Hi Gerry, I already posted you an answer to this back on page one. You must have missed it, no problem. The following should clear it up; "Oswald was obligated to serve on active duty until December 7, 1959 (the date having been adjusted to compensate for the period of confinement). On August 17, he submitted a request for a dependency discharge, on the ground that his mother needed his support. The request was accompanied by an affidavit of Mrs Oswald and corroborating affidavits from an attorney, a doctor, and two friends, attesting that she had been injured at work in December 1958, and was unable to support herself. Oswald had previously made a voluntary allotment of part of his salary to his mother, under which arrangement she received $40 in August, and had submitted an application for a "Q" allotment (dependency allowance) in her behalf of $91.30; one payment of the "Q" allotment, for the month of August, was made in September. On August 28, the Wing Hardship or Dependency Discharge Board recommended that Oswald's request for a discharge be approved; approval followed shortly. On September 4, he was transferred from MACS-9 to the H. & H. Squadron, and on September 11, he was released from active duty and transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve, in which he was expected to serve until December 8, 1962. He was assigned to the Marine Air Reserve Training Command at the Naval Air Station in Glenview."
https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix-13.html#marines
Thanks. I must have missed that.
This brings me back to my original question. In March 1959, Oswald applied to attend the Albert Schweitzer College in April 1960. With the course not beginning until April 1960, why did Oswald look for an early discharge from the marines, which he received in Sept 1959? Could he not just have waited until December 7, 1959 when he was due to be discharged anyway?
Offhand, the only thing I can think of is that it would have been suspicious traveling to the USSR in the months of December/January as a tourist given the very cold winters in Moscow. So maybe he decided to get discharged from the marines so he could travel to the USSR before the winter set in?
Let's look at the math:
4-5 Weeks Arrangements & Travelling Time: Oswald was discharged on Sept 11th 1959. It took him until Oct 16th 1959 to arrive in Moscow.
In that case, if Oswald had left the marines as originally due to leave on December 7th 1959, he would have arrived in Moscow about January 12th 1960. Perhaps there are very few tourists in Moscow at that time of year.
