Frank Camper, in his 1997 book The Mk/Ultra Secret, alleged that Lee Oswald served as a trained sex-spy for the US Marine Corps while stationed at Atsugi Air Force Base (Japan) in the late-1950s. Camper offered as evidence numerous sightings of Oswald in local clubs, too expensive for him to afford, where he would meet the aging widows of wealthy Japanese industrialists and, literally, charm the pants off of them.

Camper also cites Oswald’s medical records for his time at Atsugi, noting in particular a diagnosis made by Capt. Paul Deranian, who in September 1958 determined that Lee had contracted “Urethritis, Acute, due to gonococcus #3033.”

In other words, Oswald had the clap. So what?

Well, sexual activity with unauthorized people was prohibited in the military. One could theoretically be court-martialed for the offense, especially if there’s evidence of hanky panky, such as coming down with VD.

Capt. Deranian also noted that the disease was “In line of duty, not due to own misconduct.” Question: how does anyone get the clap in the line of duty, other than serving as a sex spy?

In an article titled “Oswald & VD: An Intelligence Connection?” Mark Zaid explains that misconduct was determined by whether or not a soldier took himself out of action permanently on purpose or because of gross negligence, according to the Manual of the Judge Advocate General [US Navy]. Because Oswald reported his illness right away, he complied with Manual section 0809, which meant that he was acting in the line of duty.

That the USMC decided not to cite Oswald or any other Marines for misconduct, I can understand. The “In line of duty” explanation, however, is still curious. I mean, why would the Marines put something in a soldier’s file that seems like a commendation, rather than simply making a more neutral statement, or none at all? Thousands of servicemen contracted VD during the 1950s. I wonder if they have similar wording on their medical records.

Zaid’s essay doesn’t disprove the allegation that Oswald served as a sex spy. Zaid's saying that JFK researchers cannot use Oswald’s medical records to prove he was a sex spy. They have to use other evidence.

In recent years, someone has stepped forward out of the blue claiming to have been an integral part of Oswald’s life in the months preceding JFK’s assassination. Judyth Vary Baker, a biochemist specializing in cancer cell research, worked directly with Dr. Mary Sherman, an orthopedic surgeon, Director of Bone Pathology at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, and an associate professor at Tulane Medical School.

In the British miniseries The Men Who Killed Kennedy, Baker relates the meet-cute with Oswald, who just happened to be nearby, and who also just happened to know David Ferrie, Dr. Alton Ochsner (the clinic’s founder), Dr. Sherman, and the research they had all been doing on how to artificially induce cancer into people.

Baker claims that she and Oswald had an affair, and that she very much fell in love with him, despite the fact that he was already married to Marina, and despite the fact that she was engaged to a man she would later marry.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the means to verify Baker’s story, or disprove it. But speculating that she is neither lying nor crazy, we would still have to wonder if Oswald was continuing to act in the capacity of a raven, given some of the rumors that had trailed him from Japan.

 

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