PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION
ON THE ASSASSINATION OF
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY
STATE OF TEXAS,
_County of Travis, ss_:
I, Billy Joe Lord, being duly sworn say:
1. I am an Airman Third Class in the United States Air Force, and I am
in the 340th Bomb Wing, Combat Defense Squadron at Bergstrom Air Force
Base, Texas. I am 22 years old and my parents live at Midland, Texas.
2. After graduating from Midland High School in 1959, with the
financial assistance of my parents, I made plans to continue my
education in France. During August, 1959, I made an application for a
passport, and on or about September 15, 1959, I departed Midland, Texas
via train for New Orleans, Louisiana, arriving there about September
17, 1959. I spent the next three days touring the city of New Orleans
and making several trips to the ticket office of the Lykes Lines. The
cost of passage aboard the ship S.S. Marion Lykes amounted to slightly
more than $200. I registered and stayed in the LaSalle Hotel on Canal
Street, which was near the city library. I visited the library several
times during this stay in the city. During this period I did not know
Lee Harvey Oswald.
3. On September 20, 1959, I boarded the freighter S.S. Marion Lykes at
New Orleans. Upon boarding the ship, I was shown to my room, and when I
got there, Lee Harvey Oswald was already there and moving in. We were
to share this room. I had never before seen nor heard of Lee Harvey
Oswald. Lee Harvey Oswald and I shared this cabin for the duration of
the trip to France which was fourteen days.
4. In our first conversation, Oswald said that he was recently
discharged from the Marines and that he had worked in some technical
field while in the Marines. He indicated that he was somewhat bitter
about the fact that his mother had to work in a drugstore in Fort
Worth, Texas, and was having a difficult time. He also said that
he would probably return to the United States to work. He gave no
indication of his ultimate destination, although he said he was going
to travel around in Europe and possibly attend school in Switzerland if
he had sufficient funds. Also in this first conversation, we discussed
religion. I do not know why we discussed religion except that possibly
he noticed that I had a bible. Oswald maintained that he could not
see how I could believe in God in view of the fact that science had
disproved the existence of God, and that there was only matter.
5. After the first day, I hardly conversed with Oswald at all. Oswald
was not outgoing and neither was I. We just were not very friendly.
6. Besides Oswald and myself, there were two other passengers aboard
the ship. They were a retired U.S. Army Colonel and his wife, Colonel
and Mrs. George B. Church, Jr. All four of the passengers generally
ate their meals together in the ships officer's mess. Oswald ate most
of his meals with us. I do not recall Colonel Church and his wife
associating very much with Lee Harvey Oswald.
7. I shared a closet with Oswald, but I did not notice anything out
of the ordinary among Oswald's possessions. He did show me either his
military identification card or his passport.
8. Oswald did not indicate that he might defect to Russia. To the
best of my knowledge, Oswald did not receive any correspondence or
communications while aboard the ship, nor did he associate with any
of the ship's crew. Oswald never mentioned any contacts or friends in
Europe.
9. Lee Harvey Oswald appeared to be a normal, healthy individual,
mentally alert, but extremely cynical in his general attitude.
On October 5, 1959, our ship arrived in France, and I disembarked from
the ship. I never saw or heard from him again. It is my recollection
that he departed from the ship subsequent to my departure. I had
written my mother about all the passengers. When Oswald defected, she
sent me a newspaper clipping about it.
10. Oswald spent a great deal of his time during the trip on the deck.
I do not recall him doing any reading. I do recall, however, that there
was a radio speaker which received programs from Europe and that Oswald
and Colonel Church seemed to understand a little bit of the foreign
language that came over on the speaker. I thought it was German, but I
am not sure.
11. I attended the Institute of French Studies at the City of Tours,
Province of Touraine, France, from October, 1959 to February, 1962
intermittently while auditing courses at the University of Poitires,
Tours, France, and at the Sorbonne, University of Paris, France. I
returned to the United States aboard the French ship, Liberty, in June,
1960. I went to France again in February of 1961 for further education,
and returned to the United States in February of 1962.
Signed this 26th day of June 1964.
(S) Billy Joe Lord,
BILLY JOE LORD.