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HELSINKI by train Oct 15 - 16, 1959


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8 minutes ago, Jim Root said:

Not only did Oswald travel too the Soviet Union, he also returned. Coincidences surrounding the filing of his application and his ultimate departure from Russia may also be significant when we compare his life to the lives of two other players in the Kennedy assassination mystery.

Thanks Jim...  interesting thoughts and questions...

Yet, like Eddie Lopez for the HSCA... you are making the assumption that the WCR tells an accurate story of his travel....  

He was here this day, there the next, took this plane, that train, those buses...

Between Le Havre and Helsinki all we have is paper.  And here is the FIRST paper where we see serious intent to go to ASC...

"4 months" does not appear to be his handwriting - yet there it is.  

The semester he was supposedly attending started April 1960...  it's over 6 months until April 1960 yet the initial purpose of the trip is to attend ASC... this is written Sept 4th...

Isn't that a bit of a timing problem?  

I think it important to consider a doppelganger for Oswald...  and Sunday Oct 11 appears to be gone entirely...  
He gets to TORNI the night of the 10th and checks out the next day, checking into KLAUS...  but that doesn't occur until the 12th....

:huh:

1444948559_1959PassportapplicationmentionsASchweitzeryetonlya4monthtrip.jpg.6fe2a4eca03fb617ee1af2702376e317.jpg

 

 

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I have a CIA memo from January 1958 related to GOLUB which mentions the name COLONEL BJORK as the man in charge of all espionage in Finland at the time...

Except I don't get much when looking for him...

Any ideas who this guy was?  Sounds like a Colonel in the same vein as General Cabell

 

https://archive.org/stream/foreignservicel1960wash_0/foreignservicel1960wash_0_djvu.txt 

FINLAND - Helsinki (E)

Sessions, Edson O., A.E. and P Oct. 22,59

Melbourne, Roy M., couns. (0-2) Sept. 6,59

Cantwell, John A., 3d sec.; g. s. o. (0-8) Sept. 22, 57

Conrath, Ernst, 3d sec.; v.c.; g.s.o. (0-7) Jan. 10, 60

Friberg, Frank F., 2d sec.; pol. off. (R-4) Apr. 4, 57

Fulton, Robert M., v. c.; cons. off. (R-7) Sept. 26, 58

Hilbun, Pauline C., sec. (S-7) June 28,59

Hilliker, Grant G., 1st sec.; cons.; pol. off. (0-3) Nov. 20,55

Houle, Ernest J., coms-rec. supvr. (S-9) Feb. 8, 59

Jokinen, Melvin W., 2d sec.; pol. off. (R-6) July 27,58

Kelley, Margaret R., 2d sec.; cons.; cons. off. (0-5). Sept. 6, 59

Kresse, Thomas R., 3d sec.; v.c.; b.f-d.o. (0-7) July 26, 59

Miller, William K., couns. ec. aff.; cons. (0-3) June 30,57

Nelson, Harvey F., Jr., 2d sec.; pol. off. (0-4) Jan. 24, 60

Pederson, Wallace H., cml. att. (R-4) Nov. 16, 58

Sandford, Eleanor W., 2d sec.; adm. off. (0-4) Sept. 21, 58

Sellin, Theodore, 2d sec.; labor off. (0-6) June 28,59

Youngquist, Eric V., 2d sec.; cons.; ec. off. (0-5). .. Dec. 29,57

 

(AA, NA, & Air A)

Bjork, Col. Delbert L. {army attache} Apr. 8, 57

Soderholm, Cmdr. Carlton E., n. a./n. a. a May 20,57

Rauk, Col. Karl T., air att Feb. 18,59

Atkeson, Capt. Edward B., asst, army att Jan. 23, 59

Thorne, Maj. Nicholas G. W., a. n. a./a. n. a. a Jan. 29, 58

Davis, Lt. Col. Jerome N., asst, air att Apr. 2, 58

Thornton, Maj. Lee R., asst, air att May 5, 59

Edited by David Josephs
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  • 3 weeks later...
1 minute ago, Tom Hume said:

David, obviously you've seen this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Bjork

Obviously....  not.             :pop

LOL... thanks Tom... this is actually better explored in Steve Thomas' "Colonels" thread... 

 

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This is a scan from a guidebook to Finland published in 1964. On page 37 it lists "Principal Hotels." Besides the Klaus Kurdi [note spelling] and Torni it lists a youth hostel, the YMCA. The latter would certainly have been a more logical choice for someone who was supposedly living a marginal existance. It would be interesting to find a price quote for the lavish Kurdi and Torni, but it isn't easy to find old guide books from this period.

 

 

Edited by Rob Couteau
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https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2018/104-10051-10196.pdf

image.thumb.png.8a56b670d9091dabcb919639cc954c6f.png

Concerns over GOLUB and AEPAWNEE/5...   A/5 may have been to naive to deal with being a double agent... while GOLUB is actively trying to turn her...

Real Cold War Stuff....

image.thumb.png.0fc8b5a5faac7bac50dfa4eff1ffd195.png

Edited by David Josephs
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In one of Armstrong's notebooks is correspondence from a Finnish researcher and Weberman... who suggests that those listed on the train manifest may be worth looking into....

575644913_WilliamBrownTROUSDALE-traveledontrainfromHelsinkitoUSSRwithOswald-isonmanifest.jpg.cd22b90160a6b24859eea3ae86f95357.jpg

#7 just above Oswald is what appears to me as the only AMERICAN name other than Oswald...  William Brown TROUSDALE who won Poetry contests, wrote this thesis and book... 

Title THE LONG SWORD AND SCABBARD SLIDE IN ASIA.
Volume 1 of THE LONG SWORD AND SCABBARD SLIDE IN ASIA, WILLIAM BROWN TROUSDALE
Author WILLIAM BROWN TROUSDALE
Publisher University of MICHIGAN, 1967
Length 814 pages

Is anyone familiar with this author and book?  His wife was:

Marion Stelling Trousdale, American English educator, researcher. National Endowment of the Humanities fellow Huntington Library., 1987-1988, O.B. Hardison fellow Folger Shakespeare Library., since 1991. Member Modern Language Association, International Shakespeare Association, Society for Textual Studies, International Association University Professors of English, Marlowe Association American, Shakespeare Association American, Malone Society. 
Married William Brown Trousdale, July 23, 1953

 

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On 5/22/2018 at 5:19 PM, David Josephs said:

 

1444948559_1959PassportapplicationmentionsASchweitzeryetonlya4monthtrip.jpg.6fe2a4eca03fb617ee1af2702376e317.jpg

 

 

David,

 

Where does this come from?

What caught my eye was the name of the shipping line he was proposing to take, "Grace Lines"

He wound up taking the "Lykes Lines" company. I wonder why.

I did a little bit of reading about the Grace Lines. They seemed to concentrate in the Caribbean and the west coast of South America. I don't know as I sit here, if they operated out of New Orleans or not.

https://www.cruiselinehistory.com/the-grace-line/

 

Steve Thomas

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1 minute ago, Steve Thomas said:

Where does this come from?

This is the 1959 Passport application  -  I believe there is a thread where it was determined that this card should not have been given to Oswald at all, and that even so - it would have been issued after Sept 4th considering he does not leave the marines until Sept 11th...

1600963671_1959Passportapplication.thumb.jpg.d45fc2061662c452dd6e51c9249927f3.jpg

 

the photo on the bottom card is from MINSK

 

778753562_OswaldDoDdd1173-amockupoforiginalandthefakedonewiththeMinskphoto.thumb.jpg.48acbfa6dc08927478a6d6abd9e144ae.jpg

 

Are all these really the same person?   and the last two images... the big Marine becomes this little man in just 2 years

790514715_HarveyinMinsk-LeeinUSA.jpg.030cfd573b96a7bedfdd249ca0568b9f.jpg

59f2660f2179b_63-11-221963v1959Oswald.thumb.jpg.54814dc6efe612f762f160c339ab3242.jpg

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BTW, have we discovered yet anything about why and how Oswald stayed at two luxury hotels while he was there?

Rob did proffer a good explanation as I recall.  Namely that Oswald met someone at the Torni.  They the left for the Kurki.

But as of now, we have no idea who this was or who that person was with.

And as far as I know, there are no clues out there either.

So is it time to close the book on this?  Is it solvable at all?

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The man took photos of virtually ever place he ever was.... we know he was traveling with at least 1 camera yet not a single image of this trip... or the trip to Mexico... is found in his possessions...

How dat? Other than he just didn’t make these trips in the manner offered by the investigations...

when we look closely, Oswald is virtually a phantom as he travels... You’re in France, England, Sweden and Finland yet not a single photo from the self described “photographer”.

smells fishy...

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