President's Commission on the Assassination of - The Warren Commission (Complete Edition)

Mrs. Oswald. Lee came home with a trophy, but it is a Marine trophy—may I have that please, I need a number. It is not on this. We have another picture. But it had Lee Harvey Oswald. But it was given not to him, but to the platoon. And he was very, very proud of it. Lee was very proud of his Marine hitch, because every time he came on leave, that is all he talked about. That I know. And I am the only one that knows this.

Mr. Rankin. Was that trophy with regard to marksmanship?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes. Now, Marina would have that. I gave that to Lee and Marina when they returned from Russia, and the Marine book that Lee was so proud of, and the baby book that I had all these years. And I think it was in regard to marksmanship.

Now, I have Lee's—they are copying all of this, Mr. Doyle—Lee's shooting record. I have that, sir. I have anything you want. It was left in his sea bag. And all of this was left in Lee's sea bag.

This is a picture of Lee with his marines, and, it is a special, I think he was doing special work there. I am not familiar—I wasn't told that. But it is different than the other picture. Lee went to many, many a school, gentlemen. He went to the Marine Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, to schooling. He went to Jacksonville and some others. I remarked, "Your brothers were not sent from here to there like you were." Lee was in Japan, Lee was in Corregidor, Lee was in the Philippines, and Lee was in Formosa. That has not been publicly stated.

Mr. Rankin. Do you know what schooling he had at these various places?

Mrs. Oswald. No, sir. I would think that it was special schooling.

Mr. Rankin. He never told you?

Mrs. Oswald. No, sir. But the other brothers didn't have that type schooling. And I even remarked about it.

Mr. Rankin. Did you ever hear your son say anything for or against President Kennedy?

Mrs. Oswald. While Marina and Lee were in my home that month, and I had a television——

Mr. Rankin. About what time was that?

Mrs. Oswald. This was July, 1962—when they stayed the month with me. Yes, they were delighted with President Kennedy, both.

Mr. Rankin. What did they say about him?

Mrs. Oswald. Nothing political—just "Like President Kennedy." He was telling Marina about President Kennedy. "I like President Kennedy"—"I like, too."

My son has never said anything to me politically about anyone. My son loved the Marines, and loved his work and has never, never said anything against—the only time I questioned my son was ask him why he decided to come home, and he said, "Not even Marina knows that."

That was the one question I wanted to know, because of the many things that they sent me from Russia, as I have previously stated. That was the only thing. So that satisfied me.

Mr. Rankin. Did you know anything about his guns—what guns he had?

Mrs. Oswald. Oh, this is very important, and I am glad you brought this up. This is the part in New Orleans that I forgot about.

While Lee was working for Tujague & Co. he started to have a bank account, and it was in a Homestead. I do not know the name, but it was on Canal Street, 900 or 100 block of Canal Street, because it was even with Exchange Place. And he started to save his money. The purpose of saving his money was to go on a tour with a young group. He was working for a steamship place as a mess engineer so he was going around to all of these seagoing trips. And I saw the brochure. It was sponsored by very prominent people. There was nothing wrong with it. If he wanted to go, that was all right—could go on this. So he started to save his money to go. However, this was in January—you want the date?

Mr. Rankin. Yes.

Mrs. Oswald. Are we in 1955 in New Orleans? Yes. No, 1956 this would be. January, 1956—Lee took his money out of the Homestead, which was approximately $150, or something like that. And Lee Harvey Oswald bought an electric football machine—cost approximately $10. He bought a bow and arrow set—maybe about $6 or $7. And he bought a gun. Now, I don't know about guns. I was going to say BB gun, but I will not say it was a BB gun—but Robert Oswald will know—or a rifle. But it was not an expensive gun. He was just 16½ years old. And I am of the opinion if he bought a real gun, I would have had to sign or something. I may be wrong. But anyhow it was a gun to go squirrel hunting or rabbit hunting. I will identify it like that. And then we can go into it further.

And he paid $35 on a coat for me. And the very first job that—the very first pay that Lee got from this job from Tujague sir, he came home with a bird cage on a stand that had a planter. It had the ivy in the planter, it had the parakeet, and it had a complete set of food for the parakeet. His very first pay. And then he paid his room and board. I kept this bird cage—the stand was collapsible—all these years, in the back of my car, and put it up, no matter where I was on a case, and had the bird up until about 2 years ago—no, I had the bird, and gave it to Lee when they came back from Russia. What has become of it I do not know. I gave the bird and bird cage to Lee and Marina when they came back from Russia. I am trying to give you the picture of this boy. Would you ask me some more questions, please? It is awful hard for me to remember everything.

Mr. Rankin. Do you remember any other guns he had?

Mrs. Oswald. No, sir. This is the only gun that I have known Lee to have.

Mr. Rankin. Now, about Officer Tippit.

Mrs. Oswald. Let me finish about Robert and his gun. This is important to you.

When we came to New Orleans, I worked at Washer Bros., in New Orleans—transferred from—Goldrings in New Orleans is Washer Bros. in Fort Worth, Tex. So I worked at Washer Bros. Lee came into the place I worked one day with the gun and wanted me to sign a paper so he could sell the gun. Well, I was indignant that he came where I was working with a gun. I said, "Lee, we will talk about it later." And several of the salesladies thought that I brushed him off real fast. Well, now, Robert bought that gun from Lee, and gave Lee $10 for the gun. It was 3 months we were living in New Orleans. So Robert gave Lee $10 for the gun. And Robert used to go hunting with it at his mother-in-law's house. I have stated they live in the country and they go rabbit and squirrel hunting. Robert would know about the gun, the type gun and everything. I do not know.

Mr. Rankin. You have told us all you know about the gun?

Mrs. Oswald. That is all I know about the gun. And Robert bought the gun from Lee, gave him $10.

Mr. Rankin. You haven't told us whether you thought your son killed Officer Tippit.

Mrs. Oswald. I strictly do not believe that Lee killed Officer Tippit.

Mr. Rankin. Can you tell us why?

Mrs. Oswald. Yes. I am sorry to have to elaborate so, but this, as you know, is very important.

Mr. Lane and myself are investigating, with hundreds of investigators. I have over 1,500 letters. We have reporters and people investigating for us, that are not satisfied with the whole case. And Mr. Lane has a lot of affidavits. I cannot say what Mr. Lane has. But he is doing a very good job about this. And we have come to the conclusion that Lee is not guilty of Officer Tippit.

Now, I gave you a picture yesterday—you might have it there, I don't know, Mr. Rankin—that could possibly be Marina and the child. We have found out that the Book Depository Building—Mr. Lane has this information—it is owned by the city of Dallas—I should not go into that, I don't know. He has all of this information. Or it is a lease. It is government-owned some way or other. I should not say. Mr. Lane has all of this. We have been investigating night and day.

The Chairman. Well, we have the picture, Mrs. Oswald.

Mrs. Oswald. All right. On the picture, then—and I have talked to Mr. Doyle about this—you might think I am crazy to say so. The first thing I saw in this picture—this picture was sent to me by a woman with a letter telling me to look at the picture carefully. I did not read the letter. I did not want her opinion, or other people's opinion about this picture. We have a lot of comments about this picture. I immediately looked at the picture when I opened it. The first thing I saw was my son Lee and Marina and the child. Then when I called this woman long distance. I said, "You want to know what I saw in the picture?" and I told her. She says, "No, that is not what I see."