him toward his seat, at one end of an long oak table we use for official staff meetings. I asked him if he would like something to drink.
“Just water, thank you,” he said, as he handed me a manila folder. Inside, was his DD214 (discharge papers), his Marine Corp I.D. card with his picture on it, his American birth certificate and his European license, with pictures of his wife and kids. There was no doubt it was him even though he now called himself Lee Edward Wilson.
I looked through the papers and waited until he had settled in and was ready to begin. I now had the proof that it really was him. But, I still wanted to make it official for the record.
I turned on the tape recorder and nodded in his direction.
“For the record, please state your full name.”
“My name is Lee Edward Wilson, but it used to be Lee Harvey Oswald.” Just hearing him say that sent chills up and down my entire body. The hair stood up on my neck and arms. My heart began to beat much faster than I thought was possible. I took a deep breath and managed to slow it down.
I tried to collect my thoughts.
“When and where were you born?”
“I was born in New Orleans on the eighteenth of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine.”
“And how old are you, Mr. Oswald?”
“I am seventy-two years old.”
“All right then...On the twenty-second of November, nineteen hundred and sixty-three did you or did you not shoot President John Fitzgerald Kennedy?” I had to get this question out of the way and held my breath as my subject took a long drink of water. The tension in the room seemed to build upon itself. I closed my eyes and waited for his answer. If he was making me wait for effect, it was working. I placed my hand on the tape recorder’s button and I was getting ready to turn it off when he finally gave me his answer.
“No, I did not.” It was solid, and I thought I could feel his sincerity as it flowed from his eyes into mine.
“Okay, good, that’s a start.” I said. I was so nervous my hands would not stop shaking.
I checked the recording device to make sure it was working properly. It took me a moment, and when I turned back toward him, he was doodling on a pad. He mentioned that he liked to sketch and that it would help him relax. He asked if it would bother me and I told him no, that was fine.
“All right, may I call you by your first name?
He nodded. “Of course, if I may do that same?”
“Naturally,” I said.
“Tell me what happened, Lee?”
“Where do you want me to begin?”
“Wherever you feel comfortable.”
2
I wanted to know what happened after he was shot by Jack Ruby. The old man took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying his best to remember.
“I don’t remember much, because I lost consciousness and nearly died. I received medical attention and a doctor removed the bullet and brought me back to life. The next thing I knew two Federal agents whisked me away, brought me to an airport and gave me a shot. I remember one of the agents saying something about a long flight and it would be better if I were able to sleep most of the way. It would help the healing process. I didn’t know whether to believe him or not, but he seemed to have some kind of medical expertise. Besides, what choice did I have? I was in pain and closing my eyes seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Later, they told me that I slept all the way to Italy, and when I finally woke up we were in a hospital, surrounded by a dozen nurses and just as many doctors, all discussing my condition.”
“Do you recall what they were saying?”
“I’m not sure. They were speaking Italian and when they switched to English they were talking so fast I could only pick up a word here and there.”
“As they were wheeling me down the hall toward the operating room, the one thought that came to me just before I passed out again was that, at the very least, I was in the hands of professionals, and they seemed to be doing their best to save my life, which was more than I could say for the people back in Dallas.”
I woke up a few hours later and a nurse was hovering over me. She had white hair and bad breath that smelled of garlic. Her English was more than adequate.
“You’re okay now, Mr. Smith.” Mr. Smith, I thought, who the hell was Mr. Smith? But, then I realized that was the name the agents must have given the staff when they brought me to the hospital. This nurse was busy making sure that I was getting the right amount of fluids into my body. It was then that I realized that I must have gone through an operation of some kind, but I remembered nothing about it. I was thinking of asking her when she spoke up.
“Your associates told us that you are a Federal Agent, that your wounds occurred in the line of duty and that you’re a hero, Mr. Smith. Did you remember any of the details?”
Not sure how to react, I simply nodded. Then, I mumbled something lame, not knowing what to say or how to say it.
“When they first brought you into the hospital we thought you were going to die. If Dr. Stark had not been here, I’m fairly certain you would have.”
“Dr. Stark?”
“Yes, probably the best Surgeon in all of northern Italy. He just happened to be here today to look in on another patient he operated on a few days ago. When they brought you in and he saw your deteriorating condition he asked if we could use his help. You’re a lucky man, Mr. Smith, for I truly believe you would be dead now if it weren’t for his skill with a scalpel.”
“Do me a favor and thank the doctor for me, please.”
“I certainly will, but I believe he’ll be checking in on you in the next day or so and you can thank him yourself.”
I nodded. Maybe my luck was changing, after all?
That would be a first.
“How long did it take you to fully recover from the operation, Mr. Oswald?” I asked.
“Operations,” he said. There were two of them, one to make sure there were no leftover bullet fragments and the second one to stop some bleeding that occurred as a result of the first operation.”
“Okay.”
“As for my recovery, it took almost a month for me to begin to feel like my old self. I slept most of that time. Then, one day, the nurse came in and said I was being released. I had no idea what that meant, because I had not seen any of my bodyguards for days. Apparently, they were there, but they were staying out of sight.”
“What happened next?” I asked.
He sighed. His eyes were closed, as he was doing his best to remember back to that day.
“Two
