Subject: Houston Post story 11/22/92
From: David Lifton
To: Anne Schupack
Date: Sun Nov 22, 1992 4:37 pm EST

Thought you'd be interested in the following memo:
MEMO TO FILE
FROM:  David Lifton; 11/21/92 5:20 p.m.

Sundays Houston Post is running a story which all students 
of the assassination should know about.  Should it not make 
the wires, here is a brief summary---based on the story as it 
appears in the bulldog (Sat) paper.

When Oswald was arrested, he had on his possession a 
Department of Defense ID card issued to him when he left the 
Marines. It was not the standard reservists card---rather it 
was called a DD Form 1173.  According to a Marine 
spokesperson, the card should only have been issued for one 
of two reasons: injury during active duty, entitling him to 
medical privileges, or (2) because he was a civilian employee 
of DOD overseas needing a military ID.

The card is authentic.  Its serial number ---N 4,271,617---is 
listed in the Folsom Exhibits of the Warren Commission as 
part of his official military discharge (see Vol 19, p.665).  
It is also listed in the FBI report of Manny Clements who 
listed the contents of Oswalds wallet.  (See Warren Report, 
p. 616)

At issue is why this card was issued, and what it means.  The 
defense department told the Houston Post writers---Ray and 
Mary LaFontaine---that if the card had been issued by 
mistake, it would have been revoked immediately upon being 
called to official attention.

Another facet of the story concerns a postmark on the card: 
Oct. 23, 1963  The card states, on the back, If found, drop 
in any mailbox, instructing the postmaster: Return to 
Department of Defense, Washington 25, D.C.  The postmark of 
Oct 23, 1963, suggests that Oswald lost the card, that it was 
returned to DOD, and that it was then returned to him (yes, 
even though he was a returned defector, who had received a 
undesirable discharge from the reserve.  Isnt bureaucracy 
great?)

Another point: the card was not given to the Warren 
Commission (although the picture from the card is the one 
used to make the fake Hidell ID, and that same picture was 
also mislabeled by the FBI, as a photo of Oswald in Minsk.)

The original of the card was turned over to the National 
Archives, in 1966 as FBI item B1-3.   However, it was 
practically destroyed in testing--so much so that the 
Archives cannot make a dupe of it for anyone, because it is 
just a big blotch.  In the FBI denies destroying the 
evidence---but it is in fact useless as evidence.

The released FBI materials do not contain a picture of the 
card. The photo run in the story comes from the archives of 
the Dallas Police Department---who fortunately photographed 
the evidence before turning it over to the FBI.  It will be 
interesting to see whether the Houston Post story is picked 
up and run by any wire service.  I think the existence of 
this card should be known.  

Anyone who wants an original of the story should contact the 
State Desk of the Houston Post.  Also, it wouldnt hurt for 
anyone who has press connections to call their favorite 
journalist---AP or Reuters---to see that this is disseminated 
nationally.  David Lifton