Oswald's 1959 passport application - explain this please, if you can

[Dan O'meara]

This is from George Michael Evica's, "A Certain Arrogance".

"That interest began when Oswald, still an active Marine, applied for his passport on September 4, 1959 and received it on September 10, out of Los Angeles. Though Oswald reportedly had possession of his birth certificate while in the Soviet Union, which was the usual identification when applying for a passport, he submitted a Department of Defense (DOD) I.D. Card.

But except for several crucial and undeniable reasons, Lee Harvey Oswald should never have had a DOD I.D. card on September 4, 1959: possibly on September 11th, but not on September 4th.

The Department of Defense card was allegedly found in a wallet belonging to Oswald just after his arrest at the Texas Theatre on November 22, 1963. The card clearly signaled to those who understood it that the bearer had some official connection to U.S. Intelligence, and the Marine Corps confirmed it had issued the card to Oswald before he was released from active duty. But the practice of issuing that type of card to Marine reservists ended officially as of July 1959. According to a Marine Corps public affairs officer, Oswald was probably issued the military I.D. card because he was about to fill a civilian position overseas which required it.

Was Oswald scheduled to begin a new job that would take him to Europe as an asset or agent of the CIA, or as a civilian employee of the Office of Naval Intelligence?

A helpful Marine Corps public affairs officer could not explain how on September 4, 1959, in Santa Ana, California, Oswald apparently submitted to the Clerk of the Superior Court, L.B. Wallace, an "MCR/INACTIVE I.D. CARD #N4, 271, 617," in his passport application. Officially, Oswald would not have been issued that card until September 11th, the day he was "released from Active Duty and transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve...."

Can't say if this is accurate or not or if it's of any importance.
As a side question - If Oswald was displaying overtly Communist tendencies while he was in the Marines, would he be breaking any specific laws?
I only ask because I get the impression that even the faintest whiff of anything remotely Commie during the the height of the Cold War was being brutally crushed.
Not that any of this has any bearing on a conspiracy, it just adds to the collection of things that seem a bit 'off' regarding Oswald.

LATER EDIT

I'm assuming it's this card but maybe wrong:



There is at least one stamp on the card which appears to read Oct 23, 1963 (it might be two stamps, one on top of the other)

[Dan O'meara]

Evica goes on to say this about the stamp on the ID card:

On the copy of Oswald's DOD card in the Dallas Police evidence files, one postmark, and possibly another, can be seen. The clearest is stamped October 23, 1963, but the card had officially expired over 10 months earlier on December 7, 1962. On the reverse side of the card were the instructions: "If found, drop in any mail box," and "Return to Department of Defense, Washington 25, D.C."

Is there any way to extract some sense from this postal noise?

The DOD card existed in someone's possession in Santa Ana, California, when it was used to obtain Oswald's passport in September 1959. But no official record of the card existed until it was supposedly found in Lee Oswald's wallet.

But someone also possessed the card after September 1959, and either "lost" it before October 23, 1963, or kept it until that day. The card entered U.S. Post Office records when it was delivered to the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. Between October 23rd and November 22, 1963 the card must then have matriculated down to Dallas and into Oswald's wallet.

Not 100% sure what any of that means.
Does the stamp mean it was in the possession of the Post Office on 23 Oct '63?

[Charles Collins]

This is from George Michael Evica's, "A Certain Arrogance".

"That interest began when Oswald, still an active Marine, applied for his passport on September 4, 1959 and received it on September 10, out of Los Angeles. Though Oswald reportedly had possession of his birth certificate while in the Soviet Union, which was the usual identification when applying for a passport, he submitted a Department of Defense (DOD) I.D. Card.

But except for several crucial and undeniable reasons, Lee Harvey Oswald should never have had a DOD I.D. card on September 4, 1959: possibly on September 11th, but not on September 4th.

The Department of Defense card was allegedly found in a wallet belonging to Oswald just after his arrest at the Texas Theatre on November 22, 1963. The card clearly signaled to those who understood it that the bearer had some official connection to U.S. Intelligence, and the Marine Corps confirmed it had issued the card to Oswald before he was released from active duty. But the practice of issuing that type of card to Marine reservists ended officially as of July 1959. According to a Marine Corps public affairs officer, Oswald was probably issued the military I.D. card because he was about to fill a civilian position overseas which required it.

Was Oswald scheduled to begin a new job that would take him to Europe as an asset or agent of the CIA, or as a civilian employee of the Office of Naval Intelligence?

A helpful Marine Corps public affairs officer could not explain how on September 4, 1959, in Santa Ana, California, Oswald apparently submitted to the Clerk of the Superior Court, L.B. Wallace, an "MCR/INACTIVE I.D. CARD #N4, 271, 617," in his passport application. Officially, Oswald would not have been issued that card until September 11th, the day he was "released from Active Duty and transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve...."

Can't say if this is accurate or not or if it's of any importance.
As a side question - If Oswald was displaying overtly Communist tendencies while he was in the Marines, would he be breaking any specific laws?
I only ask because I get the impression that even the faintest whiff of anything remotely Commie during the the height of the Cold War was being brutally crushed.
Not that any of this has any bearing on a conspiracy, it just adds to the collection of things that seem a bit 'off' regarding Oswald.

LATER EDIT

I'm assuming it's this card but maybe wrong:



There is at least one stamp on the card which appears to read Oct 23, 1963 (it might be two stamps, one on top of the other)

But except for several crucial and undeniable reasons, Lee Harvey Oswald should never have had a DOD I.D. card on September 4, 1959: possibly on September 11th, but not on September 4th.



August 17, 1959: LHO requests a dependency discharge because of an injury sustained
by his mother.
 
August 28, 1959: His request is recommended for approval.
 
September 4, 1959: LHO is transferred to H. & H. Squadron.
 
September 4, 1959: LHO applies for a passport.
 
September 10, 1959: The passport is issued.
 
September 11, 1959: LHO is released from active duty in the Marine Corps.

https://www.jfk-assassination.net/parnell/chrono.htm

I am not sure what exactly an H & H Squadron is. However, the H & H Squadron appears to me to be associated with his dependency discharge. Just guessing, but it seems to me that the H & H Squadron might be like a Squadron where they keep short term personnel that are in the process of being discharged. If so, getting his discharge paperwork (including the card in question) accomplished as part of that transfer to the H & H Squadron might be normal protocol.

[Dan O'meara]

But except for several crucial and undeniable reasons, Lee Harvey Oswald should never have had a DOD I.D. card on September 4, 1959: possibly on September 11th, but not on September 4th.



August 17, 1959: LHO requests a dependency discharge because of an injury sustained
by his mother.
 
August 28, 1959: His request is recommended for approval.
 
September 4, 1959: LHO is transferred to H. & H. Squadron.
 
September 4, 1959: LHO applies for a passport.
 
September 10, 1959: The passport is issued.
 
September 11, 1959: LHO is released from active duty in the Marine Corps.

https://www.jfk-assassination.net/parnell/chrono.htm

I am not sure what exactly an H & H Squadron is. However, the H & H Squadron appears to me to be associated with his dependency discharge. Just guessing, but it seems to me that the H & H Squadron might be like a Squadron where they keep short term personnel that are in the process of being discharged. If so, getting his discharge paperwork (including the card in question) accomplished as part of that transfer to the H & H Squadron might be normal protocol.

This is from "List of decommissioned United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons", Wikipedia:

The basic tactical and administrative unit of United States Marine Corps Aviation is the squadron. Fixed-wing aircraft squadrons (heavier than air) are denoted by the letter "V," which comes from the French verb "Voler" (to fly). Rotary wing (helicopter) squadrons use "H." Marine squadrons are always noted by the second letter "M." Squadron

It would appear Oswald was transferred to a helicopter squadron on the 4th. As you say, this would probably require him needing the ID card.

[Charles Collins]

This is from "List of decommissioned United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons", Wikipedia:

The basic tactical and administrative unit of United States Marine Corps Aviation is the squadron. Fixed-wing aircraft squadrons (heavier than air) are denoted by the letter "V," which comes from the French verb "Voler" (to fly). Rotary wing (helicopter) squadrons use "H." Marine squadrons are always noted by the second letter "M." Squadron

It would appear Oswald was transferred to a helicopter squadron on the 4th. As you say, this would probably require him needing the ID card.

Interesting, thanks. Something tells me that his earlier squadron leaders were happy to see him go…

[Lance Payette]

We would have to believe that, in March of 1959, LHO had already decided he would defect to Russia and had, for some reason, already targeted Finland as his destination for contact with a Soviet consulate. Nevertheless, LHO made no effort to establish any paper trail with Finland. Instead, he applied to the ASC in Switzerland, 1,300 miles from Finland and followed this up by paying the application fee in June. The only mention of Finland was in his March application to ASC, where he said he planned to attend a summer session at Turku after the spring session at ASC. The whole “ASC thing” was completely unnecessary unless it was sincere.

We would also have to believe that (1) LHO realized in March he would be applying for a passport before leaving the USMC; (2) he knew he would still be subject to active duty travel restrictions at that time (assuming this was even true); and (3) he thus concocted the ASC story many months in advance in order to give himself an educational purpose when needed down the road. Are we to believe that this is all true but LHO made no effort to establish a similarly plausible reason for visiting Finland (other than a statement in his application to ASC that no one but ASC would ever see)? Wouldn’t the more obvious scheme have been to forget about ASC and simply establish contact with Turku or some other Finnish school? As a plan or cover story for a defection, what LHO did simply makes no sense.

Further questions still remaining would be (1) how would LHO have known in March of 1959 that Helsinki was a better place to defect than any other Soviet consulate (assuming it was); (2) if the only advantage of Helsinki was speed, why would gaining a few days have been significant to him in March; and (3) why not simply wait until his USMC commitment was over and he didn’t need any excuse or cover story for visiting any country as a tourist?

We then turn again to listing Cuba and Russia on his passport application. Why would he have done this? Why invite the questions this might raise if he already had in place his educational excuse with ASC and was indicating on the passport application that he would be traveling for only four months? It simply makes no sense.

Indeed, none of this makes sense as anything resembling a “cover story” or “careful planning.” All of what Charles says is true, but it’s also true that ten days before applying to ASC he had once again been promoted to Private 1st Class (as Charles notes) and was in no danger of leaving the USMC on anything other than honorable terms in nine months (and in July his performance review was average). All I can suggest is that (1) his interest in ASC and Turku was sincere in March and June; and (2) at some point thereafter he decided to defect and for some reason he wanted to do so before his commitment was up. As to why he would have listed Cuba and Russia on his passport application, I have no convincing theory other than Oswald being Marxist Me for his own amusement. From the application to ASC in March to the passport application in September, no one being guided by an intelligence agency would have done what LHO did.

[Tom Graves]

As to why he would have listed Cuba and Russia on his passport application, I have no convincing theory other than Oswald's being Marxist Me for his own amusement. From the application to ASC in March to the passport application in September, no one being guided by an intelligence agency would have done what LHO did.

Dear Lance,

What if the intelligence agency at issue (i.e., the CIA) was, unbeknownst to its top management, under the control of the KGB*?

*Today's SVR and FSB

-- Tom