The testimony of Dr. Homer Wood was taken at 3 p.m., on April 1, 1964,
in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building, Bryan
and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Wesley J. Liebeler, assistant
counsel of the President's Commission.
Mr. LIEBELER. Dr. Wood, would you please rise and raise your right
hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give
will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help
you God?
Dr. WOOD. I do.
Mr. LIEBELER. Please be seated. My name is Wesley J. Liebeler. I am a
member of the legal staff of the President's Commission investigating
the assassination of President Kennedy.
I have been authorized to take your testimony by the Commission
pursuant to authority granted to it by Executive Order No. 11130,
dated November 29, 1963, and joint resolution of Congress No. 137. I
understand that Mr. Rankin wrote to you last week. Did you get a letter
from him?
Dr. WOOD. We each had an airmail letter from Washington, yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. I understand that Mr. Rankin included a copy of the
Executive order to which I have first referred as well as a copy of the
joint resolution of Congress and the rules of procedure relating to the
taking of testimony by the Commission, is that correct?
Dr. WOOD. That is correct.
Mr. LIEBELER. We want to question you about the possibility that Lee
Harvey Oswald was at the Sports Drome Rifle Range at 8000 West Davis
Street in Dallas, Tex., sometime during November 1963--before going
into the details of that particular incident, please state your full
name for the record.
Dr. WOOD. Homer Wood.
Mr. LIEBELER. You are a dentist, is that correct?
Dr. WOOD. That is correct.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you state briefly for us your educational
background.
Dr. WOOD. Well, I had 2 years of predental at Southern Methodist
University and 4 years at Baylor University College of Dentistry,
Dallas, Tex.
Mr. LIEBELER. Are you a native Texan?
Dr. WOOD. I am a native Texan, yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Born here in Dallas?
Dr. WOOD. Born in Besse May, Tex. It is a dead town now.
Mr. LIEBELER. When were you born?
Dr. WOOD. July 4, 1910.
Mr. LIEBELER. How long have you been practicing dentistry?
Dr. WOOD. Since 1938.
Mr. LIEBELER. The Commission is advised that sometime during November
of 1963, you and your son, whose name I understand is Sterling Charles
Wood, went to the Sports Drome Rifle Range, is that correct?
Dr. WOOD. That is correct. If I recall correctly, it was on November
16. That was a Saturday afternoon.
Mr. LIEBELER. Are you clear in your own mind that it was a Saturday
that you went to the range?
Dr. WOOD. Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER. Was that the only time that you went to the rifle range
during November?
Dr. WOOD. That is correct.
Mr. LIEBELER. What time of day did you go out there?
Dr. WOOD. I was listening to the Southwest Conference football game. My
boy kept asking me to "Hurry, daddy, I want to go to try my scope out
on my gun," and I listened to half of the game. I presume when we got
out there it was around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. At the rifle range,
I am not definite, but it was between 3 and 5. We left before 5.
Mr. LIEBELER. Left the range before 5?
Dr. WOOD. Yes, sir.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you get an opportunity to finish listening to the
game?
Dr. WOOD. No; we didn't hear any more of the game.
Mr. LIEBELER. Tell us what happened after you arrived at the range?
Dr. WOOD. Well, the range was pretty busy because it was just before
deer season and most of the fellows out there was sighting in their
scope, and we waited a short while to get a place for my boy to sit
down to sight in his scope. Then when he did--now do you want me to
start here with Oswald?
Mr. LIEBELER. I want you tell me just what happened.
Dr. WOOD. Okay. My boy was shooting his rifle, and there was a fellow
sitting to his right. I thought it was an offbrand gun. It wasn't
shooting like the other rifles there. When he would fire the rifle,
at the end of the barrel there would be a ball of fire coming out at
the end of the barrel, and that is what attracted my attention to this
fellow.
When I said to my son, I said, "Son, be careful, I am afraid that gun
is going to blow up." And I was kind of laughing and joking around with
the other fellow that was waiting in--waiting to sight in their scope
and I would hand him cotton and I would say, "Get ready, this fellow is
getting ready to shoot this 105 howitzer." And I said to my son, step
back, or lean over, or be careful, and he said, "Daddy, that is all
right, it is an Italian carbine."
So they fired several rounds, and after they would fire three or four
rounds, then the keeper out there would say let's go look at our
targets, and we would go down and I would look at my boy's target and
he wasn't doing so good, but the second round we went down there and we
noticed this fellow's target to our right, and my boy made a statement,
"Daddy, this fellow is not having much trouble." So I did notice his
target, and most of his shots was within the target, but there were a
few that was outside the target, from an inch to 2 inches outside of it.
Mr. LIEBELER. Outside the bulls-eye?
Dr. WOOD. Bulls-eye. And that is as far as--do you want me to get into
the Oswald deal now, or you just want me to go on and tell what he did,
or are you going to ask me some questions?
Mr. LIEBELER. I want to ask you first of all, did you talk to this
fellow at all?
Dr. WOOD. I didn't say a word to him, but my son did.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did your son tell you at that time what he had said to
the fellow?
Dr. WOOD. He didn't tell me at that time, no, sir. He told me later on.
Mr. LIEBELER. He told you after the assassination, is that correct?
Dr. WOOD. Yes; after the assassination he told me that. Yes, sir; that
is true.
Mr. LIEBELER. He told you what he said to the fellow after the
assassination. Now you mentioned previously that when you warned your
son to be careful of that rifle because of your fear that it would
blow up and that your son had told you, don't worry, it is an Italian
carbine, is that correct?