A Report on the JFK Assassination: Ballistic and Forensic Perspectives

Peter C. Holiday

Linked Contents:

1. Fifty-one Years 2. There He Was 3. At Bethesda 4. Exploding Myths with Ballistics 5. The “Single” Bullet 6. The Mannlicher-Carcano Rifle and Cartridge 7. Dealey Plaza 8. The Throat Shot 9. The Head Shot 10. At Parkland Hospital 11. The Autopsy 12. The Back Wounds 13. Epilogue 14. Conclusion 15. About the Author

Fifty-one Years(Contents)

Fifty-one years after the murder of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, it is time for me to add my claim to hundreds, if not thousands, of other literary efforts focused on understanding what actually happened that sad day. I will describe certain physical events pertaining to the assassination, plus other events to which I was a witness.

As this report is exclusively my opinion, I will add conjecture in describing still other events I am convinced took place. However, this report is limited to demonstrating—by using actual published autopsy photos (readily available through the Freedom of Information Act) and applications of terminal ballistics and forensics—that, out of all claims of possible shots taken, there were actually only two fatal shots from JFK’s front which actually struck him—and killed him. This of course conflicts with the highly incredible Warren Commission Report—but the immutable laws of physics are supportive to my position.

To help construct my argument, I will use the names and statements of the Parkland Hospital Doctors who were in attendance at Parkland Hospital, who were in the Emergency Room and who examined the President as he lay dying. As historically established, after the declaration of death, the body was

placed in a decorative bronze coffin and flown by the Secret Service and the CIA, in Air Force One, to Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C. and then on to Bethesda Naval Hospital via motorcade. Existing voluminous documentation of the assassination event will not be incorporated into this limited report, as space and time do not permit. Indeed, most people are aware of the general story of the assassination event and therefore do not require repetitive information. Additionally, you can be assured of my best efforts in achieving authenticity in respect to the validity of what you are about to read. The technical aspects of each paragraph are removed from the paragraph and appear immediately at the end of the paragraph, via footnotes.

I am maintaining that the two frontal bullet strikes to the President, one to the throat and one to the forehead—both fatal shots—were made by light, very high speed projectiles which are commonly known to fragment inside a target.1 1(An average rifle or pistol bullet, the projectile, is composed of a molded lead core with a brass jacket around it. The brass is electro-plated on to the lead, to provide a surface which will engage the rifling in the barrel of the gun (spiral grooves that make the bullet spin—increasing in-flight stability and accuracy without leaving any lead behind in the barrel. When electroplating is not used, molten lead is poured directly into a formed brass jacket. When a rifle bullet enters a target, one of its expected behaviors (terminal ballistics) is fragmentation; the jacket breaks up or is stripped off due to the deformation of the lead core which itself continues to deform and break-up. The higher the velocity of a bullet, the more it tends to deform and fragment inside the target. Two popular high velocity rifle bullets at the time—3600 to 4200 feet per second—the .220 Swift projectile and the .243 Winchester projectile and their fragments (easily detected on x-rays of the President’s head) would produce the wounds evidenced by the autopsy photos and x-rays of the President's body and head. The .220 Swift and the .243 Winchester cartridges were introduced in 1935 and 1955 respectively, and were popularly in use and readily available at the time of the assassination.)

The shooters who assassinated the President were expert riflemen. They would only choose rifles and cartridges with projectiles they thought were ideal for the job; not a vintage WWII Mannlicher-Carcano2—the ballistics (in-flight and terminal projectile behavior) of which would be extremely difficult to adjust when firing at a target moving away from the shooter—especially firing from the 6th floor of a building. Even firing at the best-advantage position—from the railroad underpass—and the necessity of putting all shots within a 3 in. radius would be challenging; as the approaching target would require the shooter to fire low. But the professional assassins did it, using quality rifles and the best ammunition of the day which matched the requirements for the job.

2(A 6.5mm rifle with a 162 grain projectile (allegedly Oswald’s rifle—the Mannlicher-Carcano) has a muzzle velocity of only 2300 feet per second. The service life of the rifle was from 1891 to 1970.)

There He Was(Contents)

In 1960, I was a student at Marquette University in Milwaukee and I went to a political rally on campus where the speaker was billed as Senator John F. Kennedy. After the rally, I had a no-coincidence (God-

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incidence) opportunity to spend about 5-10 seconds alone with Kennedy, look into his eyes, shake his hand and wish him good luck in the upcoming fall Primary election. This happened, completely unexpectedly, as I was walking back to my dormitory from the gymnasium where the rally had taken place. I had left the gym right after Kennedy spoke so, there were, so far, no people who had exited onto the sidewalk leading back to my dorm. I was about to cross the only driveway leading out of the rear of the gymnasium building, when suddenly a black sedan pulled-up abruptly in front of me and cut off my path. The car was preparing to enter the busy street and waiting for a chance to pull-out. I suddenly became quite amazed as, at about 6 feet to my front, was the rear window of the sedan and John Fitzgerald Kennedy was sitting in the rear seat looking out at me through the closed window. I blocked his view, as there was nothing else for him to look at. I took a couple of steps forward and he rolled-down the window, leaned to his left and stuck his right forearm out the window. I took his hand with my right hand and looked him in the eyes. He smiled but said nothing. I returned the smile and said: “Good luck in the Primaries, Senator.” He continued to look at me as he pulled his arm back into the car. Suddenly the car lurched forward into the traffic and he was gone. On my way back to the dorm I looked down frequently at my right hand—and wondered.

At Bethesda(Contents)

At the youngish age of 22 years, November 22nd in 1963 placed me as a Navy Hospital Corpsman stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Bethesda, MD, on evening shift duty in the sixteen-floor Officers' Medical Tower. It was unexpected duty for me as I was primarily working Ward 4-C, Dermatology and Cardiac Surgery. Little did I realize that when I received the assignment, it would be precisely the time when the body of the slain president was to be driven by motorcade to the hospital from Andrews Air Force Base.

My Story for November 22, 1963

The weather was partly cloudy, dry and full of sunshine, when at about 1:45 PM Eastern time certain corpsmen of Barrack’s 12, including myself, were mustering (gathering) on the concrete pad out in front of the building for a walk to a continuing education class. The Barracks Petty Officer of the Day quickly negotiated the front steps downwards and approached us. His face was particularly blanched. His eyes were wide with adrenalin. His face was painfully etched with disbelief. Forcing his voice through a resistant hoarseness he announced that “there were shots fired during a presidential parade in downtown Dallas. We do not know if anyone was hit.” Needless to say, the reaction was a dead silence. Ridiculously and much against our wills we were told to “carry-on” and attend the class. No one learned anything that afternoon.

Later, after an early fall dark, while on duty in the Officer’s Tower, I heard through lightning-fast scuttlebutt (rumors, word-of-mouth) that the president's body was being flown to Andrews Air Force Base and being driven back to the hospital. I immediately guessed correctly that the now former First Lady and JFK’s brothers would be sheltered on “Tower 16” for security reasons. (Floor 16 of the Officer’s Medical Tower was the Presidential suite.)

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Burning with curiosity, I announced to my fellow ward Corpsman that I was taking my assigned break time. I rushed out into the hall and took the tower elevator up to the 15th floor observation deck to see what I could see. High-stepping over the crowd-retaining rope to get as close to the window glass as I could, I looked out into the pitch black late fall darkness, filled with expectation.

From 200 feet straight up and about a block away, I looked down on Rockville Pike which ran straight across the front of the hospital property. The avenue was a north-south 4-lane major traffic artery connecting Bethesda and the District of Columbia. It was a virtual parking lot now, jammed with motionless cars standing in all four lanes in both directions—as far as I could see. The atmosphere was other-worldly—like a scene transplanted from a disaster movie; with thousands of idling car engines producing white, steamy exhaust plumes rising in the stark black calm and chilly air—illuminated by thousands of car headlights. It was deathly still. It then struck me that I was, proverbially, looking at history being made. As I peered intently, my breathing became slow and shallow so as not to fog the glass.

Abruptly, from a distance to my left, came the wails of multiple pneumatic ambulance sirens—all out of sync—each howling at its own interval. Abruptly into view, up the right shoulder, at about 35 mph, came a three or four car police escort—sirens abruptly silenced—and at least one black hearse and three or four grey Navy ambulances, followed by three or four black sedans. The escort police, the hearse(s) and the black sedans rushed through the front gate and disappeared in all directions at once—except for one hearse. It stopped at the front grand entrance to the towering hospital building. A grey Navy ambulance crossed the area of the grand entrance and drove towards the North side of the hospital—the Dental Offices entrance. Then, to my left, my eye caught one of the Navy ambulances driving quite fast past the South side of the hospital, past Enlisted Barracks 12 in the direction of the access drive to the rear of the hospital building—where, incidentally, the morgue entrance was located.

Back out front, a two-column enlisted Navy honor guard could be seen standing at-the-ready to bear the casket. Those with parade rifles were stiffly at present-arms—their white belts and hats iridescently illuminated in the garish glare of the TV crew’s flood lights.

USNH Bethesda in 1963. (Left is North) Dental Offices are near the flag pole. Morgue entrance is directly to the rear. Barracks 12

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As startling as it was, the show was now over. Except for the creeping dispersal of the masses of automobiles on Rockdale Pike, the aerial show had ended.

I raced to the elevator and dropped 15 floors to the main foyer where I could see that another grey Navy ambulance had stopped at the North side of the building (to the left of the main entrance) at the Dental Offices entrance. Another hastily-mustered faux honor guard was just being dismissed. Down the hallways of the first floor the Press was in a frenzy, having been forced into a state of imposed pandemonium by the diversion tactics just described. A gaggle of sweaty reporters and photographers, with their flashbulb-tower cameras swinging wildly by their lanyards, rushed by me to a stairwell leading to the basement where the morgue was located. One thought a child would have been trampled.

A little-known fact about the “grand entrance” scene was that the decorative bronze coffin borne by the Navy honor guard up the front steps of the hospital grand entrance—as seen on national TV—was empty. The body of the slain president with its exploded head was actually reposing in a common grey Navy coffin in the basement of the hospital—on the floor in the middle of the hallway outside the morgue entrance. Indeed, the show was really over now unless you could gain admittance to the morgue where the autopsy of the Presidents battered body would get under way that night—even if the time was approaching 2100 (9 P.M.) hours.

After I left duty at 2300 hours, I gathered some information from a corpsman that I knew personally who was billeted with me in my dormitory bay at Barracks 12. He surprised me by telling me he was friends with the two enlisted morgue attendants who were now assisting the Navy pathologists performing the autopsy on the President’s body. The corpsman I knew said he had tried to use his familiarity with the two morgue attendants to gain admittance to view the autopsy3. The corpsman I knew told me how he was rushing down the basement hall towards the morgue and had rounded the final corner a few feet from the entrance—and had almost tripped over the slain President’s coffin which was sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway outside the morgue. He felt badly about this—and also that his attempt to gain access to the morgue was thwarted by U.S. Marine guard personnel. I tried to put him at ease by making light of his failed attempts.

3(In those days at Bethesda, it was not unusual for a corpsman to be able to view an autopsy in the morgue or observe surgical procedures in the surgical suite observation dome.)

Knowing from TV News accounts that the color of the coffin carried into the main entrance of the hospital was an ornate bronze coffin—the same coffin the President’s body was placed in at Parkland Hospital—I asked the corpsman I knew what color the coffin was that he almost tripped-over. I became extremely interested when he said: “It was a Navy coffin.” I already knew that the Navy used plain, unadorned slate-grey coffins for transporting their dead. I replied to him: “It wasn’t bronze? A bronze colored coffin was carried through the main entrance.” He answered: “No, it was grey.”

The next day, I questioned the same corpsman that I knew as to what he had heard from his morgue attendant buddies. He told me they said to him that “they were not supposed to tell him, but” that,

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indeed, “surgery had been done on the body.” He said the morgue attendants told him they were sworn to secrecy for a period of “30 years” by the “CIA or the Secret Service” for what they observed.

After I digested this, my mind returned to the bronze coffin and the Navy coffin. I thought to myself: “they obviously switched coffins”. My common sense clicked-in and told me that the only feasible place to accomplish this was at Andrews AFB as the empty bronze coffin was borne by the honor guard through the grand entrance to the hospital, and the Navy coffin containing the President’s body was driven around to the rear entrance of the hospital—to the entrance nearest the morgue.

Switching coffins was probably this simple: They could have had a Navy ambulance with a Navy coffin on-board waiting on the tarmac at Andrews. Before they off-loaded the bronze coffin, they on-loaded the Navy coffin and simply switched the body bag with the dead President’s body in it—from the bronze coffin into the grey Navy coffin. This caused a slight delay, but hardly noticeable. No one on the plane could notice as everyone was forward of the rear disembarking door compartment.4 As they loaded the bronze coffin into the hearse, they also loaded the Navy coffin into the Navy ambulance and both vehicles joined the choreographed motorcade. They then assisted the now former First Lady into the hearse to accompany the empty bronze coffin (I have read that it was her request to ride with the coffin) and the motorcade started off towards Bethesda Naval Hospital.

4 (The interior of Air Force One is divided into many functional compartments.)

Shortly after November 22nd the national TV coverage of the JFK funeral faded and I found myself mingling with hundreds of tourist-mourners visiting the newly-installed JFK Eternal Flame at Arlington National Cemetery. Staring at the many piles of faded flowers surrounding the feebly flickering open gas flame licking out of its sooty base, I promised myself to start a study of the events surrounding this historical event in which God had peripherally placed me. As I trudged down the grassy slopes of Arlington—meandering pathways of grass now flattened by the feet of thousands of patriotic pilgrims— I thought to myself: “Something smells really fishy about this: he was murdered.” Like so many Americans, it was gut thinking at the time—but I have never believed otherwise.

Exploding Myths with Ballistics(Contents)

I am writing this somewhat scientific-theory-based study without including anything from the massive quantity of information surrounding this historical event. For those who do not know much about it, You Tube and the Internet are packed with dozens of videos and websites on the subject, some good, some very bad—and a lot in-between.

Following is a fair-quality video of the 8mm Zapruder film taken by amateur photographer, Abraham Zapruder, who happened to be at the right spot at the right time at Dealey Plaza. Since it was seized and then later released by the Federal government, we the people cannot rule-out that it was not edited to support the Warren Commission Report.5 When the video shows the limousine coming out

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from behind the highway sign, JFK has been hit in the throat. Quickly watch Governor Connelly’s cheeks puff-out as the shock wave of a bullet enters his lung. You can see this at point 041 on the slider. As he turns around you can see him go down and to his right as he disappears to the floor of the car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq1PbgeBoQ4&feature=related

5(A celluloid movie film is edited by snipping-out the undesirable frames and reconnecting the ends before copies are made.)

Governor Connally was hit in the back between the two fatal shots that hit JFK. The Governor confirms this in this interview on November 27, 1963: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP04_lGjkO0

Warren Commission: “All Three Shots Came from the Rear”

The conclusion of the Warren Commission was that President Kennedy was hit by two out of three rifle shots coming from his rear; firstly in his back and secondly at the top rear of his head, both coming from the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) at a “21°” angle*. However, multiple gun reports and smoke were established as heard and seen by many witnesses coming from areas to the rear, front and sides of the limousine—and from the “grassy knoll” to the President’s right. (The first image on page 13 will help you with perspective.) *http://www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol6/html/HSCA_Vol6_0026b.htm

However, there is no motion picture evidence that Kennedy’s “first hit in the back”6 was with a high power rifle bullet from a military rifle, as this would have, at most, thrown him off the back seat and onto the floor of the limousine, or, at the least, not left him in an upright sitting position to receive the frontal throat shot. If you will recall from the Zapruder film, this is exactly what happened to Governor John Connally; he could not remain seated and ended up on the floor, with his wife diving down on top of him.

6(At 100 yards, longer than the estimated range from the TSBD 6th floor, the 162 grain Mannlicher-Carcano projectile would have 1487 foot pounds of energy (Hornady.com/ballistics)

To further defeat the “3 shots from the rear” position taken by the Warren Commission, there is great physical evidence supporting the forehead shot. It is photographic evidence from an autopsy photo showing an entry wound on the forehead and another image showing a massive exit wound in the right occipital-parietal area of the skull . Also, Parkland Hospital physicians’ eye-witness testimony depicted an entrance wound just below the Adam’s apple and also the right rear massive exit wound. (Documentation following.)

When Kennedy was hit by both front shots, the Zapruder film shows the resultant reactions of the body from taking both shots. The first frontal shot (throat shot) entered exactly at the midline just below the Adam’s apple and probably struck cervical (neck) vertebra number 7 (C-7). I say this, as just below the Adam’s apple, is very close, if not at, the level of C-7. When it struck C-7, it fragmented and two fragments exited through the back. JFK’s shoulders were forced to the rear7 during the impact, making him sit bolt upright—with him reflexively grasping his throat. The second shot (forehead shot)

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knocked his head to the rear and to his left. The shock wave of the projectile caused an explosive extrusion out the right occipital (rear) skull and right temporal skull (thinner bone), forcibly atomizing a large portion of pulverized brain. A large temporal scalp flap is plainly visible on the film.8 This evidence leads me to conclude that Kennedy took shots: one to the throat and one to the forehead—and these were exclusively two frontal shots—both fatal.

7(…in the opisthotonos position, or hyperextension of the trunk due to spinal cord trauma…)8(The projectile hydrostatic shock wave was dissipated with the bursting of the temporal skull (thinner bone) and occipital skull from resultant hydrostatic shock wave pressure—the same result as shooting a full can of soda with a hypersonic projectile, which results in hydrostatic shock waves bursting the can into pieces.)

Bearing in mind the slightly bowed position of the president's head and shoulders at the time of the head-shot impact, a bullet entering the rear of the head at the “21°” TSBD shot angle would create an entrance wound (very small and round) in the occipital-parietal (rear) skull bones and effect a massive exit wound on the side and the front of the face which would have been grossly distorted (which it was not). Instead, the Zapruder film shows a definite rearward and left impact momentum of the head and shoulders, this being the expected effect of a frontal bullet strike from the right-front.

This is a repeat action .GIF clip of the President’s forehead impact. Watch also Governor Connally’s actions, his wife’s actions and the driver of the limousine ducking from the sound of the rifle shot. You must be on-line to view the video.

.GIF of Kennedy Head Shot—CAUTION: GRAPHIC: (To return to this page, close-out the video.)file:///C:/www.homedefenseschool.com/HEAD%20SHOT.html

A separate shot from the rear definitely wounded Governor John Connally causing an exit wound on his chest. The bullet continued in-flight and penetrated and broke his right wrist and buried itself in his thigh muscle. There is so much movement by Connally that it is difficult to say where the bullet came from, but, again, you can see at slider position 041 of the Zapruder film that Connally’s cheeks puff-out from the shock wave of the bullet passing through his lung. This is exactly when he was hit—before Kennedy’s head shot. The fact that the single bullet passed through his ribs, broke his wrist and entered his thigh says that it was a heavy grain, spitzer (pointed) penetrating bullet—behaving exactly like a Geneva Convention military bullet approved for warfare. Yes, this could have been a Carcano bullet, but not the Warren Commission’s exhibit bullet (photo following). I am not going to try to confirm where the shot came from. My first guess is to say that it was fired at Kennedy from the TSBD 6th floor window, missed him and struck Connally—but as far as I’m concerned it’s anybody’s guess as there are many buildings in an around Dealey Plaza.

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The “Single” Bullet(Contents)

Contrary to the Warren Commission's position that a single bullet penetrated the President’s back, exited his chest and followed a straight line through Connally’s chest, wrist and stopping in his thigh, is, when examined in the light of physics, impossible; as any bullet that strikes that much tissue and bone loses its trajectory (in-flight bullet path) and energy—and also loses its pristine shape.9 To say that this brass-plated lead core bullet did all that damage to bone and muscle in Kennedy’s and Connally’s bodies and come out looking new, is not in the least to be believed.

The above photo is a picture of the lead core, brass-jacketed bullet that the Warren Commission claimed as passing through Kennedy's clothes and back and Connally's clothes, ribs and wrist bones, ending-up burying itself in Connally’s thigh.

The above bullet in the picture appears to have been rodded through a rifle barrel to give it rifling marks, as almost any solid or liquid target the Mannlicher-Carcano bullet would have been fired into would leave the bullet misshapen. I am not aware of firing a bullet into any medium and having it come out looking new (including ordinance gelatin) except maybe a huge pile of loose cotton wadding.

Following is a screen shot taken from the video The Secret KGB JFK Assassination Files. The Russians were concerned that they were going to be blamed for the killing of JFK, so they opened their own investigation of the incident at Dealey Plaza. They did ballistic testing on the Mannlicher-Carcano cartridge and bullet. The below photo was taken after the distorted bullets pictured were recovered after penetrating large chunks of animal meat used for testing purposes. As you can plainly see, the brass-jacketed, lead core bullets were deformed from their original shape, as any like bullet would be deformed. The Warren Commission “single bullet” should appear as such.

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Deformed Mannlicher-Carcano bullets after penetrating a large chunk of animal meat.www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB-Li6jztPA

Additionally, here is a picture of a Speer .308 caliber, 165 grain round nose (RN) hunting bullet that was recovered from a 130 pound deer after passing through both chest walls and lodging, ironically, in the right leg. The bullet lost 54 grains of weight during fragmentation:

Here is a new Speer, .308 caliber, 180 grain round nose (RN) hunting bullet:

9(A single bullet–6.5 mm, .255 cal, 162 grain Carcano—such as “Oswald’s bullet”, which has a muzzle velocity of only 2300 fps at 1800 foot/pounds of energy at the muzzle (end of the gun barrel)—is capable of doing considerable sustained damage from one shot—but could not do the damage that the “single-bullet-theory” bullet was claimed to have done and still come out looking almost-new as the above photograph shows and the Warren Commission claims.)

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The Mannlicher-Carcano Rifle and Cartridge(Contents)

The “Lee Harvey Oswald and His Rifle” PhotoThe Warren Commission published this photo in its report to support their stance that Oswald was the only assassin.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/cold-case-jfk.html(PBS’s JFK: Cold Case is a one-sided report supporting the Warren Commission.)

The photo was obviously faked because, at eye level, the chin is above the top of the shoulder, thus abnormally elongating the neck. Normal anatomy is that, at eye level, the top of shoulder is above the chin. Also, the head is too big for the size of the body photographed. To prove this, look in the mirror at yourself.

The Rifle and Its AttributesAfter decades of an aspiring interest in events and evidence related to the JFK assassination, one must reasonably to come to conclusions that fly in the face of the Warren Commission. I have never believed in the report of the Commission since it was published some 50 years ago. Like many veterans, I have had a lifelong association with firearms and I have came to the conclusion that if professional, experienced assassins had their choice of weapons and ammunition to carry-out the JFK assassination, they would not choose a vintage World War I Carcano rifle (an Italian military rifle developed from 1889-91) firing a relatively slow-velocity bullet10 with less-than-desirable accuracy.

10(Zeroed at 250 yards, the Carcano 162 grain bullet has a +6.0 inch rise from the muzzle at 104 yards, the average estimated distance of the two shot impact distances at Dealey Plaza a velocity of 2010 feet per second and 1453 foot-pounds of energy—using standard military ammunition. Estimated shot distances from the railroad underpass are 133 yards for the throat shot and 75 yards for the head shot.)

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Note: (“The standard Italian service round used an unstable round-nosed bullet with a propensity to tumble, whether hitting soft tissue/ballistic gel or harder material such as bone……..The Italian government adopted the Mannlicher-Carcano M-91 bolt action rifle and the 6.5x52mm cartridge in 1891. This rifle and cartridge served the Italian military through two World Wars. The M-91's used in WW II were, in the main, not very well made rifles; nor were they particularly accurate. Although the M-91 was always nominally a 6.5mm rifle, during the long years of production the bore and groove sizes of barrels varied considerably, which certainly did not help the rifle's reputation for accuracy. At least some (and perhaps all) M-91 TS Carbines were rifled with an unusual gain twist in their handy 21" barrel. By the end of the Second World War many of the M-91's had actions that were rather loose. In addition, the Mannlicher-Carcano action is not an easy one to adopt to a telescopic sight, although it can be done……For all of these reasons the M-91 is not the best military rifle to use as a sporter--in fact it is probably one of the worst. They are, however, inexpensive.”) http://www.chuckhawks.com/mannlicher-carcano_rifle.htm

With the above information in mind, I am thinking that, in 1963, carefully-picked professional assassins would choose an optimum cartridge, like the one introduced in 1955, the .243 Winchester.11 This cartridge quickly became popular world-wide as a hunting cartridge for its high velocity and flat trajectory.12 The cartridge became known for its high degree of accuracy. 13

11(The popular Winchester Model 70 bolt action rifle was the first rifle to be chambered in the .243 Winchester.)12(straight in-flight bullet path)

13(Using 250 yard zeroing, the .243 Winchester bullet has only a +1.4 inch rise from the muzzle at 100 yards. At 250 yards, it would be dead-on. With a 65 grain bullet, at 100 yards, it has a velocity of 3415 feet per second and 1683 foot pounds of energy. (Hornady.com ballistics)

Another cartridge to consider for possible use at Dealey Plaza is the .220 Swift by Winchester.14 It was introduced in 1935 and became popular for varmint hunting and even for harvesting small deer, using a hollow-point bullet.

14(Using 250 yard zeroing with the .220 Swift results in an uncorrected shot rising less than 2 inches on the target at 100 yards. At 250 yards, it would be dead-on. The .220 Swift cartridge, with a 60 grain bullet, at 100 yards, has a velocity of 3176 feet per second, 1344 foot pounds of energy and a +1.9 inch rise at the muzzle, us.)

Note on 250 Yard Zeroing(I have chosen to virtually zero all three rifles in this report at 250 yards as this gives the flattest trajectory from the muzzle out to 300+ yards. This 250 yard zeroing also demonstrates the flat-trajectory/accuracy of the .220 Swift and the .243 Winchester bullets over the Mannlicher-Carcano bullet. The bullet drop in trajectory for the three cartridges when zeroed at 250 yards is: At 300 yards: Mannlicher-Carcano = -8 inches; .243 Winchester = -2.3 inches; .220 Swift = -3.0 inches. Considering accuracy, either the .243 or the .220 cartridge would be quite superior to the Mannlicher-Carcano cartridge, with the .243 edging-out the .220. Of the three cartridges considered, which cartridge would you choose to use in your rifle as a hunting or anti-personnel cartridge from a distance of zero to 300 yards? Ballistics from Hornady.com.)

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Dealey Plaza(Contents)

The following pictures are of Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. After considering the possible angles of fire in an assassination attempt involving a moving target driving through the Plaza, the only one that is feasible to me is from behind the cement guard rail on top of the railroad underpass.15 “Puffs of smoke” were reported by some interviewers in early assessments of the assassination events. These “puffs of smoke” appearing on top of the underpass were included alongside remarks of “puffs of smoke” coming from the “grassy knoll.”

15(An example of a head-on, almost straight-in-line shot at an approaching target in which the second shot would be easier than the first.)

Shortly after November 22, 1963, I read the reports of at least one man seen with a rifle on the top of the railroad underpass, with “puffs of smoke” being observed. These reports were apparently not investigated and soon after initial publication—disappeared from the media. The testimony of “RR tracks”, “RR yard” or “Underpass” mentioned; (12 “RR Tracks”+ 7 “RR Yard” + 9 “Underpass”) equals 28 times the railroad underpass was witnessed as the source of gunshots in eyewitness accounts given to the Warren Commission. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/earwitnesses.htm

After completing two—not extremely difficult—straight-on head shots of less than 150 yards, it would be quite simple for a man to escape by making his way down the retaining wall on the far side of the railroad underpass, a position where no one on the School Book Depository side of the underpass could observe. A car parked on the shoulder of the Simmons freeway entry ramp could have been there waiting for the assassin. The shooter would only have to duck behind the cement guard rail on the other side of the tracks and wait for the limousine and its escorts to pass under on its way to the hospital via the freeway—and then make his escape.

In the final analysis, the railroad underpass shooting position, with its nominal 5° angle (diagram on p. 20), is an extremely more desirable position than firing from 6 floors up in the Texas School Book Depository building— shooting through the branches of a tree at a 6-inch target moving away from you at a “21°” angle*—requiring robust bullet flight-path correction adjustments—using a vintage WWI rifle. To me it’s a no-brainer. *http://www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol6/html/HSCA_Vol6_0026b.htm

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View from the “assassin’s” window overlooking the parade route on the 6th

floor of the TSBD. The underpass can be seen in the background.

You are in the limousine approaching the underpass at You are riding in this car approachingthe head-shot location. Adam Zapruder is at the highway the underpass. By the sign is Zapruder. sign, about 75 yards from the guardrail. A man lying prone A telescopic rifle sight makes you lookbehind the guardrail is unnoticeable. up to 9 times larger.

Key in all of this is the position of Abraham Zapruder, who stood directly opposite the head-shot location with his camera pointed straight to the President’s right who was crossing—left to right—directly in front of him. The fact that the “grassy knoll” is 180 degrees behind Zapruder and 90° to the President’s right, excludes head shots from the knoll, as these shots would have entered the RIGHT side of the President’s head and exited on the LEFT side, probably killing Jackie Kennedy or at the very least wounding her or splattering her head with blood and brain tissue. These sequelae did not happen. The position of the throat entrance wound and the entrance wound to the President’s head and exit wounds to his head and back preclude fatal shots taken from the “grassy knoll” behind Abraham Zapruder. Because of eyewitness reports, I cannot rule out “triangulated” shots taken from the knoll at a target moving left to right in front of the shooter. There may have been planned diversions and multiple choreographed shooting positions.

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Picture 1. The two bullet impacts (Red dots) and Abraham Zapruder (Blue dot—at head shot).The red dot where the people are standing is my estimated location of the throat shot.

Picture 2. From the underpass: Throat Shot = Estimated at 133 yards or 400 ft. (far right red dot). Head Shot = Estimated at 75 yards or 225 ft. (red dot by Zapruder blue dot). Shooter(s) is red dot on

top of the railroad underpass.

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Picture 3. The limousine route (blue line) past the shooter(s) (red dot on underpass) and the possible escape car (red circle).

Picture 4. Possible escape of the shooter(s): (car follows limousine onto freeway).

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The Throat Shot (Contents)

It is my opinion that the shooter(s) chose to fire from the underpass because of being only 12-17 feet higher than the limousine.16 They would have to “shoot low” to compensate for the forward motion of the oncoming car, but at a very low angle of fire—as little as 5° (diagram, p. 20). In other words, if they shot at JFK from an elevation above him, the forward motion of the limousine results in the bullet striking above where they aimed. This being the case, it only makes sense that they would choose a position that gave them the lowest angle of fire. Even then, I think, as I said before, that the throat shot was an over-corrected head shot, and hit low—at the throat. The head shot was, concomitantly, slightly under-corrected as it hit high on the forehead, almost missing Kennedy.

16(Road clearance for the underpass was about 15-18 feet. The shooter(s) were at an elevation about 12-17 feet higher than the President’s head in the back seat of the limousine—his head being about 3 feet above ground level. This accounts for the accommodating shallow angle of fire; the elevations yielding a shot angle of as little as 5°. The angle of fire from the 6th floor of the TSBD has been estimated at 21°) http://www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol6/html/HSCA_Vol6_0026b.htm

The bullet that entered the throat had the same hydrostatic shock wave energy as the head-shot bullet, but it was visually less evident as the wound path on the inside of the body is elastic; opposed to the skull bones which are not elastic. As soon as the bullet hit the cervical (neck) vertebra (probably C-7—diagram to follow), undoubtedly doing severe damage to the spinal cord, it was deflected downwards and fragmented, exiting the back through two small exit wounds about at the level of thoracic 3 vertebra (T-3) and thoracic 4 vertebra (T-4), having deflected downwards only 2-3 inches. These exit wounds were small with ragged edges, as the remaining fragments were small and the shock wave had already dissipated inside the body. (pictures follow)

The wound to the throat was witnessed as an entry wound by Parkland Hospital physicians but it was obscured by the exaggerated tracheostomy incision performed following that observation. Parkland Hospital physicians made no mention of any exit wounds from the throat, nor any mention of a back entrance wound.

Kennedy’s throat wound was obliterated by an exaggerated tracheostomy incision made transversely across the “1/4 inch” throat bullet entrance wound, thus obscuring it. This was indeed performed at Parkland Hospital by Dr. Malcolm Perry. Published autopsy photos show that this tracheostomy wound was done in an exaggerated fashion, as the wound is about twice as large as necessary (I have witnessed tracheostomy incisions being performed). Before the tracheostomy was performed in the ER at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, doctors there testified that the throat wound was a small “entrance-type” wound. These physicians and surgeons were accustomed to seeing this type of wound as shooting victims were routinely brought to the ER at Parkland. The throat wound has been described by Parkland physicians Dr. Malcolm Perry and Dr. Ronald Jones, and these testimonies establish the wound as an entrance wound and eliminate it as an exit wound:

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“Actually it looked like an entrance wound and the bullet appeared to be coming at him and I based that mainly on the fact it was a small wound to the neck and without any other information.” – Dr. Malcolm Perry

“The neck wound—very few people saw that. I didn't even wipe the blood off on the right side, so I estimated it at five millimeters or so of exuding blood and I cut right through it, as Dr. Jones knows, so nobody else saw it after that. It was small.” – Dr. Malcolm Perry

“Addressing the neck wound that we initially looked at; I thought it was with a very small range of a quarter of an inch or something like that.” – Dr. Ronald Jones

“Then Dr. Jones in his testimony to the Warren Commission,… (this is Packet MD 98. On Page 53) …he says there was a small wound at the midline of the neck and a large wound in the right posterior side of the head, a large – later: ‘there was a large defect in the back side of the head.’” – Mr. Gunn, ARRB Investigator, University of Texas Southwest Medical Center.

MR. GUNN: “Could you describe about how big the tracheostomy wound was that you cut?DR. MALCOLM PERRY: “I've been asked this a lot. Of course, some of them said it was too big for a surgeon but my reply to that was that it was big enough. There are only two medical emergencies, airway & bleeding. Everything else can wait. This just couldn't wait, and I had no idea how big it was. I made it big enough.” http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/parkland_arrb/park_arrb.htm

A very excellent summary of the frontal wounds to President Kennedy is contained in the History Channel video, “The Men Who Killed Kennedy”, Part 7, “Smoking Guns”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ9RkzyeW8A

The Head Shot(Contents)

The second frontal shot entered just at the right hairline above the right eyebrow as indicated in the following autopsy photo(s). It fragmented at once upon piercing the forehead skull and the resultant hydrostatic shock wave exploded the skull contents through the thin bones of the right temporal area and then exited through the right occipital-parietal (right rear) skull bones, leaving an extremely large exit wound. Parkland Hospital physicians will testify to this, following.

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POSTERIOR ANTERIOREntry point is at large red dot but is occluded by skull bonedue to the lateral exposure. Bullet fragments are circled.

Bone chips in an expanding pattern can be seen.

A considerable portion of the brain tissue was vaporized upon impact as shown on still frames of the Zapruder film. Also visible in the frames is a large scalp flap at the right temporal location. The original volume of brain tissue has never been recovered.

A piece of supporting evidence as to the frontal nature of the final shot to the President’s forehead is gained by viewing, in a repetitious loop, the exact moment of the impact to the President’s forehead. In the following repeat action .GIF image, the moment of impact is viewed and the resultant force of the bullet throws the President’s head to the rear. To ascertain that this is not a backwards-played-forward clip, you can see Mrs. Kennedy, in an uninterrupted progression, reflex action to save herself—after Governor Connally had exclaimed: “My God, they are going to kill us all!”. She even pushes the President’s head aside to clear her path. When the below link is opened, JFK is already shot in the throat and Governor Connally has just been hit and collapses to the floor of the limousine. Watch also Governor Connally’s wife’s actions and the driver of the limousine ducking from the sound of the rifle shot. You must be on-line to view the video.

.GIF of Kennedy Head Shot—CAUTION: GRAPHIC (To return to this page, close-out the video.) www.homedefenseschool.com/Zapruder%20Head%20Shot%20Replay.html

At Parkland Hospital (Contents)

After the shots were fired, President Kennedy and Governor Connally were rushed via Simmons Freeway to the Parkland Hospital Emergency Room. Before he expired, JFK was examined by more than three staff physicians and the ER charge nurse. The nurse and the physicians confirm that there was a massive wound to the right aspect of the right occipital-parietal skull bones (right side of the back of the head), with missing bone. The following photos speak for themselves.

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Parkland Hospital Physicians and Emergency Room Charge Nurse

Re-creation based on the Parkland doctors’ Wound paths approximate Dallas Drs. description description of the head wound. and conflict with government version. Head shot angle was actually high forehead to behind the ear, and throat shot was more straight out the back.

The Autopsy (Contents)

Shortly after the body of the slain President arrived at Bethesda, an autopsy was about to get under-way. One of the blatantly obvious actions performed was to take the huge scalp flap created by the expulsion of skull contents and position it for cameras in order to hide the massive exit wound.

Head was not erect but bent slightly forward.

Angles are not precise.

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RR Underpass Shot Angle

Bullet path (by author) from top of railroad underpass. The autopsist pulls the scalp flap over the massive Note temporal expulsion flap and occipital expulsion. occipital exit wound, ignoring the visible temporal flap.

It is my opinion that during the autopsy, photographs and X-rays were taken and altered or replaced, at a later date, with ones of traumatized skulls. Also it is my opinion that diagrams were prepared that in no wise represented the actual train of physical events impacting the body of the slain President during his assassination at Dealey Plaza. There is a vast array of actual images and diagrams on the Internet, taken from the released autopsy files.

The following photographs are especially revealing. It was a mistake to release these photos if a cover-up was intended, but I think that the alleged instigators assumed that the American public would not question what their government told them. I believe that this assumption led them to be careless about what was released, thinking that the photos were going to be archived away permanently. Since the assassination, however, we now have the Freedom of Information Act and these photos speak for themselves and say the truth about the frontal entrance wound and the huge burst posterior exit wound, caused by hydrostatic shock waves from the hypersonic projectile.17 In my estimation, the two rifle bullets that struck the President from the front were not Carcano projectiles and, given the yardage downrange, were traveling at a hypersonic rate of between 3000 and 3400 feet per second, following a very flat trajectory. This combination of velocity and trajectory gives tremendous accuracy and devastating hydrostatic shock.

17(Hypersonic projectile velocity starts at above 1100 feet per second. Ballistics calculations for this report were generated from ballistics tables at Hornady.com, applying the estimated distances in Dealey Plaza photos. At the average estimated ranges, Carcano projectiles would travel at about 2000 feet per second with a 6+ inch upwards deviation from zero, again, if zeroed at 250 yards. This would give very questionable accuracy for a “head shot” at a moving target, but with adequate hydrostatic shock. It’s a matter of choice and I think a

Elevation 12-17 ft. higher and 75 yards in front yielded a shot angle as low as 5°.

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professional assassin would choose a cartridge like the .220 Swift or the .243 Winchester cartridge rather than the vintage Carcano cartridge.)

Note on Zeroing a Rifle (Most telescopic sights available to the public are calibrated for 100 yard zeroing. However, an experienced hunter does not limit his shooting distance to 100 yards, but mostly zeroes his rifle to achieve the flattest trajectory to allow for minimal correction efforts. Combat-zeroing for iron sights in the U.S. Army for the M-16 series rifle is 300 yards: “5. Sight setting. Your rifle sights should be kept set to a combat zero of 300 meters.”) http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/m16a2/zero-and-m16a2-rifle.shtml

1. Autopsy photo with haloed forehead entrance 2. Upright perspective of No. 1 better shows wound (arrow) by temporal flap with bone. missing area of R. rear skull (occipital-parietal).

Robert McClelland, MD drawing. 3. Photo identified as the head exit wound consistent with above photos. View is of the upright rear of the skull (as in drawing) with scalp flap folded up towards the top of the head.

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Charles Crenshaw, MD drawing 5. Model of wound path. Note R. temporal flap from thin temporal bone burst outwards. Number 1 of the autopsy photos (above) show the head resting on its left occipital skull bone (behind the ears) on the autopsy table. There has been a metal table head pad inserted under the back part of the head to stabilize it. Some of the right rear portion of the skull is obviously missing18, as some of the volume of the right occipital skull is taken up by the metal table head pad as in Picture 2. Plainly visible is a scalp flap, folded up to the top of the head, plus the temporal flap with bone.

18(The evacuation at the back of the head was created by projectile waveform cavitation and the resultant hydrostatic shock effect that pressurized the inside of the cranium, thus exploding the skull and expulsing brain matter out of the thin right temporal bone and then out the right occipital-parietal bone at the right rear of the head—weakened by the piercing of bullet fragments. The thin right temporal bone gave way to the hydrostatic shock and burst out to the right as plainly seen in a Zapruder film frame. The scalp remained attached to the head because it is thick, strong and elastic. This is the reason that the skull bones can be blown out and away and the scalp will remain attached. The scalp bursts like a balloon but most of it remains intact and attached. The Warren Commission rationale that a rear head shot caused the photographed damage to the cranium is not supported by classic entry/exit bullet wound pathology: An entrance bullet wound is small, neat and round, usually with an ecchymotic (bruised) area around it—like the wound above the right eye at the hair line as seen in two of the above images. An exit wound from a high velocity bullet is large, ragged, and has a burst surface pattern.)

At the hairline directly above the right eye (Pictures 1 and 2) is a neat circle/dot partially surrounded by a darkened halo which I have interpreted as an entrance wound19 from a small, very high-velocity spitzer-nosed (pointed) bullet such as a .220 (.220 inch) caliber Swift or a .243 (.243 inch) caliber Winchester high velocity bullet—both bullets having a muzzle velocity of about 3600-3900 feet per second—which produces a flat and accurate trajectory. The darkened halo around the hole is characteristic of a bullet entrance wound and is caused by impact bruising; leaving a circular ecchymotic (bruised) area in the scalp around the entrance wound.

19(“A 16-mm film, slides and black and white photos of the Kennedy autopsy showed what appeared to be an entry wound in the right frontal area (of the head) with a corresponding exit wound in the lower rear of the skull.” These observations were observed by Lt. Cdr. William Pitzer, assistant head of the Graphic Arts Department and Chief of the Educational Television Division at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, MD— which is located on the same campus as Bethesda Naval Hospital. Another witness, a Navy Petty Officer

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and close friend, corroborated his observation. In 1966, Lt. Cdr. Pitzer was found in his office at NNMC—dead of a gunshot wound to his temple.) http://www.manuscriptservice.com/Pitzer/Article-1.html)

Parkland Physicians’ Descriptions of the Head Trauma:

"I could very closely examine the head wound, and I noted that the right posterior portion of the skull had been extremely blasted. It had been shattered...so that the parietal bone was protruded up through the scalp and seemed to be fractured almost along its right posterior half, as well as some of the occipital bone being fractured in its lateral half, and this sprung open the bones that I mentioned in such a way that you could actually look down into the skull cavity itself and see that probably a third or so, at least, of the brain tissue, posterior cerebral tissue and some of the cerebellar tissue had been blasted out.” – Robert McClelland, MD

“It extended from the approximate center of the skull in the back to just behind the right ear, utilizing a left to right orientation and from a position a couple of inches above the right ear to the approximate middle of the right ear utilizing a top to bottom orientation." – Charles Crenshaw, M.D.

“The wound was on the back of his head. On the back side" They lifted up the head and "the whole back-side was gone." –Richard Brooks Dulaney, MD This is a link to the physicians’ findings at Parkland. There is another link on the page to the government findings at Bethesda. The findings at Bethesda list many conflicts and contradictions: http://www.paulseaton.com/jfk/boh/parkland_boh/parkland_wound.htm

The Back Wounds(Contents)

Explaining its “single bullet theory”, the Warren Commission maintains that there was at least one rifle bullet from the Carcano rifle that struck the President in the back, at “6 inches” below the neck and to the right of the spine. That there is no exit wound in the chest due to the transverse anterior penetration of a heavy military spitzer (pointed) Geneva Convention penetrating bullet is remarkable, as there was ample energy in the military rifle bullet to transverse the thorax and exit on the anterior chest, as is exactly what happened to Governor Connally. Remarkable also is the fact that, according to the Commission, no bullet fragments were removed from the body except the pristine Carcano “single bullet” pictured above, yet bullet fragments are seen on X-rays of the cranium 20 .

20(It is reported that parts of the autopsy report have disappeared and have not been recovered)

In my opinion, I find that the throat wound and the back wounds were made by the same bullet— contrary to the Commission’s explanation. There was no separate throat wound and no separate back wound. The first frontal shot entered the throat anteriorly, at the midline, just below the Adams’ apple, at the level of cervical vertebra 7; smashed into it, fragmented and deflected slightly downward.

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Two of its fragments exited at the two points indicated on the autopsy photos of the President’s back as shown in the below photos, at the levels of, and slightly to the right of, thoracic vertebra 3 and thoracic vertebra 4—which is two or three inches lower than the level of the Adam’s apple.

This is extremely important: Governor Connally suffered a back wound from the Carcano rifle and the bullet exited his chest anteriorly, broke and transpierced his wrist, and buried itself in his thigh21. If Kennedy had suffered a back wound from the same Carcano rifle, his body would also have an exit wound in his anterior chest wall. Since there is no exit wound on the President’s chest, he suffered no back wound from the Carcano rifle.

21(typical performance of a heavy penetrating military rifle bullet)

However, the Commission maintains that there was a back wound that deflected upwards and out the throat at the level of the tracheostomy incision and continued to do damage to Governor Connally’s chest, wrist and thigh. This is an impossible claim, considering the mid-air angle changes the bullet would have to make and the energy that the bullet would lose, plus exiting in a pristine condition. Also, decades later, this report about President Gerald Ford (a member of the Warren Commission) has surfaced:

“It is also now known that Ford made a key change in the commission's final report—a change that made the single-shooter theory easier to believe. He revised the description of the bullet wound in President Kennedy's back and placed it higher to make "the magic bullet" theory plausible, enabling the commission to conclude that Oswald was the lone gunman.”http://www.crimemagazine.com/former-president-ford-admits-cia-compromised-warren-commissions-probe-jfk-assassination

Here are two autopsy photos of the back and chest areas:

At least one of the wounds nearest the ruler is claimed The chest shows no exit wound from an upperby the Warren Commission to be an entrance wound. back shot from a WWII 162 grain military rifle penetrating projectile. Note enlarged trach incision. I maintain that the two wounds near the autopsist’s ruler are exit wounds at the levels of, and slightly to the right of, thoracic-3 and thoracic-4 vertebrae. The bullet entered anteriorly at the midline of the throat, at the level of the cervical-7 vertebra (see vertebral diagram, following). The bullet then struck

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cervical-7 vertebra, causing, as previously noted, the condition known as the opisthotonos position, or stark hyperextension of the trunk occurring at the instant of spinal cord injury. This condition was described as applying to the President when he suffered the throat shot by Parkland physicians Dr. Paul Peters and Dr. Malcolm Perry. As already elucidated, the light, high velocity projectile, after striking the bone of the cervical vertebrae, then deformed, fragmented, deflected slightly downwards and exited the back through the two photographed ragged exit wounds, two or three inches lower than the Adam’s apple. Photo enlargements follow.

Neither of these wounds conform to what would be expected if they were entrance wounds caused by high velocity projectiles (neat, round, with ecchymotic ring—like the forehead entrance wound), as they have the rough irregular edges caused by exiting bullet fragments. The shock wave caused by the projectile was absorbed by the erratic elastic wound path inside the body, leaving no gaping hole. The head shot was another matter as the skull bone could not expand and contract to absorb the shock wave—it had to burst to dissipate the shock wave.

The two jagged exit wounds by the autopsist’s ruler are about at the level of, and slightly to the right of, T-3 and T-4. The entry level was about at C-7. T-1 is also marked. Count downwards to T-3 and T-4.

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The phenomenon of erratic post-impact terminal ballistics, which is highly unusual to the general public, was actually commonplace during the Vietnam War. Recently, I encountered a three-tour Marine Staff Sergeant who served routinely as a Platoon Commander. He described a bullet path of an M-16 rifle projectile22 as “entering the upper abdomen and exiting through the buttocks” of an NVA (North Vietnamese Army) soldier. Light, high-powered rifle projectiles like the M-193 projectile, the .243 caliber Winchester and .220 Swift are well-known to deflect and fragment inside a target. This is the reason that these light, high velocity bullets, although they do great damage to body tissues, do not penetrate brush and high grass well but are deflected by such from their intended targets. This was a minor disadvantage to using the M-16 rifle in the jungles of South Vietnam.

22(55 grain, 5.56mm, .224 cal, M-193, Nominal 3200 f.p.s. MV, up to 1:14 barrel twist in 1965)

Epilogue(Outline)

If one studies the events surrounding the JFK assassination long enough, I believe that most people will come to the conclusion that the entire JFK assassination event was premeditated, choreographed and executed in a precise manner. To support this claim, it is important to know that Oswald’s locations during the assassination events were established, not by police or FBI investigators, but by witnesses alone. No witness placed him on the 6th floor of the School Book Depository Building. I believe that his being accused as the lone assassin of President Kennedy, along with the killing of Officer J.D. Tippit, was a set-up—and included in the Warren Commission Report. Of those who had any connection with Lee Harvey Oswald and his alleged CIA contacts or Jack Ruby and his cronies, dozens—unbelievably—were found dead of various causes within a little more than a decade after 1963. The most frequent causes of death were murders and accidental deaths, the frequency of such deaths vastly exceeding the same percentages present in the general population.http://themanfrom2063.com/strange-deaths-witnesses-individuals-connected-jfk-assassination/

Among these deaths was one that I learned about after I had arrived in South Vietnam for duty in the Fleet Marine Force of the US Navy. I had been assigned to the 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division at Dong Ha. The news of the death struck me with great interest, as the death was that of a Lieutenant Commander William Pitzer, assistant head of the Graphic Arts Department and Chief of the Educational Television Division of the Naval Medical School, National Naval Medical Center (same campus as Bethesda Naval Hospital). He had a top-secret security clearance at the time of his death and had been processing the photographs of the Kennedy autopsy. Even though physical evidence pointed towards a homicide—the death was ruled a suicide. Pitzer was a happily-married man with a family and a successful Naval officer. http://www.manuscriptservice.com/Pitzer/Article-1.html

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Conclusion(Outline)

All of the officially-sponsored investigations of the JFK assassination were carefully constructed to produce lies that protected the establishment position—from the Warren Commission investigation to PBS's NOVA: "Cold Case JFK", to the House Select Committee on Assassinations.* These investigations completely ignore the testimonies of the four prominent physicians who examined JFK’s body at Parkland Hospital. These were the only physicians who did so besides government physicians.

*Despite the biased proceedings supporting exclusively the Warren Commissions “findings”, the House Select Committee contradicted itself in preserving this statement about the assassination events: that the analysis "does not preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_Assassinations#Ballistic_Analysis

Speaking for myself, the author, the JFK murder case is closed. In my opinion, the entrenched Washington establishment (came to power during WWII) killed him because he would have been successful in putting an anti-establishment, constitutional and non-belligerent Kennedy-run administration in Washington for 24 years. He was hated for who he was and how he would have reformed the government. After the botched "Bay of Pigs" Cuban invasion, he literally defunded and dismantled the CIA; intending to rebuild it. With that, and his intention not to commit massive numbers of troops to Vietnam, thus offending the “military industrial complex.” Kennedy gave the establishment a vision of his future presidency , thus signing his own death warrant. The reasons JFK was killed are contained in the following synopses:

1. The "Military Industrial Complex"*: President Dwight Eisenhower warned the nation about the "Military Industrial Complex" in his 1960 farewell speech. This consortium of power pushed President Lyndon Johnson's Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through Congress, enabling Johnson, a long-time member of the government establishment, to eventually send 500,000 troops to Vietnam. Vietnam was America's first preemptive war—we lost it, with 58,000 dead, over 100,000 wounded and $258 billion taxpayer dollars spent. Kennedy held many meetings of the National Security Council in the basement of the White House on how to solve the Vietnam problem without committing massive numbers of troops.

*(The War Materials Industry and their lobbyists, the U.S. General Staff and their lobbied members of the House and Senate)

2. The Bay of Pigs political fallout: Because of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, JFK fired Allen Dulles and Richard Bissell, the two iconic CIA figures who had built the CIA in to an extremely powerful and almost uncontrollable government agency. In addition, JFK defunded the CIA—throwing many high-ranking and long-standing CIA senior staff out of work. In addition, the Cuban CIA operatives in Cuba were extremely angered by Kennedy’s action of cancelling air strikes on the foreign soil of a now sovereign nation—Cuba. This led to the capture of the CIA invading force.

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3. JFK was openly supportive of Martin Luther King and civil rights for African-Americans, a stance which was bitterly opposed by J. Edgar Hoover of the F.B.I.

4. JFK was planning on introducing a bill to bring the Federal Reserve under the control of the U.S. Government, thus taking the control of America's vast wealth out of the hands of the European banks.

5. JFK was independently wealthy and therefore untouchable. He was a Catholic with two charismatic brothers, who, with himself, could potentially bring to the nation a 24-year Kennedy dynasty.

6. In 1961, Kennedy, a visionary, gave a speech at the National Press Club condemning unseen forces governing the globe; forces which rely on secrecy. You can hear the speech on YouTube by searching “The speech that got JFK killed”.

7. Bottom line: John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his presidential actions and goals were diametrically-opposed to the attitudes and goals of the ruling "establishment" of the United States of America during the 1960s. He also offended many powerful people by his stances and assertions. He had to be eliminated.

About the Author(Contents)

The author is a retired Medical Technologist, B.S.MT(ASCP)BB, and former U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman, having served at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland (now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center/National Naval Medical Center) as a Cardiopulmonary Technician and Cardiac Surgical Ward Corpsman. Additionally, he served in South Vietnam with the 3rd Marine Division as a Navy Field Medical Corpsman with the U.S. Navy Fleet Marine Force, Senior Company Corpsman, India Company, 4th Marine Regiment (Dong Ha) and as Supervisor of Surgical Intensive Care, 3rd Medical Battalion Hospital (Phu Bai). He also served at Hines VA Hospital, Chicago, IL, as Laboratory Instructor, Hines VA Hospital Baccalaureate Medical Technology Program-University of Illinois at Chicago.

Additional note about the author: (In producing this report, I have applied my modest knowledge of the physical sciences plus some common “shooting know-how”—to the events at Dealey Plaza. I say “shooting know-how”, as I grew-up owning firearms, and over the decades developed an adult hobby of firing them, maintaining them and loading ammunition. As an adjunct to my knowledge base, I have recently acquired a vocational school diploma in the gunsmith industry.)

For those who are interested, I have two free YouTube video seminars you might find useful in viewing. They are a one-hour and forty-five minute seminar on Firearms Theory, and a forty-five minute seminar on Home Invasion Reinforcement. They can be accessed on my website at: www.homedefenseschool.com You can send emails to me at: pholiday334@comcast.net .

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