Oswald in the Far East
Those who read – and write – about Lee Oswald’s earliest days, and most specifically about his time in the military, have generally not yet taken advantage of one of the newer and best resources available to them. In that regard, I’m speaking of a book titled “The Missing Chapter” by Jack Swike.
Swike was a Marine Corps officer, stationed at Atsuki Japan shortly after Lee Oswald had been there. Swike’s assignment was in security and counter intelligence. A graduate of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence school, he also worked in that role for the U.S. government following his military service.
Swike’s detailed knowledge of the base and the various activities – several of them highly classified – provides unique insights into why personnel assigned to the base were serous targets for communist intelligence collections. While most discussion of Atsuki and Oswald focuses on the U-2 (which Swike does cover) he notes that a far more serious target, one with immense propaganda value, related to the METO Top Secret facility on the base. That highly restricted area was used to rotate in specialty Marine Corps teams out of the Defense Nuclear Energy’s Sandia Base in Albuquerque.
Those teams were trained in the final assembly of atomic weapon. While assembled atomic weapons were not routinely stored at Atsuki, Marine Corps attack aircraft capable of delivering them were based there, and at least one American ship carrying atomic bomb components was stationed offshore. If the Korean war resumed, Atsuki would have served as a resource to assemble and even deliver atomic bombs in any new conflict.
Given the immense Japanese sensitivity to atomic weapons, any disclosure of such details would have been a huge propaganda opportunity for communists in Japan. While details of the unit were keep totally restricted, as were details about U-2 operations at Atsuki, Swike notes that Marines on the base would have at least known that something highly classified was going on in regard to both, making base personnel highly attractive targets for communist agents and “connected” party girls at both local and Tokyo bars and entertainment centers.
Along that line, Swike presents interviews from Marines acquainted with Oswald who provide some fist hand information into the bar scene and Oswald’s activities at various clubs. Because he worked shifts Oswald had the freedom to visit not only local bars, but places in both Tokyo and Yokohama.
In terms of spending money, the exchange rate at the time was immensely favorable to U.S. money and Swike also found evidence Oswald was not above engaging in at least some minor but profitable black-market sales, even if they only involved items available on base such as American liquor and cigarettes.
All in all, The Missing Chapter provides considerable new information not only on Lee Oswald, but on the environment, he was in at Atsuki during his service there – and I highly recommend it.
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