances to reconstruct Oswald’s military conduct, intellectual preoccupations, reasons for defection, the formalities of citizenship renunciation, daily life in the USSR, and the events leading to his wedding.
Marine Corps Service
Marine Corps Service examines Oswald’s enlisted tenure, drawing on the Folsom deposition and on testimony of fellow Marines Nelson Delgado, Daniel Patrick Powers, Mack Osborne, George Donabedian, Peter Francis Connor, John Rene Heindel, Paul Edward Murphy, John E. Donovan, James Anthony Botelho, Donald Camarata, Allen D. Graf, David Christie Murray Jr., Henry J. Roussel Jr., Richard Dennis Call, and Erwin Lewis. Topics include Oswald’s marksmanship, his marks, his disciplinary record, his solitary and aloof demeanor, and the evaluation of his character and performance by peers and superiors.
Fellow Marines and Social Relations
Fellow Marines and Social Relations documents Oswald’s strained and largely avoided interactions with other Marines at bases including El Toro and other duty stations, relying on depositions of Delgado, Donovan, Botelho, Camarata, Graf, Murray, Roussel, Osborne, and Call. Witnesses describe him as a loner who rarely socialized, ate alone, and was regarded as odd or “creepy,” while a few such as Kerry Wendell Thornley offered a more sympathetic portrait of an intelligent, philosophically inclined comrade.
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