Steve Thomas

The Mexia Daily News from Mexia, Texas · Page 1 November 7, 1957 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/11876796/ “Earl McKeith was coming out of a local bank Tuesday and came face to face with a man who was one of his fellow Army officers in the early thirties. Earl didn't recognize him but L. Robert Castorr, of Dallas, immediately grabbed Earl's arm and said "I know you." Mr. Castorr. who is now a- colonel in the Active Reserve serving as inspector and advisor to the 90th Division in Texas., and Mr. McKeith, a Reserve. Army captain, were first lieutenants when they served with each other in the Second Infantry Division. They last saw each other in 1930. Col. Castorr served with Merrill's Marauders in Burma during World War II.”

The Mexia Daily News from Mexia, Texas · Page 1 November 7, 1957 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/11876796/ Mexia Man Receives Appointment Earl McKeilh, (center) is pictured with L. Robert Castorr, of Dallas, Southwestern division manager of the National Federation of Independent Business, and Si N. Meadow, district manager of the organization from Austin. “Earl McKeith was coming out of a local bank Tuesday and came face to face with a man who was one of his fellow Army officers in the early thirties. Earl didn't recognize him but L. Robert Castorr, of Dallas, immediately grabbed Earl's arm and said "I know you." Mr. Castorr. who is now a- colonel in the Active Reserve serving as inspector and advisor to the 90th Division in Texas., and Mr. McKeith, a Reserve. Army captain, were first lieutenants when they served with each other in the Second Infantry Division. They last saw each other in 1930. Col. Castorr served with Merrill's Marauders in Burma during World War II.” “Mr. Meadow was accompanied to Mexia by L. Robert Castorr, the Southwestern division manager for the National Federation of Independent Business. Mr. Castorr formerly served in the U. S. Army with Mr. McKeilh.” Dallas Morning News 11-16-1965 10 Dallas reserve Units Included In Inactivation By Gene Ormsby Fourteen Army Reserve units in Dallas, including 10 in the 90th Infantry Division, are scheduled to be inactivated immediately, Major Gen. William R. Calhoun commander of the Eighth U.S. Army Corps said Monday in Austin. Lt. Col. George L. Whitmeyer, deputy East Texas sector commander said the same units were listed more than a month ago by Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara as the ones to be disbanded. McNamara announced at that time that the 90th Infantry Division would be disbanded. Whitmeyer said he had not received confirmation of the orders from Gen. Calhoun, but said they could take place in the next two to three months. I think the 488th is going to come out of the 90th Infantry Division Reserves. The following is just an interesting little side not. Ex-CBI Roundup December 1982 Issue http://www.ex-cbi-roundup.com/articles/cbi_patch.html By L. Robert Castorr, Col., USA Inf. (Ret.) While visiting with General Frank "Pinky" Dorn, one of our early rugged infantry comrades of the CBI and just shortly before he passed away on July 26,1981, he related the history and origin of how this distinguished patch came into being. I pass on his remarks presented to me for those of our readers who may find the story of interest. (How the China, Burma, India patch came into existence) Steve Thomas

I don't know if this has been addressed before, but on that video Bill provided, from the 5:17 mark to 5:30, that sure looks like Oswald to me. Steve Thomas

This is interesting. FLIF disc jockey, Danny McCurdy told the FBI that Jack called him about 1:00 and showed up at the station about 20 minutes later. 20H(552) https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1137#relPageId=572&tab=page When he testified to the WC, McCurdy said that Ruby called him around 12:20 and showed up at the station about 12:40. 15H(532) https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=51#relPageId=542&tab=page McCurdy says that Ruby stayed for about an hour or maybe longer. In his deposition in vol 20, McCurdy said that Glen Duncan, and Russell Moore (Russ Knight) were also there when Ruby was present. In his Jack Ruby trial testimony, Glen Duncan said he took Jack Ruby's call at around midnight or shortly thereafter. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1136&search="Glen_Duncan"#relPageId=647&tab=page Surprisingly enough, that deposition also says that Pappas (fnu), newsman for WNEW, Radio, New York City was there. Can that be true? Steve Thomas

Alistair, I just read Sims' WC testimony. He said he took Oswald down to the press conference at 12:15 and brought him back to jail about 12:20. Michael has raised a thorny question :-) Steve Thomas

Michael, See 25H(521) for an FBI interview with John J. Simpson - garage attendant) https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1141#relPageId=551&tab=page Steve Thomas

Alistair, I know that Fritz told the Warren Commission that he took Oswald back to jail at 12:05. I've never thought about it, did the press conference continue after Oswald left the room? I'll have to look into the Wade question. Steve Thomas

Michael, For a couple of other people who saw Ruby in the basement, see: Other people who saw Ruby in the DPD basement. CD 105 pp. 325-325 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10517#relPageId=341&tab=page You might want to look at Mary Ferrell's Chronologies here for an 11:30 - 12:00 timeline: Mary Ferrells's Chronologies https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=41072#relPageId=10&tab=page See also here for "Johnny" Simpson: Ken Rahn Timeline http://www.kenrahn.com/JFK/Issues_and_evidence/Jack_Ruby/Timeline_of_Ruby.html 1:00 – 2:00 AM Olsen, Harry DPD: had "two to three" hour conversation with Ruby, Kathy Kay Coleman (stripper at Ruby's Carousel) and "Johnny" Simpson, garage attendant, at Simon's parking lot on corner of Jackson and Field. (1300 Jackson Street). Conversation ended about 2 or 3 A.M.(14 H 631-2) dtd 8/6/64. In interview of 12/16 OLSEN stated they only talked to Jack for about ten minutes and Olsen placed the meeting at around 1:30 A.M. (25 H 279) Steve Thomas

Michael, JP David Johnston said that between 12:15 and 12:30, Jack Ruby walked up to him and handed him a pass to the Carousel Club. He included a copy of the pass Ruby gave him in his report. 20H315 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1137#relPageId=335&tab=page Steve Thomas

Michael, That's about the best picture I've ever seen of Dealey Plaza. Steve Thomas

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=946#relPageId=653&tab=page Alistair, You're right. I was a little sloppy in my research. That part about encountering a Secret Service Agent comes from Thomas Kelley's Report of the Interrogation on the 24th. See Appendix XI, page 629. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=946#relPageId=653&tab=page According to Kelley, Oswald said that this Agent, "showed a book of identification." And, you're right. I probably shouldn't have thrown in that bit about "sticking around" in this thread. I just got to wondering, if the shooting took place at 12:34, and Lumpkin didn't arrive until at least 12:49, and that Lumpkin was the one who "placed" Kaminski at the front door, and Kaminski was the policeman who stopped Oswald there, that meant to me that if Oswald was the shooter, he hung around for at least fifteen minutes afterwards. Just seemed odd. Steve Thomas

Sandy, In the combined after-action report submitted by Batcheor, Lumpkin and Stevenson, Lumpkin wrote that Lieutenant Kaminski was placed at the front door with Roy Truly, and that, as each employee left, Kaminski got their name, address and telephone number, and Truly verified that they worked there. See DPD Archives Box 14, Folder# 4, Item# 10, pp. 22-23. http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box14.htm In his Report on Oswald's Interrogations in Appendix XI of the WR, Harry Holmes wrote of the Interrogation on the 24th, that Oswald said that as he was leaving the TSBD, he was stopped by a policeman who took his identification. “and his boss stated that he is one of our employees.” Meaning that, according to Oswald at least, Truly was there. The policeman asked him to step aside momentarily. WR Appendix XI, p. 636 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=946#relPageId=660&tab=page According to the Dallas Dispatch Tapes, at 12:49 PM, Captain Talbert (15) radios in and informs Dispatch that “15's in charge down here. Correction, 5's (Dept. Chief G.L. Lumpkin) in charge.” Between 12:55 and 1:00 PM, 15 radios in and say, “Think 5 and 9 (Lumpkin and Sawyer) both are in the building.” From Greg Parker: From Jarman's HSCA interview: "We ran to the front of the building and as we was running out of the building the police stopped us, he told us to come back inside... after we was inside the building after that, I heard that Oswald had come down through the office and come down the front stairs and he was stopped by the officer that had stopped us. And, Oswald was coming out the door and [Billy Lovelady] said the police had stopped Oswald and sent him back in the building, Billy Lovelady said that Mr. Truly told the policeman that Oswald was alright, that he worked there, so Oswald walked on down the stairs.” Kaminski told the FBI that he had been working a security detail on Main St. and had arrived at the TSBD too late to prevent Oswald's escape. See CE 1549 Steve Thomas

Thomas, Do you know if any of the names you brought up in your post cross-reference to the Lykes Bros. Steamship Company? Steve Thomas

If you follow the official story, Oswald immediately fled the scene of the president's shooting and according to Truly, went "missing". My question is, why did he stick around? Steve Thomas

Nawww. Not one chance in a gazillion, billion. Steve Thomas

Thomas, Did you happen to read that interview Weisberg did with the Castorrs'? http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/C Disk/Castorr L Robert Colonel/Item 23.pdf If you did, what did you think? It covers a lot of ground doesn't it? General Walker's homosexuality, the fake Oswald down in Mexico City, Father McCahann hearing something in the confessional that caused him to freak out, Sylvia Odio hiding some letters in a pillow that she lost and was frantic to get back... some really interesting stuff. PS: Somewhere in the interview, it says something about SS Agent Thomas Kelley asking Father McCahann down in New Orleans if he knew so and so that was somehow associated with this ice cream factory purchase. I haven't gone back and read Kelley's account of his interview with McCahann. Steve Thomas

This is a fascinating interview. Look at pp. 38 - 39. http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/C Disk/Castorr L Robert Colonel/Item 23.pdf Is this the Davis that Ruby was so concerned about, rather than Thomas Eli Davis? Steve Thomas

Looks like it took place at the Castorr's home on January 3, 1968 http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/C Disk/Castorr L Robert Colonel/Item 23.pdf Steve Thomas

This is the transcription of notes taken by Harold Weisberg of a conversation he had with Robert and Mrs. Castorr. I don't know when this interview took place. http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/C Disk/Castorr L Robert Colonel/Item 02.pdf W: (Weisberg) We started to talk before about the ice cream parlors. You told me something about this man who had/the ice cream parlors about 100 Mrs. C: (Castorr) No, he had one factory and he employed about 100 Cubans and he -- I don't know whether it was before or after the assassination I heard that he had gone to Puerto Rico W: But the ice cream man was in Dallas and had a going business there. Mrs. C: Yes. And hired about 100 Cubans. So you see, after this story was in the paper that the man who owned the ice cream place was going to sell to the other man, and I said well wasn't that an interesting story and the man said "Oh, it's only publicity the guy just likes to see his name in the paper" W: And then he disappeared. Mrs. C: So I don't even know what happened to the ice cream factory but in one of these -- it must be in the big book where Father McCann is questioned as to "Do you know so and so " And it's one of the people named there that is going to buy that. I have run across a reference to this ice cream factory before, but I can't remember where it was. Does anyone know anything about this ice cream factory? Steve Thomas

CE 2003 located in (24H259) is the list submitted to Captain Gannaway through Jack Revill of TSBD employees. It is dated November 22, 1963. Heading that list is Harvey Lee Oswald at 605 Elsbeth. Lieutenant Revill told the Warren Commission that he drafted his report within 30 minutes to an hour of when he and Hosty had their conversation in the basement (5H39). The list of employees and their addresses were drawn up by Westphal and Parks, At the same time Revill is preparing a Report of the names and addresses of the TSBD employees, (within 30 minutes of meeting Hosty) he is also preparing a Report to Chief Curry on the Subject Lee Harvey Oswald 605 Elsbeth concerning meeting with James Hosty at 2:50 PM V.J. Brian testified to the Warren Commission, but only describes searching the TSBD and said, " in fact, I didn't have time to (write a report of the Hosty/Revill conversation) because when I got back there (he said that he had been at the TSBD for about 2 hours) they had a list of names they were going to start checking out and they handed me six of them and says, "Start going and checking here and here and here and checking these people." In the combined after-action report submitted by Batcheor, Lumpkin and Stevenson, Lumpkin wrote that Lieutenant Kaminski was placed at the front door with Roy Truly, and that, as each employee left, Kaminski got their name, address and telephone number, and Truly verified that they worked there. See DPD Archives Box 14, Folder# 4, Item# 10, pp. 22-23. In his Report on Oswald's Interrogations in Appendix XI of the WR, Harry Holmes wrote of the Interrogation on the 24th, that Oswald said that as he was leaving the TSBD, he was stopped by a policeman who took his identification. “and his boss stated that he is one of our employees.” Meaning that, according to Oswald at least, Truly was there. The policeman asked him to step aside momentarily. WR Appendix XI, p. 636 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=946#relPageId=660&tab=page According to the Dallas Dispatch Tapes, at 12:49 PM, Captain Talbert radios in and informs Dispatch that “15's in charge down here. Correction, 5's (Dept. Chief G.L. Lumpkin) in charge.” Between 12:55 and 1:00 PM, 15 radios in and say, “Think 5 and 9 (Lumpkin and Sawyer) both are in the building.” There are two things here: 1) People have wondered through the years how the Elsbeth St. address got on the list of TSBD employees that was being drawn up within 30 minutes of Revill meeting Hosty in the DPD basement at 2:50 PM. I believe that when Oswald was stopped at the front door by Kaminski, Kaminski asked Oswald, “You got any ID”? And that Oswald gave him the only thing in his wallet with an address on it, his library card – which had the Elsbeth St. address. He was asked to step aside because, on the card, his place of employment was listed as Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall. Truly then confirmed that Oswald worked at the TSBD. What this does not explain is the name reversal on the list; Harvey Lee Oswald; nor why the police were searching for Harvey Lee Oswald at 1026 N. Beckley 2) In his Warren Commission testimony, Truly initially told the WC that he informed Lumkin on his own initiative around 12:50, that Oswald was missing, but only after conferring with both Shelley Campbell, and calling the warehouse to get Oswald's information. Lumpkin however, wrote in his Report that Truly approached him within a few minutes of his arrival at the TSBD. In his FBI Report, Campbell said, “Immediately following this, he observed the car rush away from the scene. He then immediately rushed into his building without having seen anything unusual from any window of his building. Inside he was told shortly thereafter by the warehouse superintendent, Mr. TRULY, that all the employees of the company had been rounded up and one employee, LEE HARVEY OSWALD, was missing.” Truly was reporting that Oswald was missing even before the building was sealed, and even though, in his own words, several other employees were not there, he focused entirely on Oswald. Truly's testimony gave the Warren Commission fits. Read the second part of his appearance before the WC here: http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/truly2.htm They kept coming back, and kept coming back to when he reported to Fritz that Oswald was missing and tried to get Truly to say it was when the rifle was found. I wondered why. Fritz testified to the WC three weeks before Truly, and he told them that Truly had approached him up on the 6th floor when the rifle was found. That was at 1:22 PM. Truly was telling them that he had reported Oswald missing at 12:50 or so. In his WC testimony, Truly makes no mention of his front door work with Kaminksi, but the WC already had Lumpkin's after-action report, and Holmes' Report of Oswald's interrogation, telling them that a policeman and Truly were at the front door taking names. Just as an aside, When Truly testified to the WC, he said he got Oswald's description from Aiken at the other warehouse off Oswald's job application. Representative FORD. In your description of Oswald to Captain Fritz, did you describe the kind of clothes that Oswald had on that day? Mr. TRULY. I don't know, sir. No, sir; I just told him his name and where he lived and his telephone number and his age, as 23, and I said 5 feet, 9, about 150 pounds, light brown hair--whatever I picked up off the description there. I did not try to depend on my memory to describe him. I just put down what was on this application blank. That's the reason I called Mr. Aiken, because I did not want to mislead anybody as to a description. I might call a man brown-halted, and he might be blonde. The only problem is, is that Oswald's TSBD application does not say what color his hair is: http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0118b.htm Steve Thomas

David, I've never heard of this, "Nationalities Intelligence Section." Do you know much about it? Steve Thomas

David, I feel sheepish. Several days ago, I looked at the handwritten part of Fritz's interrogation notes. Just above the letters, B.O. are written Jame W and below the letters, B.O. is written Bookhout. Bookhout's name was James W. It looks like there was an oil spot where the "s" should have been in "James", or Fritz just didn't press down hard enough on his pen to finish the word. I think that at the time, Fritz didn't know how to spell Bookhout's name, so he just used the letters, B.O. and filled it in later. The person typing those notes made the same mistake I did. Steve (red in the face) Thomas

Alistair, The only thing I can up with is that I believe that Oswald created the SS card using the skills that he picked up and the equipment while working at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall in the fall of 1962 and spring of 1963 - before he moved to New Orleans, and it's got something to do with the two weeks when Oswald went "missing" between Oct 19 and Nov 3. The things that appear to be associated with the name Hidell seem to involve the FPFC and the rifle. What the implications of that are, I don't know. Steve Thomas

The more I look at this article , the angrier I get. It's just totally bogus and demeans the men and women who deserved it. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal from Lubbock, Texas · December 5, 1967 Page 16 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/6092576/ What little is in that abstract reads: DALLAS (API — Col. Jack A.:, Crichton. commanding officer of) the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment, was awarded the Legion of Merit Monday night on' his retirement from the Army- Reserve after 30 years of service. The medal was presented in a ceremony by Col. Robert D. Of-; fer, commander of the VIII U.S. , Army Corps at Austin. An oil man and petroleum consultant, Crichton organized his Reserve unit in 1956 and has been its only commander. The award cited him for "exceptionally outstanding service" as commander and for the preparation of a series of military intelligence studies. (the name of the awarding colonel is garbled in the OCR rendering). When did you ever hear of an Army Corps being commanded by a Colonel? Just two years earlier, there is this article in the Hood County News: Hood County News-Tablet from Granbury, Texas · Page 8 July 8, 1965 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/57597412/ “Gets Texas National Guard Commission Gary T. Grogan of Rising Star, technician with the local Soil Conservation Service office, received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Texas N'ational Guard in ceremonies at the Municipal'. Auditorium in Austin Saturday evening, June 1). He was awarded his commission at the conclusion of a Texas Officer Candidate School which he attended at Camp Mabry, Texas. He was assigned to the 1st Bn,. 142nd Inf., Brown-wood, Texas, as battalion antitank platoon leader. Presentation of the diplomas was made by Maj. Gen. Thomas S. Bishop, Texas adjutant-general, Major. Gen: .. William. R. Calhoun commanding , general of the Eighth U.S. Army Corps, was the speaker for the evening. Lt. Grogan was a 1957 graduate of Lipan High School and received his BS degree from Texas Tech in 1961. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. G. Grogan, live at...” And this from the Dallas Morning News: DMN 11-16-1965 10 Dallas reserve Units Included In Inactivation By Gene Ormsby Fourteen Army Reserve units in Dallas, including 10 in the 90th Infantry Division, are scheduled to be inactivated immediately, Major Gen. William R. Calhoun, commander of the Eighth U.S. Army Corps said Monday in Austin. A Major General as a Commander of a Corps, I can believe. A Colonel, I can't. I am having a hard time trying to reconcile these dates: http://spartacus-educational.com/MDcrichton.htm (and from Wikipedia, which is just a repeat of the Sparacus entry) In 1956 Crichton started up his "own spy unit", the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment. Crichton served as the unit's commander under Lieutenant Colonel George Whitmeyer, who was in overall command of all Army Reserve units in East Texas. In an interview Crichton claimed that there were "about a hundred men in that unit and about forty or fifty of them were from the Dallas Police Department." The Monroe News-Star from Monroe, Louisiana · Page 3 October 23, 1956 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/84343273/ William F. Pipes, Jr. right, was promoted from first lieutenant to captain in the U. S. Army Reserves at ceremonies Monday night at the USAR training center, Selman Field. Looking on as Capt. Pipes reads his new commission is Major George L. Whitmeyer, unit advisor. (Staff photo by John I. Fogleman.) OBITUARY of Frances Whitmeyer: Whitmeyer, Frances Raby was born February 21, 1922 and passed away April 4, 2009. Frances was born in Athens, Alabama to S.W. and Donna Raby. She graduated from Alabama Women's College in Athens. She moved to New Orleans and worked for the Lykes Steamship Co. and also for the City of New Orleans helping to translate French law into English. She later married George Whitmeyer and they moved to Germany where he was stationed after the war. They moved to Fort Worth in 1961 and then to Dallas in 1963. So, in 1956, Crichton starts his "own spy unit" serving under a Lt. Colonel Whitmeyer, who is actually a Major in the Reserves in Louisiana, who moves from LA to Germany and moves to Fort Worth in 1961, and to Dallas in 1963. This Whitmeyer, who Winston Lawson told the HSCA in 1978 was a Lieutenant-Colonel who "taught Army intelligence". How does a "Colonel" Crichton serve under a "Lieutenant-Colonel" Whitmeyer? And Crichton becomes a Colonel by 1967 where is is awarded a Legion of Merit by another "Colonel" who commands an entire Army Corps. The whole thing just stinks to high heaven. Pardon my French. Steve Thomas

David, So many Colonels: Jack Crichton George L. Whitmeyer Lester Logue Robert Castorr I've read that these Reserve units were top heavy. I'm beginning to believe it. Steve Thomas