Oswald's Russian skills

[Charles Blackmon]

In early 1959 young Marine Oswald, after finishing an assignment in Atsugi Japan was stationed in California, where he took a military Russian language exam and passed with flying colors. In interviews with many associates of Oswald during his military career, nobody could say they ever saw Oswald engaged in learning the Russian language.  Nobody recalled him ever speaking the Russian language. The Warren Commission never determined how he learned the Russian language.  So..how was Oswald able to pass a difficult Russian language exam with no training?

[Jeremy Bojczuk]

Charles Blackmon writes:

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young Marine Oswald ... took a military Russian language exam and passed with flying colors.

No, he scraped a passing grade. According to Lt. Col. Folsom, "his rating was poor throughout" (Warren Commission Hearings and Exhibits, vol. 8, p.307 (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=36#relPageId=315). Incidentally, Folsom points out a few pages earlier that Oswald's marksmanship wasn't up to much either.

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In interviews with many associates of Oswald during his military career, nobody could say they ever saw Oswald engaged in learning the Russian language. 

I don't know where Charles got that idea from, but it is quite spectacularly mistaken. A number of Oswald's Marine buddies claimed that he studied Russian openly. Their statements are also in vol.8:

• James Anthony Botelho (p.315): "It was common knowledge that Oswald had taught himself to speak Russian."
• David Christie Murray (p.319): "When I knew him, he was studying Russian."
• Henry J. Roussel (pp.320-1): "I remember that Oswald could speak a little Russian ... I knew of Oswald's study of the Russian language ... I am under the impression that prior to studying Russian ..."
• Mack Osborne (pp.321-2): "Oswald was at that time studying Russian. He spent a great deal of his free time reading papers printed in Russian ... with the aid of a Russian-English dictionary. ... Because of the fact that he was studying Russian, fellow Marines sometimes jokingly accused him of being a Russian spy." 
• Richard Dennis Call (p.322): "During this time, Oswald was studying Russian. For this reason many members of the unit kidded him about being a Russian spy."

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The Warren Commission never determined how he learned the Russian language.

The Warren Commission knew that Oswald had been teaching himself Russian while in the Marines. Of course, the Commission wasn't going to look too closely into the possibility that Oswald had also received some official tuition.

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So..how was Oswald able to pass a difficult Russian language exam with no training?

It's quite conceivable that he had in fact received training while in the Marines. See Greg Parker and Jim Purtell's article, 'Lee Oswald and Russian Language':

http://www.jfkconversations.com/lee-oswald-russian-language

The article claims that Oswald may first of all have been assessed for his aptitude in learning languages, then provided with a six-week intensive training course, after which he studied by himself (publicly, in front of his Marine buddies), and was then tested.

See also the following discussion of that article, which provides further evidence that Oswald had indeed received some official tuition while in Japan, and which mentions other Marines who claimed that Oswald had been teaching himself Russian:

https://reopenkennedycase.forumotion.net/t2313-oswald-and-the-russian-language

Edited February 11, 2023 by Jeremy Bojczuk
corrected a couple of typos

[Charles Blackmon]

There are no official records of Oswald receiving any Russian language training. I don't believe for a second he "taught himself" the Russian language. But believe what you want. Its just one aspect of the Oswald "legend".

[Guest]

Bye

Edited February 15, 2023 by Lance Payette

[Steve Roe]

In a private conversation with Paul Gregory and two other researchers, we asked Mr. Gregory about Oswald's Russian language abilities. He remarked that Oswald spoke good passable Russian. One could characterize it as "good conversational Russian". Naturally if you live in another country for some time, you are immersed in the language of the people which forces you to learn and understand. 

However, Mr. Gregory did state that Oswald's Russian grammar/spelling was extremely terrible and unrecognizable.  

Just a reminder that Langley and the Monterey School of Languages Russian classes are not reliable for planting false defectors for Patsy Boys like Oswald. 

[Guest]

Hi

Edited February 15, 2023 by Lance Payette

[Joe Bauer]

Starting in the 1950's, I've lived no more than two miles away ( usually closer, even just blocks away ) from the DLI in Monterey, CA. for almost every year of my 71 years long life.

I went to school here from kindergarten through high school and in every grade there were always many fellow kids whose parents taught at the DLI school.

My best friend through high school's father taught Burmese there.

I casually met dozens of these older generation DLI teachers just by hanging out with their kids.

Every one of these parents came from the countries whose language they taught.

I always liked the interesting mix of cultures and languages these DLI teachers and their families brought to the over-all color of the Monterey Peninsula.

It was fun to share their different foods and hear their different music, etc.

One constant I noticed however was the seriousness of these DLI language instructors in their teaching efforts and responsibilities.

They all seemed like tough demanding teachers.

Many came from tough living conditions in poor and/or war-torn countries.

They didn't take for granted the living conditions they had here. I think they were decently paid as well. Almost all bought homes and several owned rental homes as well!

I sensed that anyone in the military sent to the DLI for language training were subjected to quite rigorous course work. Serious teachers, serious expectations for comprehension skill upon graduation.

I once heard that the amount of money our military committed for each student's language learning at the DLI was huge.

If Oswald were ever sent to the Monterey DLI for the purpose of learning or improving his Russian language skills, I believe he would have left speaking and even writing very good Russian upon completion of his course work. 

The Monterey DLI has always had a highly regarded reputation for rigorous, demanding expectations and high quality graduation results.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Charles Blackmon]

9 hours ago, Jeremy Bojczuk said:

 Folsom points out a few pages earlier that Oswald's marksmanship wasn't up to much either.

 

Yes most of us have previously caught on that Oswald was not up to the task of 3 shots inside of 6 seconds at a moving target with a crumby WWII rifle.