Chris Newton

I like that idea but shouldn't he also have a "Soviet style" identification book with a photo and whatever KGB authorization he needed? How does an American walk around in Minsk in 1962 for five minutes and not hear "show me your papers"?

If Oswald was arrested in New Orleans in 1963 and he had presented an expired DoD Identification Card would authorities in New Orleans have allowed him to keep that card?

I lean heavily towards FRAUD I don't know the answer to the second question yet but I'm certain Oswald could not have acquired it without assistance. Despite the card being expired on 11/22/63, this card would have been valid and allowed Oswald access to any Naval Base with full exchange privileges on his return to the US in June 1962 until the beginning of December 1962. Military ID's with this kind of access/privileges are not easy to acquire. I specified Naval Bases because the capital "N" beside the card number represents the issuing authority and, although the card would give access to any base with exchange facilities, the "N" will bring with it some service based institutional bias. I don't know that Oswald ever carried the extant card. We do have circumstantial evidence that he carried an ID signed by Lt. jg. Ayers on arrest in N.O.. IF Oswald was given a card at separation from active duty... Reality Oswald ID Is the issued ID correct for Inactive Reserve Servicemembers? Yes No Does the ID get a "Soviet style" civilian photo? No Yes Does the ID get a civilian photo? No Yes Is it laminated in plastic? Yes No Do Inactive reserve members gain access to PX/Commissary? No Yes Does it have LT. JG Ayers authorized signature? Yes Yes (IMHO)

I don't know if the yellow one is a "stamp" or not. But, it seemed like it could be. The green one is on the photo. I don't think there is a corresponding "circle portion" on the card that matches up with the green arc. There could be three stamps on the card. I don't put myself out here as a photoshop expert. If someone else wants to take a stab - be my guest.

Jack left us with something: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=48770#relPageId=31&tab=page

Yes. That's a possibility.

I was speculating Jim because I don't know. If the card was given to Oswald at El Toro by MACS and Lt. Ayers how did it get a picture on it that wasn't taken yet? Ayers says there's no way he would have given that card to Oswald. I agree.

Here's another oddity. It seems the Warren Commission simply stated that this photo was taken in Minsk and provided no report, citation or testimony to support that allegation. Another words, we don't know exactly where it came from. The Commission got it's published copy from Oswald's ID but... The Commission copy has a left corner that is totally white without any markings and the ID copy has plenty of markings, some lettering and things we cannot yet work out in that corner. Is this a case of "what came first, chicken or egg?". How is the corner of the Warren Commission copy so blank? How do they "know" it was taken in Minsk? https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1142&relPageId=382

As an aid to looking at the "stamps" on the ID, I cropped out a lot of the extraneous information and blocked the photo out. The black rectangle covers the photo along it's "east" and "south" border. I noticed a mark that I can't identify that seems to be behind the "Minsk" photo. You can see the mark just touching the left of the "O" in "OCT" and again between the photo and the margin of the box numbered "4". There also seems to be mark through the pillar of the letter "T" in OCT".

RIP Mr. Lane

Hey Jim, actually I don't know anything about the "Minsk" photo other than it has 2 (or 3?) versions with Oswald dressed differently (?) in each one? What's the picture's actual/alleged provenance? Fill us in. Thanks.

I agree. If Oswald created it, why make a card that, as you pointed out earlier in this thread, has already expired? I don't know where he created it or even if he did. It's interesting that Oswald apparently used it after he was arrested in New Orleans in August, 1963. The report of FBI Special Agent Kaack suggests that the card indicated Oswald's dates of service, which it clearly does not. I'd have to assume the card would not have had an "October 23, 1963" stamp on it in August so was this a different card that was shown then? Could someone else have read this report and then decided to make their own version of this same ID for another purpose? (framing LHO?), I don't know. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1134#relPageId=788&tab=page

I'm leaning that way. I think the original photo was removed and the photo we see was added to the card at a later date. The circular stamps may be an effort by the "forger" to legitimize the current photo to make it seem it that it "belongs" there. I don't think the stamps are real "postal cancellation stamps" and that combined with the general good condition of the card makes me think it was not processed through the USPS. The text on the card is suspicious and I don't have a good explanation for how Oswald would have acquired it. According to the La Fontaines, the card baffled Lt. Ayers and the Marine Corp spokesman at the time, when it was brought to their attention. Nonetheless it's a significant discovery that was not addressed by the WC or the HSCA.

Yes and I have spoken to a County Judge that was one of the persons that greeted JFK on the tarmac at WPB. Remember that the Kennedys had a compound on Palm Beach and a bunker on Peanut island. West Palm Int'l was a frequent stop for JFK.

I heard a version of this from Hemming but it was West Palm Beach not Miami. Hemming was at the time in the "Glades" i.e Belle Glade with INTERPEN. Belle Glade to West Palm Beach is a straight shot down Southern Blvd. (US 441). Do you have citations that put this event in Miami?

NKVD issued passport circa 1940-45. Note the photo and NKVD stamp. 1946 Soviet Passport. Note the Photo and stamp

Jim, We don't know why he'd get a card at all. I never had a card when I was "Inactive". Active reservists have a reserve obligation like the National Guard, they need an ID. Inactive reservists have no need for an ID.

An aid to visualizing the circles:

Ok. I assume we are discussing the " OCT 23 1963". That text may not align on the circle as a group but they may each align to a circle individually. I'm playing around with it in a Photoshop to see if I can discover anything. Maybe they don't align with each other or the circles? I have no explanation yet.

"What is the over stamp?" is as good a question as "why does it have an over stamp?". Maybe if we can figure out one answer then we'll figure out the other. I thought the stamps were postage cancellation stamps but it seems they are not. I have yet to find any, on the web, from any source or country that have a date along the outside rim of a circular cancellation stamp. I thought maybe it's an ink seal of some kind and I am still researching that.

I think you were just pointing out a possibility, even if it was highly unlikely, and we should acknowledge that our military screws stuff up. Murphy's law. If the card is an authentic, non-laminated DoD ID card then that suggests that the Marine Corps MACS Unit that issued it at El Toro, NAS was incredibly incompetent. If the card is a forgery then either someone made it and planted it on Oswald or Oswald either made it or obtained it somehow himself. There could be a scenario where Oswald is given a blank numbered card by a third party and uses that to create a forgery for himself. Maybe a CIA guy that isn't really good at making ID's made it for him, DAP?

I agree there's nothing kosher about this card. It seems to have many elements that would indicate it's not something that Oswald would have been able to produce on his own, like LT. Ayers signature. Ayers has said he would not have issued this card to Oswald. btw... Lt. Ayers signed many of Oswald's other separation papers so his is the expected authority signature on the ID. The card is numbered because it grants privileges at the PX and commissary. Numbered ID cards like this have restricted access to the blanks. How would Oswald acquire a blank numbered card to make a forgery? Lt Ayers says the only way Oswald could have been a issued card like this is if he had been a civilian contractor going overseas. If that were the case, that he was issued the card then why is it not laminated, why is the date format on the front wrong? Why has the picture been altered and what are those stamps that resemble postage stamps but aren't?

I realize that could be the case, in another setting, on a different document, typed by non-military personnel. This card was issued by H&HS, MACS, EL TORO and Signed by a LT. JG in the US Marine Corps Reserve. The date format is correct elsewhere on the card. I don't buy it, that it was another private or non comm that typed that incorrect date format on the front of the card. I think it is probably a sloppy error by whomever forged the card. Compare it to the other card I posted.

Another problem: The "Expiration Date" : 7 Dec 1962 no real clerk in the military writes "1962" there. It's just "62" gentlemen.

Tom, Thanks for that. In my opinion the circle and text that appear on the photo also appear to be cut off at the edges of that photo and do not have any continuity with the circles or text on the ID. If you enlarge the lower right corner of the photo this becomes apparent. It looks like the marks on the photo are unique to the photo. Side note: Supposedly the photo depicted on this card was taken in Minsk but there are several issues with that claim.