Post by Rob Caprio on Aug 24, 2020 20:41:41 GMT -5
All portions ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Garrison_Jim.jpg
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/Kerry_Wendell_Thornley.jpg
All the men in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) who had served with Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) gave similar statements about him, save one, Kerry Thornley. Needless to say, the Warren Commission (WC) gave him more attention because of this.
He gave extensive testimony before the WC instead of the small affidavit like most of LHO’s fellow Marines. Why? This question struck New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison as well, thus, he began to look into Thornley more during his investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK).
He found out through police records that Thornley was in New Orleans in 1961 and 1962. He had been arrested in 1962 for putting a sign on a telephone pole on Royal Street in the French Quarter. This action violated a city ordinance, therefore, he was arrested. Unfortunately, the arresting officers couldn’t remember what the sign had displayed when questioned by Garrison’s investigators.
Garrison also learned that Thornley had been in New Orleans in 1963 as well.
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From his own admission, as well as from the statements of Barbara Reid and a number of others, we learned that Thornley had been in New Orleans in 1963, finally leaving the city only a few days after Kennedy’s murder. Reid, a long-time French Quarter resident who had known both Thornley and Oswald, described seeing them together on several occasions. One of them was in early September 1963 at the Bourbon House, a combination bar and restaurant in the French Quarter. Thornley, who usually wore his hair extremely long, had just returned from a trip out of town. This time he was wearing his hair unusually short and closely cropped, as Oswald invariably did. Reid recalled having said to them, “Who are you guys supposed to be? The Gold Dust Twins?” (Jim Garrison, “On The Trail Of The Assassins, p. 71 [hardcover])
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Garrison set out to find him, but it would take time as Thornley was hard to track down. The investigators finally found what had been his favorite hangout -- Ryder's Coffee House, but unfortunately it had closed. Garrison then picked his “most sociable investigators” to canvass the surrounding area in order to find out where Thornley might have moved to.
The investigators found many people who claimed to know Thornley and one was willing to help them. The person came in and had a casual discussion with Garrison and he learned a good bit about Thornley. Garrison got a lucky break when he learned that Thornley liked to write letters and postcards to communicate. Garrison learned that his mail came from three cities – Atlanta, Los Angeles and Tampa. Tampa is where they would finally catch up with him in early 1968. Garrison had a Grand Jury subpoena served on him to appear in court.
Here is what Garrison wrote about Thornley’s appearance.
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Whe he arrived, I talked to him briefly. He was quite amicable, even talkative. He said that he had arrived in New Orleans in February 1961—the month after the Bolton Ford incident—and had been living in New Orleans from that time until November 1963, a few days after the assassination. He had no reason for leaving at that odd time; he just decided that the time had come to move. He was surprisingly candid about having met both Guy Banister and David Ferrie while in New Orleans, although he described these meetings as brief. He denied having met Oswald during that period when both were in New Orleans.
I had learned that virtually all the young men connected with Guy Banister’s operation, most of whom appeared to be employees of the intelligence community, carried a box key for the Lafayette Square post office. I never learned exactly why, but probably it was for receiving mailed instructions from their intelligence case officers or to provide an explanation for their periodic presence in the building where the Office of Naval Intelligence was located.
Fishing, I asked Thornley why, when he lived in New Orleans, he carried a box key for the Lafayette Square post office. He promptly replied that he had possessed such a key because he lived across the street at the Fox Hotel and it was convenient for him to receive his mail at the post office.
It was something of an eyebrow raiser to learn that, upon his arrival in the city in February 1961, Thornley had moved right into the heart of the intelligence community. However, my eyebrows went up even further when I learned that while in New Orleans he had been writing a novel “inspired" Lee Oswald. (He finished the book in February 1963—just nine months before the assassination.) Not many individuals were writing books inspired by Lee Oswald—at least, not before President Kennedy’s murder.
One of the main reasons I had developed an interest in Thornley was that I suspected that he could have been the man who used the name “Oswald” at the Bolton Ford Company in January 1961. He had to have been one of the few men in the world who was in New Orleans around the time, who knew Lee Oswald, and knew Oswald was in Russia. In addition, Thornley bore a striking resemblance to Oswald. They were of approximately the same height and slight build, both brown-haired and had similar facial features. (Ibid., pp. 72-73 [hardcover])
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There are some intriguing things in this quoted section. Why did Thornley pick the intelligence section of New Orleans to move to? His use of a post office box is also interesting as we saw LHO do the same thing over the years in Dallas and New Orleans. Was Thornley part of the intelligence network?
Why did he deny meeting with LHO when Garrison had a witness, Reid, saying that they were together a number of times? If he had no contact with LHO since the Marines, why was he writing a book “inspired by Oswald”? What had LHO done in the Marines that would inspire Thornley years later to the point of writing a book?
What were those brief meetings with Guy Banister and David Ferrie about? I sure would like to know.
Finally, was Thornley impersonating LHO? He looked a lot like LHO in build and facial features, and according to Reid he had cut his hair like LHO by September 1963. If he did impersonate LHO, how and where did he do this? Why was none of this investigated by the WC?
Perhaps because as Garrison wrote Thornley was the man impersonating LHO at Bolton Ford, in New Orleans, in Mexico City and in Dallas. Surely the WC would have no interest in that.
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…I did have time to ask Thornley about his travel schedule of 1963. He said that in the late spring, about the beginning of May, he had gone by bus to visit his parents in California. I asked him whether or not the bus had stopped at Dallas, and he replied that he had. He acknowledged having visited Dallas briefly on that occasion.
Afterwards, upon reflection, the timing of Thornley’s trip to Dallas struck me, although I said nothing about it while we talked. The Oswalds had just moved from their Neely Street in Dallas to New Orleans in late April, leaving somecrent still paid for. Consequently the Oswald apartment had been unoccupied for some days. Considering their respective travel schedules,
Oswald and Thornley had not been very far away from passing each other on the highway, each one in the opposite direction in his respective bus.
I was also aware that at some unknown time, apparently when Oswald was not there, a young man of Oswald’s build, wearing a pistol on his hip, had posed for several photographs in the backyard of the Neely Street apartment…
These incriminating pictures purporting to be Oswald had been found in Ruth Paine’s garage in Irving, where presumably she had been keeping them for him…
At first glance the photographs appear to be of Lee Oswald. However, after study it was apparent that in each picture Oswald’s face did not precisely fit the neck and body.
Furthermore, the facial portrait of Oswald was exactly the same one in each photograph, whereas the posture and the distance of the body from the camera differed. In addition to that, using the length of Oswald’s face as a standard of measurement, one of the bodies on onr picture was clearly taller than the corresponding body in the other picture . (Ibid., pp. 73-75 [hardcover])
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Clearly Garrison is saying that perhaps Thornley posed for the Backyard Photographs (BYPs) instead of LHO to frame him. I don’t think there needed to be days paid for on the Neely Street apartment as I don’t believe that LHO and Marina ever stayed there. Or at least, there is no firm evidence showing that they did. Instead, I think people posing as them stayed there.
Do you think that it was Thornley that posed for the BYPs?
It turns out that after Thornley left California he returned to New Orleans via Mexico City. The time for his trip to Mexico City was very close to the time the WC said LHO was there. Is this just another coincidence?
By November 1963 he was renting an apartment from John Spencer who was a friend of Clay Shaw. Is this just another coincidence?
Thornley would eventually return to California where he would become friends with Johnny Roselli. Is this just another coincidence?
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…Was Kerry Thornley an agent of the intelligence community? Had he impersonated Oswald or coached others to do so? Did he know more than he was saying? I did not know the answers back in the late 1960s. (Ibid., p. 77 [hardcover])
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Unfortunately, we still don’t have the answers for sure, but we owe Garrison for asking the questions.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Garrison_Jim.jpg
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/Kerry_Wendell_Thornley.jpg
All the men in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) who had served with Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) gave similar statements about him, save one, Kerry Thornley. Needless to say, the Warren Commission (WC) gave him more attention because of this.
He gave extensive testimony before the WC instead of the small affidavit like most of LHO’s fellow Marines. Why? This question struck New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison as well, thus, he began to look into Thornley more during his investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK).
He found out through police records that Thornley was in New Orleans in 1961 and 1962. He had been arrested in 1962 for putting a sign on a telephone pole on Royal Street in the French Quarter. This action violated a city ordinance, therefore, he was arrested. Unfortunately, the arresting officers couldn’t remember what the sign had displayed when questioned by Garrison’s investigators.
Garrison also learned that Thornley had been in New Orleans in 1963 as well.
Quote on
From his own admission, as well as from the statements of Barbara Reid and a number of others, we learned that Thornley had been in New Orleans in 1963, finally leaving the city only a few days after Kennedy’s murder. Reid, a long-time French Quarter resident who had known both Thornley and Oswald, described seeing them together on several occasions. One of them was in early September 1963 at the Bourbon House, a combination bar and restaurant in the French Quarter. Thornley, who usually wore his hair extremely long, had just returned from a trip out of town. This time he was wearing his hair unusually short and closely cropped, as Oswald invariably did. Reid recalled having said to them, “Who are you guys supposed to be? The Gold Dust Twins?” (Jim Garrison, “On The Trail Of The Assassins, p. 71 [hardcover])
Quote off
Garrison set out to find him, but it would take time as Thornley was hard to track down. The investigators finally found what had been his favorite hangout -- Ryder's Coffee House, but unfortunately it had closed. Garrison then picked his “most sociable investigators” to canvass the surrounding area in order to find out where Thornley might have moved to.
The investigators found many people who claimed to know Thornley and one was willing to help them. The person came in and had a casual discussion with Garrison and he learned a good bit about Thornley. Garrison got a lucky break when he learned that Thornley liked to write letters and postcards to communicate. Garrison learned that his mail came from three cities – Atlanta, Los Angeles and Tampa. Tampa is where they would finally catch up with him in early 1968. Garrison had a Grand Jury subpoena served on him to appear in court.
Here is what Garrison wrote about Thornley’s appearance.
Quote on
Whe he arrived, I talked to him briefly. He was quite amicable, even talkative. He said that he had arrived in New Orleans in February 1961—the month after the Bolton Ford incident—and had been living in New Orleans from that time until November 1963, a few days after the assassination. He had no reason for leaving at that odd time; he just decided that the time had come to move. He was surprisingly candid about having met both Guy Banister and David Ferrie while in New Orleans, although he described these meetings as brief. He denied having met Oswald during that period when both were in New Orleans.
I had learned that virtually all the young men connected with Guy Banister’s operation, most of whom appeared to be employees of the intelligence community, carried a box key for the Lafayette Square post office. I never learned exactly why, but probably it was for receiving mailed instructions from their intelligence case officers or to provide an explanation for their periodic presence in the building where the Office of Naval Intelligence was located.
Fishing, I asked Thornley why, when he lived in New Orleans, he carried a box key for the Lafayette Square post office. He promptly replied that he had possessed such a key because he lived across the street at the Fox Hotel and it was convenient for him to receive his mail at the post office.
It was something of an eyebrow raiser to learn that, upon his arrival in the city in February 1961, Thornley had moved right into the heart of the intelligence community. However, my eyebrows went up even further when I learned that while in New Orleans he had been writing a novel “inspired" Lee Oswald. (He finished the book in February 1963—just nine months before the assassination.) Not many individuals were writing books inspired by Lee Oswald—at least, not before President Kennedy’s murder.
One of the main reasons I had developed an interest in Thornley was that I suspected that he could have been the man who used the name “Oswald” at the Bolton Ford Company in January 1961. He had to have been one of the few men in the world who was in New Orleans around the time, who knew Lee Oswald, and knew Oswald was in Russia. In addition, Thornley bore a striking resemblance to Oswald. They were of approximately the same height and slight build, both brown-haired and had similar facial features. (Ibid., pp. 72-73 [hardcover])
Quote off
There are some intriguing things in this quoted section. Why did Thornley pick the intelligence section of New Orleans to move to? His use of a post office box is also interesting as we saw LHO do the same thing over the years in Dallas and New Orleans. Was Thornley part of the intelligence network?
Why did he deny meeting with LHO when Garrison had a witness, Reid, saying that they were together a number of times? If he had no contact with LHO since the Marines, why was he writing a book “inspired by Oswald”? What had LHO done in the Marines that would inspire Thornley years later to the point of writing a book?
What were those brief meetings with Guy Banister and David Ferrie about? I sure would like to know.
Finally, was Thornley impersonating LHO? He looked a lot like LHO in build and facial features, and according to Reid he had cut his hair like LHO by September 1963. If he did impersonate LHO, how and where did he do this? Why was none of this investigated by the WC?
Perhaps because as Garrison wrote Thornley was the man impersonating LHO at Bolton Ford, in New Orleans, in Mexico City and in Dallas. Surely the WC would have no interest in that.
Quote on
…I did have time to ask Thornley about his travel schedule of 1963. He said that in the late spring, about the beginning of May, he had gone by bus to visit his parents in California. I asked him whether or not the bus had stopped at Dallas, and he replied that he had. He acknowledged having visited Dallas briefly on that occasion.
Afterwards, upon reflection, the timing of Thornley’s trip to Dallas struck me, although I said nothing about it while we talked. The Oswalds had just moved from their Neely Street in Dallas to New Orleans in late April, leaving somecrent still paid for. Consequently the Oswald apartment had been unoccupied for some days. Considering their respective travel schedules,
Oswald and Thornley had not been very far away from passing each other on the highway, each one in the opposite direction in his respective bus.
I was also aware that at some unknown time, apparently when Oswald was not there, a young man of Oswald’s build, wearing a pistol on his hip, had posed for several photographs in the backyard of the Neely Street apartment…
These incriminating pictures purporting to be Oswald had been found in Ruth Paine’s garage in Irving, where presumably she had been keeping them for him…
At first glance the photographs appear to be of Lee Oswald. However, after study it was apparent that in each picture Oswald’s face did not precisely fit the neck and body.
Furthermore, the facial portrait of Oswald was exactly the same one in each photograph, whereas the posture and the distance of the body from the camera differed. In addition to that, using the length of Oswald’s face as a standard of measurement, one of the bodies on onr picture was clearly taller than the corresponding body in the other picture . (Ibid., pp. 73-75 [hardcover])
Quote off
Clearly Garrison is saying that perhaps Thornley posed for the Backyard Photographs (BYPs) instead of LHO to frame him. I don’t think there needed to be days paid for on the Neely Street apartment as I don’t believe that LHO and Marina ever stayed there. Or at least, there is no firm evidence showing that they did. Instead, I think people posing as them stayed there.
Do you think that it was Thornley that posed for the BYPs?
It turns out that after Thornley left California he returned to New Orleans via Mexico City. The time for his trip to Mexico City was very close to the time the WC said LHO was there. Is this just another coincidence?
By November 1963 he was renting an apartment from John Spencer who was a friend of Clay Shaw. Is this just another coincidence?
Thornley would eventually return to California where he would become friends with Johnny Roselli. Is this just another coincidence?
Quote on
…Was Kerry Thornley an agent of the intelligence community? Had he impersonated Oswald or coached others to do so? Did he know more than he was saying? I did not know the answers back in the late 1960s. (Ibid., p. 77 [hardcover])
Quote off
Unfortunately, we still don’t have the answers for sure, but we owe Garrison for asking the questions.