[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

ut a frustrated idealist – an anti-hero who deserves some sympathy despite his
reprehensible act.
Thornley’s novel The Idle Warriors was written before the assassination, and its
protagonist, Johnny Shellburn, was based on Lee Harvey Oswald. The novel was not
published in full until 1991, but was known to assassination researchers and others
through Thornley’s Warren Commission testimony, the segments in Oswald, and the
contretemps with Garrison. The Idle Warriors of the book’s title referred to Marines
based in Japan, who are gradually demoralized by their military experiences during
peacetime. In his preface to the novel, Thornley wrote that he wanted to convey “the
humor, the bitterness and the rebellion.” 332 The novel has some of the flavor, if not
literary quality, of Joseph Heller’s classic account of the absurdity of military service
during World War Two – Catch 22. Thornley’s character Shellburn, like Oswald, is
interested in foreign affairs and philosophy, including Marxism, and stands out for his
quirkiness. However, Shellburn and some of the other characters also reflect Thornley’s
interest in Eastern religion and philosophy and his radical individualism.
Johnny Shellburn, like Oswald is posted at Atsugi in Japan, but is a clerk-typist
rather than a radar technician. Shellburn is drawn to the Japanese people and culture, and
he first appears in the novel staring at a candle in an attempt to achieve apparently some
mystical experience. Shellburn started to act “real weird – staring at candles, reading and
332
Kerry W. Thornley, The Idle Warriors, (Avondale Estates, GA: IllumiNet Press,
1991), xi.
149