Chris Newton

Richard, what would have been the process if a mail handler were to encounter an ID deposited in a mail box? Assuming that this ID was not laminated and had a picture attached to it. Could the "additional" stamp been an attempt to make a photograph appear to be the original? another words... if I had an ID that had a postmark that had intruded on the original photo and that original photo was removed and a new photo added. Could the second "postmark" be an attempt to add the image of the postmark to the "new" photo?

better version of the front of the ID pre-FBI defacement:

Would the HTLINGUAL Operation have intercepted this card if dropped in a local Dallas postal box? Could our favorite Postal Inspector, HDH, have had this card in October 1963?

What if an unlaminated ID card had been dropped in a mailbox and during it's "trip"to it's destination the original attached photo fell off and was lost? Could a new "alternative" photo have been attached so that it could "appear" in Oswald's wallet?

Just thinking out loud... Why would a conspiracy plotter plant this card (say that three times fast) in Oswald's wallet knowing it would raise questions of authenticity? reverse sheep-dipping? A card like this - unlaminated - could not survive for long in anyone's wallet, and maybe not alone and exposed on a trip through the mail with an attached photo. Therefore, this ID and maybe the entire wallet are elaborate frauds. Oswald has had real military IDs and has seen probably hundreds more during his tour. He knows they are laminated. The lamination part of creating the card is the easy and cheap and the material is at every "five and dime" back then. I propose that If Oswald had gone to the trouble of making this card he would have laminated it.

I think that this mystery is the biggest one of all. If it was returned to the DoD through the procedure in place to return lost ID cards through the US mail, well... you believe in the tooth fairy if you think that it was subsequently returned to Oswald. The fact that it wasn't laminated meant that the postage office stamp defaced the card. This defacement may render the card useless as an official document. Therefore, for what purpose would the DoD return the card to Oswald? I'm sure the DoD SOP, even though I haven't read it, is that the issuing authority needs to re-issue a new card.

Just FYI, I also agree with this. The WW2 Army ID I have is laminated. I don't know when they started doing this but it's been SOP for a long, long time.

Before I started researching Oswald's Russian embassy letter, I was pretty actively researching the notion that Jack Ruby was in cahoots with Phillips, (or Oswald, or Hosty, etc.) and it seemed to me then that Ruby's frequent trips and contacts in Houston were a major red flag. There were no smoking guns but a ton of circumstantial evidence the puts a lot of the "players" in close proximity in the city that is roughly halfway between New Orleans and Dallas. Mary Ferrel's chronology has Ferrie traveling to Dallas on 11/0 which is interesting in the context of Harvey Wade's statement in your link.

Also from Harold Weiseberg collection is this pdf of an email chain. Note the very last email stating that Lafontaine had checked with the Marine Historian concerning this and was told one of the possible reasons for getting this card was if Oswald were "a civilian employee of DoD". http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/L Disk/LaFontaine Ray & Mary The Fourth Tramp/Item 32.pdf I still think that the postmark and the fact that it made it's way back to Dallas on 11/22/63 are, in fact, "the fingerprints of intelligence".

DD Form 1173 currently issued to: -Dependents of: active-duty Service members of the regular components; Reserve component Service members on active duty for more than 30 days; retirees; Medal of Honor recipients; former members in receipt of retired pay; Transitional Health Care Members (TAMP); 100% Disabled American Veterans (DAV); and Ship's Officers and Crewmembers of NOAA Vessels -Surviving dependents of: active-duty and retired military members; Medal of Honor recipients; and 100% Disabled American Veterans (DAV) -Accompanying family members of authorized civilian personnel overseas -Eligible dependents of foreign military -Other benefits-eligible categories as described in DoD policy http://navyadministration.tpub.com/14214/css/Dd-Form-1172-82.htm

Mark, I like that logic. Good work. I haven't ever encountered dependents that were parents, but I suppose there could have been some strange "injury" related claim going on. . Also, it still doesn't explain the post office stamp, and how it was returned to get "discovered". edit note: I think someone needs to be a "dependent" in a legal sense for the military to recognize and offer benefits to that person.

Hey jim, I have to assume that the ID had to have been sent to through the mail to the DoD. No "forger" would add a forged postage stamp and there is no mechanism to return the card to Oswald therefore someone got a hold of that cad and planted it as evidence. Who would be able to do that? Angleton? Someone has to bring it back to Dallas. Phillips? Are we sure it was found in a wallet or did someone just say it was found in a wallet? Btw, I don't think Gen. Walker is getting that ID from the DoD.

ex CIA IG and Acting Director, Charles Briggs, "The Gatekeeper" : https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Limits_to_Transparency.html

That's you talking, I don't think I've "discovered" anything that other observant vets wouldn't have seen. Here's my late good friend Jack White's thoughts on the ID card: http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/W Disk/White Jack/Item 08.pdf

The card I posted a link to may be specifically for a dependent of a military (retired?) person. The "retired" came from the source site and I question that part at the moment. The card number at the top starts with "AF", meaning that the Air Force was the branch of service. Oswald's card starts with "N", presumably for Navy. In the lower left corner is the current Service & Status of the sponsor, the linked card shows USA (U.S. Army?) and AD (Active Duty?). Still a little confused about the different agencies issuing these but it is not the standard card for a retiree, I'm leaning toward that it is only issued to dependents.

This is an example of a Retired Military Dependent ID Card: What does that tell us?

Hey Tom, There are some puzzles I'm really outstanding at solving and some kinds that frustrate me to no end. I'm fascinated by your ICO puzzles and always enjoy reading your work but they also confuse me a lot. As a former systems analyst, I probably approach my puzzles using different and more practical (to me) methods. I always appreciate your input though. ...back to the ID card. this is an example of a Marine Corps Inactive ID from roughly the same period. I still don't understand the DoD ID at all:

Re-considering that card... what is it's purpose? It is not an US Marine Corps ID. It's a DoD ID. Why would Oswald have a DoD ID? I have my grandfather's WW2 US Army ID (which was a cover for his OWI role) and it resembles my active duty US Army ID in almost every way despite a 40 year difference. If you are discharged from active duty and you have a reserve obligation (active or inactive) you get a card that resembles your active duty card but has another color for all the text and art, such as red on my two reserve US Army ID's. You don't get a DoD card. When you ETS you don't get a new card at all.

Jim, I don't know the process. I've held many Military ID's, Active, Reserve, Inactive Reserve and Nat'l Guard but I've never lost one or even seen one that got lost and returned. Pure speculation that if it was dropped in a postal mailbox that someone hand stamped the ID itself. I don't know why they would do that. I'd think they'd put it in an envelope first. According to Mary: Oct. 23rd. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=40391#relPageId=221&tab=page Coincidence?

Sandy It depends. If you accept that the Spanish word for automobile is "auto" (which I believe is correct) or, according to this document (linked below) it may be an abbreviation for "autobus" (I think that translation is unlikely). https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10997#relPageId=6&tab=page

The well dressed Latino that took him to Ray McKeown to buy guns?

Hey Jim, anyone that finds a military or government ID can toss it in a mailbox and it gets returned to the DoD not the person who is on the ID. I suppose it would get a stamp. I don't know how Oswald would have an ID with that stamp on it. It seems to me that he'd have to get a new ID from the issuing authority after having his old one sent in. He would not get his old one back. That is strange as hell. If you look on the back there is a box with instructions to the postmaster.

Let me throw another wrench in here. There was a dictionary found at the same time as the Oswald draft according to Ruth. The dictionary raises a couple of questions. Was the Oswald draft actually folded in half and inserted in the dictionary? Was the dictionary with the draft because Oswald was not finished writing the draft and he was still checking his spelling? Where is the dictionary now? Why is the dictionary only mentioned once in the all of the WC testimony? FBI Agent Odum sends the Dictionary to the FBI lab based on a 12/4/63 interview of Ruth Paine. If he interviewed her on 11/23/63 and gotten her copy of the draft how did the dictionary elude him at that time? see highlighted testimony here: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=43&relPageId=399&search=paine_and pocket and dictionary and FBI Inventory form FD-192 : https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=59641&relPageId=125

Per Ruth's story, she gives the Oswald draft to Hosty on 11/23/63 and her copy of the Oswald draft to Odum on a subsequent interview the same day. My theory is that Hosty already had the Oswald draft before 11/22/63. The first time she tells the story to an FBI Agent, Odum, who has been sent to double check on Hosty's interviews, he (Odum) asks for and receives the Paine copy of the Oswald draft.

One of the most extraordinary things to me about the Alan Grant photo is this: It was taken after everyone returned to the Paine residence after being taken downtown and making written statements to the DPD. Everyone in this photo, except the baby, knew that Lee was being accused of killing a policeman and the President of the United States. Despite this knowledge, Ruth by her own account, still has the letter secretly squirreled away and she's told no one about it. Not the Detectives searching her house, not downtown at the station, not even to her friend and "confidant" Marina. She says she told Michael but Michael doesn't ever mention it until he's asked on the stand, and even then he claims to not remember much about it. Alternatively, there might be another explanation, maybe she didn't actually have it, and therefore it's "the story" that makes it seem she is withholding key evidence.