Mr. JENNER. That would express that opinion?
Mr. POWERS. Well, in Japan or something, possibly in the barracks, I
recall, or like in Biloxi, he had some scuffles. I said he was coming
out of his shell, and showing more aggressiveness, but I wouldn't say
that this guy is a trouble maker. I would say that the opinion of him
would be that you couldn't depend on him in a situation, that you could
give him the responsibility, but then you couldn't really say that he
would accept it, but you could be sure with other individuals; you
knew that they would accept it, but I don't think that he did this
only because he wasn't sure of himself. I think if you did give him
authority and he realized what the position of authority was that he
would accept it and he would probably pride himself in it.
Mr. JENNER. But at least during this period of time, he hadn't reached
the stage of dependability that you men of higher rank would rely on?
Mr. POWERS. Well, I wasn't in a position to delegate authority to him,
but again, as I say, this is a personal opinion.
Mr. JENNER. Did--in any conversation that you had with him, or any
conversations in your presence which he wasn't present in, was there
anything mentioned about his being in Chicago?
Mr. POWERS. No.
Mr. JENNER. Or Milwaukee?
Mr. POWERS. I cannot say; I don't recall.
Mr. JENNER. Or did he ever mention somebody by the name of Ruby, Jack
Ruby or Rubenstein, Jack Rubenstein?
Mr. POWERS. No, sir; not to the best of my knowledge. I never heard
that name associated with him.
Mr. JENNER. Even when he was in Japan, did he tend to stay to himself
by and large?
Mr. POWERS. I would say yes. I think that he did. Again I couldn't be
sure because he was in a different crew, and they would be on liberty
at a different time.
Mr. JENNER. Do you ever recall him being intoxicated?
Mr. POWERS. Not distinctly; no. It seems to me that here again it's
just a picture in my mind, that he would come in the barracks feeling
good, and acting silly; so whether you would associate intoxication
with it----
Mr. JENNER. Did he ever get into any fights while you were over in
Japan?
Mr. POWERS. Oh, he probably did; probably no more than any other
individual in close relationship with the people that you are there
with.
Mr. JENNER. Did he ever talk about Gen. Robert E. Lee or any possible
relationship that he may have had in the distant past or association by
name or----
Mr. POWERS. It seems to me that there was--he was quite proud of Lee
Harvey Oswald. There was some relationship there in the Civil War type
of thing. I'm not sure what it was.
Mr. JENNER. During your period of association with him and knowledge of
him, did he have a reputation of being an odd-ball of any kind?
Mr. POWERS. Well, I think the term is loosely taken.
Mr. JENNER. Yes.
Mr. POWERS. Odd-ball, which is attributed to his characteristics that
he did have.
Mr. JENNER. There might have been a lot of odd-balls in the Marines.
Mr. POWERS. There are a lot of odd-balls in the Marines; let's say
there are a lot of odd-balls everywhere.
Mr. JENNER. But nothing occurred that would lead you to describe him as
an odd-ball?
Mr. POWERS. Well, he was different. You could use it--what an odd-ball
means to you and what an odd-ball means to myself and to everyone, it's
different.
Mr. JENNER. Well, I'm trying to go along with you; he was different.
Mr. POWERS. He was a different individual, I would say, than the
normal personality that you would see in the Marine Corps because he
was--which I previously stated, I think--he was a quiet--if you want
to call it--a reserved individual that had feminine characteristics,
that to me, he was shy, so to speak, and a lot of times you felt sorry
because the rest of the guys were most of the time picking on him; this
goes back to the Ozzie Rabbit incident.
And he was somewhat the frail, little puppy in the litter. At least,
this was the opinion I think they got from him, and maybe he fell
right into this image all along through the Marine Corps; maybe it
just followed him. And maybe--physically, like I say, he was not an
impressive specimen, at that time he wasn't, that the Marine Corps
tries to portray is one of the big-type individualists, and he didn't
fall into that, and consequently he was an oddball from the Marine
Corps' own definition of what a Marine is supposed to--ideally supposed
to be.
Mr. JENNER. Was he argumentatively inclined?
Mr. POWERS. Somewhat. I wouldn't say he was--he just took the opposite
side of the argument, but I think that he was possibly more intelligent
than most of the individuals that were in the Marine Corps--well, I
wouldn't say possibly; I would say he appeared to be more intelligent
than most of them.
Mr. JENNER. Are you drawing the distinction between when you say
"intelligence," education and the development of intelligence?
Mr. POWERS. Let's say his capacity, and he appeared to be better
developed, even not knowing what his educational background was at the
time. At least, his diction and his knowledge of different subjects
appeared to be more advanced than some of the other people in the group
or in the groups that he was in.
Mr. JENNER. Do you think there might have been any resentment on that
account?
Mr. POWERS. There may have been, I suppose, the frail--maybe he
portrayed that image--frail, know-it-all, studious type of person. And,
of course, some of the individuals--this is maybe why they were in the
Marine Corps, to get away from the type of individual or scholastic
problems or school.
Mr. JENNER. Do you have any impression as to what kind of a marksman he
was?
Mr. POWERS. I don't know; he was not in my platoon. At least, I don't
think he was. I don't have any conscious recollection of him there, but
all marines train to shoot the rifle proficiently, and the pistol and
the Browning automatic rifle.
Mr. JENNER. Was there any scuttlebutt that he was an officer hater?
Mr. POWERS. No.
Mr. JENNER. Did he evidence, as far as you recall, any impatience with
people who appeared not to have the command of any particular subject
that he had?
Mr. POWERS. I don't know; maybe not more so than anything else. He had
the patience to teach me chess, but then again, you would sit there
and pondering a move or something, and he, as I recall now, he would
say "Come on; let's get going." And he seemed to be an individual that
was--wanted to keep things moving at quite a rapid pace.
Mr. JENNER. Did you have any impression that he had a tendency--maybe I
asked you this--to keep by himself?
Mr. POWERS. For himself to keep by himself?
Mr. JENNER. To keep by himself.
Mr. POWERS. I don't know. I don't think I can truthfully answer that
because----
Mr. JENNER. You don't think you had enough contact with him in Japan
because he was not a member of your platoon?
Mr. POWERS. That's correct.
Mr. JENNER. In an FBI interview, did you express the opinion that he
was resentful of authority? Do you still hold that view?
Mr. POWERS. He probably was not resentful to authority; he was
resentful of the position of authority that he could not command, not
of the authority itself, I believe.
Mr. JENNER. I see.
Mr. POWERS. It didn't make a difference who was administering--rather
what the authority was, it was probably the individual administering it
probably.
Mr. JENNER. Do you remember a marine by the name of Delgado?
Mr. POWERS. I can't say that I do; no, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Thornley?
Mr. POWERS. No, sir.
Mr. JENNER. You mentioned Murphy.
Mr. POWERS. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. What was Murphy's first name, do you recall?
Mr. POWERS. Jim Murphy. I don't think that was it either; I'm not sure.