PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION
ON THE ASSASSINATION OF
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY
STATE OF FLORIDA,
_County of Hillsborough, ss_:
I, George B. Church, Jr., 2427 Sunset Drive, Tampa 9, Florida, being
duly sworn say:
1. I am a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army and
am now a Junior High School teacher in Tampa. I am attending the
University of Florida this summer.
2. My wife and I travelled to Europe on the S.S. Marion Lykes which
departed New Orleans, Louisiana for LeHavre, France, on or about
September 20, 1959. This vessel was a freighter with accommodations for
12 passengers assigned two to a room. On this particular trip, there
were but four passengers aboard. One of them was Lee Harvey Oswald, who
shared a state room with an individual named Billy Joe Lord. The trip
from New Orleans, Louisiana, terminated at LeHavre, France. The entire
trip was approximately 16 days.
3. Before this trip, I had never before seen nor heard of Lee Harvey
Oswald.
4. All of the passengers ate at one table; however, Lee Harvey Oswald
missed quite a few meals because he was seasick much of the time.
Furthermore, there was no fixed schedule for meals. When we did have
meals with Oswald, he sat cater-cornered from me. However, Oswald was
rather withdrawn, and thus I did not converse with him a great deal.
Oswald did state during our discussion of our destinations, that he was
going to attend a university in Switzerland. Oswald did not give the
name of the university and did not indicate that he had a clear cut
schedule as to his course of study.
5. I recall having discussed with Oswald the Depression of the 1930's.
Oswald appeared quite bitter as to the hard time his mother had
suffered during this period. I tried to point out to Oswald that I
had lived through and survived the Depression and that millions of
people in the United States also had suffered during those years. This,
however, made no impression on Oswald.
6. Oswald spent much of the time by himself. He did not participate in
any of the social activities, nor in any conversation. He did mention
his service in the Marine Corps, and he stated that he did not like
the military service. Generally Oswald was not friendly, and he did
not make much of an impression on me since I was not particularly
interested in him.
7. The ship had a receiver in the ward room which was off and on during
the voyage. I did listen to it occasionally, and I did understand
German. I do not know if Oswald listened to the receiver or not, and I
have no idea as to his knowledge of any foreign language.