Mr. Thornley. Right; and that was never necessary to have to butter up that I can ever think of to a superior of any kind in order to get exempted from anything.
Mr. Jenner. Well, do you think Oswald was aware that all he had to be was more tractable to the customs and practices of the Marine Corps in which he was then living and he would not be assigned disagreeable tasks more often than others?
Mr. Thornley. Well, that is hard to say. I don't know whether he was aware of that or not. I am not sure whether he permitted himself to be aware of it. Maybe he was aware of it and maybe he couldn't help. He had compulsions to do these things. Maybe he thought it was worth it and maybe he didn't feel that he was being treated unjustly at all. Maybe he just wanted everybody to think he felt he was being treated unjustly, if you follow me.
Mr. Jenner. I do.
Mr. Thornley. It could have been any of these things. This—I think it would take a good psychiatrist to find out which.
Mr. Jenner. You also used the expression that he strove to maintain the status or milieu in which he had brought himself.
Mr. Thornley. Yes; I think this was possibly so. I think perhaps the feeling of being persecuted was necessary to his self-esteem. This is, I understand, a common thing, and it certainly fits in with everything else I know about him.
Mr. Jenner. Did you have that impression that you have just expressed at the time that you were associated with him in the Marines?
Mr. Thornley. At the time I was associated with him, I didn't have that impression because I was too busy wondering just what it was. I used to—I would see him doing something stupid, maybe a wisecrack to an officer, for example, and I would say, "Well, doesn't the idiot know that if he does that he is going to have to do this" and yet he would resent his punishment.
Mr. Jenner. What would he do afterward?