Dec. 1, 1963 - Lee Harvey Oswald was a “loner” who did not have friends in the Marines, a Milwaukee man who served with him said today. Allen Felde, 24 years old, said he went through boot camp and combat training with Oswald in California in the winter of 1956. Although they were together 26 weeks, including one stretch in a tent housing eight recruits, Mr. Felde said he never knew Oswald well. “He was not my friend,” he said. “He was pretty hard to understand.” He remembers Oswald as quiet, serious, and “trying to find himself,” Mr. Felde said. “The rest of us used to wrestle and horse around, but he would have his bunk in the corner and stay there, reading a book,” he said. “He didn’t have any friends. I didn’t know the names of senators or where they were from, but he could rattle them off, and he knew their ideals and what they stood for. We called him a ‘yardbird’ — someone who’s a loner and was always getting latrine duty.” Mr. Felde said he did not know if Oswald had corresponded with anyone. He also said he did not recall that Oswald had been exceptionally good on the rifle range.
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