Speculation.--The headquarters detachment of the U.S. Army, under orders from [Secretary of Defense Robert S.] McNamara's office, began to rehearse for the funeral more than a week before the assassination.

Commission finding.--This assertion is based on an interview with U.S. Army Capt. Richard C. Cloy that appeared in the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger of February 21, 1964. The newspaper quotes Captain Cloy, who was a member of the Army unit charged with conducting funeral-ceremonials in honor of deceased Chiefs of State, as having said that, "we were in a state of readiness and had just finished a funeral rehearsal because there was grave concern for President Hoover's health. But we never expected that our practice was preparing us for President Kennedy." 130

Speculation.---The ship in which Oswald went to Europe in 1959 stopped in Havana on the way.

Commission finding.--Oswald boarded the SS Marion Lykes in New Orleans and it sailed on September 20, 1959. It docked in Le Havre France, on October 8 with only one previous stop--at another French port, La Pallice.131