(Testimony of Kerry Wendell Thornley)
Mr. Jenner.
And he was still following the habits he had acquired overseas?
Mr. Thornley.
Yes.
Mr. Jenner.
Did you think it went beyond that, this unkemptness or this sloppiness?
Mr. Thornley.
It did go beyond that, because he seemed to be a person who would go out of his way to get into trouble, get some officer or staff sergeant mad at him. He would make wise remarks. He had a general bitter attitude toward the Corps. He used to pull his hat down over his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at anything around him and go walking around very Beetle Bailey style.
Mr. Jenner.
What is Beetle Bailey?
Mr. Thornley.
Beetle Bailey is a comic strip character who walks around with his hat over his eyes very much as Oswald did.
Mr. Jenner.
You want to keep in mind, Mr. Thornley, I am an old man and there are things I don't pick up or get hep to.
Mr. Thornley.
This is nothing recent. This is a comic strip that has been around quite a few years now.
Mr. Jenner.
You go on and tell us about his personality.
Mr. Thornley.
All right.
Mr. Jenner.
Including any physical characteristics or habits.
Mr. Thornley.
I think I have covered all physical characteristics. His shoes were always unshined. As I mentioned, he walked around with the bill of his cap down over his eyes and you got the impression that he was doing this so he wouldn't have to look at anything around him.
Mr. Jenner.
And he was doing that so that he would not be assigned additional work or--
Mr. Thornley.
No; he was just doing that--this was just an attempt, I think, on his part, to blot out the military so he wouldn't have to look at it; he wouldn't have to think about it. In fact, I think he made a comment to that effect at one time; that when he had his bill of his cap over his eyes so he would see as little as possible, because he didn't like what he had to look at.
He had, as I remember, he had a sense of humor, and I can only think of a couple of examples of it. I have only been able to think of a couple of examples of it over the past few months, but I have a strong general impression in my mind that there were more examples that I just don't remember.
Mr. Jenner.
Well, you draw on your recollection as best you can and you just keep telling us now in your own words and I will try to not interrupt you too much.
Mr. Thornley.
All right. One example was, that I remember--of course, it was well known in the outfit that, or popularly believed that Oswald had Communist sympathies--
Mr. Jenner.
You didn't share that view?
Mr. Thornley.
Not as much as some did, and while this was popularly believed, I mention this as kind of a framework for the significance of Oswald's comment: Master Sergeant Spar, our section chief, jumped up on the fender one day and said, "All right, everybody gather around," and Oswald said in a very thick Russian accent, "Ah ha, collective farm lecture," in a very delighted tone.
This brought him laughs at the time, and he had gotten me to read "1984," as I mentioned earlier, and this was one of his favorites--
Mr. Jenner.
Tell me what "1984" was.
Mr. Thornley.
This was a book about--it is a projection into the future, supposed to take place in 1984 in England under a complete police state. It is, I would say, an anti-utopian novel, by George Orwell, a criticism of English socialism and what it might lead to, based upon Orwell's experiences with communism and nazism, his observations about a society .in which a mythical leader called Big Brother dominates everybody's life. Where there are television cameras on every individual at all times watching his every act, where sex is practically outlawed, where the world is perpetually at war, three big police states constantly at war with one another, and where thought police keep every, all of the citizens in line. Oswald would often compare the Marine Corps with the system of government outlined in "1984."
I remember one day we were loading equipment
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