Fred Litwin
Jul 13, 20223 min
Over the past couple of days there has been a small debate at the Education Forum about the anti-Castro training camps north of Lake Pontchartrain in the summer of 1963.
But there were reports of another camp later on that summer/fall in Tangipahoa Parish, north of New Orleans, at a swampy area of Bedico Creek. (DiEugenio, Destiny Betrayed, second edition, p. 116) And there were reports that Ferrie and Oswald were seen there.
Reports?
I had not heard of a training camp at Bedico Creek. I went to DiEugenio's Destiny Betrayed and found this passage: (page 115)
According to historian Michael Kurtz, there was a sighting of Ferrie, the Cubans and Oswald at another camp in early September of 1963. They were dressed in military fatigues and carrying automatic rifles. They were conducting what looked like a military maneuver. This episode took place in a swampy area of Bedico Creek, which in 1963, was an undeveloped area with an inland body of water in Tangipahoa Parish, about fifty miles north of New Orleans.
His citation was Michael Kurtz, Crime of the Century (Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, 1982) p. 203
I then went to Kurtz's Crime of the Century and found this:
One of the most significant eyewitness observations was of Ferrie, Oswald, and numerous Cubans, all dressed in military fatigues and carrying automatic rifles, conducting what appeared to be a "military training maneuver." This event took place near Bedico Creek, a swampy inland body of water near Lake Pontchartrain, about fifty miles north of New Orleans. This occurred in early September 1963, two months after the final government raid on anti-Castro guerilla camps in the United States.
His citation was "Author's interview, George Wilcox, 9 Sept, 1979."
This is all Kurtz says about the mysterious Mr. Wilcox.
In his most recent book, The JFK Assassination Debates, Kurtz does not even list Wilcox in his list of personal interviews, despite the fact that he mentions Oswald being at Bedico Creek:
Michael Kurtz has donated his papers to Southeastern Louisiana University. There is no mention of transcripts or tapes of any of his interviews, let alone George Wilcox.
This seems like a very dubious citation.
And it's not the first time that Michael Kurtz has made dubious claims. Researcher Pat Speer noticed the issue regarding George Wilcox, and other such witnesses, and concluded:
It is with deep regret, moreover, that I must admit that my number one suspect for telling deliberate falsehoods is not a single-assassin theorist, or even a far-out conspiracy theorist, as one might expect, but Dr. Michael Kurtz, one of the few historians to write on the case, and someone whose work has routinely been cited by other writers on the case.
What I find astounding is that James DiEugenio accepts this story about Oswald and Ferrie, hook, line, and sinker. No skepticism from him.
I hope that Mr. DiEugenio can find the time to explain why this anecdote should be accepted as fact.
Previous Blog Posts on the Scholarship of James DiEugenio
Anatomy of a James DiEugenio Citation
Was Lee Harvey Oswald at an anti-Castro training camp in the summer of 1963?
Anatomy of a James DiEugenio Citation, Part Two
Was David Ferrie at an anti-Castro training camp in the summer of 1963?
Fact Checking James DiEugenio, Part Two
Bill Boxley was not a CIA plant.
Clay Shaw was not Clay Bertrand.
A response to James DiEugenio about my writings.
James DiEugenio's Lame Excuses for Fletcher Prouty
Prouty couldn't back up any of his allegations when he was interviewed by the ARRB. You wouldn't believe the lame excuse offered up by DiEugenio.
James DiEugenio's Lame Excuse for Oliver Stone
Why does Oliver Stone support so many dictators?
James DiEugenio Gets it all Wrong on Permindex/CMC
DiEugenio has no understanding of Permindex/CMC
The Scholarship of James DiEugenio - A Case Study
DiEugenio gets it all wrong on the Mannlicher-Carcano
The Scholarship of James DiEugenio, Part Two
The conclusion on the Mannlicher-Carcano
The Scholarship of James DiEugenio
Over the past ten months, I have debunked every witness cited by DiEugenio regarding Clay Shaw and David Ferrie.
Don't miss the Viewer's Guide to JFK: Destiny Betrayed and JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass.
Over the past several months, I have shown in multiple blog posts how Oliver Stone's documentary series, JFK Revisited and JFK: Destiny Betrayed, misleads viewers. In fact, despite months of work, there are still many more misleading segments that need to be addressed. It's no wonder that the fact checkers of Netflix nixed the airing of the films.
There is a choice between four hours of tendentious nonsense (JFK: Destiny Betrayed) and two hours (JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass). As a handy guide for viewers, here are all those posts in order of their appearance in JFK: Destiny Betrayed and JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, preceded by some general critiques