Mr. Dulles. Mr. Rankin, do we have correspondence while he was in the Marines?
Mr. Rankin. Mrs. Oswald, do you recall any letters you received from your son during the time he was in the Marines?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, sir. I have a special delivery letter. You see, gentlemen, that is why I have tried to explain to you before—if I could have gone from the story we would not all be so mixed up. This is a letter from the Marines saying he is going to contact the Red Cross—when I told him about my illness.
Mr. Rankin. Well, that is the correspondence in regard to his getting out of the Marines because of your need of his help and support.
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, that is right.
Mr. Rankin. Now, except for that correspondence, you don't have any other correspondence from him while he was in the Marines?
Mrs. Oswald. Yes, sir, I did have several letters.
What has happened, Mr. Rankin—when Lee stayed with me the 3 days, he left his seabag with me. And that is why I have his discharge papers and things. And then, as you know, when the defection broke, I had no place to go. So the lady I was working for even threatened to call the police, because of the defection. I was working for $5 a week, gentlemen, taking care of her son. But I was happy to have a home and food, because I had had this accident, and I could rest. But my salary was $5 for the whole week. But when the news broke, she didn't want to be involved with anyone who had a son as a defector, so she asked me to leave. It was a very cold winter night. And I said I would.
But I didn't want to leave—didn't have any place to go.
She said, "You will leave now or I will call the police."