But if you could cover that—then we will go on to the other things.
Mrs. Oswald. All right. I have your word that you will let me have my life story from early childhood and Lee's life story from early childhood.
Now, I will start from age 16. Is that satisfactory?
Mr. Rankin. Would you do that?
Mrs. Oswald. Thank you very much. We were in New Orleans, La., at this particular time. On or about October 5th or 7th—and you have this, gentlemen, as my proof, that I am telling a true story, and I will have witnesses that will be called—is a letter——
Mr. Dulles. What year, Mrs. Oswald?
Mrs. Oswald. I said 1959—I am sorry. 1955. No, wait now. 1956—when we left New Orleans is 1956. Am I not correct? I am a little excited now, because of what happened before. The note——
Mr. Rankin. He joined the Marines in 1956. Does that help you?
Mrs. Oswald. No, sir. Wait. We have a note from the Beauregard School by me that I was going to San Diego. Do you have the note?
Mr. Rankin. We do.
Mrs. Oswald. May I see that note, please? And that is approximately October 5th or the 7th, I think it is, 1955.
Mr. Dulles. I think you moved to Fort Worth with Lee in September 1956.
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, sir. So it was in '55. I think that is correct. Let me see.
Mr. Rankin. We are handing you this book that we received from the State of Louisiana that is Commission's Exhibit No. 365, and turn to page 11 and you will find the note you referred to.
Mrs. Oswald. To the school. All right, gentlemen, this is a surprise. This is my note, isn't, to the school, that I am moving to San Diego. And it has been blasted in all the papers how I moved around, and I was going to San Diego.
Gentlemen, I had nothing to do with this note, nothing whatsoever.
Lee, my son, wrote the note—on or about October 5th or the 7th—October 7th. And now comes the story why he wrote the note.
If you will see here, this is Lee's handwriting, to the letters.
Mr. Rankin. We offer in evidence that note on page 11.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 199, and received in evidence.)
Mrs. Oswald. I had nothing to do with this note.
Now, I am working at Kreeger's Specialty Shop, 800 and something Canal Street in New Orleans, La. I received a telephone call from the principal of the Beauregard School saying. "Mrs. Oswald, I understand you are going to leave town, and we are awfully sorry to lose Lee."
Of course now, gentlemen, I am working and this is news to me.
So I said—I kind of went along with it a little bit.
Lee came into this shop later on that day. Miss Lillian New, I think her name was, who is manager of Kreeger's Shop, and has been for years—she will witness this.
He said, "Mother, I have quit school."
Mr. Rankin. You say when the school authorities asked you, you sort of went along with it. What do you mean by that?
Mrs. Oswald. When the lady called me and said that, "I understand you are leaving town, Mrs. Oswald."
Mr. Rankin. What did you say?
Mrs. Oswald. Well, because there was a switchboard, and my job was in jeopardy, I don't know the exact words, but I said—I had to be kind of vague about it and not discuss it. I knew I wasn't leaving town, sir.
Mr. Rankin. Did you tell her you were not?
Mrs. Oswald. No, I don't think I told her. But I had to be very—I would lose my job if they thought I was leaving town. It was news to me.
So Lee that afternoon, from school, came into Kreeger's Specialty Shop where I was working and said, "Mother. I want to join the Marines, and I have quit school."
Now, Mr. Kreeger—and he may be leaving—Mr. Frank Kreeger who is owner of Kreeger's Specialty Shop, and all of the personnel there—this is a very small shop, and Miss Lillian, who was manager, knows of this. I became very excited and I started to cry. And they let me go home with Lee.
So Lee was determined at age 16—his birthday was going to be October 18th, right—and this was October 7th—was going to join the Marines. So what Lee wanted me to do was falsify his birth certificate, which I would not do. And he kept after me, like a boy.
Now, this is a normal boy, wanting to join the Marines.
"I don't see why you don't just put that I am 17 years old."
I said, "Lee. We cannot do that."
He said, "Everybody else"—
I said, "No, I am not going to do it."
For 2 or 3 days Lee and I bickered back and forth about me falsifying his age.
So I have a very good friend, Mr. Clem Sehrt, who is an attorney in New Orleans, La. I called him and told him I had a personal problem. I had not seen Mr. Sehrt since early childhood. I knew the family. That Lee was not of age and he wanted to join the Marines. And he quit the school and told them we were going out of town.
He said, "Marguerite, I cannot advise you. It would be unethical. But a lot of boys join the service at age 16."
So he could not advise me.
My sister, Mrs. Charles Murret, 757 French Street, knows of the complete story. And so does my brother-in-law, Mr. Charles Murret, who also said, "Let him join, let him go. If he wants to go so badly, let him join the Marines."
I, at that time, was living at 126 Exchange Place, which is the Vieux Carre section of the French Quarter of New Orleans.
And, by the way, the papers said we lived over a saloon at that particular address.
Gentlemen, if you have this information, that is just the French part of town. It looks like the devil. Of course I didn't have a fabulous apartment. But very wealthy people and very fine citizens live in that part of town, and there are hotels and saloons, and courtyards where the homes are.
So I was very upset.
There was a colonel on the street that I stopped—I didn't know him—I said, "Sir, I would like to talk with you." I told him about the boy wanting to join the Marines and I didn't know what to do. I was frantic. And he was insistent that I let him join the Marines at age 16.
So he advised me, "Well, if he doesn't want to go to school, let him join the Marines. It is done all the time."
Now, I was not too happy about this situation.
Now, a recruiting officer from the Marine Reserve in New Orleans, La., was in my home the next day when I arrived from work, with Lee, in uniform,
