Steve Thomas

Jim, I can't speak to the claim that Dinkin predicted Kennedy's assassination; but, 1) The identification of Dinkin belonging to the 599th Ordnance Group is wrong. Any CIA cables identifying him that way are misleading. Any identification of Dinkin having U.S. Army serial# RA 76710292 is wrong. 2) In 1977 Dinkin said he was a member of the 529th Ordnance Co. stationed in Massweiler, Germany. In 1967 a Richard Moltzon wrote to Jim Garrison and told him that he was stationed there with Dinkin. Moltzon was a real person. 3) As a supply depot, the 529th handled more than artillery shells. They assembled nuclear weapons and made them fail-safe. 4) Dinkin claimed to be a "cryptographic operator" with a Top Secret security clearance. Without seeing his service record, I can't know if that was Dinkin's MOS, or Military Occupational Specialty. but The 529th Ordnance Co., as part of the 71st. Ordnance Group, did do nuclear weapons assembly work under the Advanced Weapons Support Command (AWSCOM) which was activated in March, 1959. There were crytographic operators working with those units in the 71st who held Top Secret clearances. 5) In his letter to the SSCA in 1977, Dinkin said that someone "arranged" to leave out an American Rifleman magazine that had a picture of marksman,Thomas D. Smith III in it. In his letter, Dinkin said that he was interviewed by this man while he was incarcerated at Walter Reed Hospital. Did Dinkin just pick Smith's picture out of a magazine and claim that that person interviewed him at Walter Reed? I can't know, but Thomas D. Smith III was a real person. Steve Thomas

I've been doing a little research. On October 19, 2017, Jim DiEugenio opened a thread on this Forum entitled, “Eugene Dinkin: The Saga of an Unsung Hero.” Jim's thread was predicated on an article of the same title written by a man named Ronald Redmon, and published on the website https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/eugene-dinkin-the-saga-of-an-unsung-hero Based on reasearch he had discovered in files that were recently released in the 1990's, Mr. Redmon wrote, “Regular Army Private First Class Dinkin was serving in Metz, France in the 599th Ordinance Group” At the time, I expressed skepticism of Dinkin's story because I could find no record of a 599th Ordinance or Ordnance Group in Europe in the 1950's or 60's. However, what I have learned in the meantime has caused me to change my thinking. I can't prove that what he claimed was true, but Dinkin was where he said he was. Without seeing his service record, I do not know if he was a “cryptographic operator”, but now, I don't see any reason to doubt it. CD 943 is a memorandum from Richard Helms of May 19, 1964 to J. Lee Rankin which identified Pvt. Dinkin as having U.S. Army serial number RA 76710292 (I've learned that RA stands for Regular Army). https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11339#relPageId=2&tab=page CD 788 said that on February 18, 1964, local Army records in Metz, France correctly reported Dinkin's serial number as 16710292. However, in that same FBI Letterhead memo of April 9, 1964 which comprises CD 788, it says that, “Dinkin advised that he had been in trouble with the officers of his military group, the 599th Ordnance Group stationed in Germany...” https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=11186#relPageId=7&tab=page See p. 4. (Notice the difference in serial numbers). On January 1, 2011 Bernice Moore opened a thread on the Deep Politics Forum entitled, “The strange tale of eugene dinkin..PRE KNOWLEDGE.”. In her thread, Bernice references an essay called “The Strange Tale of Eugene Dinkins” by a Robert Mitchell. https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/showthread.php?5734-The-strange-tale-of-eugene-dinkin-PRE-KNOWLEDGE#.W1XbtsInaM9 In Mary Ferrell's Database, it identifies Dinkin as having U.S, Army serial number as RA 76710292. https://www.maryferrell.org/php/marysdb.php?id=3339 Dinkin List of CIA cables: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=26509#relPageId=3&tab=page see pp. 3, 4 CIA cable 22-531 is an interesting one. You can see a copy here: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=50238&search="Michael_K.+Bowers"#relPageId=2&tab=page Someone using Michael Bowers name was traveling in Switzerland. The person using Bowers' name did not match the physical description of Eugene Dinkin as provided by newsmen and ODIBEX. In other sources, ODIBEX appears to be the U.S. Army. The cable says that, “Description of Dinkin from ODIBEX and newsmen he contacted stated that he had heavy black mustache, wore horn rim glasses.” CIA station in Bern wonders who this person could be. On July 21, 2018, Jim Hargrove posted an entry in the Education Forum in a thread entitled, “Records release regarding intercepted messages.” http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/25068-records-release-regarding-intercepted-messages/ In his entry, Jim referred readers to the John Armstrong Collection of materials on Dinkin at Baylor University here: http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/po-arm/id/23494/rec/7 and quoted a letter on page 2 of those documents from a Richard Moltzon to Jim Garrison dated September 16, 1967. In his letter, Moltzon wrote that he had been stationed with Eugene Dinkin in the 529th Ordnance Company in Germany. There was a 529th Ordnance Co. 529th Ordnance Co. http://nikeordnance.nikemissile.org/unitSelect.php?tableSelector=529thOrdnanceCo 53 Names: Name: Rick Moltzon StartDate: 1962-02-01 00:00:00 EndDate: 03/64 Rank: SP5 MOS-Title: 304.1, Weapons Electronic Maint. Tech The 529th Ordnance Co. was stationed in Massweiler, Germany as part of the 71st. Ordnance Group, and did do nuclear weapons assembly work under the Advanced Weapons Support Command (AWSCOM) which was activated in March, 1959. There were crytographic operators working with those units in the 71st who held Top Secret clearances. See a history of the 71st Ordnance Group here: https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/Ordnance/USAREUR_Ordnance%20Troop%20List.htm On pp. 12-14 of the Armstrong collection of documents, there is a three-page handwritten letter from Eugene Dinkin to Jacqueline Hess of the Senate Select Committee on Assassinations (SSCA) dated March 10, 1977. http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/utils/getfile/collection/po-arm/id/23494/filename/23488.pdfpage/page/12 On pp. 12-13 of that letter, Dinkin wrote that, “T.D. Smith III (top photo) is known to me, as he, attired in the white tunic of a physician, interviewed me at Walter Reed Hospital in February, 1964.... Banta? Bantu? (Mayleigh Team photo) was in the 529th Ordnance Co., Massweiler, Germany with me. I did not know him on any personal basis and I did not know that he was a marksman until I saw this photo.” http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/utils/getfile/collection/po-arm/id/23494/filename/23488.pdfpage/page/12 On page 13 of that letter, Dinkin wrote, “I had been a cryptographic operator at the 529th Ord. Co., which assembles nuclear warhead missiles under Advanced Weapons Support Command.” On page 13 of that letter, Dinkin wrote that, “My service number was RA 16710292, not 76710292. He also wrote that he had a red mustache. Permissive Active Link or PAL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link “A Permissive Action Link (PAL) is a security device for nuclear weapons. Its purpose is to prevent unauthorized arming or detonation of the nuclear weapon.[1] The United States Department of Defense definition is: A device included in or attached to a nuclear weapon system to preclude arming and/or launching until the insertion of a prescribed discrete code or combination. It may include equipment and cabling external to the weapon or weapon system to activate components within the weapon or weapon system. The earliest PALs were little more than locks introduced into the control and firing systems of a nuclear weapon, that would inhibit either the detonation, or the removal of safety features of the weapon. More recent innovations have included encrypted firing parameters, which must be decrypted to properly detonate the warhead, plus anti-tamper systems which intentionally mis-detonate the weapon, destroying it without giving rise to a nuclear explosion.” 59th Ordnance Brigade https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/Ordnance/USAREUR_59thOrdBde.htm Source: Email from Gary Smith, PAL Det, 1963-67) “I was assigned to the USA PAL Det (Permissive Action Link) from 1963 to 1967. The unit was organized to install the Permissive Action Link devices throughout the European Theater. The unit spent its time in the early stages testing the devices before the program was fully implemented and then traveled throughout the theater installing the devices. I was with the unit almost from its inception until the program was fully implemented.” “A later phase of the mission involved tested of the devices and became very boring. Can you imagine eight hours a day opening combination locks over and over? There were quite a few failures in the early days and this testing phase stretched out for quite a long time, but the devices had to work flawlessly. Much of the early testing was at the 529th Ordnance Company in tunnels dug during the Second World War by the Germans.” In his letter to Jacqueline Hess, Dinkin refers to a T.D. Smith III and the Mayleigh Team. The Mayleigh Team has something to do with the National Rifle and Pistol Matches held at Camp Perry, Ohio. In 1963, Thomas D. Smith III won the General Custer Trophy in the Individual Pistol Match# 100. http://www.wwmcmillan.info/natMatches_1963.html National Trophy Individual Pistol Match No. 100 “General Custer Trophy” Rank Name Service Branch/Agency Slow Fire Timed Fire Rapid Fire Total 1 Wm W. McMillan, Jr. U.S. Marine Corps Quantico, Va. 96-3X 99-5X 99-5X 294-13X 2 Robert E. Wilford U.S. Army 96-4X 98-4X 99-6X 293-14X 3 Edwin L. Teague U.S. Air Force 94-2X 99-5X 99-6X 292-13X 4 Richard F. Stengel U.S. Army 98-2X 98-6X 96-2X 292-10X 5 Thomas D. Smith, III U.S. Air Force 91-1X 100-8X 100-8X 291-17X .22 Caliber Slow Fire Match 3rd Regular Service Master Thomas D. Smith, III U.S. Air Force Lackland AFB, Tex. 195-12X National .22 Caliber Team Championship “High Standard Trophy” Rank Team Competitors Score 1 U.S. Air Force 'Blue' J. L. Mahan (295-12X), A. R. Merx (300-17X) T. D Smith, III (296-17X) & F. C. Green (294-18X) 1185-64X International Pistol Team Match "Mayleigh Challenge Cup" Individual Scores Rank Name Service Branch/Agency Score 1 Emil W. Heugatter U.S. Army Europe 195-8X 2 Norman L. Banta U.S. Army 193-6X 3 Thomas D. Smith, III U.S. Air Force Lackland AFB, Tex. 192-5X In 1964, Capt. T. D. Smith of the U. S. Air Force made a strong run at Blankenship on the last day of the big shoot when he cracked out a record setting 889 out of 900 with the .45 cal. pistol, but he fell three points short and finished second with a 2539.” National Pistol Individual Championship Match No. 1 “Harrison Cup Trophy” Aggregate of Matches 2, 3 & 4 Rank Name Service Branch/Agency .22 Caliber Center-Fire .45 Caliber Total 1 Wm B. Blankenship, Jr. U.S. Army - 876-32X - 2642-112X 2 Thomas D. Smith, III U.S. Air Force - - 889-42X 2636-132X http://www.wwmcmillan.info/natMatches_1964.html Steve Thomas

Jim, I thought you might a little confirmation of Moltzon's bona fides: 529thOrdnanceCo. http://nikeordnance.nikemissile.org/unitSelect.php?tableSelector=529thOrdnanceCo Name: Rick Moltzon StartDate: 1962-02-01 00:00:00 EndDate: 03/64 Rank: SP5 MOS-Title: 304.1, Weapons Electronic Maint. Tech Steve Thomas

Paul, Yes, based on what he told the HSCA. The 66th MI Group was based at Nurnberg (also spelled Nuernberg) "Nürnberg, English conventional Nuremberg, city, Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany. Bavaria’s second largest city (after Munich), Nürnberg is located on the Pegnitz River where it emerges from the uplands of Franconia (Franken), south of Erlangen." https://www.britannica.com/place/Nurnberg Steve Thomas

Paul, I wrote, "Can you give me a bibliographic citation or web address for the 511th. I'd like to read up on them." Thanks, I found this little web page devoted to the 511th. http://krookmcsmile.tripod.com/511thMICompany.html Just as an aside, you might be interested in reading this Field Manual on Military Intelligence Units. It's only about 14 pages long. https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/Military%20Intelligence/USAREUR_MilIntel.htm 'The General Section of this field manual provides some insight into the organization of theater army military intelligence units. Scan of the pages of Chapter 1 can be viewed by clicking on the Field Manual cover (Left)” Click on the picture of the Manual cover about 2/3 of the way down the page of the USAEUR web site cited just above. Steve Thomas

Paul, Can you give me a bibliographic citation or web address for the 511th. I'd like to read up on them. Steve Thomas

Paul, I think so, yes. See pp. 6-7 of his HSCA testimony here: https://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/unpub_testimony/Jones_4-20-78/html/jones_0007a.htm Steve Thomas

David, Here's a CIA document on Felipe Vidal Santiago. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=44232&search=Felipe_Vidal+Santiago#relPageId=1&tab=page Page 6 has a physical description. He was born in 1926. In 1963, he would have been 37 years old. Steve Thomas

This a very, very interesting web page. It's a brief history of the 71st Ordnance Group: https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/Ordnance/USAREUR_Ordnance%20Troop%20List.htm Source: Email from Ed Donohue, 71st Ord Gp/AWSCOM, 1958-62) 1958: "I enjoyed the TDY missions to various NATO installations, First French Army, British units and German units that worked with our U.S. weapons team. We ran convoys for the different units, 583rd (Ord Co) at Dahn, 529th (Ord Co) at Massweiler, 64th (Ord Co) at Fischbach. There were many convoys that year. It was very exciting being part of these convoys. MP teams were used to protect the missions and we were always heavily armed, carrying white phosphorus blocks to protect and if needed destroy secret crypto equipment and documents if we were placed in that position. NSA regulated our activities in regard to classified communications. Some trips took us close to the Iron Curtain. The best part was returning to base using many different routes to confuse any adversary Intel units. (Email from Tom Probst, HQ AWSCOM, 1959-61) 1959: "I was at HQ AWSCOM in Pirmasens from Feb 59 to Feb 61. At that time we stored nuclear warheads for the 7th Army. We had many units under our command that worked with the (special) weapons. I was a top secret documents clerk. We also had an MP unit that guarded the third floor of HQ building which was highly classified; by today's standards, the security was very poor. I guess you know our mission, we controlled the nuclear warheads for USAREUR. Our troops had restricted travel in Europe because of our mission." (Source: Email from Joe Phillips, 82nd Ord Bn and 541st Sig Co, 1958-1960) 1958 https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/Ordnance/USAREUR_Ordnance%20Troop%20List.htm "Massweiler was more of the “James Bond” security post than any other I’d been associated with. There, it seemed to be pretty serious stuff. I read in one of our associate’s emails that security seemed a bit lax compared to what we see now in the films. I would agree except for the Massweiler post. By the way my recollection of Zweibrucken was eclectic. Stationed on our post was a U.S. Air Force unit. About a half mile away there was a West German basic training command. And in or near Zweibrucken were elements of the First French Army and a Canadian Air Force unit. Very NATO." Steve Thomas

There is a record of a 529th Ordnance Company. They were part of the 71st Ordnance Group, and were based in Massweiler, Germany. European Theater Ordnance Units & Activities, 1945 - 1989 https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/Ordnance/USAREUR_Ordnance%20Troop%20List.htm Steve Thomas

Jim, That's the first time I've ever seen reference to a Russian embassy visit. Steve Thomas

David, Me too. I've tried to narrow it down. If the picnic was in early September, I figure it probably would have been on the weekend, to give those guys who worked a chance attend. I did learn this: September 08, 1963 - Page 6 Alice Daily Echo Newspaper Archives https://newspaperarchive.com/alice-daily-echo-sep-08-1963-p-6/ Bv THE ASSOCIATED PRESS “Gusts of powerful winds struck in the Dallas area Saturday as a surprise rainstorm whipped into the roof of one residence and damaged another in Mesquite, a suburb just east of Dallas. State Police said no injuries resulted. The wind blew a wooden block through the windshield of a mobile news unit of Radio KBOX of Dallas while it was near White Rock Lake inside the Dallas city limits. On Dallas' North Central Expressway, the blast blew in the side of a service station. Tarpaulins protecting building construction work in downtown Dallas were whipped to shreds. The storm occurred during unexpected rain activity in Dallas and other parts of North Central and Northeast Texas. The rest of the state was unusually hot and nearly all places were dry.” September 7, 1963 was a Saturday. The temperature was 102 degrees. Steve Thomas

David, Thank you, but I don't think the photos shown to the "asset" as described in the document you referenced were the same photos Weisberg talked to the Castorrs about. The photos in the document came from an Alpha 66 meeting. The Weiberg/Castorr photos came from stills from television coverage. "W: You may not, but that's all right. What we have here are pictures collected of people we don't know too much about. These are some stills taken from the television films taken of the in White Rock Park. in the summer July 1963 I believe. ITS Mrs. C: September, I believe. Mr. W: Was that it._ http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg%20Subject%20Index%20Files/C%20Disk/Castorr%20L%20Robert%20Colonel/Item%2012.pdf page 1." Steve Thomas

Kathy, The two-hour meeting behind closed doors reminds me of nothing so much as the Family getting together in Appalachia to carve out territory. Steve Thomas

Cliff, Forget Iran. It's those damned Montenegroans (sic?) They're very aggressive, you know. I believe that there will be an "incident", a "provocation" soon, somewhere. Moscow will claim it's acting in self defense, and the fight is on. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trump-calls-out-very-aggressive-montenegro-latest-nato-jibe-n892311 "The president suggested he would be unhappy defending "tiny" Montenegro if it were attacked, calling into question NATO's central principle of mutual defense. He also questioned whether the country's "very aggressive people" could draw NATO into a war with Russia. Like other presidents before him, Trump wants smaller NATO members to pull their weight by spending more on their militaries. But he's the first to directly challenge the alliance's mutual defense clause. Critics say that destabilizes one of the foundations of the post-World War II Western world. "Membership in NATO obligates the members to defend any other member that's attacked," Carlson said. "So let’s say Montenegro, which joined last year, is attacked. Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack?" Trump answered: "I understand what you're saying. I've asked the same question. I've asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people … They're very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and congratulations you're in World War III."" Steve Thomas

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/17/politics/trump-putin-russia-claim-military-agreements/index.html “The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is ready for practical implementation of the agreements reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in the sphere of international security achieved at the Helsinki summit," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a Russian military spokesman, said in a statement Tuesday. The Russian military "is ready to intensify contacts with the US colleagues in the General Staff and other available channels to discuss the extension of the START treaty, cooperation in Syria, as well as other issues of ensuring military security," Konashenkov said. The National Security Council would not confirm what Trump had agreed to in the one-on-one with Putin. A spokesman for the NSC told CNN on Tuesday that they were still "reviewing the discussion." "The Helsinki summit was the beginning of a process between the United States and Russia to reduce tensions and advance areas of cooperation in our mutual interest," the spokesman said. "We are reviewing the discussion between President Trump and President Putin, considering possible next steps, and have nothing further to announce at this time." The Pentagon declined to comment.” Steve Thomas

Paul, My guess is that it stands for U.S. Army Office of Secretary of Defense - but that's just a guess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Secretary_of_Defense The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is a headquarters-level staff of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It is the principal civilian staff element of the Secretary of Defense, and it assists the Secretary in carrying out authority, direction and control of the Department of Defense in the exercise of policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal, and program evaluation responsibilities. Steve Thomas

Cory, This tells me everything I need to know. Steve Thomas

Jim, I think NATO buys us Lebensraum. Not in the German imperialistic, colonial sense, but in it's definition - "living space" . I look at what happened in Hungary in 1956 and in Chechoslovakia in 1968., and eastern Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. I don't think those countries wanted to be in Russia's "Warsaw Pact". Look at how quickly they joined a Western Alliance when the Soviet Union collapsed. The East and West have been battling it out on the plains of Eastern Europe from time immemorial. As this Wikipedia article says, "The Ottoman–Habsburg wars fought from the 16th through the 18th centuries between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg (later Austrian) Empire, which was at times supported by the Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Hungary, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Habsburg Spain. The wars were dominated by land campaigns in Hungary (including Transylvania (modern-day Romania) and Vojvodina (modern-day Serbia), Croatia and central Serbia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman–Habsburg_wars I think you are saying that bad people took NATO over and started using it for bad things, (like the Gladio network and the strategy of tension, and an "offensive war mechanism") and I agree with that totally. Steve Thomas

Greg, I understand what you are saying, but I think it goes beyond one election. I seriously think there is an effort to re-shape the whole world order. Alliances are shifting. Trump said that in that two-hour meeting, he and Putin talked about a lot of things - nuclear proliferation, Syria, China... and I sat up and said, "Wait. What? Why would they be talking about China in a two-man, secret talk"? "What's going on here?" Steve Thomas

Jim, I'm sorry, but in this case, I couldn't disagree with you more. You said, " There is no USSR today ". I say, tell that to the people of Georgia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan... I can't overlook the oil pipelines coming out of Central Asia and who gets to control where they get to market. Steve Thomas

If Trump helps Putin invade Europe, will Putin help Trump invade Canada? Have they agreed between themselves to divide up the world? Steve Thomas

Joe, “There weren’t that many people on the left of me, more to the right of me. All the people across the street, you could see that whole knoll area, not quite to the depository area. Before I got there, there were a lot of people behind me.” In her eagerness to get a picture, Toni had run out ahead of her husband. He is one of the group of people behind her. What made her think he might be in the line of fire? Steve Thomas

"I remember, for myself, I was looking for my husband. I knew he was in the line of fire from where he was and I was trying to find him." Interesting subconscious reaction, wouldn't you say? Steve Thomas

"The Running Woman: Toni Foster" Kennedy Assassination Chronicles Vol. 6., Issue 2, Summer 2000 By Debra Conway © 2000 http://jfklancer.com/pdf/toni.pdf “For some reason the car stopped. It did stop for seconds. I don’t ever know why it stopped and all of a sudden it sped up and they went under the underpass.” “I remember people stating too about his flesh being everywhere. Then everyone was just running and screaming.” “As the car sped off, after its stopped, everybody was running in every direction, and that fast, I remember looking at the knoll.” Steve Thomas