Read A Sniper in the Tower Online

Authors: Gary M. Lavergne

Tags: #History, #United States, #General, #State & Local, #Southwest (AZ; NM; OK; TX), #True Crime, #Murder, #test

A Sniper in the Tower (10 page)

 
Page 28
Selected passages from Whitman's diary written while he was in the brig at Camp
Lejeune. 
Austin Police Department Files.
 
Page 29
tageous health wise, I see no need for a brassiere except that now they are an accepted and social necessity.''
28
His notebook also betrayed what was for Kathy a very difficult period:
Still don't know whether or not Kathy is pregnant. She might have conceived a baby on the night of Nov 23, '63 when she was here for my court martial. We were carefree that night, but in the depths of passion it is hard to be responsible and act rationally. I would not deliberately impregnate her at this stage of our life, but if she is going to have a child I can't describe the feeling of goodness or placidity it gives me to know that we share a child together. I would like to have my first-born be a boy, my son, but I hope (I don't pray anymore) most of all that, mother and child will be fine and healthy.
29
In January, 1964, Charles Whitman's life was troubled. In Austin, Kathy wondered if she was pregnant; if so, her baby's father had been thrown in the brig, court martialed, and busted to private. At Camp Lejeune, Charlie was doing hard labor, and the Whitman family in Lake Worth was no better off:
I just found out that Pat ran away from home a couple of days ago and had a car accident in Kissemme [sic], Fla. He was injured pretty bad. The boy has definite emotional and physcologial [sic] problems but as far as I know he won't go to anyone for help . . . until he puts forth some effort to make good I don't want anything to do with him.
30
Those judgmental words would later haunt Charlie Whitman. In a fairly short time he would need help very badly, with his studies and his personal life, and he would make little effort to seek help. As days and weeks passed, his writing became less focused. "My mind is so broken up with thoughts, I never seem to consistently think of one plan for the future."
31
 
Page 30
Reminiscent of his matriculation at UT-Austin, Charlie could play different roles for different acquaintances. Ronald Russell, a friend at Camp Lejeune, observed:
Whit had so much going for him, so much spirit, so much future. . . . [He] talked to Dorothy and me about marriage. He told us the good and the bad about getting married. He must have talked about three hours and we listened. He told us of his love for his wife Kathy, about how happy they were. Whit convinced us that we should get married.
32
In early February 1964, Charlie purchased a green, bound volume and on the outside front cover under "Daily Record" he stenciled "of C. J. Whitman."
I opened this diary of my daily events as a result of the peace of mind or release of feelings that I experienced when I started making notes of my daily events while in the Post Brig at Camp Lejeune, N.C., during the month of November 1963, where I was awaiting a Special Court Martial. At that time I seemed to have reached the pit of my life's experiences and it really relieved me to speak to myself in a diary. Unless it becomes a pain to uphold, I intend to make daily entries in this book or one similar continually in the future. Someday I hope to be in a brighter shade of life's light looking back on the drabness, with my wife, Kathy, sharing the pleasures and joys of life with me.
33
On some evenings after lights were turned off he wrote by the light of a flashlight. Each entry was dated near the right margin; on the same line on the left was a number next to the acronym "DTDIC," which Charlie defined on 9 February 1964 as "Days to do in the Corps." On that date he had 902 days left. But in the meantime, Margaret and C. A. were working tirelessly to get him an early discharge. At this time Charlie wrote frequently and affectionately about his father:
 
Page 31
The opening page of Whitman's "Daily Record." 
Austin Police Department Files
.
12 February 1964
. . . I talked with Daddy (Mom was asleep in bed, she's been sick). He put me in a better frame of mind than I have been in a long time.
16 February 1964
Daddy definitely put me in a good frame of mind the other night. I have never even thought of letting the Corps get me down physically, but it never occurred to me that they were affecting me mentally until Daddy brought it out.

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