Larry Crafard & 214 W Neely St Decoded

Crafard’s early out from the army
From Crafard’s testimony
Mr. HUBERT. How long did you serve altogether? 
Mr. CRAFARD. Thirteen months. 
Mr. HUBERT. Is that the usual tour? 
Mr. CRAFARD. No, sir. The usual tour is 3 to 4 years. 
Mr. HUBERT. Well now, what caused you to get out sooner? 
Mr. CRAFARD. As far as I understand it is the next thing to a medical discharge. 
Mr. HUBERT. What was it based upon, do you know? 
Mr. CRAFARD. General, under honorable conditions. 
 
Meanwhile Larry’s cousin Gail Ann Cascaddan, told the FBI that Larry “reportedly had received an undesirable discharge.” 
 
It should also be noted that Larry had his discharge papers with him which confirm his version. The importance of his cousin’s statement is that it indicates his discharge was based on issues one might expect to warrant an “undesirable” status and further digging confirms that the “undesirable discharge” was replaced (at least in the Army) by two other types -  "general, under honorable conditions" and "other than honorable". Both are less favorable than “honorable”, though obviously “general under honorable conditions” is better than both “undesirable” and “other than honorable”. Why did Gail Cascaddan believe Larry’s discharge was undesirable?
 
Let’s have a look at some other things she said about her cousin, from the same FBI report as linked to above:
 
Mrs. Cascaddan said he was ‘nuts’ and he made her ‘puke’. She elaborated on this characterization by stating that Crafard was obviously of below-average mentality, unreliable and unpredictable. He was a ‘loner,’ drifted around the country from job to job, and had no close friends or associates… He was conceited and frequently bragged of his muscular strength and his ‘excellent’ physique. He claimed to have an extensive knowledge of judo. To support this latter claim, on occasions he would use a ‘judo chop’… on the exterior wall of a house to show the power of his blow. He told Mrs. Cascaddan’s mother that by continuously snapping his finger on a certain spot on a woman’s breast he could cause the woman so much pain that she would beg him to kill her rather than be further tortured. Mrs. Cascaddan further stated that Crafard was oversexed and she never liked to be alone with him. He always wanted to put his hands on her body, smell her hair and try to kiss her, despite the fact that she and Crafard were first cousins. At times, Crafard said he ‘got the spirit so bad’ that he had to pick up The Bible and read from it. On such occasions, he would read in a mumbling fashion and what he read could not be completely understood by the person listening to him. This conduct on his part was not ostensibly in jest, but suggested religious fanaticism to Mrs. Cascaddan.
 
We can dispense with some of those items. Firstly, Larry’s Warren Commission testimony shows him to be of at least average intelligence – certainly not “below average” as claimed by his cousin. Secondly, he did have at least one friend or associate close enough to give Larry a ride to Dallas. More on him later. Thirdly, the claim that he was “unreliable” may or may not have been true at times but he was a loyal and reliable assistant to Jack Ruby up until the assassination.  This loyalty and reliability was somewhat confirmed by Larry later being employed by one of Jack’s brothers.
 
Most of the rest of Mrs. Cascaddan’s portrait of her cousin points straight to Larry having a truly manic personality,  possibly with an accompanying bipolar disorder characterized specifically by his hypersexuality and hyper-religiosity combined with his apparent belligerence and high energy.

Larry’s discharge on “medical” grounds was in fact a “Section 8” which was commonly used in sexual perversion cases in the 1950s resulting in an undesirable discharge - until this discharge type was abandoned and replaced as previously stated.  “Sexual perversion” in the Army in the 1950s would most often be the term used for homosexual conduct, and in the absence of females, and given Larry’s mania, he almost certainly would have been involved in homosexual relationships – or at least would have attempted to instigate them. Section 8 comes under Army Regulations 635-200 and utilizes numerous separation codes. Crafard’s Section 8 code was 264 ("Unsuitability. Character and behavioral disorders").
 



 
Although outside the parameters of this talk, it is worth at least noting that among the places Crafard was misremembered as Oswald was at “gay” parties with Jack Ruby where, in one report, he was described as “trade”. Additionally, Crafard’s wife was a lesbian.  In an era of repression, an arrangement like this would provide cover for both.
 
The question now arises: Was Crafard offered a deal by the Army whereby he would be given his General Discharge under “honorable” condition instead of “other than honorable” if he would make himself available at various times for various “off the book” duties?  To any who believe no intelligence service would ever recruit the likes of Crafard, I refer you to the case of Mikhail Platovsky, an agent placed in Minsk during Oswald’s time there and who was instructed to recruit among “morally loose” elements.  Intelligence agencies do not have a single inflexible standard for recruitment when looking at low level “street work”. Ivy league recruitment is for James Angleton types, not Phil Geri types. Geri had a 23 years long career as an ASIO (Australian equivalent of FBI) informant-infiltrator of the Communist Party.  His background was simple. He had come from a large, dirt poor family, had dropped out of school in the 8^th grade and had been employed in a series of menial jobs. He was most likely recommended to ASIO by his superiors in the Citizens’ Military Force (now known as the Australian Army Reserve).


Operation Bongo
During his testimony, Crafard was asked about his post-army employment with the Federal Aviation Administration – the FAA


Mr. HUBERT. Now, we have some information that you worked for Federal Aviation Agency through July and October of 1960 in Los Angeles? 
Mr. CRAFARD. Yes; in Los Angeles--I believe they were out of Los Angeles, where I worked for them that was over in Nevada. 
Mr. HUBERT. What kind of work did you do? 
Mr. CRAFARD. Surveyor's assistant. I had forgotten I had worked for them. 
 
That is the sum of the information we have from Crafard and the authorities on this job. Neither the Warren Commission nor the FBI could have initially learned of this employment through Larry since he claimed to have forgotten all about it. It would be interesting to learn where the information did come from, why it was raised at all, and why, having raised it, it was never explored or investigated in any more detail. It is the epitome of the appearance of completeness to give the impression that the item is of little significance. The Warren Commission was giving us the puff without the pastry.  

Still, there are enough clues in the short exchange to learn just about everything worth knowing about this job. It was simply a matter of digging into what the FAA was doing in Nevada in 1960 that entailed any type of “surveying”.
 
The answer to that is Operation Bongo.

Operation Bongo commenced in 1958 at Wallap’s Island, Virginia, continued from Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nevada in 1960 and 1961, in St Louis in 1961 and 1962, and culminated in Operation Bongo II in Oklahoma City, 1964.  The surveying for Bongo II was conducted by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. According to Crafard, it must have been conducted by the FAA at the Bongo I test sites.

Operations Bongo and Bongo II were intended to quantify the effects of transcontinental supersonic transport (SST) aircraft on a city. The program was managed by the FAA, which enlisted the aid of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Air Force. Up to 8 sonic booms per day were being created over selected populations to test the effects – which is where the surveying comes in.  One of the planes used was the B-52. I mention this because it becomes important in helping to identify the friend of Larry’s alluded to earlier.
 
This project would have needed some type of clearance. A security clearance is needed for any job in the FAA, the level depending on the nature and location of the work. How does someone who was “sectioned 8” out of the Army get a clearance for a sensitive project like this? Has does Larry even find out about a job like this?
 
Larry as Agent Provocateur?
Now it gets even weirder.

Note that the WC has Crafard working for the FAA through July and October 1960.

But straight after that, we get this testimony which covers almost the exact same period:
 
Mr. HUBERT. Can you tell us anything about your employment with Stewart-Hill in Berkeley, Calif., 1052 Dwight Way, Berkeley, Calif? 
Mr. CRAFARD. I don't remember even. 
Mr. HUBERT. That would have been between July and September of 1960? 
Mr. CRAFARD. I don't remember. 
 
This shows that according to the WC, he worked simultaneously in Nevada for the FAA and for a company called Stewart-Hill in Berkeley California. Crafard reluctantly admitted the FAA work but denied remembering anything about Stewart-Hill.

Stewart-Hill was a catering company. As with the FAA work, this information must have come from somewhere other than Crafard himself. It is all very strange that the only jobs he seemed to recall very well at all were the carnival jobs, and with the Stewart-Hill and FAA jobs clashing time-wise, we would have to assume the timing given by the WC was slightly out for one of them. The bigger issue though is why Larry would not want to talk about work for a catering company.

A little speculation here is warranted. The head of Stewart-Hill was William J Milliken.

Millikin enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, retiring from the reserves in 1972 at the rank of captain.
 
Just after college, Mr. Milliken worked as general manager and comptroller of St. Mary's College in Moraga, where he was also an instructor in investments and insurance. From 1946 to 1966, he worked at Stewart-Hill, rising to become president before retiring from the firm.
 
Milliken himself was a graduate of UC, Berkeley and remained one of its staunched allies and supporters. He was also a long-time president of the alumni association. In 1964, Millikan gathered together a bunch of like-minded conservatives to fight the Free Speech Movement.
 
But problems with the Left did not begin in 1964 at the Berkeley campus. In May 1960 the HUAC came to Berkeley to investigate commies on campus. A huge riot ensued. My speculation is that Milliken would be the type to hire agent provocateurs during this period, or to facilitate this being done by the FBI and/or military intelligence (MI). Larry was the right age and there at the right time for such work. Moreover, paying those provocateurs through Stewart-Hill would seem to be a good idea. Larry may not have even been aware that on paper anyway, Stuart Hill was his employer, which would explain his lack of memory of having worked for them.  Since he was in Nevada from July through October, we must assume his employment with Stewart-Hill was prior to July.
 
There is no doubt that agent provocateurs were being used at the Berkeley campus at the time. 
 
Let us also add this excerpt from a Peter Whitmey article titled Creating a Patsy. Whitmey interviewed Crafard more than once. I have highlighted relevant sections
 
During my initial interview with Craford at a bar/restaurant in the small town where he lives in a rural area of Oregon, he revealed to me that he had been a “hit-man” in the early sixties in San Francisco, prior to going to Dallas.  While living there he got involved with the granddaughter of the local “Don”, and, unfortunately for Craford, she became pregnant.  However, in exchange for leaving town and promising never to contact her again, Curtis was spared the usual harsh treatment associated with organized crime.   Although I was somewhat skeptical of Craford’s claim, his older brother, whom I later spoke to by phone, appeared to confirm what Curtis had revealed to me.
 
Earlier, after dropping out of high school in Dallas, Oregon (!) in 1958, Craford had joined the Army, following in the footsteps of his brother (who was, by then, a sergeant).  In November 1959 he was abruptly released, however, after serving most of his fourteen months in West Germany (where he might have been exposed to General Walker’s anti-communist propaganda), because of a medical problem of some sort. Despite having “messed up”, as he put it to me, he claimed to have been selected for several covert operations as a demolition expert, which took him over the Berlin Wall as well as into southeast Asia (presumably either Laos or Vietnam).  He even showed me a scar on his leg, which he treated as a badge of honor related to one of those operations.  Craford was vague about whom he was working for, but emphasized to me that there would be no written records related to his covert operations. 
 
Although I didn’t think to ask him, Curtis likely bragged about his “intelligence” experience while working for Ruby. A woman named Beverly Oliver, who was only seventeen in 1963, sang at the Colony nightclub, and hung out at the nearby Carousel.  Years later, after her first husband had been gunned down in a shootout with the Texas Rangers, she claimed to have been introduced to “Lee” by Jack Ruby, a few weeks before the assassination.  Ruby mentioned that his new friend was with the CIA.  Given what Craford told me, it’s very likely she actually was introduced to “Larry”, not “Lee.”   I wrote to Beverly in this regard, having met her at the 1996 Sudbury, Ontario JFK conference, but in her reply, she confused Craford with Corky Crawford, another seedy associate of Ruby’s, and didn’t remember having ever met Ruby’s handyman.  However, her unflattering description of him (featured in the movie “JFK”) is clearly much more consistent with Craford than Oswald.
 
Nothing incriminating, of course, was revealed to Burt Griffin and Leon Hubert during Craford’s three-day Warren Commission “interrogation” in Washington D.C., although Judge Griffin told me at a Chicago conference in 1993 that he and Hubert felt that Craford was holding back and not being honest about himself and his activities while in Dallas.  After interviewing Craford, I decided to provide Judge Griffin with a summary of our conversations, but for some reason, I did not receive a response.  Later, I did get a brief reply in regard to a Berkeley, CA company (“Stewart-Hill”), which Craford was asked about during his W.C. interview, but which he didn’t remember working for during the summer of 1960.  Unfortunately, Judge Griffin couldn’t recall what kind of company it was or how the information had been obtained.  Possibly this was when Craford was working as a hit-man.
 
Do I believe what Crafard spun to Whitmey? No. It was either all lies spun from whole cloth, or an exaggeration of the facts. I believe it is the latter.
 
For example, it is true that the US Army was providing specialized training to Lao forces in communications, motor maintenance and demolition in 1959 through the US Military Assistance Program. That is not proof that anyone from D Battery, 2^nd Missile Battalion was involved. There were of course, also Special Forces operations, but they are unlikely to have involved anyone from the 2^nd Missile Battalion, let alone Crafard.
 
It is also not hard to imagine that someone like Crafard may spin being an “agent provocateur” at a university on behalf of the alumni and/or an intelligence agency into a “hit man” for the Mafia and/or the CIA. Whatever the case, it is inspiring to find that Judge Griffin also thought there may be something odd about the Stewart-Hill employment.


Larry in Dallas Tx, March to June ’63.
Crafard married Wilma Jean, by then a divorced mother of one boy, on June 16, 1962. She had her second child, another boy, on March 1, 1963. Crafard expressed some doubts to the WC that this child was his, although his name went on the birth certificate.
 
The marriage did not last long before the couple separated in December 1962. However, after the birth of Wilma’s second baby, Larry, according to his testimony, ventured to Dallas in search of a reconciliation. He arrived soon after the birth and a reconciliation did follow.
 
Wilma was living at the time with her parents in Letot Trailer Park on Lombardy Ave and according to his testimony, he moved in with them and started work at Ablon Poultry. At some stage, her parents moved out and her brother and sister-in-law moved in. That is four adults plus at least two kids (more if the Cases had kids) which would be breaking occupancy limits in most jurisdictions today for a standard 2 bed-room trailer. 
 
Who Really lived on W. Neely?
Coincidentally, at around the time that Crafard arrived in Dallas, the Oswald’s were allegedly busy moving into 214 West Neely St which was 12 miles from the Letot Trailer Park.
 
Post-assassination however, Lee Oswald denied ever living at that address.
 
The complete list of evidence that he did

• ·         The testimony of Marina Oswald
  
• ·         The testimony of Ruth Paine
  
• ·         The testimony of Michael Paine
  
• ·         The testimony of George De Mohrenschildt
  
• ·         The testimony of Jeanne de Mohrenschildt (Jeanne was unable to recall the street and number but described the location)
  
• ·         The affidavit of landlord M. (for Malcolm) Waldo George
  
• ·         The FBI statement of [url=https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57681&relPageId=48&search=water_and neely]George Gray[/url] (misspelled as Bray in the report) who lived in the bottom apartment
  
• ·         A hand-written note in the Dallas Power and Light Company file for the premises “reflected that on March 29, 1963, 214 W. Neely was occupied by Lee Harvey Oswald”
  
• ·         An FBI report stating a visit to 214 W. Neely on March 14, 1963 showed the mail box had a name plate attached reading Mr. and Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald
  
• ·         An American Bakeries pay slip found on Oswald post-arrest and tracing back to a previous occupant of the top apartment of 214 W, Neely St
  
• ·         [url=https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57681&relPageId=48&search=water_and neely]The Walker letter[/url] in which Oswald stated he had paid the water and gas
  
• ·         An FBI document stating that water and gas had been paid by Oswald
  
• ·         The Backyard Photos
  
• ·         Photos of June Oswald on the Neely St Balcony 
  

Problems with the evidence and counter evidence
The Warren Commission Witnesses
Marina Oswald, the Paines and the de Mohrenschildts all gave other evidence that was at best, twisted and at worst, provable lies.  Each potentially had motive to lie in this instance.
 
Malcolm Waldo George
Nothing is known of M. Waldo George except for what he told the FBI. It is notable that he stated his wife took the initial rent inquiry, but was never interviewed by any officials. In 2007 when I first started considering the issues around W. Neely St, Tom Scully contributed some (albeit tenuous) connections between the owners of the company George worked for and the FBI, speculating that pressure was brought to bear on George via those connections to verify that the Oswald’s had rented from him.
 
George and Clydie Gray
Let’s start by stating that only George was Interviewed by the FBI and he spoke for himself and his wife. He was the only person interviewed in the neighborhood who claimed to recall the Oswald’s at all.
 
Members of the Gray family were interviewed however by Ed Ledoux during that same 2007 investigation previously mentioned.  Included in the interviews was Minnie Williams who was living with George and Clydie at the 214 W. Neely address. Like Clydie, she was ignored by the FBI. By 2007, George was deceased and Clydie initially was too sick for a lengthy interview.  Like Marina, Minnie had a toddler, and this gave her and Marina something in common to chat about. According to Minnie, Marina spoke unbroken English in those conversations. She also told Ledoux that she never heard either Marina or Lee speak Russian. Here I should note that George Gray reportedly told the FBI that Marina spoke no English – but then the report also states that neither he nor his wife had any contact with her due to both working, so it is hard to imagine how they would know. In any event, Clydie was reinterviewed by Ed and she confirmed the English conversations between Marina and Minnie (though she may have simply been taking Minnie's word for it). She was also able to confirm that there were many loud arguments coming from the top apartment. 
 
Other neighbors
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Friddle reported that they did not know Oswald and that a young man, his wife and two small children resided at the upstairs apartment for a very short time around April and May of 1963.  The other neighbors had not lived in the area at the time in question. Note that the document linked to here also states that M. Waldo George believed that George Gray worked for Dallas Power and Light, but that the FBI looked for him at Davey Tree Expert Company where they were advised he had left the company on July 1. Ed Ledoux also reported some confusion about the employment background of George Gray from his own family members.
 
MJ Fish of Dallas Power & Light
The handwritten notation made by Fish in the file that “reflected that on March 29, 1963, 214 W Neely was occupied by Lee Harvey Oswald” is belied by the fact that the meter reader reported on April 19 that the apartment was occupied. This information prompted the company to write not to “Lee Harvey Oswald”, but to “the occupant” on April 24. There is no explanation given for the notation, nor any information about the source. Any question about the ability of a meter reader to see if the upstairs apartment was vacant was answered by James Jackson, a previous tenant tied to the American Bakeries pay-slip, who was also tracked down and interviewed by Ledoux and specifically asked about this issue. Jackson replied that there was a stairway on the outside which connected to the second-floor balcony. Lastly, Oswald’s electricity account was continued at the previous Elsbeth address until being cut on April 23 – the day prior to his move to New Orleans!
 
The Name Plate
If the mail box had a name plate showing that Mr. and Mrs. Oswald lived at the address as at March 14, why was it reported by the meter reader on March 20 that the premises were empty? Why in fact, would Oswald be advertising his whereabouts only a few months after being hounded by the authorities over receiving communist literature from overseas? Other questions would be where did he get it, and what became of it? The name plate looks a lot like backstopping from this distance.
 
The American Bakery pay-slip
The issues with this are too numerous and complex to go into here. For complete information, see here, here & here. The bottom line is that this alleged pocket litter appears to be more planted backstopping connecting Oswald to the Address.
 
The walker Letter
The so-called Walker letter was found in a cook-book missed in two searches of the Paine residence and handed in to Irving Police by Ruth Paine in early December. The police in turned handed it (and a child care book Ruth had also found) over to the Secret Service who still had Marina in “protective custody”.  
 
In 2010, I had a Russian speaker from one of the Baltic states compare the Walker letter to letters written by Oswald whilst living in Minsk.
 
His preliminary advice was that the Walker letter was definitely written by a non-Russian while the Minsk letters had few elements showing that the author was non-Russian. He concluded that they were not authored by the same person.
 
He went further and gave a direct translation for part of the Walker letter and rewrote it in Russian as it should have looked:

Direct translation:  "This is key mailbox main post office located city, on ERVAY street same street where is drugstore where you always stood. 4 blocks from drugstore this street to main post office there you'll find our mailbox. I did pay for mailbox last month, so you are not emoting about it."

How it looked in Russian: “Эта клуч почтовый ящику почтам главнем, находиться городу, на улице ERVAY тот же улице где апека где ты всегда стояла. 4 блоков от апека на эту улицу к почтаму там наидёш наш ящику. Я платил за ящику прошем месяце, так ты не переживаеш об этом.”

How it should have looked in Russian with corrections highlighted: “Это ключ к почтовому ящику в главном почтамте, который находится в городе, на улице ERVAY - та же улица, где аптека, где ты всегда ждала. 4 кварталов от аптеки на той жеулице к почтамту ты найдешь наш ящик. Я заплатил за ящик в прошлом месяце, так что не волнуйся об этом.”
 
He repeated this process with other parts of the letter, with similar results.
 
He then did the same analysis with a letter written in Minsk on October 22, 1961.

The translator noted here “minor mistakes and 2 wrong choices of words or expressions (author uses word closer to `chatting` rather than `talking`, and he says something like `I don't like your chatting that you are anticipating of losing me`, instead of `I don't like your talking that you have feeling of losing me`, what he obviously was trying to say. Another thing is use of commas. I have feeling this author uses commas more correctly than author or Walker note - most commas are missing in Walker note, and only few in this chapter.”
 
Slightly better results again were found for a letter dated October 18, 1963. At this point I also asked for an analysis of Ruth Paine’s written Russian which was found to be almost perfect, with the only negative being a slight stylistic clumsiness.

Since I do not believe Oswald's ability in the Russian language diminished to any degree, and since I do not believe the evidence supports that Oswald took any kind of pot-shot at Walker, I must conclude that someone else wrote the so-called Walker note and tried to imitate what they thought was Oswald's level of ability.

And since Ruth Paine thought Oswald's level of ability was not that high...

Senator COOPER - Yet he was intelligent enough that he had learned to speak Russian. 
Mrs. PAINE - His Russian was poor. His vocabulary was large, his grammar never was good.

…despite the more expert opinion of Peter Gregory... (“I gave him a short test by simply opening a book at random and asking him to read a paragraph or two and then translate it. He did it very well. So I gave him a letter addressed to whom it may concern that in my opinion he was capable of being an interpreter or a translator.”) I would have to conclude Ruth Paine is a likely candidate as the author.
 
Water & Gas
The FBI notes that water and gas had been connected in Oswald’s name, but no documentary evidence is supplied, and no names given for those allegedly interviewed at those utility companies.  Yet we do get at least one name of an employee interviewed at the power company where Oswald had not connected.
 
This leads to a realistic suspicion that the FBI was keen to document his connection of gas and water for the sole purpose of matching up with what was written in the Walker letter.
 
The Backyard Photos
Marina, as she did in most instances, initially told the truth – in this case, that she only took one photo and that it was with a camera held up to the face. This photo was described by Marguerite Oswald in her testimony

Now, gentlemen, this is some very important facts.

My daughter-in-law spoke to Mrs. Paine in Russian, "Mamma." she says. So she takes me into the bedroom and closes the door. She said, "Mamma, I show you." She opened the closet, and in the closet was a lot of books and papers. And she came out with a picture a picture of Lee, with a gun. 

It said, "To my daughter June"-written in English.  I said, "Oh, Marina, police." I didn't think anything of the picture. 

Now, you must understand that I don't know what is going on on television--I came from the jailhouse and everything, so I don't know all the circumstances, what evidence they had against my son by this time. I had no way of knowing. But I say to my daughter, "To my daughter. June." anybody can own a rifle, to go hunting. You yourself probably have a rifle. So I am not connecting this with the assassination--"To my daughter, June." Because I would immediately say, and I remember--I think my son is all agent all the time no one is going to be foolish enough if they mean to assassinate the President, or even murder someone to take a picture of themselves with that rifle, and leave that there for evidence. 

So, I didn't think a thing about it. And it says "To my daughter, June." I said, "The police," meaning that if the police got that, they would use that against my son, which would be a natural way to think. 


She says, "You take, Mamma."
 
Marguerite goes on to describe how Marina destroyed the photo the following day. The inscription and pose of Oswald tells us more about this photo. It was most likely taken soon after the February 15, 1962 birth of June in Minsk and shows Oswald holding his shotgun aloft in apparent joy and triumph. When Marina was first interviewed by the FBI about the Backyard Photos, she confirmed they were taken at the W. Neely St address and gave the time-frame of late February or early March. The time-frame I believe is accurate if we take it back a year and relocate to Minsk. Marina confirmed her FBI statements to the Warren Commission. However, after giving that WC testimony, she was re-interviewed by the FBI and changed the time-frame to late March. This new timeframe now conveniently and happily conformed to the date of arrival of the weapons seen in the photos.  Marina was never cross-examined about Marguerite’s testimony on the single destroyed photo (which did not contain a pistol or any newspapers).
 
It may be noteworthy as well, that Ruth Paine was there and involved in some of the conversation between Marguerite and Marina regarding the photo inscribed to June. Did knowledge of this photo serve as the inspiration to fake a series of photos far more damning than this one was? The photos were not found until the day after this conversation took place.
 
Photos of Junie on the Balcony
Again, I refer to the interviews done by Ed Ledoux. Ed sent the “Baby June” photos to James Jackson who in turn showed them to his daughter, Patricia. Patricia believed that the photos were of her.  If that was not the case, we are left with them being genuine photos of June on the Neely St apartment balcony.
 
My conclusion from all of this is that either 
 
a.      The Oswald’s did not live at the W. Neely St address. The real occupants were a young English speaking couple with two very young children. The male was employed and was not friendly. This couple had numerous loud arguments. The timing and description fits Larry and Wilma Crafard.  Crafard was less than two years younger than Oswald and his exit papers from the Army listed him as 5’ 8” and 149 pounds. In this version of events we would have to embrace the Friddle’s statements to the FBI.
 
b.      Oswald, for reasons unknown, did rent the apartment, but for his wife and daughter only. The electricity account from the Elsbeth address supports the possibility that he remained there until leaving for New Orleans. This would not preclude Lee going to the apartment and being seen on occasion going in and out and nor would it preclude the loud arguments described by the Grays. In this version, we would have to discount the Friddle statements and accept that Marina spoke far better English than she ever let on.  This version also allows that Marina did write to Ruth Paine advising she had moved to this address, and that subsequently, Ruth did visit and pick Marina up on two occasions as follows:

March 12, 1963: Ruth Paine visits Marina at the new apartment. Also on that day, Oswald allegedly orders a rifle from Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago under the name A. Hidell. 

March 20, 1963: Ruth Paine makes her second trip to visit Marina at the Neely St address. Also on that day, the rifle and the revolver are said to be shipped.
 
Crafard Returns to Dallas early Oct 1963
In early October – on or about the same day we find Oswald returning to Dallas, Larry is driven into town by a friend he named in testimony as Mickey Corday who he claimed to have met at fairgrounds in Dallas or Memphis.
 
Once again, no attempt was made by the WC or the FBI to find Corday, so who was he?
 
Mr. CRAFARD. I traveled to Dallas, Tex. 
Mr. HUBERT. How did you travel? 
Mr. CRAFARD. With a friend of mine, Mickey Spillane. 
Mr. HUBERT. Mickey who? 
Mr. CRARARD. Mickey Corday. 
Mr. HUBERT. How do you spell the last name? 
Mr. CRAFARD. C-o-r-d-a-y. 
Mr. HUBERT. How did you travel? 
Mr. CRAFARD. Traveled down in his car. 
Mr. HUBERT. Where is he from, do you know?
Mr. CRAFARD. I don't know where his home is. 
Mr. HUBERT. Did you know him prior to this time? 
Mr. CRAFARD. I had seen him prior to this time and heard of him prior to this time. 
Mr. HUBERT. I mean it wasn't a hitchhike? 
Mr. CRAFARD. No, sir; I met him at the fairgrounds in Dallas, Tex., or in Memphis. 
 
In my own efforts to identify “Mickey Corday” I drew a total blank. Knowing however that so many names in the records are misspelled, I tried slight variations on both names and eventually found a “Michael Cordray”.  In 1964, Cordray was a staff sergeant at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth and specialized in B52s and radar systems. Recall that the US air force had used B52s in the sonic boom tests conducted in Nevada 3 years earlier and in which Crafard had been involved.  
 

 
Note that Crafard initially referred to Mickey Corday/Cordray as “Mickey Spillane”. Spillane was the author of detective novels with gangsters as usual villains but also with occasional forays into Communist bad guys. Just as interesting and relevant, he had been in the Army Air Corps as a fighter pilot, so on all counts, it would be no surprise that Crafard would give Cordray the nickname of “Mickey Spillane”.  
 
Bottom line: Neither Crafard nor the Neely St apartment are what we have been told, and history will one day catch up and confirm this.

Excellent post, Greg!  I stumbled on this forum because I read Mr. Crafard's exhaustive WC testimony last night.  Some of the "fringe" players in the assassination are the most interesting and, oftentimes, the most overlooked.  It was refreshing to read such an informative dissertation.  I searched (in vain) for any recent interviews with Crafard so thanks for the "Creating a Patsy" article with the 2001 conversations.

I got the impression that the guy was feigning his ignorance in his testimony.  The following, albeit quite humorous, just doesn't seem to fit his rather literate way of speaking at other times:

"Mr. HUBERT. I am asking you whether she was pregnant when she left you in December of 1962, because you have just told us that the child was born in March of 1963.
Mr. CRAFARD. I will put it this way. When the doctor was informed she had a child, her doctor was then informed she had a child, he was very shocked and surprised that she had had a child, and she was his patient in May of 1962. He operated on her in May of 1962. So in other words, there is some doubt as to the fact that the child was mine and actually there is a little doubt as to the child is actually hers."- Larry Crafard.  WC 4/8/1964

Hugh Jorgan wrote:Excellent post, Greg!  I stumbled on this forum because I read Mr. Crafard's exhaustive WC testimony last night.  Some of the "fringe" players in the assassination are the most interesting and, oftentimes, the most overlooked.  It was refreshing to read such an informative dissertation.  I searched (in vain) for any recent interviews with Crafard so thanks for the "Creating a Patsy" article with the 2001 conversations.

I got the impression that the guy was feigning his ignorance in his testimony.  The following, albeit quite humorous, just doesn't seem to fit his rather literate way of speaking at other times:

"Mr. HUBERT. I am asking you whether she was pregnant when she left you in December of 1962, because you have just told us that the child was born in March of 1963.
Mr. CRAFARD. I will put it this way. When the doctor was informed she had a child, her doctor was then informed she had a child, he was very shocked and surprised that she had had a child, and she was his patient in May of 1962. He operated on her in May of 1962. So in other words, there is some doubt as to the fact that the child was mine and actually there is a little doubt as to the child is actually hers."- Larry Crafard.  WC 4/8/1964

Thanks Hugh. 

Larry was quite the character, and I agree, his memory lapses were all on the things that struck me as the most likely to yield some nuggets. 

I noticed that bit of testimony but it hurt my brain trying to get my mind around it.

Welcome to the forum.