Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (11 of 26): Hearings Vol. XI (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. JENNER. You mean it happened many times with respect to other
noncoms in the Marines with respect to these officers?
Mr. THORNLEY. Right; but in Oswald's case it seemed a little more
deliberate. Some guys would get mad and they would say something,
or sometimes they would do something by accident, and they would get
themselves involved and then they would decide, "Well, what the hell,"
and push it all away. Oswald it seemed didn't have to have any reason.
He just told an officer to get lost.
Mr. JENNER. He baited an officer for the pleasure of it?
Mr. THORNLEY. Yes; I might mention that this was one means by which he
won the admiration of others in the outfit in that the junior officers
especially are usually disliked, or were in that outfit, and this made
him on such occasions as he engaged with an officer in some kind of
officer baiting, this won the respect, for at least a few minutes, of
the men--who would kind of laugh about it, and chuckle over it and tell
others about it. Perhaps this is why he did it.
Mr. JENNER. You mentioned some slovenliness on his part; what about his
quarters, his barracks; did you have occasion to observe them?
Mr. THORNLEY. I don't think I was ever in his barracks. I do recall
having been told that he had Russian books and that is all I--that is
the only connection I can make now in my mind with his quarters. I
don't think I ever saw them.
Mr. JENNER. You already have given us something of his view of the
U.S. Marine Corps. Would you give us a summary of that? Give us your
impression of his views with respect to the U.S. Marine Corps.
Mr. THORNLEY. Well, definitely the Marine Corps was not what he had
expected it to be when he joined. Also he felt that the officers and
the staff NCO's at the Marine Corps were incompetent to give him orders.
Mr. JENNER. Incompetent in what sense, they were below him
intellectually?
Mr. THORNLEY. They were below him intellectually--and for various other
reasons in each case, too. Maybe this officer was ignorant, as was
brought out about foreign affairs, in Oswald's mind, knew less than
Oswald did about it. I don't hold with the stand that Oswald would
study up on foreign affairs simply in order to bait the officer. I
think it just happened to be that Oswald would see that the officer
was basing his foreign affairs maybe on Time magazine when Oswald had
done a little more reading and I think he resented this Time magazine
approach to foreign affairs.
Mr. JENNER. How did these discussions arise, Mr. Thornley, the
discussion of foreign affairs by officers?
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