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

ifle was wrapped in, but no one disputed that it was Oswald’s blanket. Perhaps of more
significance is that hairs were found on the blanket that could not be matched to anyone.
Despite this “microscopic” approach and the attention devoted to Oswald’s
teenage psyche, surprisingly little information is provided about his duties in the Marine
Corps while stationed in Japan and later California. Later researchers would reveal that
Oswald was a radar technician at the Atsugi, Japan airbase involved with super-secret U2
reconnaissance flights over the Soviet Union. Many of his fellow Marines also testified
that Oswald openly talked about his Marxist beliefs, studied the Russian language,
praised Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, and expressed an interest in going to the
Soviet Union and Cuba. Other Marines would call Oswald “comrade” or
“Oswaldskovitch.” One of Oswald’s colleagues explained that Oswald “looked upon the
eyes of future people as some kind of tribunal” and that his Marxist beliefs would lead to
him being seen in history books as a man “ahead of his time.” 63
Conspiracy theorists would see this interest in the Soviet bloc as an indication of
Oswald’s preparation as an intelligence operative. If his behavior is taken at face value,
it is hard to believe the Marine Corps took no interest in Oswald’s outspoken pro-Soviet
views. There were also indications, as there would be throughout the Commission’s
biography, of contrary beliefs, such as the fact that fellow Marine Kerry Thornley, who
wrote a novel before the assassination with a character based on Oswald, who claimed
that one of Oswald’s favorite books was George Orwell’s 1984 – the dystopia about a
totalitarian society that would seem strange reading material for an admirer of the Soviet
63 WC Report, 388-89.
39