Judyth Vary Baker: Living in Exile

[James H. Fetzer]

NOTE: Since Judyth and I first came into contact
on 5 May 2009, I must have exchanged some 150
communications with her, including two interviews
for YouTube which have been posted on my blogs
about her. Based upon my exchanges with her, I
am profoundly convinced of her sincerity and her
integrity. She has obviously not satisfied all of her
critics, but I remain convinced that she knew Lee
in New Orleans and that most--not necessarily all--
of what she has to tell us about him is true. Just
suppose that what she is telling us is by and large
true. Had any of us endured the experiences that
she has endured--including constant harassment,
threats to her life, and having to stay constantly
on the move--we might have trouble recollecting
every event of our distant past and possibly even
be inclined to "fill in some of the blanks" when we
were challenged by hostile forces. That is where
I come out with Judyth: I continue to believe in
her and regard her as an important witness with
regard to one of the murkiest aspects of one of
the most mysterious persons in our history. My
objective continues to be to bring her story to the
attention of the American people and then allow
everyone--public and critics alike--to make up
their own minds about what she has to tell us.

FROM JUDYTH: JOHN PIC, THE SILENT BROTHER

We hear little of Lee’s half-brother, John Pic.

“Harvey and Lee” researchers say he failed
to recognize various photos of Lee.





The photo identified by the W.C. as ‘Lee Oswald at the Bronx Zoo’ also greatly resembles John Pic. The boys were half-brothers, and the phenotype, obviously, is strong.

Perhaps someone has photos of an adult John Pic. There are none to be found on the Internet.

Remember those `here and now` photos, where you have to try to identify a movie star from his or her high school photo? It isn’t always easy, and John Pic didn’t seem to be able to recognize many of his brother’s more mature photos.

But perhaps Pic was just being smart and wanted the questions to stop.
For he was smart. In fact, he was working in a hospital.
Not just any hospital, either. It was a military hospital.

And he wasn’t working as a janitor there.
Pic was working in a pathology lab.

What is pathology?

"Pathology is the medical science…that deals with all aspects of disease, but with special reference to the essential nature, the causes, and development of abnormal conditions, as well as the structural and functional changes that result from disease processes.1"…Human pathologists study the causes of disease; how various internal and external derangements or injuries affect certain cells and tissues…”

Who would have guessed that both Lee Oswald and his half brother John Pic could be involved in matters of pathology in 1963? As a witness to Lee Oswald’s activities in the field, I was pleased to see that another family member was also engaged in related activities.

It makes it easier to believe that Lee Oswald might have an aptitude in science. The same young man who trained in radar and science fiction, who evidence interest in astronomy and biology in high school, indeed had an interest in science when he was 23.

A good researcher noticed that John Pic had training in the medical field, in pathology, no less.

Here is a portion of Pic’s testimony before The Warren Commission. Lee’s half brother was initially questioned about his work in Japan, close to the time Lee was also there.

Mr. Jenner. What was your assignment in Japan?

Mr. Pic. I was a medical laboratory technician at the hospital there, sir…

Mr. Jenner. You are stationed where at present?

Mr. Pic. I am attached to Wilford Hall, USAF Hospital, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Tex.

Mr. Jenner. Do you--what is your particular assignment?

Mr. Pic. I am NCOIC [Non-Commissioned Officer-in-Charge], Special Procedures Branch, Department of Pathology, Wilford Hall Hospital. I have had this job since the 10th of February this year…I had another job when I talked to the Secret Service if you would be interested in that.

Mr. Jenner. How long have you been at Lackland?

Mr. Pic. I have been there since August 1962, sir.

John Pic was working in a USAF Hospital in a pathology lab in Texas.



A file was sent to me by an Australian researcher, obtained from the Advisory Committee on human radiation experiments:

DOD-072294-D1 box; 1.2 cu.ft. Source: Department of
Defense, Radiation Experiments Command Center (RECC)Contents

Description: Materials requested re: additional Air Force experiments,
including reports from Wilford Hall Medical Center, Keesler AFB, Travis AFB, and RECC event file

Descriptors: Experiments; Human Subjects; Radiation--Ionizing; Department of the Air Force.”

“At the least, John Pic was working in the same medical center where the Air Force was known to have conducted experiments with radiation on human subjects, in San Antonio Texas.”

I remind you that I have reported that Lee Harvey Oswald was working in a project involved with radiation on human subjects.

What else do we know about John Edward Pic? His father was Edward John Pic, Jr. The Warren Commission reported that Marguerite had married

“….a quiet man of her own age, who worked as a clerk for T. Smith & Son. a New Orleans stevedoring company.11 The marriage was not a success, and by the summer of 1931 she and Pic were separated.12 Marguerite was then 3 months pregnant; she told her family that Pic did not want any children and refused to support her.13 Pic ascribed the separation simply to their inability to get along together.14 A boy was born on January 17, 1932, whom Marguerite named John Edward Pic.15 Pic saw his son occasionally until he was about 1 year old; after that, he did not see the boy again 16 but contributed to his support until he was 18 years old.”

The sad litany of problems that occurred after the death of Lee’s father shortly before lee was born will not be repeated here: they are easily accessed in the official record. Of interest to us is that John went to a military boarding school a couple of years, left home as soon as he could, joined the Coast Guard in 1950, and was married with a baby by 1952. By then, Lee’s full brother, Robert, had also left home and joined the Marines. The W.C. tells us:

In August, Mrs. Oswald and Lee moved to New York, where John was living with his wife and a very young baby in an apartment at 325 East 92d Street; the apartment- belonged to John's mother-in-law, who was temporarily away.182 Mrs. Oswald has explained that with Robert gone she did not want Lee to be alone while she worked and that she went to New. York City "not as a venture," but because she "had family" there.183

John Edward Pic gave his testimony to the Warren Commission on May 15, 1964, having been flown in from San Antonio, TX to Washington, D.C. He was a U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant. He’d never gotten along well with Lee Oswald ever since Lee had threatened his new wife with a pocketknife as she argued with their mother. Before that incident, and others that concerned him, he had wanted Lee to live with him, if Marguerite, Lee’s mother, would have allowed it.

Lee Oswald’s facility in Russian language has been thought by many to simply have been too good. Researcher John Armstrong believed there might be more to it than hard work: When we are dealing with history, it is important to be thorough, and to consider all witnesses. Have any witness made statements about Lee H. Oswald and any possible Hungarian parentage? I have stated that I knew Lee personally and, furthermore, I was raised in a Hungarian-speaking household. My mother, aunt and uncle were-full blooded Hungarians with whom I spent entire summers and most weekends while growing up. As a witness who was raised in a Hungarian-speaking family, I was able to ascertain that Lee H. Oswald knew not a single word of Hungarian.

Mr. Armstrong discovered a telephone call that he believes might help prove that “Harvey”
(Lee H. Oswald) may have grown up speaking both Hungarian and Russian:

“ John Armstrong has suggested that Lee Harvey Oswald –as “Harvey” might have been born of Hungarian parents, due to a telephone call that was received by Mrs. Jack Tippit of Westport, Connecticut. Oswald's father and uncle were Hungarian communists, the caller stated.

Armstrong then wrote:

"If this information is correct, one of the two Oswald's lived in New York in his youth. This could explain Oswald's interest in communism (from his father and uncle), which began as a teenager and continued throughout his life." The caller “gave two names-Louis Weinstock and Emile Kardos."(sent this quote from Vol. 1)

But, as police are aware in a murder case, all sorts of tips and crank calls can surface in a well-publicized case. I testify that Lee constantly practiced his Russian on me, and I taught him Hungarian phrases. Therefore, I wish Mr. Armstrong had interviewed me. I would have told him about my experience with Lee and my seeking and finding the testimony of John Pic on May 15, Washington, DC, before the Warren Commission, regarding the national origins of his wife’s family:

Mr. JENNER - Her parents are native Americans as well as she?

Mr. PIC - No, sir; they are not.

Mr. JENNER - What do you know of them?

Mr. PIC - Her father died; I never met the man while we were going together. Her mother and father were separated. Her mother was born in Hungary, I think. Her father was also, sir.

Mr. JENNER - What do you understand as to when they came to, this country?

Mr. PIC - I have never inquired. It has probably been mentioned but I have forgotten

Mr. JENNER - Was it your impression they had been here a good many years?

Mr. PIC - Yes, sir; they have seven children. The eldest being in her forties, I am pretty sure.

Mr. JENNER - I see. When you met your wife she was living with her mother?

Mr. PIC - Yes, sir.

Mr. JENNER - Where?

Mr. PIC - 325 East 92d Street, New York City.

Mr. JENNER - And you were at that time in the service?

Mr. PIC - Yes, sir; U.S. Coast Guard, assigned to U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Rockaway.

Mr. JENNER - How old is Mrs. Pic?

Mr. PIC - Thirty, sir. She turned 30 the 21st of December.

Mr. JENNER - Of 1963?

Mr. PIC - Yes, sir.

We obviously have much more to learn about John Pic, the “silent witness."

Judyth Vary Baker