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.