Palmer McBride’s Substantiation
On page 136 you read the story of Palmer McBride and his close
New Orleans friendship with Lee Harvey Oswald, who turned
out to be “Harvey.” Here Palmer writes to a critic using only the
name of “Oswald,” apparently to emphasize the name of the only one he
knew and to avoid the debate of the two that certainly had become obvious
to him—thanks to John Armstrong’s information passed on to himby
that time. When Armstrong spoke at the November 1997 “JFK Lancers”
annualmeeting, he brought along Palmer and others who had known Lee
and Harvey in their youth to tell their stories.
This 1999 letter by Mr. McBride was written to David Lifton, who is
mentioned earlier as the author of the 1980 national bestseller Best Evidence.
It contained the startling new proof of the autopsy tampering at
Bethesda Naval Hospital on the night of November 22 and the morning
of November 23, 1963. David Lifton is considered an expert in his field,
but he lost his “home field advantage” when he stepped outside his bailiwick
and challenged the memory of Harvey’s best friend in school.
Lifton had suggestively accused McBride of deception and at the very
least being terribly mistaken because the Marine records plainly showed
that Lee Harvey Oswald had joined the Marines in 1956, which made it
impossible for him to have been working at the Psisterer Dental Lab with
Palmer McBride in 1957-58. Of course, what Lifton knew to be true was
true, as he had observed the Marine records of Lee, but Palmer McBride
knew Harvey and carried for his whole life a very particular and immovable
touchstone ofmemory ofmonth and year—that of the Russian space satellite,
Sputnik.
The details in the letter that follows are self-explanatory, but the bigger
picture here shows one more piece of unintentional and unplanned eggon-
the-face evidence of how even those “great experts” that thought they
knew the case continue to be fooled by false government evidence 35 years
after the fact. As far as we know, David Lifton never apologized to Palmer
McBride nor has he ever admitted to the fact that there undoubtedly were
two lookalike “Lee Harvey Oswalds” running around the American South
in 1962-63.
“When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either
cease beingmistaken or cease being honest—and far too often it is the latter.”
(If that sounds familiar, it is only because it is so applicable in today’s
society and, in particular, within this 50-year distortion of history that it
THE UNCENSORED STORY OF THE TWO OSWALDS | 151
Photo of Palmer McBride.
is so comfortable for so many to repeat.)
Palmer McBride passed away in April of 2013. His body was decrepit
but his mind was still intact to the end. His story never changed because
he knew the truth of his own life’s experiences.
What follows here is McBride’s letter to Lifton:
* * *
March 10, 1999
Mr. David Lifton
11500 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Dear Mr. Lifton,
Enclosed is a letter you wrote to the ARRB on September 4, 1998. In
that letter you state that “McBride erred by a year, and said he knew Oswald.
In 1957 (and 1958), rather than the Spring of 1956.“ You are just
plain wrong and for unknown reasons you are unwilling to accept mine
and other people’s statements that they worked with Oswald at Pfisterers
in 1957-1958, instead of 1956.
When you spoke with the current Pfisterer president, Linda Faircloth,
she told you Oswald worked at Pfisterers in 1957 and 1958. You immediately
told her she was wrong and began to browbeat her until she finally
hung up on you.
When you interviewed me you already knew that I told the FBI I
worked with Oswald in 1957 and 1958. You handedme Oswald’sMarine
records which showed Oswald was in Japan in 1957 and 1958. You then
insisted that I must have known Oswald in 1956—before he went in the
Marines. You insisted again and again that Oswald was in Japan in 1957
and 1958 and that my FBI statement was wrong. In order to bring the interview
to a close, I reluctantly said that perhaps I wasmistaken in view of
the Marine records you presented. I agreed to give you an interview because
I thought you were interested in what I told the FBI in 1963. I had
no idea that your real intention was to insist that I knew Oswald in 1956
and use this interview to support your viewpoint.
152 | THE UNCENSORED STORY OF THE TWO OSWALDS
After you left I began to re-think the years that I worked with Oswald.
I worked withOswald every day for over sixmonths, visited his apartment,
played records with him at my house, went to the movies together, to
lunch, on double dates etc., etc. My first memory of Oswald was pegged
to Sputnik (Russian space successes) and no one in America knew the
word “Sputnik” until October 4, 1957. There were no (known) Russian
space successes of any kind prior to that date.
After Sputnik was launched is when Oswald and I discussed Eisenhower’s
failure to support the U.S. space program, even though the armed
forces of the U.S. feared that Russian rocket launchers gave them superiority
over the U.S. Because of these dates, I know with absolute certainty
that I worked withOswald during late 1957 and approximately sixmonths
in 1958. I quit Pfisterers in August 1958 and clearly remember thatOswald
quit about a month before I quit. I do not understand why you keep insisting
that I knew Oswald in 1956, but I do know you are wrong. In addition
to the statement I gave the FBI on November 23, 1963, I would like
to inform you of the following people and their statements. I challenge
you to address and explain the following:
• How I could have spoken to Oswald about “Russian space successes”
in 1956 (there were none until October 4, 1957).
• I visited theOswalds apartment at the Hotel Senator (across the street
from Pfisterers—an address which was unknown to theWarren Commission).
The Warren Commission says Oswald was living at 126 Exchange
Place when he was working at Pfisterers. But in order to get to Exchange
Place you must walk west from the Pfisterer Dental Lab (225 Dauphine
St.) to Canal Street, turn south and walk past Bourbon Street, Royal Street,
and then to Exchange Place. You then turn left and walk a block east to 126
Exchange (Oswald’s apartment). Oswald and I walked across the street
(less than 30 feet) to his apartment at the Hotel Senator (where he showed
me Das Kapital) and not several blocks to 126 Exchange Place.
I told the FBI that I had taken Oswald with me to a meeting of the
NOAAA1 at the home of Walter Gehrke. Walter subsequently told the FBI
THE UNCENSORED STORY OF THE TWO OSWALDS | 153
1 The NOAAA was a local chapter of the New Orleans Civil Air Patrol.—Ed.
that none of themeetings of the NOAAA were held at his house until 1958
(Walter was not even a member of the NOAAA in 1956, so we could not
have held a meeting at his house in 1956!)
My good friend and fellow NOAAA member Harry Vance took my
place at Pfisterers for one day in 1958 and met Oswald at that time.
Linda Faircloth, current president of Pfisterers, spoke to the owners of
Pfisterers (Leveque, Cagel, Bischoff and Kline) in 1984. They told her Oswald
had worked there in 1957 and 1958. She also told you Oswald
worked at Pfisterers in 1957 and 1958.
Paul Fiorello, whose first job was at Pfisterers, and began work in February,
1956, remembered Oswald began work at Pfisterers “a couple of
years after he started”—circa 1958.
William Wulf testified before the Warren Commission. The Warren
Commission attorney asked Wulf about knowing Oswald in 1954-55 at
the NOAAA. These dates are just plain silly!!Wulf was not even amember
of the NOAAA at that time.Wulf, when interviewed in 1995, stated he definitelymet
Oswald in early 1958.Wulf remembered he was sick the entire
1956-57 school year. He re-entered school in the fall of 1957 and met
Oswald shortly after Christmas of 1957.
I encourage you to interview the above witnesses and obtain their statements.
I then look forward to your comments. lf you ignore all of these
people and my November 23, 1963 FBI statement (WC #1386), then you
are simply not interested in the truth and I am sorry for you. I was there
in 1957 and 1958 and you weren’t.
lf you or anyone have any questions or want to discuss this further,
please contact me.
Sincerely,
Palmer McBride
8741 Lehigh
Sun Valley, CA 93152
818-XXX-XXXX
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