Part 56

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. Chief Justice, I have now marked another photograph as the next exhibit number, Commission Exhibit 398. May I say to the Commission that this is a photograph which, subject to later proof, will show it to be taken immediately after the President was struck by the first bullet.

The CHAIRMAN. It may be marked.

(The photograph was marked Commission Exhibit No. 398 for identification.)

May I move for its admission into evidence at this time for this purpose?

The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.

(The photograph, previously marked Commission Exhibit No. 398 for identification, was received in evidence.)

Looking at Commission Exhibit 398, Doctor Humes, with that as a background, have you had an opportunity to review the medical reports on Governor Connally at Parkland Hospital in Commission Exhibit 392?

Commander HUMES. I have.

Mr. SPECTER. Have you noted the wounds which he sustained on his right wrist, that is, Governor Connally's right wrist?

Commander HUMES. Yes, sir; I have noted the report of it in these records.

Mr. SPECTER. What does the report show as to those wounds on the right wrist?

Commander HUMES. The report shows a wound of entrance on the dorsal aspect of the right wrist. Let's get the precise point here. The wound of entry is described as on the dorsal aspect of the right wrist above the junction of the distal fourth of the radius and the shaft. It was approximately two centimeters in length and rather oblique, with the loss of tissue, and some considerable contusions at the margins. There was a wound of exit along the volar surface of the wrist about two centimeters above the flexion crease of the wrist in the midline.

Mr. SPECTER. Doctor Humes, I show you a bullet which we have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 399, and may I say now that, subject to later proof, this is the missile which has been taken from the stretcher which the evidence now indicates was the stretcher occupied by Governor Connally.

I move for its admission into evidence at this time.

The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.

(The article, previously marked Commission Exhibit No. 399 for identification, was received in evidence.)

Mr. SPECTER. We have been asked by the FBI that the missile not be handled by anybody because it is undergoing further ballistic tests, and it now appears, may the record show, in a plastic case in a cotton background.

Now looking at that bullet, Exhibit 399, Doctor Humes, could that bullet have gone through or been any part of the fragment passing through President Kennedy's head in Exhibit No. 388?

Commander HUMES. I do not believe so, sir.

Mr. SPECTER. And could that missile have made the wound on Governor Connally's right wrist?

Commander HUMES. I think that that is most unlikely. May I expand on those two answers?

Mr. SPECTER. Yes, please do.

Commander HUMES. The X-rays made of the wound in the head of the late President showed fragmentations of the missile. Some fragments we recovered and turned over, as has been previously noted. Also we have X-rays of the fragment of skull which was in the region of our opinion exit wound showing metallic fragments.

Also going to Exhibit 392, the report from Parkland Hospital, the following sentence referring to the examination of the wound of the wrist is found:

"Small bits of metal were encountered at various levels throughout the wound, and these were, wherever they were identified and could be picked up, picked up and submitted to the pathology department for identification and examination."

The reason I believe it most unlikely that this missile could have inflicted either of these wounds is that this missile is basically intact; its jacket appears to me to be intact, and I do not understand how it could possibly have left fragments in either of these locations.

Mr. SPECTER. What wounds did Governor Connally sustain in his chest area, based upon the records of Parkland Hospital, which you have examined, Doctor Humes?

Commander HUMES. Governor Connally received in his chest a wound of entrance just--this is again from 392--"just lateral to the right scapula close to the axilla which had passed through the lattisimus dorsi muscle, shattered approximately ten centimeters of a lateral and anterior portion of the right fifth rib, and emerged below the right nipple anterially."

These were the wounds of the chest of Governor Connally.

Mr. SPECTER. Now assuming that there were only three missiles fired, and bearing in mind the positions of President Kennedy and Governor Connally from the photograph marked Commission Exhibit 398, do you have an opinion as to the source of the missiles which inflicted the wound on President Kennedy marked 385-C to D, and the wound in Governor Connally's chest which you have just referred to?

Commander HUMES. Yes. I would preface this statement by the following: As I testified earlier in the afternoon, as much as we could ascertain from our X-rays and physical examinations, this missile struck no bony structures in traversing the body of the late President. Therefore, I believe it was moving at its exit from the President's body at only very slightly less than that velocity, so it was still traveling at great speed.

I believe in looking at Exhibit 398, which purports to be at approximately the time the President was struck, I see that Governor Connally is sitting directly in front of the late President, and suggest the possibility that this missile, having traversed the low neck of the late President, in fact traversed the chest of Governor Connally.

Mr. SPECTER. How much of the velocity, if any, or would there be an appreciable diminution of the velocity of the projectile on passing through the portions of President Kennedy's body which you have described?

Commander HUMES. I would have to defer to my associate, Colonel Finck, for an opinion about this.

Mr. SPECTER. Fine. As to any damage to the rib which you described Governor Connally sustained, would that impact or trauma be consistent with the markings which are shown on Exhibit 399?

Commander HUMES. I think it quite possible. Here I think if this point were to be explored further, a most valuable piece of evidence would be an X-ray of the chest of Governor Connally, because I believe that this missile could have struck the rib a glancing blow.

The rib is a rather rigid structure, and the missile would not have to strike it directly to cause the fracture that was described, and the fracture is not very clearly described to me, and if an X-ray, for instance, showed no metallic fragments in the chest of the Governor, I would think it quite likely that this was the missile that had traversed his chest, because I doubt if this missile would have left behind it any metallic fragments from its physical appearance at this time.

Mr. SPECTER. Could that missile have traversed Governor Connally's chest without having him know it immediately or instantaneously?

Commander HUMES. I believe so. I have heard reports, and have been told by my professional associates of any number of instances where people received penetrating wounds in various portions of the body and have only the sensation of a slight discomfort or slight slap or some other minor difficulty from such a missile wound. I am sure he would be aware that something happened to him, but that he was shot, I am not certain.

Representative FORD. Would that have been the potential reaction of the President when first hit, as shown in 385?

Commander HUMES. It could very easily be one of some type of an injury--I mean the awareness that he had been struck by a missile, I don't know, but people have been drilled through with a missile and didn't know it.

Mr. SPECTER. Dr. Humes, under your opinion which you have just given us, what effect, if any, would that have on whether this bullet, 399, could have been the one to lodge in Governor Connally's thigh?

Commander HUMES. I think that extremely unlikely. The reports, again Exhibit 392 from Parkland, tell of an entrance wound on the lower midthigh of the Governor, and X-rays taken there are described as showing metallic fragments in the bone, which apparently by this report were not removed and are still present in Governor Connally's thigh. I can't conceive of where they came from this missile.

Representative FORD. The missile identified as Exhibit 399.

Commander HUMES. 399, sir.

Mr. SPECTER. Doctor Humes, would you have an opinion as to whether the wounds on Governor Connally's wrist and thigh were caused by the same bullet?

Commander HUMES. In reading the description of the fragmentation that was found, fragments were found in the wrist, one fragment was found imbedded in his femur, I would feel it was definitely within the realm of possibility that the same missile could have produced both of those injuries.

Mr. SPECTER. Those are all my questions, Mr. Chief Justice.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any other questions? If not, thank you very much, Commander. You have been very helpful to us, indeed.

Commander HUMES. Thank you very much, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you.

Mr. SPECTER. Commander Boswell.

Mr. McCLOY. May I ask one more question?

The CHAIRMAN. Of course you may.

Mr. McCLOY. Earlier in the afternoon we had taken out of cellophane bags here the clothing of the President.

Commander HUMES. Yes, sir.

Mr. McCLOY. And amongst them was the shirt.

Commander HUMES. Yes, sir.

Mr. McCLOY. From your examination of the wounds, of the defects, I guess you would call it in the shirt----

Commander HUMES. Yes, sir.

Mr. McCLOY. Would you from examining the tissues of that shirt have any conclusions as to how that wound, how that missile passed through the shirt? Was it from the rear to the front, or from the front to the rear?

Commander HUMES. As I examined that exhibit today, sir, the threads are fragmented and distorted in such a fashion which would indicate to me that the missile passed through the shirt from the rear to the front.

TESTIMONY OF COMDR. J. THORNTON BOSWELL, MEDICAL CORPS, U.S. NAVY

The CHAIRMAN. Commander Boswell, will you raise your right hand and be sworn, please?

Do you solemnly swear the testimony you give before this Commission will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Commander BOSWELL. I do, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Be seated, please.

Mr. SPECTER. Will you state your full name for the record, please?

Commander BOSWELL. J. Thornton Boswell, Commander, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy.

Mr. SPECTER. What is your profession?

Commander BOSWELL. Physician.

Mr. SPECTER. And where did you obtain your medical degree, please?

Commander BOSWELL. At the College of Medicine, Ohio State University.

Mr. SPECTER. And what experience have you had in your professional line subsequent to obtaining that degree?

Commander BOSWELL. I interned in the Navy and took my pathology training at St. Albans Naval Hospital in New York. I was certified by the American Board of Pathology in both clinical and pathological anatomy in 1957 and 1958.

Mr. SPECTER. And what is your duty assignment at the present time?

Commander BOSWELL. I am the Chief of Pathology at the National Naval Medical School.

Mr. SPECTER. Did you have occasion to participate in the autopsy of the late President Kennedy?

Commander BOSWELL. I did.

Mr. SPECTER. And did you assist Doctor Humes at that time?

Commander BOSWELL. Yes, sir.

Mr. SPECTER. Have you been present here today during the entire course of Doctor Humes' testimony?

Commander BOSWELL. I have, sir; yes.

Mr. SPECTER. Do you have anything that you would like to add by way of elaboration or modification to that which Doctor Humes has testified?

Commander BOSWELL. None, I believe. Doctor Humes has stated essentially what is the culmination of our examination and our subsequent conference, and everything is exactly as we had determined our conclusions.

Mr. SPECTER. And are you one of the three coauthors of the autopsy report which has been previously identified as a Commission Exhibit?

Commander BOSWELL. Yes; I am.

Mr. SPECTER. All the facts set forth therein are correct in accordance with your analysis and evaluation of the situation?

Commander BOSWELL. Yes.

Mr. SPECTER. And specifically, as to the points of entry and points of exit which have been testified to by Doctor Humes, do his views express yours as well?

Commander BOSWELL. They do, yes.

Mr. SPECTER. Doctor Boswell, would you state for the record what your conclusion was as to the cause of death of President Kennedy?

Commander BOSWELL. The brain injury was the cause of death.

Mr. SPECTER. And in the absence of brain injury, what, in your view, would have been the future status of President Kennedy's mortality, if he had only sustained the wound inflicted in 385?

Commander BOSWELL. I believe it would have been essentially an uneventful recovery. It could have been easily repaired, and I think it would have been of little consequence.

Mr. SPECTER. Those are my only questions, Mr. Chief Justice.

The CHAIRMAN. Does anyone have any questions of the Commander? If not, Commander, thank you very much, indeed. You have been very helpful to us.

Mr. SPECTER. Colonel Finck.

TESTIMONY OF LT. COL. PIERRE A. FINCK, PHYSICIAN, U. S. ARMY

The CHAIRMAN. Colonel Finck.

Colonel, will you raise your right hand and be sworn? Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you give before this Commission will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Colonel FINCK. I do.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you be seated, please, Colonel?

Mr. SPECTER. Would you state your full name for the record, please?

Colonel FINCK. My first name is Pierre. My middle initial is "A". My last name is Finck.

Mr. SPECTER. What is your profession, sir?

Colonel FINCK. I am a physician.

Mr. SPECTER. And by whom are you employed?

Colonel FINCK. By the United States Army.

Mr. SPECTER. And what is your rank?

Colonel FINCK. I am a lieutenant colonel in the Medical Corps.

Mr. SPECTER. Where did you obtain your medical degree?

Colonel FINCK. At the University of Geneva Medical School in Switzerland.

Mr. SPECTER. And in what year did you obtain that degree?

Colonel FINCK. In 1948.

Mr. SPECTER. What has your experience been in the medical profession subsequent to obtaining that degree?

Colonel FINCK. I had 4 years of training in pathology after my internship, 2 years, including 2 years of pathology at the University Institute of Pathology in Geneva, Switzerland, and 2 years at the University of Tennessee Institute of Pathology in Memphis, Tenn.

Mr. SPECTER. And how long have you been in the United States Army?

Colonel FINCK. Since 1955.

Mr. SPECTER. And what have your duties consisted of in the Army?

Colonel FINCK. From 1955 to 1958 I performed approximately 200 autopsies, many of them pertaining to trauma including missile wounds, stationed at Frankfurt, Germany as pathologist of the United States Army Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany.

Mr. SPECTER. Have you had any additional, special training or experience in missile wounds?

Colonel FINCK. For the past 3 years I was Chief of the Wound Ballistics Pathology Branch of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and in that capacity I reviewed personally all the cases forwarded to us by the Armed Forces, and some civilian cases from the United States and our forces overseas. The number of these cases amounts to approximately 400 cases. I was called as a consultant in the field of missile wounds for this particular case, and also last year in February 1963, the Surgeon General of the Army sent me to Vietnam for a wound ballistics mission. I had to testify in a murder trial involving a 30/30 rifle in the first week of March this year, and I came back yesterday after one week in Panama where I had to testify. I was sent to Panama by the Secretary of the Army regarding the fatalities of the events of 9-10 in January of 1964.

Mr. SPECTER. Have you been certified by the American Board of Pathology, Doctor Finck?

Colonel FINCK. I was certified in pathology anatomy by the American Board of Pathology in 1956, and by the same American Board of Pathology in the field of forensic pathology in 1961.

Mr. SPECTER. Would you describe briefly for the Commission what forensic pathology involves?

Colonel FINCK. Forensic pathology is the study with the naked eye and with the microscope of injuries, including missile wounds, trauma in general. In summary, it is the part of pathology in relation to the law, violent death being homicide, be it suicide, accidental or undetermined. It also includes unexplained deaths, sudden deaths, and poisoning.

Mr. SPECTER. Did you have occasion to participate in the autopsy of the late President Kennedy?

Colonel FINCK. Yes; I did.

Mr. SPECTER. And are you one of the three coauthors of the autopsy report which has been previously marked and introduced into evidence here?

Colonel FINCK. Yes, I am.

Mr. SPECTER. Have you had occasion to conduct any experiments on the effect of missile penetration of the brain reflected in the chart which you have brought with you here today?

Colonel FINCK. No, sir.

Mr. SPECTER. Of the skull--let me phrase the question this way: What does the test which is depicted on the document before you relate to?

Colonel FINCK. It is based on my observations, not on experiments.

Mr. SPECTER. Would you pass that to me, sir, so that I may mark that as a Commission Exhibit, and then I will ask you to identify it, please?

Mr. Chief Justice, may I mark as Commission Exhibit No. 400 a document?

The CHAIRMAN. It may be marked.

(The document was marked Commission Exhibit No. 400 for identification.)

Mr. SPECTER. I will ask Doctor Finck to describe it for us, please.

Colonel FINCK. This is a scheme which I prepared before the 22d of November. It is a teaching scheme, but it applies to the case in discussion. It will be of help in understanding how I could identify the entrance and the exit by examination of bone. "A" represents the bony portion of the skull. "B" represents the cavity of the head, the cranial cavity. "C" represents the entrance and "D" represents the exit. The arrows indicate the missile path.

This scheme is based upon observation of through and through wounds of bone, and the same differences apply to a pane of glass. The surface struck first by the missile in relation to the surface struck next by the missile, this one, shows a smaller diameter, which means that if you look at the route of entrance in this case here, C, from the outside you will not see a crater. If you examine it from the inside, you will see a crater corresponding to the bevelling, coning, shelving, previously described by Commander Humes.

In the case we are discussing today, it was possible to have enough curvature and enough portion of the crater to identify positively the wound of entrance at the site of the bone.

Mr. SPECTER. Relating then your evaluation of the situation with respect to President Kennedy, and turning to Commission Exhibit No. 388, what is your opinion as to whether point A is a wound of entrance or exit?

Colonel FINCK. My opinion as regards Exhibit 388, letter A, is that this wound is the wound of entrance.

Mr. SPECTER. And what are the characteristics of that wound which lead you to that conclusion?

Colonel FINCK. The characteristics were that seen from the inside of the skull, I could see a beveling in the bone, a beveling that could not be seen when the wound was seen from outside the skull.

Mr. SPECTER. Are there any other individual characteristics that led you to conclude A was the wound of entrance?

Colonel FINCK. No.

Mr. SPECTER. Were you present when the three pieces of scalp were reconstructed to form the major portion of the absent part of President Kennedy's skull which Doctor Humes described?

Colonel FINCK. I was present when several portions of bone were brought.

Mr. SPECTER. And what did you observe, if anything, as to a reconstructed hole from those three portions of skull?

Colonel FINCK. May I refer to my scheme?

Mr. SPECTER. Please do.

Colonel FINCK. For the sake of demonstration.

Mr. SPECTER. Fine.

Colonel FINCK. At the level of the wound of exit, E, in my scheme, Commission Exhibit No. 400, when viewed from the inside of the skull, there was no crater, whereas when the wound is seen from the outside of the skull, there was beveling, cratering, or coning--this is possible to determine an exit even if only a portion of the bone is submitted, for the reason that if there was enough bone submitted, there is enough curvature to identify the inside and outside of the skull. Therefore the fragment, to give you an example, this portion at the level of the wound of exit can be oriented, and the outer surface of the skull and the inner surface of the skull may be identified due to the curvature.

And then you look at the direction of the beveling and you do see the beveling when looking from the outside and you can identify an exit wound. And that is what I did, and now I am referring to the actual case in discussion, Commission Exhibit 388.

Mr. SPECTER. That is B?

Colonel FINCK. Letter B. We will see portions of bone in this general area, the large wound in the bone on the right side of the skull of President Kennedy. I had enough curvature to identify outside of the skull, and inside of the skull, as the first step to orient the specimen, and then I could determine the location of the beveling, and I could therefore say that B, Commission Exhibit 388, is a wound of exit.

Mr. SPECTER. Based on your observations and conclusions, was President Kennedy shot from the front, rear, side or what?

Colonel FINCK. President Kennedy was, in my opinion, shot from the rear. The bullet entered in the back of the head and went out on the right side of his skull, producing a large wound, the greatest dimension of which was approximately 13 centimeters.

Mr. SPECTER. And as to angle, was he shot from below, from level, from above, or what, in your opinion?

Colonel FINCK. In my opinion, the angle can be determined only approximately due to the fact that the wound of entrance is fairly small and could give enough precision in the determination of the path, but the dimension of the wound of exit, letter B of Exhibit 388, is so large that we can only give an approximate angle. In my opinion, the angle was within 45 degrees from the horizontal plane.

Mr. SPECTER. Is that to say that there was a 45-degree angle of declination from the point of origin to the point of impact, from the point of origin of the bullet where the bullet came from a gun until the point where it struck President Kennedy?

The CHAIRMAN. In other words, you mean was he shot from above or below.

Mr. SPECTER. Yes.

Colonel FINCK. I think I can only state, sir, that he was shot from above and behind.

Mr. SPECTER. At this time I move for admission into evidence Exhibit 400, Mr. Chief Justice.

The CHAIRMAN. It may be admitted.

(The document was marked Commission Exhibit No. 400 for identification, and was received in evidence.)

Mr. SPECTER. As to Exhibit 385, Dr. Finck, was point C a point of entry or a point of exit, in your opinion?

Colonel FINCK. In my opinion point C of Commission's Exhibit 385 is a wound of entrance.

Mr. SPECTER. And what is the basis for that conclusion?

Colonel FINCK. The basis for that conclusion is that this wound was relatively small with clean edges. It was not a jagged wound, and that is what we see in wound of entrance at a long range.

Mr. SPECTER. Were you present here today and did you hear the entire testimony of Doctor Humes?

Colonel FINCK. Yes; I did.

Mr. SPECTER. And do you concur in Dr. Humes' statements and opinions regarding the point of entry C, point of exit D, and general angle on the flight of the missile?

Colonel FINCK. I certainly do.

Mr. SPECTER. Then from what direction was President Kennedy shot on entry point C?