Special Agent Clint Hill

[William Kelly]

Gerald Blaine: My initial goal in writing the story of the Kennedy Detail was to set history straight, to leave a book for my grandchildren that they could read and know was the truth beyond any measure of doubt. But what happened during the writing of the book, and took me completely by surprise, was the personal journey that occurred in the process.

Clint Hill – Foreward –

It has been nearly fifty years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated before my eyes but the memories of that dreadful day in Dallas are as clear and painful as if it happened only yesterday. Nearly every day, it seems, something will be on the radio or television or in the newspaper that will refer to JFK, and inevitably my mind rewinds to 1963. It has taken me decades to learn to cope with the guilt and sense of responsibility for the president’s death, and I have made it a practice to keep my memories to myself. I don’t talk to anybody about that day. …

It is only my complete faith and trust that Jerry would tell our story with dignity and unwavering honesty that I agreed to be involved. I knew the ensuing discussions would inevitably reopen wounds that have never fully healed, but I also realized that, for the sake of history, it was important.

In 1961, when John F. Kennedy became president, there were about forty men on the White House Secret Service detail. Five of us were responsible for protecting Mrs. Kennedy and the children, Caroline and John, Jr. At that time, we had no earpieces for our large radios, nor did we have computer databases of threat suspects. Our mission depended upon teamwork and trust. We had no choice but to rely on each other, and there was never any doubt that we could rely on every single member of the team. We spent so much time with each other we knew each other’s idiosyncrasies, and could communicate with one glace or quick hand motion. Beyond the professional aspect of the job, there was a respect among all of us that was the closest thing to brotherhood I have ever experienced.

We came from a variety of backgrounds with various experiences….The Secret Service credentials we carried read in part: “is commissioned to protect the President of the United States and others as authorized by statue” and “is commended to those with whom he may have official business as worth of trust and confidence.” We took those words very seriously. Our loyalty was to the Secret Service and to the words of our commission. We pledged to protect the occupant of the office of the President of the United States, whoever that might be…

Nobody can say what they would or wouldn’t do when a sudden catastrophic event occurs. Your instincts and adrenaline take over completely. Much of our training as Secret Service agents was practicing just such an event so that our actions would be as automatic as possible. But as combat soldiers and critical response teams know, no matter how much training you’ve had, nothing prepares you for the emotions and nightmares that follow the horror of seeing a human being alive one instant, their head blow apart the next.

As I said earlier, I don’t like to talk about that day. I have shared with Jerry Blaine more than I’ve shared with anyone and what follows is an accurate portrayal of events as I remember them and know to be true. I would be very pleased if the results of the Warren Commission and its investigation would be accepted as the final word. However, I know that the researchers, writers, and filmmakers who continue to question those findings will never accept those as the truth. The information presented by the majority of these people is theory, not fact. They were not witness to the assassination, have little or no knowledge of protective procedures; did not know the dedicated agents on this assignment; and simply were no in our shoes that day in Dallas. It would be a great tragedy if history were allowed to repeat itself. We must learn from the real facts of what happened….

p. 217: Clint lunged, and as the car sped toward the overpass his foot landed on the footstep one more time. He thrust his body forward onto the trunk, grabbed at Jackie’s arm, and desperately pushed her back onto the seat. She slid back inside the car and collapsed. Clint was clinging to the back of the seat, his body spread-eagle across the trunk of the car as it raced onto the freeway. He sucked in his breath as he saw the horrific scene inside the limousine. Fragments of gray brain and white bone were splattered around the car like vile confetti. A pool of blood covered the floor. And slumped across the seat, President Kennedy lay unmoving, a bloody, gaping, fist-sized hole clearly visible in the back of his head….

PARKLAND HOSPITAL 12:39 P.M.

…Standing outside the room where the president was being treated, Andy Berger felt devastated. He didn’t know where to go or what to do….An FBI agent showed up saying he’d received a call from J. Edgar Hoover. He immediately produced his credentials and said, “Hoover wanted me to let you know I’m available.” A representative from the CIA appeared a while later, and again Andy followed the procedure.

p. 265-266:

BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL 2:45 A.M.

….He looked at his watch and realized it was no longer November 22, the day President Kennedy had been assassinated. Time was moving forward. He hit the down button and the elevator door closed.

Roy Kellerman was waiting for him in the stark hallway outside the autopsy room. “Clint,” he said, “before the autopsy is closed, I need you to come in and view the President’s body.”

“I know this isn’t going to be easy, but we decided that since you are the closest to Mrs. Kennedy, it’s important for you to see the body, in case she has any questions.”

Kellerman opened the door and they walked in together.

Bill Greer was there, and General McHugh. There were doctors and other people Clint didn’t recognize. And lying on the table was the naked body of President Kennedy, covered delicately with a white sheet. At first glance it looked like he was sleeping. There wasn’t a mark on his face.

A man in a white coat pulled the sheet down and Clint saw the wound in the throat, where the doctors at Parkland had done a tracheotomy. More hands touched the pale, lifeless president and turned him to the side so Clint could view the back.

Six inches down from the neckline, just to the right of the spinal column, there was a small wound, a hall in the skin. Clint might not have noticed it had the man in the white coat not pointed it out. All Clint could see was that the right rear portion of President Kennedy’s head was completely gone.

Clint grimaced and took one long look so that if Mrs. Kennedy ever asked – which he knew she never would – he could tell her what anybody who had been in the follow up car could tell her. They’d all seen it, heard it. There wasn’t any doubt what had happened. A sniper had shot the president from an upper window. And I didn’t get there in time to stop it….

[Don Jeffries]

Thanks for this, Bill. I think Blaine's book is making critics like myself start to despise some of these Secret Service agents. The only reason Hill hasn't had to "talk about that day" for so long is because our government never conducted a real investigation into the crime. A real investigation would have made Hill and his fellow agents "talk" quite a bit about their extremely suspicious, total lack of response when shots were fired.

Like others before him (John Connally comes immediately to mind), Hill either doesn't care that his personal testimony contradicts the official version of events he is so beligerantly defending, or simply has never bothered to study the details of what must surely have been one of the seminal events in his life. Not only does he continue to describe that gaping hole in the back of JFK's head, he also clearly states that the wound in the back was six inches down, exactly where the bullet holes in the clothing and other testimony indicate it was.

These guys are stuck in a "love it or leave it" frame of mind, where "conspiracy theorists" have become what "hippies" once were, in their eyes. They are also desperately defending their own complete dereliction of duty. What's truly disappointing is that so many are willing to not only excuse their ineptitude (and I'm being kind in using that word), but to actually laud them as heroes.

[Michael Hogan]

From dailyfreepress.com

Kennedy bodyguard reflects on defending the White House

by Andrew Wen

September 13, 2011

Retired secret service agent Clint Hill, who ran and jumped onto President John F. Kennedy’s car when he was assassinated in 1963, spoke about his experience protecting and forging

a friendship with former First Lady and American icon Jacqueline Kennedy, on Monday

Hill spoke to an audience of several hundred people about Jacqueline Kennedy’s life, character and the experience dealing with John F. Kennedy’s assassination at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.

At first, he said, he was dismayed to find out he was responsible for protecting the first lady and said he wanted nothing to do with it, because the only thing that first ladies did at the time was attend fashion shows.

Kennedy, he found out, was quite the opposite— she had an adventurous streak.

“She thought that it would be wonderful if I learned to water-ski,” Hill said. “At first it was an absolute disaster, and I spent more time underwater than above.”

Kennedy was a great mother, Hill said. She demanded her children to treat every adult, including the secret service, with respect.

“She wanted the children to be brought up as normal children,” he said. “The agents were to treat them as one of their own. When they fell down you didn’t help them.”

Hill said Kennedy was a woman who had a strong set of beliefs and morals— during the Cuban Missile Crisis, she refused to go down to the bunkers.

“She said, ‘I’m not going to let that dictator determine my future.’ She was determined not to give into the threats made by the Soviets,” Hill said.

When the conversation shifted to J.F.K.’s assassination, Hill said he could not cope with it for a long time, often visiting the shooting spot until he realized he did everything he could have done.

He recalled a conversation he had with Jacqueline Kennedy on a plane ride after the president was pronounced dead.

“She was so much more concerned about my well-being and [that of] the other agents, she wanted to make sure that we were okay… she was more concerned about us than herself,” Hill said.

Hill spoke of Kennedy as a playful woman, fond of playing practical jokes and seeking out adventure. With some prompt from the audience, Hill revealed that she was also a closet chain-smoker.

“I was her enabler. I was the guy with the cigarettes and the lighter, so blame me,” he said, amid laughter from the audience.

Participants said the forum was eye-opening.

“It was fascinating. I was around during the assassination, so this really hit home,” said Marshall Levy, a Boston resident. “It brought back a lot of memories.”

Bill Mullen, also of Boston, said he is amazed by how much is still unknown about the Kennedys.

“It was great, especially the idea about what he said about responsibility. It’s amazing we still don’t know so much about the Kennedys,” he said.

“She was as much of a celebrity as President Kennedy was.”

http://dailyfreepress.com/2011/09/13/kennedy-bodyguard-reflects-on-defending-the-white-house/

[Michael Hogan]

Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir

by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin

http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Kennedy-Me-Intimate-Memoir/dp/1451648448

McCubbin of course also co-wrote The Kennedy Detail. Vince Palamara likes this effort a lot more.

[Pat Speer]

Thanks for this, Bill. I think Blaine's book is making critics like myself start to despise some of these Secret Service agents. The only reason Hill hasn't had to "talk about that day" for so long is because our government never conducted a real investigation into the crime. A real investigation would have made Hill and his fellow agents "talk" quite a bit about their extremely suspicious, total lack of response when shots were fired.

Like others before him (John Connally comes immediately to mind), Hill either doesn't care that his personal testimony contradicts the official version of events he is so beligerantly defending, or simply has never bothered to study the details of what must surely have been one of the seminal events in his life. Not only does he continue to describe that gaping hole in the back of JFK's head, he also clearly states that the wound in the back was six inches down, exactly where the bullet holes in the clothing and other testimony indicate it was.

These guys are stuck in a "love it or leave it" frame of mind, where "conspiracy theorists" have become what "hippies" once were, in their eyes. They are also desperately defending their own complete dereliction of duty. What's truly disappointing is that so many are willing to not only excuse their ineptitude (and I'm being kind in using that word), but to actually laud them as heroes.

FWIW, Don, Clint Hill has repeatedly pointed out where he means when he says "back of the head" or "right rear." He means above the right ear, and not on the far back of the head. As far as the back wound, there's no inconsistency. Hill and Blaine, and apparently most of the Kennedy detail, believed Connally was hit by a separate shot, and that the SBT was nonsense.

So, from my perspective, the outrage is not Kennedy's SS men being called heroes, but so much of the coverage of the Kennedy Detail book focusing on what to me are minor issues, and avoiding the BIG one--that the Secret Service Detail felt the SBT--the only means of explaining the shooting in a manner consistent with Oswald's being the sole assassin--was nonsense.

[Bernice Moore]

http://jfkassassinat...mony/hill_c.htm

Mr. SPECTER. What did you observe as to President Kennedy's condition on arrival at the hospital?

Mr. HILL. The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.

Representative BOGGS. Did you see any other wound other than the head wound?

Mr. HILL. Yes, sir; I saw an opening in the back, about 6 inches below the neckline to the right-hand side of the spinal column.

Representative BOGGS. Was there a frontal neck injury?

Mr. HILL. There was an area here that had been opened but--

Mr. SPECTER. You are indicating--

Mr. HILL. In the neck. It was my understanding at that time that this was done by a tracheotomy.

from ''Mrs.Kennedy and ME.''

book p;290; I was running as fast as I could.Nothing else mattered. I have been told there was a second shot which occurred at this time.I did not hear it.My feet were hitting th pavement; the motorcycle engines were loud in my ears. I'm almost there. Mrs. Kennedy is leaning toward the president.I'm almost there. I was almost there and then I heard the shot. The third shot. The impact was like the sound of something hitting something hollow..............like the sound of a melon shattering onto cement.In the same instant blood, brain matter and bone fragments exploded from the back of the president's head. The president's blood,parts of his skull,bits of his brain were splattered all over me............in my face, my clothes, in my hair.My legs were still moving I assumed more shots were coming. I reached for the handhold and grabbed it.Just as I grabbed it the car lurched forward.Bill Greer had stepped on the gas and the car reacted with a jolt.I slipped.I was gripping with all my strength, my feet now back on the pavement. My legs kept moving,as I held on, trying to keep up with the rapidly accelerating car.Somehow, I honestly do not know how ..............I lunged and pulled my body onto the car, and my foot found the step In that same instant, Mrs. Kennedy rose up out of her seat and started climbing onto the trunk .What is she doing ??What is she doing?? The car was accelerating, .........we were really speeding up. Good God, she's going to go flying off the back of the car !!Her eyes were filled with terror. She didn't even know I was there. She was reaching for something. She was reaching for a piece of the president's head.I thrust myself onto the trunk, grabbed her arm, and pushed her back into the seat.When I did this the president's body fell into her lap.As I peered into the backseat of the car, I saw the president's head in her lap.His eyes were fixed, and I could see inside the back of his head............ I could see inside the back of the president's head............''My God !! They have shot his head off!!! Mrs. Kennedy screamed..Blood was everywhere The floor was covered in blood and brain tissue and skull fragments..''Get us to a hospital! Get us to a hospital. I screamed at Bill Greer... Bethesda Hospital. book p..305.306. ''Mrs.Kennedy and ME.''I took a deep breath,as Kellerman opened the door.. as Lying on a table, covered with a white sheet, was the body of President Kennedy. only his face was exposed and it looked like he was sleeping.Bill Greer was there and Dr.Burkley and General Godfrey McHugh President's Air Force aide. There were additional people I did not recognize . A man in a white coat stod beside the table.I'm sure they told me his name but it didn't register. The man gently lowered the sheet just to expose the president's neck, and he began describing the wounds to me. A wound in the front neck area where a tracheotomy had been performed at Parkland Hospital in an effort to revive the president. He said it covered an exit wound.Then gently rolling the president over to one side, he pointed out a wound in the upper back , at the neckline quite small.This he said corresponded to the exit wound at the throat. Moving the body back and slightly to the left he pointed out the wound in the upper right rear of the head.I swallowed hard, listening closely, as the doctor explained what had happened. It appeared that the impact of the bullet hitting the president's head was so severe, it caused an explosive reaction within the makeup of the skull and brain, so portions of the brain erupted outward, and a portion of the skull with skin and hair attached became like a flap. The image of what i saw when I was up above the backseat came flashing back into my mind. The head wound was exposed and i could see into his brain, part of which had exploded outward . It looked like somebody had flipped open the back of his head, stuck in an ice-cream scoop and removed a portion of the brain then scattered it all over Mrs.Kennedy, the car, and myself. It was a horrific sight. And I couldn't get it out of my mind."Yes Doctor I said ''That is exactly what happened. I know I saw it. I was five feet away from the president when it occurred.'' If only I had run faster, reacted a little quicker......The explanation by the doctor and my observation of the body was concluded, I thanked the doctor and returned to the seventeenth floor.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Bernice Moore

[Pat Speer]

http://jfkassassinat...mony/hill_c.htm

Mr. SPECTER. What did you observe as to President Kennedy's condition on arrival at the hospital?

Mr. HILL. The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.

Representative BOGGS. Did you see any other wound other than the head wound?

Mr. HILL. Yes, sir; I saw an opening in the back, about 6 inches below the neckline to the right-hand side of the spinal column.

Representative BOGGS. Was there a frontal neck injury?

Mr. HILL. There was an area here that had been opened but--

Mr. SPECTER. You are indicating--

Mr. HILL. In the neck. It was my understanding at that time that this was done by a tracheotomy.

from ''Mrs.Kennedy and ME.''

book p;290; I was running as fast as I could.Nothing else mattered. I have been told there was a second shot which occurred at this time.I did not hear it.My feet were hitting th pavement; the motorcycle engines were loud in my ears. I'm almost there. Mrs. Kennedy is leaning toward the president.I'm almost there. I was almost there and then I heard the shot. The third shot. The impact was like the sound of something hitting something hollow..............like the sound of a melon shattering onto cement.In the same instant blood, brain matter and bone fragments exploded from the back of the president's head. The president's blood,parts of his skull,bits of his brain were splattered all over me............in my face, my clothes, in my hair.My legs were still moving I assumed more shots were coming. I reached for the handhold and grabbed it.Just as I grabbed it the car lurched forward.Bill Greer had stepped on the gas and the car reacted with a jolt.I slipped.I was gripping with all my strength, my feet now back on the pavement. My legs kept moving,as I held on, trying to keep up with the rapidly accelerating car.Somehow, I honestly do not know how ..............I lunged and pulled my body onto the car, and my foot found the step In that same instant, Mrs. Kennedy rose up out of her seat and started climbing onto the trunk .What is she doing ??What is she doing?? The car was accelerating, .........we were really speeding up. Good God, she's going to go flying off the back of the car !!Her eyes were filled with terror. She didn't even know I was there. She was reaching for something. She was reaching for a piece of the president's head.I thrust myself onto the trunk, grabbed her arm, and pushed her back into the seat.When I did this the president's body fell into her lap.As I peered into the backseat of the car, I saw the president's head in her lap.His eyes were fixed, and I could see inside the back of his head............ I could see inside the back of the president's head............''My God !! They have shot his head off!!! Mrs. Kennedy screamed..Blood was everywhere The floor was covered in blood and brain tissue and skull fragments..''Get us to a hospital! Get us to a hospital. I screamed at Bill Greer... Bethesda Hospital. book p..305.306. ''Mrs.Kennedy and ME.''I took a deep breath,as Kellerman opened the door.. as Lying on a table, covered with a white sheet, was the body of President Kennedy. only his face was exposed and it looked like he was sleeping.Bill Greer was there and Dr.Burkley and General Godfrey McHugh President's Air Force aide. There were additional people I did not recognize . A man in a white coat stod beside the table.I'm sure they told me his name but it didn't register. The man gently lowered the sheet just to expose the president's neck, and he began describing the wounds to me. A wound in the front neck area where a tracheotomy had been performed at Parkland Hospital in an effort to revive the president. He said it covered an exit wound.Then gently rolling the president over to one side, he pointed out a wound in the upper back , at the neckline quite small.This he said corresponded to the exit wound at the throat. Moving the body back and slightly to the left he pointed out the wound in the upper right rear of the head.I swallowed hard, listening closely, as the doctor explained what had happened. It appeared that the impact of the bullet hitting the president's head was so severe, it caused an explosive reaction within the makeup of the skull and brain, so portions of the brain erupted outward, and a portion of the skull with skin and hair attached became like a flap. The image of what i saw when I was up above the backseat came flashing back into my mind. The head wound was exposed and i could see into his brain, part of which had exploded outward . It looked like somebody had flipped open the back of his head, stuck in an ice-cream scoop and removed a portion of the brain then scattered it all over Mrs.Kennedy, the car, and myself. It was a horrific sight. And I couldn't get it out of my mind."Yes Doctor I said ''That is exactly what happened. I know I saw it. I was five feet away from the president when it occurred.'' If only I had run faster, reacted a little quicker......The explanation by the doctor and my observation of the body was concluded, I thanked the doctor and returned to the seventeenth floor.

Thanks, Bernice. That's most unfortunate. Either Hill's memory has slipped, or someone has convinced him to lie on this point. The doctors never connected the back and throat wounds during the autopsy. If they had, the FBI agents at the autopsy would have been told about it. That he (or McCubbin) writes "at the neckline" is a dead give-away, IMO. It was, at the very least, an inch below the neckline. While Hill doesn't subscribe to the SBT, whoever wrote this was trying to make it sound viable.

There is another curiosity. Hill mentions a discussion of the head wound--but has never claimed, not even here, that he was shown the entrance wound on the back of the head. This raises a question--Did Hill think, as Dr. Clark at Parkland, that the large defect was a tangential wound of both entrance and exit?

[Bernice Moore]

http://jfkassassinat...mony/hill_c.htm

Mr. SPECTER. What did you observe as to President Kennedy's condition on arrival at the hospital?

Mr. HILL. The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.

Representative BOGGS. Did you see any other wound other than the head wound?

Mr. HILL. Yes, sir; I saw an opening in the back, about 6 inches below the neckline to the right-hand side of the spinal column.

Representative BOGGS. Was there a frontal neck injury?

Mr. HILL. There was an area here that had been opened but--

Mr. SPECTER. You are indicating--

Mr. HILL. In the neck. It was my understanding at that time that this was done by a tracheotomy.

from ''Mrs.Kennedy and ME.''

book p;290; I was running as fast as I could.Nothing else mattered. I have been told there was a second shot which occurred at this time.I did not hear it.My feet were hitting th pavement; the motorcycle engines were loud in my ears. I'm almost there. Mrs. Kennedy is leaning toward the president.I'm almost there. I was almost there and then I heard the shot. The third shot. The impact was like the sound of something hitting something hollow..............like the sound of a melon shattering onto cement.In the same instant blood, brain matter and bone fragments exploded from the back of the president's head. The president's blood,parts of his skull,bits of his brain were splattered all over me............in my face, my clothes, in my hair.My legs were still moving I assumed more shots were coming. I reached for the handhold and grabbed it.Just as I grabbed it the car lurched forward.Bill Greer had stepped on the gas and the car reacted with a jolt.I slipped.I was gripping with all my strength, my feet now back on the pavement. My legs kept moving,as I held on, trying to keep up with the rapidly accelerating car.Somehow, I honestly do not know how ..............I lunged and pulled my body onto the car, and my foot found the step In that same instant, Mrs. Kennedy rose up out of her seat and started climbing onto the trunk .What is she doing ??What is she doing?? The car was accelerating, .........we were really speeding up. Good God, she's going to go flying off the back of the car !!Her eyes were filled with terror. She didn't even know I was there. She was reaching for something. She was reaching for a piece of the president's head.I thrust myself onto the trunk, grabbed her arm, and pushed her back into the seat.When I did this the president's body fell into her lap.As I peered into the backseat of the car, I saw the president's head in her lap.His eyes were fixed, and I could see inside the back of his head............ I could see inside the back of the president's head............''My God !! They have shot his head off!!! Mrs. Kennedy screamed..Blood was everywhere The floor was covered in blood and brain tissue and skull fragments..''Get us to a hospital! Get us to a hospital. I screamed at Bill Greer... Bethesda Hospital. book p..305.306. ''Mrs.Kennedy and ME.''I took a deep breath,as Kellerman opened the door.. as Lying on a table, covered with a white sheet, was the body of President Kennedy. only his face was exposed and it looked like he was sleeping.Bill Greer was there and Dr.Burkley and General Godfrey McHugh President's Air Force aide. There were additional people I did not recognize . A man in a white coat stod beside the table.I'm sure they told me his name but it didn't register. The man gently lowered the sheet just to expose the president's neck, and he began describing the wounds to me. A wound in the front neck area where a tracheotomy had been performed at Parkland Hospital in an effort to revive the president. He said it covered an exit wound.Then gently rolling the president over to one side, he pointed out a wound in the upper back , at the neckline quite small.This he said corresponded to the exit wound at the throat. Moving the body back and slightly to the left he pointed out the wound in the upper right rear of the head.I swallowed hard, listening closely, as the doctor explained what had happened. It appeared that the impact of the bullet hitting the president's head was so severe, it caused an explosive reaction within the makeup of the skull and brain, so portions of the brain erupted outward, and a portion of the skull with skin and hair attached became like a flap. The image of what i saw when I was up above the backseat came flashing back into my mind. The head wound was exposed and i could see into his brain, part of which had exploded outward . It looked like somebody had flipped open the back of his head, stuck in an ice-cream scoop and removed a portion of the brain then scattered it all over Mrs.Kennedy, the car, and myself. It was a horrific sight. And I couldn't get it out of my mind."Yes Doctor I said ''That is exactly what happened. I know I saw it. I was five feet away from the president when it occurred.'' If only I had run faster, reacted a little quicker......The explanation by the doctor and my observation of the body was concluded, I thanked the doctor and returned to the seventeenth floor.

Thanks, Bernice. That's most unfortunate. Either Hill's memory has slipped, or someone has convinced him to lie on this point. The doctors never connected the back and throat wounds during the autopsy. If they had, the FBI agents at the autopsy would have been told about it. That he (or McCubbin) writes "at the neckline" is a dead give-away, IMO. It was, at the very least, an inch below the neckline. While Hill doesn't subscribe to the SBT, whoever wrote this was trying to make it sound viable.

There is another curiosity. Hill mentions a discussion of the head wound--but has never claimed, not even here, that he was shown the entrance wound on the back of the head. This raises a question--Did Hill think, as Dr. Clark at Parkland, that the large defect was a tangential wound of both entrance and exit?

Thanks PAT, I believe the same people that wrote, the other ''The Kennedy Detail '' were involved with Mr.Hill's book...for what that's worth..imo, i am not surprised of any changes or differences in what he has repeated in the past, i think whomever is with them, the witnesses, at any specific time, have much influence over them, and then take advantage when it comes to writing out the ,information given, putting their own slant into such, , or they are influenced before the taping.during a pre run through....just a thought..here is todays write up link...http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2125086/Clint-Hill-memoir-Jackie-Kennedys-secret-service-agent-recounts-day-JFK-assassinated.html..it is a very interesting read, imo, but then i am into anything connected to SS , others may not find it so, it is also very sad at the same time.....b

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2125086/Clint-Hill-memoir-Jackie-Kennedys-secret-service-agent-recounts-day-JFK-assassinated.html

thanks...b

Edited April 5, 2012 by Bernice Moore

[Don Jeffries]

Thanks for the excerpts, Bernice. Either Hill is no longer in control of his faculties, or he has chosen to add entirely new, hightly contradictory testimony at this late stage, which shockingly just happens to buttress the lone assassin nonsense. Yeah, I'm sure we all believe that they took the time to explain the wounds to a Secret Service agent. And isn't that high "neck" wound in the rear convenient?

It's despicable for Hill to have something like this published in his name. Does he really think none of us are aware of the historical record?

[Guest Robert Morrow]

Clint Hill is allowing the lone nutters to put propaganda into his book. Mimi Alford did the same thing in her book with an endorsement of the "Magic Bullet" theory.

The doctors on 11/22/63 were talking about neck wounds causing the death of JFK. They wer not saying "back wounds." Neck wounds. And that is the way Constance Kritzberg reported it in the Dallas Times Herald.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17687

The title of her story in the paper Dallas Times Herald, dated 11/23/63 was:

"Neck Wounds Bring Death to President"

"Wounds in the lower front portion of the neck and the right rear side of the head ended the life of President John F. Kennedy, say doctors at Parkland Hospital.

Whether there were one or two wounds was not decided. The front neck hole was described as an entrance wound. The wound at the back of the head, while the principal one, was either an exit or tangentially exit wound. A DOCTOR ADMITTED THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE THERE WAS ONLY ONE WOUND."

The sentence in all capital letters is the sentence the FBI added to her article according to Constance's editors who told her that around noon on Saturday 11/23, when she called in mad about the alteration of her article. She knew she had not written that sentence. She demanded to know WHO did and her editor said it was the FBI.

[Pat Speer]

Clint Hill is allowing the lone nutters to put propaganda into his book. Mimi Alford did the same thing in her book with an endorsement of the "Magic Bullet" theory.

The doctors on 11/22/63 were talking about neck wounds causing the death of JFK. They wer not saying "back wounds." Neck wounds. And that is the way Constance Kritzberg reported it in the Dallas Times Herald.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17687

The title of her story in the paper Dallas Times Herald, dated 11/23/63 was:

"Neck Wounds Bring Death to President"

"Wounds in the lower front portion of the neck and the right rear side of the head ended the life of President John F. Kennedy, say doctors at Parkland Hospital.

Whether there were one or two wounds was not decided. The front neck hole was described as an entrance wound. The wound at the back of the head, while the principal one, was either an exit or tangentially exit wound. A DOCTOR ADMITTED THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE THERE WAS ONLY ONE WOUND."

The sentence in all capital letters is the sentence the FBI added to her article according to Constance's editors who told her that around noon on Saturday 11/23, when she called in mad about the alteration of her article. She knew she had not written that sentence. She demanded to know WHO did and her editor said it was the FBI.

Let's not confuse matters, Robert. Connie spoke to two Parkland doctors, who only knew of two wounds--the throat wound and large head wound. Hill was at the autopsy at Bethesda, and shown two wounds: the back wound and the large head wound. For some reason--maybe the reflection of the scalp when he was in the room--they did not show him the small entrance wound on the back of the head. They didn't show him the throat wound as they thought it was a tracheotomy incision.

SO...to the Parkland witnesses, the second wound was a neck wound, and to Hill it was a back wound.

The concern is not over Hill's use of neck/back, but over his now claiming they told him on the night of the autopsy that the back wound and neck wound were connected. The official story is that they didn't come to believe this until the next day, when Dr. Perry told Dr. Humes the tracheotomy incision was a bullet wound. But this was problematic, and so the supposedly sworn-to-silence Dr. Boswell, in November 1966, began claiming they'd connected the back wound to the throat wound--at least in their minds--while the body was still in front of them.

Hill's recent claim supports this almost certain lie. Perhaps he now recalls it this way. Or perhaps he thinks his claiming this will help fend off calls for a re-inspection of Kennedy's body.

Edited April 5, 2012 by Pat Speer

[Bernice Moore]

Pat here is the latest insert, appears much interest in his book on the web.......thanks b...http://www.dailymail...sassinated.html

quote..Pat....''Hill's recent claim supports this almost certain lie. Perhaps he now recalls it this way. Or perhaps he thinks his claiming this will help fend off calls for a re-inspection of Kennedy's body.''

below mark balma's pieta, painting, for the vatican...b

Edited April 5, 2012 by Bernice Moore

[Kathleen Collins]

Thanks for the excerpts, Bernice. Either Hill is no longer in control of his faculties, or he has chosen to add entirely new, hightly contradictory testimony at this late stage, which shockingly just happens to buttress the lone assassin nonsense. Yeah, I'm sure we all believe that they took the time to explain the wounds to a Secret Service agent. And isn't that high "neck" wound in the rear convenient?

It's despicable for Hill to have something like this published in his name. Does he really think none of us are aware of the historical record?

I never believed anything Clint Hill said or any of the other Secret Service man. They were complicit in the Kennedy Assassination as much as the shooters were, as much as the planners were. I think some of them should have been fired, especially with the pantomime that went on in Love Field. The Kennedys were sitting in the limo by themselves with no one protecting them. I wonder if there could have been shooters somewhere in Love Field. This SS man is about to start jogging next to the car (which, as yet, did not have a driver) when his boss from the next car told him to move away from the limo. The SS man throws his arms up, as if to reluctantly say, OK. It's possible someone was going to shoot the President at Love Field. Because the Secret Service man threw his arms up with such exaggeration. Someone was watching.

Kathy C

[Bernice Moore]

Pat here is the latest insert, appears much interest in his book on the web.......thanks b...http://www.dailymail...sassinated.html

quote..Pat....''Hill's recent claim supports this almost certain lie. Perhaps he now recalls it this way. Or perhaps he thinks his claiming this will help fend off calls for a re-inspection of Kennedy's body.''

There is interest in Balma's painting.....here is some

Further information on the '' pieta'', painting, which was on display at the vatican....b

It is a painting the artists rendition, of how he thought the dramatic scene would have appeared.....

His name is Mark Balma......it is controversial and was......still is...

Clint covered his head and shoulders, only after

she would not release him, when covered she did so....

B....

Minnesotan's Kennedy Assassination painting destined for Vatican

Minnesota native Mark Balma has painted Presidents before, including Ford, Reagan and George H.W. Bush, but they always posed and were depicted is a scene from their lives. Now, Balma has rendered a presidential work darker and much more spiritual.

It is a moment of history, a snapshot of the Kennedy assassination that was never captured by any camera.

"Mrs. Kennedy, after arriving at Parkland Hospital, refused to let go of the President," Balma explained, recalling one line in the Warren Commission Report that caught his attention. The First Lady had to be gently coaxed to release the mortally wounded President from her lap in the limousine, so he could be taken to the emergency room.

The 1963 murder in Dallas was the end of innocence for a generation of Americans, including the now 50 year old Balma. There is a distinct difference between this work and his earlier paintings.

"Well, in this painting, I really tried to capture the idea of both frenzy and yet a still moment. In the background, there are figures which are softer and even slightly blurred and almost like a movie still where there is motion in the background and where the most amount of refinement is in Mrs. Kennedy."

Balma waved his hand over the 5 by 7 foot oil. "She becomes the emotional place that I think most of the public looked to in the months after the assassination, more so than President Johnson."

Balma calls the painting "Pieta", like Michelangelo's famous sculpture of Mary holding the crucified Jesus. The First Lady?s iconic pink suit has been reproduced, not just in oil and canvas, but in cloth and thread. The original blood-spattered garment is sealed in the National Archives until 2060.

http://www.kare11.co...?storyid=138787

Minnesotan's JFK painting bound for Vatican

by Chris Roberts, Minnesota Public Radio

November 15, 2006

Listen to feature audio

A controversial painting of John F. Kennedy's dying moments is on display at the Cathedral of St. Paul. The unveiling of the painting corresponds with a week-long symposium the church has convened on the Kennedy assassination.

http://minnesota.pub...11/15/jfkpieta/

B........

Edited April 6, 2012 by Bernice Moore

[Guest Robert Morrow]

Clint Hill is allowing the lone nutters to put propaganda into his book. Mimi Alford did the same thing in her book with an endorsement of the "Magic Bullet" theory.

The doctors on 11/22/63 were talking about neck wounds causing the death of JFK. They wer not saying "back wounds." Neck wounds. And that is the way Constance Kritzberg reported it in the Dallas Times Herald.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17687

The title of her story in the paper Dallas Times Herald, dated 11/23/63 was:

"Neck Wounds Bring Death to President"

"Wounds in the lower front portion of the neck and the right rear side of the head ended the life of President John F. Kennedy, say doctors at Parkland Hospital.

Whether there were one or two wounds was not decided. The front neck hole was described as an entrance wound. The wound at the back of the head, while the principal one, was either an exit or tangentially exit wound. A DOCTOR ADMITTED THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE THERE WAS ONLY ONE WOUND."

The sentence in all capital letters is the sentence the FBI added to her article according to Constance's editors who told her that around noon on Saturday 11/23, when she called in mad about the alteration of her article. She knew she had not written that sentence. She demanded to know WHO did and her editor said it was the FBI.

Let's not confuse matters, Robert. Connie spoke to two Parkland doctors, who only knew of two wounds--the throat wound and large head wound. Hill was at the autopsy at Bethesda, and shown two wounds: the back wound and the large head wound. For some reason--maybe the reflection of the scalp when he was in the room--they did not show him the small entrance wound on the back of the head. They didn't show him the throat wound as they thought it was a tracheotomy incision.

SO...to the Parkland witnesses, the second wound was a neck wound, and to Hill it was a back wound.

The concern is not over Hill's use of neck/back, but over his now claiming they told him on the night of the autopsy that the back wound and neck wound were connected. The official story is that they didn't come to believe this until the next day, when Dr. Perry told Dr. Humes the tracheotomy incision was a bullet wound. But this was problematic, and so the supposedly sworn-to-silence Dr. Boswell, in November 1966, began claiming they'd connected the back wound to the throat wound--at least in their minds--while the body was still in front of them.

Hill's recent claim supports this almost certain lie. Perhaps he now recalls it this way. Or perhaps he thinks his claiming this will help fend off calls for a re-inspection of Kennedy's body.

Got it. Thanks for the info.