The testimony of John E. Donovan was taken at 10:30 a.m., on May 5,
1964, at 200 Maryland Avenue NE., Washington, D.C., by Mr. John Hart
Ely, member of the staff of the President's Commission. Richard M.
Mosk, also a member of the staff, was present.
Mr. ELY. Would you stand, please?
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. DONOVAN. I do.
Mr. ELY. Please be seated. My name is John Ely.
The gentleman directly to my right is Richard Mosk. We are both members
of the staff of the President's Commission on the Assassination
of President Kennedy, which was appointed by President Johnson to
investigate all the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of
President Kennedy.
The rules of the Commission require that I give to you a copy of the
Executive Order No. 11130, which is the President's order creating this
Commission, a copy of the Joint Resolution of Congress, and a copy of
the Commission's rules which relate to the questioning of witnesses.
Is it correct to say that I have given you a copy of each of these
documents?
Mr. DONOVAN. You gave them to me, and I gave them a cursory reading.
Mr. ELY. Would you state your full name, please?
Mr. DONOVAN. John E. Donovan.
Mr. ELY. And where do you live?
Mr. DONOVAN. 2009 Belmont Road, NW., Washington, D.C.
Mr. ELY. What is your occupation?
Mr. DONOVAN. I teach school at Ascension Academy, Alexandria, Va.
Mr. ELY. And prior to teaching at Ascension Academy, what did you do?
Mr. DONOVAN. I attended medical school last year at Georgetown
University.
Mr. ELY. You did not, however, get a medical degree?
Mr. DONOVAN. That is correct.
Mr. ELY. Previous to attending medical school, what did you do?
Mr. DONOVAN. I attended the University of Dayton; Dayton, Ohio.
Mr. ELY. This is after you got out of the Marine Corps?
Mr. DONOVAN. Yes. Eight months prior to that, I worked for a bank in
Boston, Mass. Prior to that, I was employed by the U.S. Marine Corps.
Mr. ELY. For how long?
Mr. DONOVAN. Three years and 3 months, I think.
Mr. ELY. And what was the rank at which you were discharged?
Mr. DONOVAN. First lieutenant.
Mr. ELY. You had had higher education before you entered the Marine
Corps?
Mr. DONOVAN. Prior to the Marine Corps I completed Georgetown
University School of Foreign Service in 1956.
Mr. ELY. And you received a bachelor of arts degree?
Mr. DONOVAN. A bachelor of science, foreign service.
Mr. ELY. As you undoubtedly know, Mr. Donovan, we have called you here
because we think that you might be able to tell us something about the
background of Lee Harvey Oswald, whom I believe you knew when you were
both members of the Marine Corps.
Why don't you, in your own words, outline your contact with Oswald, and
I will interrupt with questions.
Mr. DONOVAN. In the spring of 1959, I returned from a tour in Japan. I
was assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron 9 in Santa Ana, Calif.
Mr. ELY. Excuse me. There is something in these service records that
confuses me. Is the installation at Santa Ana separate from the one at
El Toro?
Mr. DONOVAN. It comes under the command of El Toro, but it is, I
believe, 5 miles removed.
El Toro is a jet type base. Santa Ana is still known by the title of
"LTA" which stands for lighter than air, which stems from the fact that
in World War II it was a blimp base. It is now a helicopter base and a
radar base.
In that spring, I was the assistant operations officer and the training
officer at Marine Air Control Squadron 9, and it is there that I came
into contact with Oswald.
Mr. ELY. What was your rank at this time?
Mr. DONOVAN. First lieutenant.
Our function at that base was to surveil for aircraft, but basically to
train both enlisted and officers for later assignment overseas. Some
of my fellow officers there had served with Oswald in Japan, and as
all ranks, from generals to privates probably do, they discussed their
contemporaries and how to get along with them.
I was informed that Oswald was very competent, but a little bit nuts on
foreign affairs.
Mr. ELY. Who told you this?
Mr. DONOVAN. Bill Trail--William Kenneth Trail is his name--had
served with him in Japan, and was around when Oswald underwent some
court-martial proceedings, but I don't recall what they were. I don't
know if my memory has been refreshed by the newspaper or if I actually
knew then. I don't believe I recall. At any rate, Oswald served on my
crew there, served on a lot of crews, but basically mine.
Mr. ELY. Let me interrupt a moment to define a little more closely the
relationship between you and Oswald.
Would it be a fair characterization to say that you were his commanding
officer?
Mr. DONOVAN. No; that is not correct. The commanding officer was a
lieutenant colonel. Oswald served on a crew, a radar crew, and on that
crew I was the officer in command.
Mr. ELY. I understand. How many men were on the crew?
Mr. DONOVAN. I believe that there were always about three officers and
about seven enlisted men. It varied from time to time. We were supposed
to have 12 enlisted men, but we were seldom up to strength.
Mr. ELY. So Oswald would have been one of the six or seven enlisted men
with whom you were in closest contact?
Mr. DONOVAN. Correct. I served with him on a 4-hour watch once a
day, usually five days a week--sometimes that was the morning watch,
sometimes the afternoon, and sometimes it was a rather extensive night
watch.
During night watch, you had to stay up until all aircraft were in.
Often this was quite boring. And this is when I had the most occasion
to talk to him.
Mr. ELY. It amazed me how much you remembered about Oswald in view of
the fact that you were an officer and he was an enlisted man.
Do you think your memory of him is atypical, or would you remember all
the enlisted men in that crew approximately the same?
Mr. DONOVAN. I would remember, I believe, all of them equally well.
Most of them I had served with in Japan.
Mr. ELY. You had not known Oswald in Japan?
Mr. DONOVAN. If I knew him in Japan, I don't remember. They played
football on a team that I coached overseas, which to a degree gives you
a common bond.
Number two, these are not typical marine enlisted. They have a much
higher than average IQ. And they speak well on a given subject they are
interested in--usually women and sports. But it was quite normal in
working with them to talk with them about all subjects.
You were constantly in communication with the center concerning
aircraft, if something was going on you talked to them on the
intercommunication system. And it was quite ordinary to talk to them,
standing at the back of the radar room in off hours.