John Ritchson death at 52.

[Dawn Meredith]

I have just received word that researcher John Ritchson died on 8/18, of a "heart attack" at his home.

Does anyone here remember what John was working on?

I remember talking with him after his "car accident" and the details did NOT sound at all like an "accident". He was quite frightened by this.

But not deterred from his work on this case.

There is a obit, posted at Wim's site (JFK.solved. com), which leads me to believe that this is not just some ugly rumor, but true.

I do not have JOhn's phone number in my phone book, to verify this, but I cannot imagine someone posting an obit that is fraudulent.

Sadly,

Dawn

[Mark Knight]

Followed the link...the article was published on the 18th, but it states that he died on "Saturday"...presumably August 13th.

Anyone have confirmation?

[Mark Knight]

Link to newspaper obituary

[Terry Mauro]

I have just received word that researcher John Ritchson died on 8/18, of a "heart attack" at his home.

Does anyone here remember what John was working on?

I remember talking with him after his "car accident" and the details did NOT sound at all like an "accident". He was quite frightened by this.

But not deterred from his work on this case.

There is a obit, posted at Wim's site (JFK.solved. com), which leads me to believe that this is not just some ugly rumor, but true.

I do not have JOhn's phone number in my phone book, to verify this, but I cannot imagine someone posting an obit that is fraudulent.

Sadly,

Dawn

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I just spoke to John's father, Vernon, and John's sister, Laverne, and they confirmed that John passed away from a heart attack, and that he was with his friends, at the time. Vernon and Laverne were not present.

As you already know, Dawn, John and I were planning on meeting up with you in Dallas this November. I guess I'll be making that trip alone now.

Well, there was a call coming in as I was talking to Laverne, so I'm going to call her back right after posting this. I just posted the news over at Prouty's.

Keep John's father, Vernon who is also in failing health, and who depended on John, as well as John's sister, Laverne, in your prayers.

I can't believe he's gone.

Ter

[Terry Mauro]

I have just received word that researcher John Ritchson died on 8/18, of a "heart attack" at his home.

Does anyone here remember what John was working on?

I remember talking with him after his "car accident" and the details did NOT sound at all like an "accident". He was quite frightened by this.

But not deterred from his work on this case.

There is a obit, posted at Wim's site (JFK.solved. com), which leads me to believe that this is not just some ugly rumor, but true.

I do not have JOhn's phone number in my phone book, to verify this, but I cannot imagine someone posting an obit that is fraudulent.

Sadly,

Dawn

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

********************************************************************

I just spoke to John's father, Vernon, and John's sister, Laverne, and they confirmed that John passed away from a heart attack, and that he was with his friends, at the time. Vernon and Laverne were not present.

As you already know, Dawn, John and I were planning on meeting up with you in Dallas this November. I guess I'll be making that trip alone now.

Well, there was a call coming in as I was talking to Laverne, so I'm going to call her back right after posting this. I just posted the news over at Prouty's.

Keep John's father, Vernon who is also in failing health, and who depended on John, as well as John's sister, Laverne, in your prayers.

I can't believe he's gone.

Ter

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

*******************************************************************

I just spoke to Leanne, [sorry for the mistake in getting her name wrong], and she verified that John passed away on August 13th at 01:00 hrs.

He was buried at Fort Harrison, MT will full military honors, on August 18, 2005.

Rest In Peace, my dear friend. I'm going to miss our Sunday evening phone calls.

[Dixie Dea]

What a shock!

I have been familiar with John for many years and also feel that he has been "Messed With" for many years.

I am so sorry to hear about his death. He was a nice man and my thoughts are with his family now. Although I am somewhat surprised we are just now finding out.

____________

Dixie

[Nic Martin]

He was one of the first people that supported me, and believed in me. He was one of the first people that didn't try to knock me down as being "just a kid."

It actually hurts to lose him. What a shock.

[Guest James H. Fetzer]

John Ritchson died on 13 August 2005 and was buried on 18 August 2005. The official cause of death is "heart attack", but he told me of his experience of being run off the road by a black SUV with tinted windows a few months ago, which left him severely injured. He thought it might be related to his most recent efforts to study the man who carried JFK's "football", CWO Robert M. Powell. It might have been related to his work on the ballistics, however, as a warning signal that he should not keep it up. He did persist, with great courage and integrity, and now he is dead. Personally, I would not be surprised if this was an assassination. His work on the ballistics was extremely good and powerfully discredits the official government account. He knew too much.

I have just received word that researcher John Ritchson died on 8/18, of a "heart attack" at his home.

Does anyone here remember what John was working on?

I remember talking with him after his "car accident" and  the details did NOT sound at all like an "accident".  He was quite frightened by this.

But not deterred from his work on this case.

There is a obit, posted at Wim's site (JFK.solved. com), which leads me to believe that this is not just some ugly rumor, but  true.

I do not have JOhn's phone number in my phone book,  to verify this, but I cannot imagine someone posting an obit that is fraudulent.

Sadly,

Dawn

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Edited August 21, 2005 by James H. Fetzer

[Larry Hancock]

I just wanted to express my sadness for John's passing. I was excited that he was going to present at the November Lancer conference and really looking foward to meeting him in person.

I followed his posts with great attention, his passing is another example of why its so important to get work like his in print one way or the other, even if it's individual papers and essays.

If someone is aware of any published papers or essays from John it seems fitting that they be identified and perhaps linked on this forum in his memory.

-- Larry

[Guest James H. Fetzer]

I spoke with John's father and learned that he had been drinking with friends and came home and fell asleep without connecting his oxygen mask, which he had to use since his automobile accident. So he suffocated from lack of oxygen because of his inadvertently forgetting to use his mask.

In response to Larry's suggestion, the next issue of assassinationresearch.com, which will be out tomorrow, includes several pieces by John Ritchson and indicates why his work was so valuable, especially in relation to issues of ballistics that require an expert's background.

I just wanted to express my sadness for John's passing.  I was excited that he was going to present at the November Lancer conference and really looking foward to meeting him in person.

I followed his posts with great attention, his passing is another example of why its so important to get work like his in print one way or the other,  even if it's individual papers and essays. 

If someone is aware of any published papers or essays from John it seems fitting that they be identified and perhaps linked on this forum in his memory. 

-- Larry

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Bernice Moore]

This was John's last post on the Forum, in reponse to the information being posted by an LNr re the rifle and on other information.....it could be framed, it was so damn good.

He called a spade a spade, and never backed off, he had great courage and knowledge, he and his kind are so needed......he will be very sadly missed for what he freely gave to all..

B

John Ritchson Aug 10 2005, 09:55 PM Post #1

Experienced Member

Group: Members

Posts: 120

Joined: 31-July 04

From: Black Eagle, Montana USA

Member No.: 1078

K.B. wrote:[snip]> Paul, you have any cites to back this up? I am not as knowledgeable as> you when it comes to ballistics etc, and I do not have an expert as> Sam does to call re information John has posted, but I do have a few> books and a bit of experience reloading and I have won my fair share of Turkey-shoots and as far as I have seen, John Ritchson is right on with everything he has posted that I have read. So who are your Carcano enthusiasts?

Greetings, One of the areas Mr. Burke and the rest of the LNers are real short on is authoritive cites in the relevent areas being discussed. Rather, their agenda appears to be one of debasement and denegration as examplified by their references to me as a Faker, Fraud, Cowardly Dog, and Buffoon all in a sophmoric attempt to trivialize and obfuscate the importance of my and other researcher's work in this case. These sort of tactics represent the last resort of those who know in their hearts the essential weakness of their case and are thus reduced to ad hominum, having failed to produce any real rebutal. For the record, I am constantly garnering feed-back and opinions from qualified professionals in the field of firearms ballistics to absolutely minimise any possibility of error before I even post an article.

I also make every effort to clearly separate qualified facts and opinions from speculation and/or guess-work. Occasionaly I will fail in this effort as is the norm, but the body of my work remains intact and presents a damning indictment to those who would perpetuate the LN myth. Looking at the LN contingent, one sees an impressive array of individuals with credentials and qualifications in every area but the field of firearms ballistics, joined at the hip with the spook crew who post from positions of anonymity. Together, they would have us believe they represent a united front espousing the truth of the JFK assassination when in fact they are nothing more than a collection of bags of mostly hot air with about as much substance as a fart inthe wind.

Personally I think they know they have already failed to prevent the truth from coming out and are simply engaged in damage control by saturating this forum with BS in an ineffectual attempt to keep relevent discourse to a bare minimum, as well as using their under-handed tactics to create an unsavory atmosphere whereby new readers will be put off from joining in the discourse. Be that as it may, I'm resolved to undo that sort of mischief, at least as far as the ballistic evidence is concerned, by adding a relevent professional perspective to the JFK case. To that end, I've gained the support of a number of world-class people with impeccable credentials and unassailable reputations in their various fields of expertise. A list of those who have contributed to my work is as follows:

Alan Horst, German action specialist and old world gunsmith who declares that one may spend over a thousand dollars reworking a M38 surplus Carcano and still be left with a hundred dollar gun. [Note:]For a varifiable professional alternative opinion of the WWII M38, Alan can be reached at 406-454-1831. Frank de Haas, who started out in this business as a hobbiest after -WWII and ultimately became a world renown authority on center-fire turnbolt action rifles with the publication of his book, Bolt Action Rifles, which is now an almost universally held reference manual on the subject. He is a contributing editor of The American Rifleman, and has his shop in Orange City, Iowa.[NOTE], Mr. de Haas is now deceased, however his son has taken over the family business.

Richard Hobbs, concidered by many including Carcano historian, Alexander Eichener, as a world authority on the Carcano rifle who after examination of CE-139/C2766 concluded it was in fact, a Moschettieridel Duce Carcano of Mussolini's Gardia del Duce, and not a cheap surplus field rifle that would be sold in a Chicago sporting goods store. [Note:] I believe there is an address and Phone# for Richard posted on Alexander Eichener's Carcano web-site.

Wolfgang Droege, founder of the Shiloh Rifle Manufacturing Co, Big Timber, Montana and creator of the Buffalo Rifle for Tom Selleck's movie, "Quigley Down Under" who also presented a custom 45-70 gold inlayed Creedmoor Rifle to former president Ronald Reagan.[Note:]Even though Wolfgang is not a Carcano expert per se he does make some of the world's most powerfull rifles and anyone who doubts the concept of knockdown power should see one of these rifles in action.

Richard Casull, founder of Freedom Arms, Freedom Wyoming and creator of the world's most powerfull revolver, the .454 Casull Magnum and like Wolfgang Droege has forgotten more ballistics than most people will ever know.[Note:] Dick openly scoffs at the idea firearms lack knockdown power and is more than happy to give critics a taste of the power of his remarkable pistol which performs on par with many rifles.

Wayne Leek, ballistician for the Remington Arms Company and creator of the Fireball XP-100.[Note:] even though Wayne is closed mouthed about the disposition of many of his proto-type XP-100s he is more than happy to expound upon the performance capabilities of one of the world's most powerfull and accurate varmit *HANDGUNS* which BTW, can be fired quite easily from a two-handed combat stance.

Bert Waldron, Sniper(US Army) 113 confirmed kills with a varified cartridge expenditure of 1.3 cartridges per kill, as compared to the world infantry expenditure of 10,000 to 50,000 cartridges per kill.[Note:] Bert can be contacted through the editor of Guns Magazine. Also, he is a quiet and unassuming person and if asked about jet-effect and retro-recoil he will just shake his head and smile, but his eyes speak volumes.

Craig Roberts, sniper(USMC) 26 year police veteran, specialist in sniper and counter-sniper tactics, author of the book, "Kill Zone" which is a professional sniper's perspective of the JFK assassination which blows the LN theory right out of the water.[Note:] I concider Craig a personal friend and collaborator on the JFK case, and I strongly recommend carefull study of his book. Craig can be reached via email at craig@ionet.net, if memory serves.

Carlos(Gunny) Hathcock, sniper(USMC) the Marine Corp's premier sniper with 93 confirmed kills including history's longest single kill-shot of 2,500 meters, nominated for the congressional Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam, former chief instructor of the USMC Sniper's School, at Quantico, Virginia.[Note:] Gunny Hathcock proved the impossibility of the LN scenerio during tests he personally conducted at Quantico and although he is now suffering from MS he is still more than happy to poke holes in the LN scenerio. He can be reached through Craig Roberts.[NOTE], Since the writting of this article the Gunny has gone on his final patrol. God keep you Gunny!!!

Dr. Joel Ham, professor of physics who wishes to keep his school out of the public debate but has proven by demonstratable scientific method the irrelevency of the jet-effect with respect to firearms ballistics.

Dr. George E Miller, professor of physics and supervisor of the nuclear reactor facilities at UC Irvine who is assisting me with my NAA evaluation of the ballistic evidence.

These are some of the people who I concider to be more or less in my corner, who roughly share my views on the subject of firearms ballistics and I urge the readers of this forum to carefully compare these qualified professionals with the collection of political scientists, piss doctors, jet mechanics, computer nerds, wannbes and nobodies that comprise the LN contingent and then ask yourself," Who then is best qualified to address the ballistic issues of the JFK case?" "Who then represents the more credible authority?" "Whose opinions possess the greater validity and are more deserving of serious concideration?" Finally, I want to add that all of the derision, the snide innuendo,the ad hominum lables, the feeble attempts at denegration, the smart-ass remarks and week-kneed mockery heaped upon myself and the other serious researchers on this NG by the LN collection of misfits will not detract me one iota from my agenda and goal of seeing justice done in the JFK case.

Finally, with respect to my own qualifications:

I come from an unbroken line of firearms and ballisticans going back to 1680 when my direct ancestor, Barnett Richardson established the Richardson foundry near Jamestown Virginia.

I was literally raised working at my father's forge and machine shop. I have actually studied

Newton, Julian Hatcher, John Thompson, Helson & Barnes, John Browning, Dave Emory of Hornady,

Vernon Speer, Robert D. Hayden, Ted C. Almgren, Martin J. Hull, and Bill McDonald. As to my forensic qualifications, I encourage all readers to read my petition to reopen the JFK case as a murder investigation. Such should give the readers some idea as to my legal knowledge.

As an avid independent, I quite simply refuse to join any trade organizations all of whom operate from one kind of agenda or another and I refuse to be locked into any such agenda, especially when it involves people like Fackler, Lattimer, Alverez, Oliver and the like.

With Regard:

John Ritchson(SSGT. 499th TC USATC HG US Army Class of 69)

(Gunsmith/Ballistican, [black Eagle, Gunworks]

(and survivor of the SE Asian Games 11Bravo7-Tet 1970)

******************************************************************

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds

new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it) but"That's Funny..."

Isaac Asimov

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--------------------

John Ritchson(SSGT. 499th TC USATC HG US Army Class of 69)

(GunSmith/Ballistician,Black Eagle Gun Works)

(Survivor, SE Asian Games, 11BRAVO7,Tet 1970)

************************************************************

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that

heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it) but

"That's Funny..." Isaac Asimov

******************************************

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...l=John+Ritchson

Edited August 22, 2005 by Bernice Moore

[Guest Stephen Turner]

John always spoke plainly, but with clarity,and authority,and never needed to use personal insults to make his point. We will miss him.

[Pat Speer]

I had a question for John, but kept delaying my asking. Now I'll never get to ask it. Peace be with him.

[Ryan Crowe]

Remember me as i walk away

for you i lived and died this day

And in this moment i can recall

that as i fell i still stood tall

Into the falling night i cry

tell them i love them and tell them why

I am not there to see them grow

or curb the wild oats they sow

I am the one with arms held wide

even in death not stepping aside

For god and country i am here

your pain i hold i feel your fear

Freedom is my gift to you

as i left, this price i knew

I am so cold and so afraid

and as the fear begins to fade

I think of those to follow me

to give their lives to liberty

As i taste death's embrace

i pray for strength and a bit of grace

Let me die as i have lived

leaving nothing to forgive

My eyes are heavy let me rest

I know now i have done my best .........

John, you shall suffer no more, you did great things for the research community and for this country, And for that I thank You, You will be missed...

All those Marines gaurding heavens gates, tell that one with the white feather in his hat I said hi.....

From all your fellow shooters, we miss you both..Rest In Peace brother.........

[Charles Black]

Remember me as i walk away

for you i lived and died this day

And in this moment i can recall

that as i fell i still stood tall

Into the falling night i cry

tell them i love them and tell them why

I am not there to see them grow

or curb the wild oats they sow

I am the one with arms held wide

even in death not stepping aside

For god and country i am here

your pain i hold i feel your fear

Freedom is my gift to you

as i left, this price i knew

I am so cold and so afraid

and as the fear begins to fade

I think of those to follow me

to give their lives to liberty

As i taste death's embrace

i pray for strength and a bit of grace

Let me die as i have lived

leaving nothing to forgive

My eyes are heavy let me rest

I know now i have done my best .........

John, you shall suffer no more, you did great things for the research community and for this country, And for that I thank You, You will be missed...

All those Marines gaurding heavens gates, tell that one with the white feather in his hat I said hi.....

From all your fellow shooters, we miss you both..Rest In Peace brother.........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you Ryan. The above weighs both heavily and proudly on all who have worn the uniform.

John seemed to always do as he had always done. And those things very courageously were, far above and beyond the call of duty.

He certainly rests with those few very honored.

Charlie Black