Oswald’s Flight to Finland: The Steenbarger Interview

by Scott Reid

Prestwick Airport is located on the West Coast of Scotland and is most famously known for being the only place where Elvis Presley stepped onto British soil during his life. This was in March 1960 when he was returning from American Army National Service in Germany. It was a brief visit of only a few hours. Prestwick Airport was used as a short refuelling stop in those days for military aircraft making their way back to the USA from Europe.

Did Lee Harvey Oswald also make a stop at Prestwick Airport, but earlier, in October 1959? Documents released a few years ago provide details of an interesting story that has largely flown under the radar. Is it possible that the future alleged assassin of President Kennedy made such a stop along the way as he was defecting to the Soviet Union?

The conventional account is that Oswald made his way to Europe, travelling for two weeks on a freighter that departed from New Orleans on 20^th September 1959 and arrived in France on 5^th October 1959. He then appeared in Helsinki, Finland, five days later before entering the Soviet Union on 15^th October 1959.

If not the real Oswald, could the alleged Prestwick Airport sighting just be a case of honest mistaken identity, a member of the public seeking fame and notoriety, or another Oswald imposter? This article will try to answer these questions. To this end, I’ll firstly outline the story and note my research findings - and then assess whether this is compatible with what we know about Lee Harvey Oswald and furthermore, how he entered the Soviet Union in October 1959.

The Flight to Europe

Maurice Steenbarger worked for the US Air Force, and in October 1959 was stationed in Phalsbourg, France as a civilian auditor with the Auditor General. Phalsbourg is in the north-east of France and close to the border of what would have been West Germany at the time. Major US military bases in RheinMain and Frankfurt were only a few hundred miles or so away from the French/West German border.

Louise “Lola” Steenbarger decided to visit her husband in France in October 1959 and took their eight-year-old son, David, along with her. She told her story to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in September 1978.

Travel from the US to Europe was arranged via the military. Lola and her son left from their home in Marion, Indiana and travelled to Bunker Hill Air Force Base (now called Grissom) in the same state. From there, they were flown to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. This was the point of departure from the US for Military Air Transport Service (MATS) flights destined for Europe. MATS was an air transport service that would deploy troops and equipment to US military bases in Europe, Africa and other places across the world. Families and other military personnel could catch a “hop” on one of these flights.

The following is taken directly from the HSCA report dated 26^th September 1978 (HSCA: 180-10102-10267) of an interview conducted with Lola Steenbarger. She recalled that the flight to Prestwick Airport took place in mid-October 1959.

On the airplane her son sat in the window seat and she sat in the middle. The man sitting in the aisle seat said his name was Lee Oswald; she doesn’t remember him using a middle name. He seemed tense and didn’t say much; he gripped the arms of the seat so tightly that his knuckles were white. She thought he was merely afraid of flying. He was quite taciturn and actually seemed hostile when she tried to talk to him.

The young man relaxed after they had a meal. He seemed to her like he had a lot of pent-up emotion. He said he had served in Japan and the Philippines. He was wearing a Marine Corps uniform. He said he had fallen in love with a Japanese girl and had been imprisoned in either Japan or the Philippines because he wanted to marry her. He said he was being shipped to Germany by the military; the departure had been so hastily arranged that he had not even been able to see his mother.

Mrs Steenbarger described the man as having light to sand hair, light eyes, with sharpshooter medals on his uniform, a name plate saying “Lee Oswald” and a slight Southern accent.

He said his father was named Robert E. Lee Oswald. He talked about putting down the American system. He said he was being shipped to Germany because they needed him right away and that he had a skill he could use there, but she doesn’t recall if he specified what skill.

The plane landed to Prestwick in Scotland. Mrs Steenbarger and her son deplaned to use the restroom. Oswald said he was ill. He stood at a distance and seemed to be watching her coldly and suspiciously. After that, he didn’t speak to her any more.

When they got back on the plane the man named Oswald sat across the aisle from her and her son and a couple rows up. Another man in nice civilian clothes sat next to her. He let a cigarette dangle on the armrest but appeared distracted and did not smoke it. There may have been other civilians on the plane, but she is not sure.

The man named Oswald told her that he was still under surveillance from his trouble with the military police. The man sitting next to her after Oswald moved behaved so oddly that she wondered if he was in fact the person who was watching Oswald.

Their plane landed at either Rhine/Maine or Frankfurt. That was the last she saw of the man named Oswald. She did not notice how he left the airfield.

Mrs Steenbarger offered that her travel arrangements and possibly a manifest of that flight could be gotten from the Air Force.

The full HSCA statement can be found here (courtesy of John Armstrong’s digital archive at Baylor University).

As someone who was born and has lived in Scotland all his life and been fascinated by the JFK assassination for many years, this story interested me very much. Prestwick Airport is around 50 miles from my home. Could it be true that the alleged assassin of President Kennedy stepped foot on Scottish soil on his way to the Soviet Union? I decided that I had to investigate further.

However, I’m not the first to do so. Veteran JFK assassination researcher, Bill Kelly, had gotten wind of the story before me. He had written about it twice back in 2014 for his JFKcountercoup blog. My initial thinking was to check for flight manifests to find out if there was a record of a Louise Steenbarger and Lee Oswald being on a MATS flight from the US to Prestwick Airport and then on to Germany, but Bill had already checked this out. He had previously contacted McGuire Air Force Base and been informed that they did not keep passenger manifest records.

No surprise there, I hear you say!

Could such a flight be authentic?

My next step was to visit The Mitchell Library in Glasgow. I went there because they held flight logs relating to Prestwick Airport for the period in question. I was particularly interested in finding out if records still existed of flights from McGuire Air Force Base to RheinMain or Frankfurt that stopped at Prestwick Airport.

The library kindly provided me with the Aircraft Movement Logbooks from October 1959 in advance of my visit. The flight logs from that period were dusty old books with the pages completed in pencil – with inbound flights to Prestwick Airport on one side of the book and outbound flights on the other side.

I discovered that there were plenty of inbound flights from the US during October 1959 that stopped off at Prestwick Airport and then departed for RheinMain (and also Frankfurt). They arrived almost daily and typically stayed at Prestwick for only around an hour or so. This information was encouraging as it substantiated that part of Lola Steenbarger’s claim. The problem was that the logs did not record these flights as originating from McGuire Air Force Base. They were arriving instead from a place called Harmon or Stephenville. This confused me. Where and what were Harmon and Stephenville?

It didn’t take me too long to discover that Harmon was actually a reference to the Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland. This was a former base built by the US Air Force in 1941 until its closure in 1966. Whilst located in Canada, it essentially existed as an enclave of US territory during that period. A little bit more digging online revealed the existence of a map that detailed MATS flight routes from the US to Europe and Africa. This clearly showed that there were no direct flights from McGuire Air Force Base to Prestwick Airport. Instead, the flights left McGuire and stopped off at the Ernest Harmon Base first (presumably to refuel) before proceeding over the Atlantic Ocean to Prestwick Airport and then on to RheinMain.

(Photo Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Air_Transport_Service)

This all meant that Lola’s story was at least plausible insofar as the credibility of the flights she took was concerned. But what can we make of the conversation and information she obtained from the man with the name plate, saying he was Lee Oswald? There are several obvious similarities between what she said she was told by this man and what we know of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Coincidence, Consistency and Contradictions

In addition to the name plate, Lola confirmed the following details in her HSCA interview that we can confidently state are consistent with information that has previously been reported about Lee Harvey Oswald:

1. His father was indeed named Robert E. Lee Oswald – who died on 19^th August 1939, two months before Lee was born.
2. Lee did serve in the Marine Corps – from around October 1956 until September 1959.
3. He did spend time in Japan whilst in the Marine Corps – from around September 1957, and was based at the Atsugi Naval Air Facility just outside Tokyo.
4. There were several reports that he was involved with a Japanese lady – who worked at a bar called the Queen Bee near the Atsugi base or even in Tokyo (whether this relationship was genuine or part of some kind of intelligence gathering operation is open to question).
5. Lee was imprisoned whilst in Japan – for picking a fight with a senior officer in a bar and pouring a drink over him.
6. He also spent a few months in the Philippines – from around January 1958 to March 1958.
7. Lola said the man had “sharpshooter medals on his uniform” – Lee did score just above the requirements for a sharpshooter, not long after he joined the Marine Corps (it is worth adding that he fell to the level of marksman in a further test in 1959).
8. Lola said the man had “light to sand hair” – Lee had brown hair.
9. She said the man had a “slight Southern accent” – Lee was born in New Orleans.
10. The man had “light eyes” – Lee’s eyes were blue.
11. Oswald was indeed generally known to be a quiet and taciturn individual.
12. He had spoken previously about his discontent with the American political system – although was this genuine bitterness or part of his cover as an intelligence agent and future defector.

These details would all seem to be extraordinary coincidences if Lola Steenbarger were not speaking to the real Lee Oswald. Is it realistic that a completely different person, but also called Lee Oswald, could share so many similarities?

Of course, it is important to add that her interview also included details that would not be consistent with what we know about Oswald. For example, he had been discharged from the Marine Corps a month before this encounter took place. He also said that his departure from the USA had been “so hastily arranged that he had not even been able to see his mother.” But when Oswald was discharged from the Marine Corps in September 1959, he did in fact go to Fort Worth and saw his mother for around three days. He wasn’t imprisoned in Japan because he had fallen for a Japanese girl, and it is not known exactly what skill he had that necessitated such an immediate transfer to Germany.

Freighters, Ferries and Finland

It is worth reviewing at this moment the official narrative of how Lee Harvey Oswald is supposed to have travelled from the USA to Europe, before his eventual defection to the Soviet Union on 15^th October 1959. And this journey does not involve a Military Air Transit Service flight to Prestwick Airport in Scotland.

In early September 1959, Oswald applied for a passport in Los Angeles. His passport application indicated that the reason for applying was that he wanted to attend the Albert Schweitzer College in Switzerland and the University of Turku in Finland. He also planned to travel to Germany and France, among other countries mentioned. Oswald was issued with a passport on 10^th September 1959. The next day, he was released from active duty with the Marine Corps. He then visited his mother and other family in Fort Worth. He only stayed for a few days. He told his mother that his plan was to find work on a ship in the export-import business, and there was money to be made in such employment.

Oswald left his mother around $100 and then headed to New Orleans. On 17^th September 1959, he paid $220.75 for passage to Europe on a freighter called the SS Marion Lykes. In addition to the ship’s crew, there were three other paid passengers on board. They were 18-year-old student Billy Joe Lord (who Oswald roomed with during the voyage), retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel George Church Jr, and his wife Beauford.

(Photo Credit: www.shipsnostalgia.com)

The SS Marion Lykes left New Orleans on the morning of 20^th September 1959. The freighter spent just over two weeks at sea crossing the Atlantic Ocean – arriving in La Rochelle Pallice on the west coast of France on 5^th October 1959. It was here that Billy Joe Lord disembarked to begin his studies in France. Lord and Oswald had just spent two weeks together.

In an affidavit given on 26^th June 1964, Lord provided some details of his interactions with Oswald. He said that Oswald told him that he had recently been discharged from the Marines and was bitter because his mother had to work in a drugstore in Fort Worth. Oswald gave Lord no indication that he was planning to defect to the Soviet Union, but mentioned about attending a school in Switzerland. This would likely be a reference to the Albert Schweitzer College that Oswald mentioned on his recent passport application form. They also discussed religion. Oswald did not show him his passport or any military identification.

According to Lord, he never saw Oswald again after leaving the ship in La Rochelle. Billy Joe Lord is also an interesting individual. On 2^nd February 1977, he wrote a letter to President Carter stating his belief that the CIA and FBI were suspect in the assassination of JFK and that it was a coup d’etat. He was a man with his own story to tell.

(Photo Credit: courtesy of Linda Zambanini)

On the evening of 6^th October 1959, the SS Marion Lykes left La Rochelle and travelled around the north-west coast of France, arriving in Le Havre early on 8^th October 1959. It is here that Oswald is said to have disembarked the ship, and his passport is stamped as entering and leaving Le Havre on this same day. It is thought that Oswald then boarded another ship and journeyed across the English Channel, arriving in Southampton, England, on 9^th October 1959. His passport is stamped to indicate arrival in Southampton on that date. He then seems to have made the approximate 80-mile trip to London. Another stamp on his passport indicates that he left London Airport on 10^th October 1959.

(Photo Credit: Dallas (Tex.). Police Department. [Lee Harvey Oswald's Passport], text, 1959~/1963~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338438/: accessed February 15, 2025), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives)

It is widely believed that Oswald then flew directly from London to Helsinki, Finland, that evening. However, records indicate that the only flight from London to Helsinki on 10^th October 1959 landed in the Finnish capital at around 11:33 pm. Oswald then checked into the city’s Hotel Torni. The reservation book of the hotel, though, said that Oswald checked in on 10^th October 1959. How is it possible that he could have exited the plane, cleared officialdom and gotten from the airport to the hotel all in less than 27 minutes? Seems a rather unlikely scenario, unless the hotel check-in receptionist was rather careless in completing the necessary paperwork. This leg of Oswald’s journey in his defection to the Soviet Union has had many scratching their heads over the years, including the CIA.

In 2023, the Finnish Secret Service (known as Supo) declassified and revealed its files on Lee Harvey Oswald. They were very skeptical that Oswald arrived in Helsinki via a late-night flight directly from London. According to Supo, Oswald’s name did not appear on any arrival lists. They felt it was more likely that he arrived in Helsinki via Stockholm, Sweden, either by plane or ferry. Flights from Stockholm to Helsinki on 10^th October 1959 landed at 12:25 pm, 3 pm and 4:55 pm. A ferry from Stockholm to Turku arrived at 8:35 am. Turku is a city located on the southwest coast of Finland, approximately 100 miles west of Helsinki. Passengers would have made the rest of the journey by bus to the capital, arriving around noon. The reader will recall that Oswald also mentioned Turku in his passport application form. This all sounds like a more realistic travel itinerary than the mad dash from the airport at 11:33 pm. A Swedish newspaper reported shortly after the JFK assassination that they also felt Oswald had gone to Helsinki via Sweden. On 15^th October 1959, and having successfully and very quickly obtained a visa, Oswald left Helsinki heading for the Soviet Union.

Will we ever know for sure how Lee Harvey Oswald found his way into Finland? Are Supo and the Swedish newspaper correct when they speculate that he likely arrived there via Sweden? Or was the Hotel Torni receptionist just not too fussed about the check-in times he or she entered in the arrivals book? Or could Oswald’s journey perhaps have included another MATS flight or “hop” that was secret and remains undiscovered to this day?

We know Oswald was in the Marine Corps, but how much would he have known about MATS flights? On 8^th August 1961, he wrote to the American Embassy from his apartment in Minsk, Belarus, seeking to return to the USA. His letter stated that he could not “afford to fly direct from Moscow to New York” but that he believed he “could catch a military hop back to the States, from Berlin.” He went on to write that “Perhaps a letter from the Embassy explaining my position, which I could then show the military in Berlin, would assist me to get a hop.”

Oswald was indeed aware of the existence of MATS flights and their purpose.

The ubiquitous Lee Oswald

Was the man that Lola Steenbarger spoke to perhaps another of the numerous Oswald imposters? If it was known that the “real” Lee Oswald was defecting to the Soviet Union via France/UK/Finland, was the purpose of the man on the MATS flight to Prestwick Airport to deflect, distract, confuse and muddy the waters – throwing potential investigators or adversaries off the scent from the get-go?

On 3^rd June 1960, FBI Director, J Edgar Hoover, wrote to the US State Department, as he was concerned that Oswald was being impersonated. He wrote that “Since there is a possibility that an imposter is using Oswald’s birth certificate, any current information the Department of State may have concerning subject will be appreciated.”

There are several recorded incidents of Oswald being impersonated at the same time when he was supposed to be in the Soviet Union.

The alleged encounters of Oswald took place in New Orleans. In January 1961, two men visited the Bolton Ford Dealership on Canal Street. They were interested in buying ten Ford Ecoline Trucks and spoke with the Assistant Manager, Oscar Deslatte. One of the buyers identified himself as Joseph Moore. The other man was unidentified at this time. They said they were representing the Free Democrats of Cuba. Oscar Deslatte went to speak to his boss, Fred Sewall, who told him to give the two men a bid that would make the business a profit of $75 over the purchase of each truck. When documentation was being completed for the sale of the trucks in the name of Joseph Moore, the other man began talking to Deslatte and Sewall. He said that the name of the group they represented should be corrected on the official paperwork to “Friends of Democratic Cuba,” as he was “the man handling the money.” Deslatte asked him his name, and the man replied, “Lee Oswald.” Deslatte retained a copy of the bid form for his own records, and the name “Oswald” can be seen on the top right-hand section of the form.

(Photo credit: https://harveyandlee.net/Misc/Bolton.html)

A similar incident was recalled by another car salesman, James Spencer. During the period from February to August 1961, James Spencer was employed by the Dumas and Milnes Chevrolet Company in New Orleans. Shortly after the assassination of President Kennedy, he saw a photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald on TV and felt sure that he had seen this man before, but could not place exactly when and where. He looked through his wallet and found a business card that he used when working for Dumas and Milnes. On the back of the business card in Spencer’s own handwriting were the words “LEE OSWALD, Magazine Street.” He recalled a man who had come into the car lot and was interested in a particular vehicle, maybe a 1958 Chevrolet. The man returned a second time, and Spencer dealt with him on both occasions. They went for a coffee to discuss a possible sale, and he obtained the name and address of the individual and wrote it down on the back of the business card. The man also spoke in favourable terms about Fidel Castro. Spencer also recalled that the man insisted on buying his own coffee and had made such an impression on him that he mentioned him to his wife, something he hardly ever did. Whilst Spencer did not personally see this man handing out pro-Castro leaflets on the streets of New Orleans, he did remember that others were involved in such activities at that time. We should note that when Oswald went to New Orleans in the summer of 1963, he both worked and lived on Magazine Street.

All the above instances are interesting and important because at the time the New Orleans car salesmen said they saw their Oswald, the man we know as Lee Harvey Oswald was living in Minsk, over 5,000 miles away. There are so many examples of Oswald lookalikes and imposters that a whole Chapter is dedicated to the topic in the excellent book The JFK Assassination Chokeholds (Camp Street Press, 2023) by James DiEugenio, Paul Bleau, Matt Crumpton, Andrew Iler and Mark Adamczyk. However, the story of Lola Steenbarger did not feature in the chapter.

Stepping into the light

The thing that really makes Lola’s story unique in comparison to other similar Oswald incidents is the level of detail she was able to include that was consistent with facts generally known about Lee Harvey Oswald.

One of the criticisms that is often levelled at witnesses who come forward and tell their story is that they are seeking the spotlight or some kind of notoriety in the public eye. I have often felt that kind of criticism to be unkind and a cliché. It is more reasonable to acknowledge that people’s recollections can perhaps become a bit hazy, especially if many years have intervened, rather than being eager to be on the front pages of the newspapers or to become overnight celebrities. We should take a moment to consider the context and time of when Lola Steenbarger gave her interview to the HSCA.

Their report of her statement was dated 26^th September 1978, following a call made by investigator Surrell Brady to Mrs Steenbarger. Lola had just recently contacted the HSCA to advise that she had something of interest to tell them. The HSCA was established in 1976 to look again at the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. It was big news at the time. Over the next few years, they interviewed many high-profile witnesses, including Marina Oswald. What would motivate Lola to come forward and tell her story after all these years? It was well known that many witnesses to the murder of JFK had disappeared and died in mysterious circumstances in the years following the assassination. This continued into the period up to and around the HSCA investigation.

Chicago mobster Sam Giancana was murdered in June 1975 during the time when the Church Committee was holding hearings and investigating the CIA, and their assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. The Agency had recruited the mob to assist in this endeavour. Another member of the Chicago Outfit was Johnny Roselli. He gave testimony to the Church Committee in 1975. The following year, they wanted to hear from him again, but Roselli had since disappeared. In August 1976, his decomposed body was found chopped up in an oil drum floating in a Florida bay. An acquaintance of Lee Oswald was George de Mohrenschildt. He had known Oswald in Dallas during 1962 and 1963. The HSCA was keen to hear from de Mohrenschildt as well. But before they could obtain information from him, he died from a shotgun wound to the head. This happened in March 1977 and was officially deemed a suicide. Some have suspected foul play was at work instead.

It is not known if Lola Steenbarger personally knew about these violent deaths, but it would be surprising if she didn’t, given their high-profile nature and possible links to the Kennedy assassination. Despite this, she still came forward to tell her story. It would perhaps be fairer and more appropriate to thank people like Lola Steenbarger for having the bravery and integrity to come forward when it surely would have been easier to stay silent and not reveal what she knew. We owe her, and many others like her, a debt of gratitude for deciding not to stay in the shadows but instead courageously putting their experience on the record.

(Photo Credit: www.findagrave.com)

Louise “Lola” Steenbarger died on 29^th August 2008. She was 85 years old. Her son David, who was on the MATS flight with her in October 1959, died eleven days after his mother. He was only 56 years old. Their deaths so close together are very sad, tragic and poignant.

The author JRR Tolkien once wrote that, “courage is found in unlikely places.” Lola Steenbarger epitomises Tolkien’s words.

I hope that this telling of her story helps to keep her memory alive.

It also adds to the intrigue and mystery of the enigma that continues to be Lee Harvey Oswald.