Leslie Sharp

One would think so, and I thought from the tenor of this thread someone is delving into these records.

Definitely things to consider, Chris. The public version seems intended to distance Josette from Jean's OAS activity which suggests, at least to me, she was from a small town or a somewhat reputable family that didn't want the stigma. Jean Rene was released from prison in spring 1963, otherwise how was he in Lisbon and in New Orleans. So, she divorced him sometime prior? Did she then welcome him home with open arms in Jan/Feb 1964 and Yannick was conceived? I assume her obituary hasn't been located, or Yannick's birth cert?

That suggests Yannick was conceived in early 1964, right? Isn't there something off about this timing?

David, any chance you have a precise birth date for Yannick?

Thanks very much, David. Does this place her in Spain in 1963? Has anyone interviewed Yannick?

I wonder if those who seem to be at least familiar with the Souetre family have his former wife's name and might her family still be accessible? About a month after escaping, Souetre emerged in Feb–March 1962 living in Spain, and from there he often traveled to Portugal. On several occasions at this time Souetre approached CIA officials and tried to persuade them to provide the OAS with backing as the best and most “viable alternative to communism” in France. As we have seen, there are at least two declassified CIA documents that purport to outline these meetings. Meanwhile, his new bride, provided false identity papers, had joined him in Madrid but because of his continued OAS activities, she soon left him, returning to France where she filed for a divorce. Due to her use of false documents in Spain, her divorce was interrupted by her falsification of papers. Having paid the fine for the offence, she was released, the divorce was finalized, and Josette Marcaihou disappeared from history.

Chris, If you haven't already, you can view clips from Otto's 1975 funeral on YouTube. Considering Ilse's history, it's possible she determined what would and wouldn't be put up for auction. As of 2011, there was a Lot from the collection on auction that seems to hold critical detail of their role in attempting to reconstitute The Reich from their base in Spain, in league with such characters as Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Werner Naumann, Leon Degrelle, et al. So, I think the questions remain . . . were those US officials and fascist sympathizers that she and Otto had been in league with in 1963 concerned the couple had maintained incriminating records, or were they confident the avowed N A T Z I couple would know the appropriate time to begin releasing their story? And can we venture to speculate as to Ilse and Otto's personal perspectives of their roles in the assassination of Kennedy? Did they consider themselves heroes in the fight against the spread of communism? Or were they diehard, proactive N A T Z I S to the end?

I hope Ralph Ganis has continued to pursue those and other areas of research related to the collection. It's my understanding that the portion of the collection he purchased revealed very little of the Skorzenys' activities in 1963. I've never completely understood whether that was a result of certain papers being withheld? might they have been segregated for sale to the highest bidder? or did Otto and Ilse simply not generate records or engage in written correspondence during that year . . . for some reason?

Thanks, Ron, and Major Ganis's "The Skorzeny Papers" is definitely worth the time as well. He's drawing directly from the collection of Otto's private papers he purchased at auction.

I think we agree that Souetre and Mertz were distinct individuals in spite of periodically co-opting one another's identify. The question is why DST got it wrong. It's possible I've overlooked clues that might establish it was an official French government publication or a newspaper or magazine. MM initially insisted the photos with caption originated from DST files.

Thanks, Steve, I've yet to confirm this page was taken from an official government publication. Mr. Messina — who sent it to me via FB messenger — assured me this information stemmed from DST files, but unfortunately he disappeared off my radar a few days later. The caption which indicates the DST has promoted photos of Souetre as Mertz perpetuates the confusion. As you know, in the spring of 1964, French authorities sent a photo of Souetre to the CIA that compares with images we have of Souetre from private collections, so "they" were not confused in the early months following the assassination of the US president.

de Lanurrian?

Chris, have you studied photos of Mertz vs. Souetre? Do you think they resemble one another?

I'm pretty sure we all agree a "shoddy job of misdirection has been done". Who among us are prepared to get back on track?

Chris, I posted the composite of the photos several months ago on the primary EF thread "Coup in Dallas". Let me know if you can't find it.

I constructed the composite so it's stored on my desktop.

Steve, I've shared the composite on Ed Forum in the past so of course I'm willing. However, the file exceeds the limits of EF, so I'm trying to remember how to drag the composite (or "choose file") into this thread so that you can consider the images. For now, the caption of photos of Jean Rene Souetre reads, This poor quality photograph is a unique piece. It is the agent of the DST Michel Mertz, from two different angles, infiltrator of the OAS environment protect de Gaulle. He was in Dallas November 22 where he pretended to be Souetre. His presence in Texas is proof that the French services knew that Kennedy was going to be assassinated that day.

As no doubt Lee Shepherd is aware — having indicated to me in a private message request for photos of Pierre Lafitte — we address Stockade in Coup in Dallas . . . In February 1961, newly elected President John Kennedy had nominated Stockdale to be the US Ambassador to Ireland. On March 28, 1961, the US Senate confirmed the nomination. Stockdale and his family enjoyed their time at the ambassador’s residence, Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland where as ambassador, he often hosted formal gatherings and events for dignitaries. Among the Stockdales’ guests, in the spirit of céad míle fáilte (a hundred thousand welcomes) were Otto and Ilse Skorzeny. The Skorzenys had purchased a 155-acre estate named Martinstown House, in Curragh, County Kildare in June 1959. Stockdale was acutely familiar with the former National Socialist SS officer who often visited with various American businessmen in meetings held in the American Embassy in Ballsbridge, Co. Dublin, including military officers and intelligence officials, as well as various embassy staff members throughout 1960, 1961, and 1962. Former embassy personnel vividly recall Skorzeny coming to the embassy on a near “weekly basis.” Evidence also reveals that the Skorzenys were occasional dinner guests joining the ambassador and his wife, and that Ilse Skorzeny was a frequent visitor to Miami, Florida. As we learn in a later chapter in pursuit of the Skorzenys’ time in Ireland, the SS officer had been an active participant in aiding arms trafficking to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). When the Serve-U Corporation scandal involving Democratic operative Bobby Baker finally exploded, under pressure from his close friend President Kennedy, Grant Stockdale reluctantly resigned his post in Ireland in July 1962. Stockdale’s Friends, Phil Graham and Frank Wisner Just three weeks before the first clear reference to Ellen Rometsch in his diary, Lafitte writes on May 26: L.O. – Wisner Vosjoli DC JA Then on June 16, Lafitte first acknowledges Ella by name in an entry that reads, “Ella acting classes – who?” Four days later, on June 20, Lafitte makes a note to cable OS (Otto Skorzeny), preceded by the name Wisner. The note reads in full: Wisner - cable / OS NYC / Wash D C On July 28, 1963, the project manager of the assassination of President Kennedy makes a note that George [Hunter-White] and/or Otto Skorzeny would talk to [Grant] Stockdale about P. [Phil] Graham and the prospects that Graham would end up at Chestnut Lodge, in a duplicate fashion of Frank Olson’s journey toward death some ten years earlier. George / OS talk to Stockdale about P. Graham (George says Chestnut Lodge) - dupe –

On July 28, 1963, the project manager of the assassination of President Kennedy makes a note that George [Hunter-White] and/or Otto Skorzeny would talk to [Grant] Stockdale about P. [Phil] Graham and the prospects that Graham would end up at Chestnut Lodge, in a duplicate fashion of Frank Olson’s journey toward death some ten years earlier. George / OS talk to Stockdale about P. Graham (George says Chestnut Lodge) - dupe – Operation Mockingbird Philip Graham, a wartime graduate of the US Army’s Intelligence School at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, served as an intel officer in the US Airforce in the Pacific theater during the war. In 1940, he married Katherine Meyer, the daughter of Eugene Meyer who owned The Washington Post. After the war, and following graduation from Harvard Law School, Graham replaced his father-in-law as publisher at WaPo and eventually became co-owner of the newspaper, serving as president and chief executive officer as well as chairman of the board of directors of Newsweek magazine.

Doug, I believe Lee Shepherd has read Coup in Dallas and is aware that Grant Stockade appears in the records of Pierre Lafitte whose papers were critical to Albarelli's investigation into not only the Frank Olson murder but his subsequent pursuit of the assassination of John Kennedy. On July 28, 1963, the project manager of the assassination of President Kennedy makes a note that George [Hunter-White] and/or Otto Skorzeny would talk to [Grant] Stockdale about P. [Phil] Graham and the prospects that Graham would end up at Chestnut Lodge, in a duplicate fashion of Frank Olson’s journey toward death some ten years earlier. George / OS talk to Stockdale about P. Graham (George says Chestnut Lodge) - dupe – Operation Mockingbird Philip Graham, a wartime graduate of the US Army’s Intelligence School at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, served as an intel officer in the US Airforce in the Pacific theater during the war. In 1940, he married Katherine Meyer, the daughter of Eugene Meyer who owned The Washington Post. After the war, and following graduation from Harvard Law School, Graham replaced his father-in-law as publisher at WaPo and eventually became co-owner of the newspaper, serving as president and chief executive officer as well as chairman of the board of directors of Newsweek magazine. . . . ' . . . On the morning of December 2, 1963, ten days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Edward Grant Stockdale, a ruggedly handsome, forty-eight-year-old businessman and cohort of both Jack and Robert Kennedy, fell to his death from thethirteenth floor of the Alfred I. duPont Building in downtown Miami. Stockdale tumbled eight floors from his business office window before his body struck and landed on a fifth-floor ledge. He was wearing a white dress shirt and gray suit pants. Miami police investigators determined Stockdale’s death to be an “apparent suicide.” Stockdale left no suicide note or letter, according to investigators, and despite their determination, it remains unclear as to how Stockdale went out the window of his office. It is uncertain whether the window Stockdale went out of was open or closed. Scant newspaper reports seem to indicate it was open. Requests from these authors, and others, for a copy of the police investigative file brought the response that the file was no longer available. One official, who declined to be named for this book, said he thought the file “had been either lost or misplaced years ago.” The facts preceding his so-called “suicide” only serve to compound the difficulty of believing the investigator’s conclusion. Stockdale, as usual, arrived at his office at about 10:00 a.m. on the morning of Monday, December 2, 1963. His office was on the thirteenth floor of the office building in downtown Miami. Stockdale was unable to get into his office because it was locked, and he didn’t have a key with him. His administrative assistant, who usually opened the office each day, was at a dental appointment. She would arrive at about 10:30 a.m., ten minutes after Stockdale’s death. Finding his office door locked, Stockdale had gone across the hall to a law office and asked Mary Ruth Hauser if anyone had a key to his office. Hauser told Stockdale that she would call the building’s manager to come with a key. Stockdale waited while Hauser made the call. She recounted the next day: “He followed me into my office and stood there while I called down for a key. He stood there very calmly. He didn’t seem at all agitated. . . . Somehow the subject of the President’s death came up. . . . He told me he was in his office when his wife called to tell him the President had been shot. He said he just got down on his knees and prayed.” After this, a person with a key arrived and Stockdale and Hauser went across the hall, still talking. As Stockdale entered his now opened office, Hauser’s desk phone started ringing and she excused herself to answer it. Hauser told police that about “five minutes later” there “was this terrible thud.” It was the sound of Stockdale’s body striking the roof ledge of the top floor of the Florida National Bank and Trust, about seventy-five feet below his office. Hauser said: “I just wondered if I had gone right behind him. . . . I don’t know, I guess it wouldn’t have made any difference. The whole world has just gone mad.” Only minutes after Stockdale struck the fifth-story ledge, Dr. Sheffel H. Wright, who had an office in the duPont Building, rushed to the scene and pronounced Stockdale dead. A priest from a nearby Catholic church also arrived and administered the Last Rites. Newspaper accounts of Stockdale’s death featured interviews with a number of people who had seen Stockdale before he arrived at his office that fateful morning. All said he seemed to be in “good spirits.” Indeed, Stockdale even got a shoeshine just before coming to his office. An article in the Miami Herald Reporter, however, by political reporter John B. McDermott revealed that Stockdale had attempted to talk to McDermott on Sunday, December 1. McDermott stated that Stockdale “wanted to tell me something—to talk things over.” Unfortunately, McDermott didn’t talk to Stockdale and seemed to have no clue as to what he had to say. McDermott’s article also stated that on Saturday, November 23, the day after the JFK assassination, Stockdale flew to Washington, D.C. after he received a telephone call from Attorney General Bobby Kennedy. McDermott apparently had no idea why Kennedy had summoned Stockdale. Stockdale returned from Washington late the same day, and then returned to Washington on November 26. On that day he met with Bobby Kennedy and Edward Kennedy and then flew back to Miami the same day. The next day, Edward Kennedy called Stockdale’s wife and told her he was concerned about her husband’s “mental health.” Again, McDermott provides no information about why Stockdale met with the Kennedys. Interviewed in June 2004, Grant’s daughter, Ann Stockdale—apparently acutely aware of the dangers of speaking candidly about her father’s alleged suicide even four decades later—made no reference to revelations that rocked D.C. politics in the fall of 1963, including the Bobby Baker scandal that had forced her family to leave Dublin, and the Ellen Rometsch Affair. Perhaps for Grant’s daughter, the safer explanation was the Military-Industrial Complex: [President] Kennedy asked Daddy to go to the Air Force Base south of Miami to see if (against Kennedy’s orders) bombs were being loaded on the planes. Bombs were being loaded on the planes! I believe one of the reasons Daddy was killed was because he knew that the Government was being run by the Military Complex. The Military Complex didn’t want the American people to realize (and still don’t) that they were calling the shots. Daddy knew he was being followed . . . and he told Mom that they were going to get him . . . and they did. There was an attempt on my life also several days after Daddy’s funeral. I realize now that this was a scare tactic to silence my Mother, i.e., if you speak about anything, your kids are dead. It worked! Author and publisher David Talbot writes that Stockdale “flew to Washington and talked with Robert and Edward Kennedy about the assassination of their brother. On his return [to Miami] Stockdale told several of his friends that ‘the world was closing in.’ On December 1, he spoke to his attorney, William Frates, who later recalled: ‘He started talking. It didn’t make much sense. He said something about “those guys” trying to get him. Then about the assassination.’” As intriguing as Ann Stockdale’s and David Talbot’s revelations are, few were aware at the time of Stockdale’s acquaintanceship with Otto and Ilse Skorzeny in Ireland, and the possible impact that may have had on his untimely death. Wolves on the Prowl Stockdale was a well-known and respected businessman in Miami, as well as in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he and his brother Julian owned and operated a real estate investment and sales firm, Grant Stockdale and Associates. Stockdale, a former US Marine during World War II, serving in the Pacific, was also a very close friend of John F. Kennedy, having become so in 1949 when Kennedy was a young Congressman from Massachusetts. Stockdale’s friendship with JFK frequently involved visits by Kennedy to Stockdale’s Coral Gables home that he shared with his wife and five children. Kennedy, Stockdale, and Stockdale’s children often played touch football on Stockdale’s expansive lawn, and then afterwards everyone would swim in the warm Florida ocean waters. As a Democrat, Stockdale was also a close friend to George Armistead Smathers, who, with Stockdale’s strong support, was elected to represent Florida in Congress in 1946. Stockdale served briefly as Smathers’ congressional aide, and then served in the Florida Legislature from 1948 to 1950. In 1951, Smathers won one of Florida’s US Senate seats. Stockdale joined Senator Smathers in 1960 in efforts to nominate JFK for the presidency. As a member of the National Democratic Party Finance Committee, Stockdale campaigned hard and widely for Kennedy’s election. Both Stockdale and Smathers were close to Philip Graham, publisher of The Washington Post, who also worked diligently for JFK’s and LBJ’s election, and who Smathers had known since early childhood in Florida. Apparently, George Smathers shared JFK’s exuberant fondness for members of the opposite sex. CBS reporter and journalist Roger Mudd recalls Smathers spending time on the presidential yacht in the early 1960s. “Smathers was probably John Kennedy’s best friend in the US Senate,” said Mudd. “Together or singly, they were wolves on the prowl, always able to find or attract gorgeous prey. . . . It was a joke, our pretending to be covering the president, bobbing around in the ocean, squinting through binoculars to find out who was coming and going but always having our view blocked by a Secret Service boat just as another long-legged Palm Beach beauty climbed aboard.” Despite their close friendship, Smathers often acted as a right-wing Democrat, frequently disagreeing with Kennedy on policy and legislation, including his opposition to early civil rights efforts and JFK’s backing of Medicaid. A virulent anti-communist, he proposed an embargo against Cuban tobacco and legislative bar against travel and trade with Castro’s Cuba. The senator had the president’s ear to a degree. Of note, Smathers also served as a covert CIA channel for a number of CIA assets in Florida, including wealthy Miami businessman William Pawley who was close to Allen Dulles and financed a number of covert paramilitary actions against Castro. In 1975, former Sen. Smathers testified before the congressionally created Church Committee investigating the CIA’s covert and assassinations programs. Smathers told the committee: [President Kennedy] asked me what reaction I thought there would be throughout South America were Castro to be assassinated * * * I told the President that even as much as I disliked Fidel Castro that I did not think it would be a good idea for there to be even consideration of assassination of Fidel Castro, and the President of the United States completely agreed with me, that it would be a very unwise thing to do, the reason obviously being that no matter who did it and no matter how it was done and no matter what, the United States would receive full credit for it, and it would work to his great disadvantage with all of the other countries in Central and South America * * * I disapproved of it, and he completely disapproved of the idea. [asterisks in original document]

Christian, I wonder if you've come across a researcher writing under the alias "Mateo Messina" who in the past has been active on Facebook using that name? Apparently he is now posting under the name "Richard Helms" on social media. I engaged with Mateo for several months following publication of Coup in Dallas. He claimed to have been in communication with a number of published investigative journalists over the years including Larry Hancock. During our communication, Mateo insisted that he knows members of the extended Souetre family, as well as members of the Michel Mertz family, all of whom attest that neither Jeanne Rene nor Michel were in Dallas in November 1963. Eventually, he threatened that representatives those families could arrive on my doorstep one day to sue me for my contribution to Albarelli's investigation that culminated in our book, Coup in Dallas. I wrote off his threats to nothing other than incoherent bluster, but I was intrigued by his last message that included photos from a French publication that attributes the source of those images to the DST ... and the caption of the photos misidentifies Souetre as Michel Mertz. I've shared the composite photos on other Ed Forum threads. Let me know if you're interested in seeing them. L.

Yves Guillou a.k.a Ralf Guerin-Serac and Aginter Press . . . from Hank Albarelli's Coup in Dallas, The OAS and the Aginter Press Before being air dropped into Vietnam again in 1954, Lucien Conien spends a few weeks at Otto Skorzeny’s training camp outside of Madrid. It is the same camp where multiple French ultraright guerre révolutionnaire tacticians who would meld into the OAS are going through intensive warfare training before being dispatched to Vietnam. By 1957, they had become bitterly opposed to Senator John Kennedy from Massachusetts when he advocated for Algerian independence. The training is rigorous, even brutal at times. Skorzeny’s chief trainers at the camp, Jean Rene Souetre, mentioned in the mysterious correspondence of Frenchman Paul Gluc, and fellow Frenchman Yves Guiliou who widely used the alias Ralf Guerin-Serac, are relentless in their objective to shape their trainees into thoroughly trained professional soldiers. Conien meets every several days with the former SS officer for drinks, dinner, and an occasional choice cigar. Not surprisingly, and especially germane to one of this investigation’s central characters, is that Lucian Conien knew Otto Skorzeny quite well. His initial links to Skorzeny can be found in the La Cagoule, the French Resistance, and the long-standing, mysterious and Portugal-based Aginter Press. Ostensibly a press or media agency, Aginter Press fronted for what CIA officials privately called “assassination central.” Often wrongly cited as being founded in 1966, Aginter Press was first organized in 1962 by Skorzeny’s prized trainer, Guérin-Serac, as a “counterinsurgency, counter-guerrilla center with support of the CIA, of the paramilitary Portuguese Legion, and especially of PIDE, the feared Portuguese secret police, which supposedly financed Aginter Press at the tune of two million escudos per month. Aginter Press was a sizable operation. Between 1962 and 1965, it organized and established an important network of informers linked, through PIDE, to the CIA and to the security services of such countries as West Germany, Spain, Greece, and South Africa,” as well as numerous Latin American and several other European countries. . . . . . . Significantly, as readers shall learn in detail later—regardless of the fact that today the CIA maintains that it knows nothing about Guillou and that he does not appear in their voluminous files—we know that, only about six months before the JFK assassination, on May 23, 1963, Guillou, under the alias Guerin-Serac, accompanied by OAS member and trained assassin Captain Jean Rene Souetre, met with CIA representatives in Lisbon, Portugal. A brief glimpse at Captain Souetre before we encounter him in full in Chapter 10 tells us that a detailed once-secret memorandum by CIA Deputy Director of Plans Richard Helms, identified the purpose of the Lisbon meeting, as described in at least two declassified CIA documents, was to enlist the CIA in OAS efforts to assassinate French leader Charles de Gaulle. . . . ' ' . . . Souetre’s companion at the meeting in Lisbon was his compatriot, Guerin-Serac who before he established Aginter Press, had been a French soldier serving in France, before fighting in the Korean Conflict in the early 1950s, and “possibly served as a liaison man between the CIA and the French services.” Guillou/Guerin-Serac had also been a master parachutist in Algeria, “before he deserted the French army and joined the OAS rebellion. (This at the very same time as Jean Rene Souetre.) After Algerian independence and the OAS’s defeat, he emigrated to Spain and then to Portugal, the last colonial empire that appeared willing to fight for Western values over ‘communist imperialism.’” Historians Michael Bale and Franco Ferraresi have emphasized Guerin-Serac’s instructive writings for novice terrorists, which, although written over fifty years ago, appear tailor-made for today’s senior terrorists. Some apt excerpts from Guerin-Serac’s manual Missions Spéciales are: —Subversion acts with appropriate means upon the minds and wills in order to induce them to act outside all logic, against all rules, against all laws. In this way, it conditions individuals and enables one to make use of them as one wishes. —Action psychologique [is] a nonviolent weapon [used] to condition public opinion through the use of the press, the radio, conferences, demonstrations, etc. . . . with the goal of uniting the masses against the authorities. —Terrorism breaks the population’s resistance, obtains its submission, and provokes a rupture between the population and the authorities. . . . There is a seizure of power over the masses through the creation of a climate of anxiety, insecurity, and danger. —Selective terrorism . . . destroys the political and administrative apparatus by eliminating the cadres of those organs. —Indiscriminate terrorism . . . destroys the confidence of the people by disorganizing the masses so as to manipulate them more effectively. . . . . . . As mentioned, the two years before forming Aginter, Guerin-Serac both trained and served as a trainer in the arts of sabotage, explosives, and assassination at Otto Skorzeny’s secret training camps outside of Madrid. Indeed, Guerin-Serac, along with Jean Rene Souetre, were considered Skorzeny’s most competent trainers, and they were often called upon to work with US Special Forces who attended the camps. About this same time, claim several European historians, “US Army special forces began a program of targeting Western/NATO installations in Belgium, while disguising themselves as terrorists.” In early 1962, when Guerin-Serac first moved to establish Aginter Press, he acted in concert with Robert Leroy, a French SS officer during the war and WWII National Socialist SS officer Otto Skorzeny, both of whom served as the strategic leadership for Aginter. Leroy was a prewar member of Charles Maurras’ Action Française, a Far-Right political group, and then as an active member of La Cagoule’s terrorist underground. He took part in the Requête Carlist militia forces during the Spanish Civil War and then served as a Vichy intelligence operative. He was also a member of the Waffen SS Charlemagne division and was a key member of Otto Skorzeny’s commando forces, where he served as an instructor. Along with Skorzeny, following the end of the war, Leroy served as a lead instructor with Skorzeny’s efforts to train Egyptian leader Abd al-Nasir’s intelligence and security services, after recruiting a hundred German advisers from National Socialist soldiers serving during WWII, the SS underground, and from among technical experts with military industries. The purpose was to train Arab guerrillas in commando tactics and in protecting the former National Socialist technicians working for Nasir from Israeli “hit” teams. The job was carried out at the CIA’s bequest.” Professor Tunander writes revealingly of Aginter: [The] international fascist intelligence network, Aginter Press, was established to implement the Strategy of Tension, with support from the Portuguese security service PIDE and the CIA. This network included a unit specializing in the infiltration of anarchist and pro-Chinese groups, and its “correspondents” would use such organizations as a cover for carrying out bombings and other violent attacks. Aginter Press also included a strategic centre for subversion and intoxication [drugging and poisonings] operations, along with an executive action organization that carried out assassinations (most likely the same “pool of assassins” that William Harvey, CIA station Chief in Italy, had recruited in Europe for the CIA’s “Executive Action Capability”). All of these divisions of Aginter Press were under the leadership of French OAS officer and former US liaison officer Captain Yves Guillou (alias Yves Guerin Serac), in collaboration with Robert Leroy, a former French SS officer, and Otto Skorzeny, a senior German SS officer. [Italics added] A portentous January 1968 affidavit sworn by Aginter Press assassin and Jean Rene Souetre associate Jacques Godard reveals the group’s relationship with certain American persons and organizations: “In the course of our services we had relations with certain persons and organizations like, for example, President Tschombe and with Biafra. We likewise were in charge of relations with the John Birch Society, which was an American political group financed especially by Texas oil producers whose activity is absolutely anti-communist. Everywhere where there is a struggle, either open or covert, with communists, the John Birch Society [JBS] lends its financial aid to the people who are struggling against international communism.” The reader encounters the significance of the Texas oil producers and the Dallas branch of the JBS the chapter titled, “Lay of the Land,” to further understand the width and breadth of influence of Aginter Press and similar fascist organizations. *** Readers will soon learn about two other far-reaching organizations quite similar to Aginter Press. These are the post-war World Commerce Corporation and the National Socialist-created Spain-based SOFINDUS group, both ubiquitous commercial organizations that served as multi-faceted intelligence operations and assassination bureaus. . . . '

· That the shooting of police officer J. D. Tippitt after the assassination was apparently not part of anyone’s plan: November 22: “O Tippett [sic] (why?) – ask JA who is Tippet?” — The Lafitte Datebook: A Limited Analysis by Dick Russell, author of the much-lauded 1993 breakthrough in the Kennedy investigation, The Man Who Knew Too Much. An understanding of the Tippit murder is incomplete without factoring in the role played by FBI SA Bardwell Dewitt Odum. From Coup in Dallas by Hank Albarelli with Leslie Sharp and Alan Kent . . . Odum, an agent of the federal government, was at the DPD headquarters only briefly before dashing to the Texas Theater where a suspect in the shooting of a Dallas police officer was about to be apprehended. It has yet to be explained what prompted Odum to attend that particular arrest in the middle of what should have been the most aggressive manhunt in the nation’s history. Why would his boss, SAC Gordon Shanklin pull one of his prize protégés from the search for Kennedy’s assassin to pursue a local shooting, unless of course, Shanklin had already been advised that Lee Oswald would not only be charged with gunning down Officer J.D. Tippit, but that he would soon be charged with the assassination of Kennedy. Once Oswald was in custody at the Texas Theatre, Odum, instead of tracking federal arrests being made in critical hours of the assassination, inexplicably spent another hour and a half in pursuit of the Tippit shooting along with nearly a dozen DPD staff. Federal detentions in the Dallas area during that twenty-four hour period—persons of interest to the Feds since the spring of 1963—stand out: Jean Rene Souetre and Michel Mertz and possibly Michel Roux. Rather than being ordered to question Souetre and or Mertz or Roux, Odum seems focused on Tippit’s murder, even taking time to interview Helen Markham who had witnessed a young male fleeing the scene. In another rarely heralded essay published in the Fourth Decade in 1997, researcher Tom Wallace Lyons summed up Odum’s early influence over the Tippit investigation, asserting that Odum sewed the confusion that contributed to Markham being labeled as an inconsistent, unreliable witness for decades to come. In another noteworthy timeline, while Odum is biding time in Oak Cliff, pursuing a case that was technically outside his jurisdiction, Lee Oswald’s various addresses were being nailed down at the school book depository. Meanwhile, Oswald was being driven to police headquarters in Car Number 2 under the custody of Jerry Hill and his colleagues. According to Bill Simpich, another researcher who has long recognized that the elusive Bard demands close scrutiny, Jerry Hill had been on the sixth floor of the depository building when Mannlicher-Carcano shells were found and reported as a match to the rifle that Bard Odum escorted to police headquarters. Either the police department and the FBI were stretched thin that afternoon, or this was one of numerous serendipitous coincidences that would unfold in the next few days. Once Lee Oswald was identified as AWOL during an alleged formal roll call of depository employees, and once his addresses were known, including that of the Paines, Odum seems to have finally returned his keen eye to the assassination, and with every subsequent step he took, the profile of the lone nut commie suspect was advanced. By December 2, he was responsible for the transfer of a fragment of a bullet retrieved from the wall of General Edwin Walker’s study to Washington D.C. for comparison against fragments from Dealey Plaza. In light of the September 4 Lafitte datebook entry, which reads Hotshot – Walker (Caretaker), we’re forced to consider the possibility that Odum knew more about the Walker incident than has ever been contemplated. After transferring the rifle from the “scene of the crime” to DPD headquarters, after witnessing the arrest of Oswald at the Texas Theatre and following a stop off to interview a witness in the Tippit shooting, Odum either cooled his heels the rest of the afternoon, or pursued leads that were not documented or have not been released. We do know from records that he ended up with shells and slugs from the Tippit scene in his pocket. And for those on this forum who have spent decades in pursuit of this investigation, deeper in the shadows we find Jack Crichton of Empire Trust and the 488th . . . A brief note on Jack and Roberta Pew of Sun Oil Company—best known for funding the Pew Charitable Trust: after arriving in Dallas, the couple assumed a low-key social life compared to their economic peers, preferring a behind the scenes role in pursuit of their very conservative politics. Nonetheless, they were privy to data disseminated judiciously by a number of national security agencies intent on keeping certain wealthy Americans apprised of national and global security issues. To reiterate, Pew employee Ilya Mamantov was seconded by Jack Crichton to serve as translator for the young Russian-born mother of two in the hours after her husband, Lee Harvey, had been arrested for the murder of Dallas Police Patrolman J. D. Tippitt. Rene t merde merde xxxx xxxx -O Tippett [sic] (Why?) -ask JA who is Tippet? [sic] —Lafitte datebook, November 22, 1963 In 1964, Pew protégé Jack Crichton, as president of the Dallas Chapter of Alumni of Texas A&M University was responsible for securing scholarships to his alma mater, Texas A&M, for the sons of Officer J.D. Tippit.. . .

Joseph, I suspect you agree that a more thorough analysis of the November 22 meeting down the hall in the Gold Room at the Pentagon between the Joint Chiefs and their equivalent from the Federal Republic of Germany is in order. As is widely known, Curtis LeMay was not in DC that day but instead, he was on a hunting trip in Canada. A seasoned Canadian researcher has done extensive research into the circumstances of LeMay's trip. With his permission, and in light of our pursuit of former members of Hitler's Third Reich apparatus (identified on this forum for some strange reason as members of the “National Socialist Party” ), I'm incorporating his details in a (forthcoming) monograph specific to the military history of Adenauer's Bundeswehr generals who were meeting with Taylor, Lemnitzer, et al. as President Kennedy was being assassinated in Dallas. A draft introduction . . . While searching for information that might explain how John Connally ended up in the jump seat of the president’s limo, I was advised by Vince Palamara to check William Manchester’s account of the day. Although Manchester merely reiterates that the seating arrangements were as chaotic at Love Field as they had been earlier that morning in Fort Worth, the following jumped off the page of his award-winning book, "The Death of a President: November 22-November25, 1963". According to Manchester, On Friday, November 22 in Washington DC, "Tight security was also enforced in the Pentagon's Gold Room, down the hall from McNamara, where the Joint Chiefs of Staff were in session with the commanders of the West German Bundeswehr [armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany]. General Maxwell Taylor, the Chiefs' elegant, scholarly Chairman, dominated one side of the table; opposite him was GENERAL FRIEDRICH A. FOERTSCH* [emphasis added], Inspector General of Bonn's armed forces. Everyone was dressed to the nines—the Germans out of Pflicht [duty], the Americans because they knew the Germans would be that way—and the meeting glittered with gay ribbons and braid. . . . Simultaneously the Pentagon’s command center sounded a buzzer, awaken- ing General Maxwell Taylor, who was napping in his office between sessions with the Germans. McNamara had a tremendous reputation, and he deserved it. Despite his deep feeling for the President — the emotional side of his personality had been overlooked by the press, but it was very much there — he kept his head and made all the right moves. An ashen- faced aide came in with the bulletin. Jerry Wiesner studied the man’s expression as the secretary read it. Wiesner thought: The Bomb’s been dropped. McNamara quietly handed the slip around — Wiesner felt momentary relief; anything was better than a nuclear holocaust — and then the Secretary acted quickly. Adjourning his conference, he sent Mac Bundy back to the White House in a Defense limousine and conferred with Taylor and the other Joint Chiefs. Over the JCS signature they dis- patched a flash warning to every American military base in the world; 1. Press reports President Kennedy and Governor Connally of Texas shot and critically injured. Both in hospital at Dallas, Texas. No official in- formation yet, will keep you informed. In the Pentagon McNamara and the Joint Chiefs remained vigilant, though after their conference in the Secretary's office the Chiefs decided they should leave sentry duty to subordinate sentinels and rejoin their meeting. General Taylor in particular felt that it was important to present a picture of stability and continuity, that it would be an error to let their visitors from Bonn suspect the depth of the tragedy until more was known. At 2:30 he and his colleagues filed back into the Gold Room. He told the Germans briefly that President Kennedy had been injured. General Fried- rich Foertsch replied for his comrades that they hoped the injury was not too serious. The Chiefs did not reply, and for the next two hours they put on a singular performance. Aware that the shadow of a new war might fall across the room at any time, they continued the talks about dull mili- tary details, commenting on proposals by Generals Wessel and Huekelheim and shuffling papers and directives with steady hands. Even for men with their discipline it was a stony ordeal, and it was especially difficult for Taylor, who had to lead the discussion and whose appointment as Chair- man had arisen from his close relationship with the President. As America’s first soldier he would be expected to make the first military decision should war come. Meanwhile he had to sit erect and feign an interest in logistics and combined staff work. At 4:30 the meeting ended on schedule. The Joint Chiefs rose together and faced their rising guests. Taylor said evenly, “I regret to tell you that the President of the United States has been killed.” The Germans, bred to stoicism, collapsed in their chairs.

'DeGaulle's instant reaction that the same group that was trying to kill him got JFK is powerful evidence. He certainly knew a lot about his enemies. Roger, You're among the few since Coup was published who seems prepared to factor in the significance of Jean Souetre's attempt on de Gaulle in context of the plot for Dallas. In light of the appearances in the Lafitte datebook of Philippe de Vosjoli of the SDECE — who at the time was apparently no fan of de Gaulle, and OAS Capt. Souetre — who attempted to assassinate de Gaulle and was attempting to revive the efforts of the OAS in Algeria, it's impossible to ignore the possibility de Gaulle knew a good deal more about the Kennedy assassination than he ever let on. I've wondered if this last tranche of assassination files being withheld for reasons of national security, i.e. threat to relations with our most trusted allies in Europe? — might shed light on what the French government knew, and when did it know it. Or, as we write in Coup, In early 1964, Jean Rene Souetre rose to a notorious prominence after the SDECE sent an inquiry to the FBI about Souetre and his presence in Dallas, Texas on the day President Kennedy was assassinated. The FBI had little in its files on Souetre, but the CIA notified the FBI that it had a large dossier on the Frenchman as well as photographs of him. The full content or extent of the CIA’s files on the Frenchman have never been revealed despite numerous Freedom of Information filings, all of which have been denied to date. Readers shall soon learn far more about the French and FBI inquiries, the CIA’s position on information about Souetre, and the Agency’s subsequent activities. The one redacted page either from a secret memorandum or a cable dated April 1, 1964 on Souetre that was released by the CIA in 1977 reads: 8. Jean SOUETRE aka Michel ROUX aka Michel MERTZ— On 5 March [1964], [Mr. Papich] of the FBI advised that the French had [hit] the Legal Attaché in Paris and also [the SDECE man] had queried the Bureau in New York City concerning subject stating that he had been Expelled from the U.S. at Fort Worth or Dallas 48 hours after the assassination. He was in Fort Worth on morning of 22 November and in Dallas in the afternoon. The French believe that he was expelled to either Mexico or Canada. In January he received mail from a dentist named Alderson living at 5803 Birmingham, Houston, Texas. Subject is believed to be identical with a Captain who is a deserter from the French Army and an activist in the OAS. The French are concerned because of de Gaulle’s planned visit to Mexico. They would like to know the reason for his expulsion from the US and his destination. Bureau files are negative and they are checking in Texas and with INS. They would like a check of our files with indications of what may be passed to the French. [The FBI’s Mr. Papich] was given a copy of CSCI-3/776, 742 previously furnished the Bureau and CSD3-3/655, 207 together with a photograph of Captain SOUETRE. Bracketed words were initially redacted by the CIA. This page is but a part of a page from a 14-page document. Where are the other pages? What do they say? As of early 2019, our FOIA requests have not been fulfilled.