Ex-Secret Service agent talks about JFK assassination

[Douglas Caddy]

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Ex-Secret Service agent talks at Rotary Club about JFK assassination

By Scott Rochat

Longmont (Colorado) Times-Call

Feb. 6, 2009

http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=14293

LONGMONT — No grassy knolls. No mob conspiracies. Just one man, one rifle and three shots.

That was and is the conclusion of Dale Wunderlich, a retired Secret Service agent who helped investigate the death of President John F. Kennedy as part of the Warren Commission. Wunderlich spoke about the assassination Thursday at the Twin Peaks Rotary Club.

“There’s a lot of theories about what happened,” said Wunderlich, who lives in Parker. “At some point, you have to wonder — if it had been a conspiracy, do any of you really believe that anyone in Washington can keep a secret for 46 years?”

Wunderlich helped protect five presidents, from Kennedy through Jimmy Carter. On Nov. 22, 1963, he looked after Kennedy during a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, but was off duty when the president went on to Dallas.

Wunderlich was at the airport when he heard the motorcade had been shot at. An early report said a Secret Service agent had been hit, and Wunderlich hurried back.

As he arrived, he realized that all the agents were accounted for. “Who got killed?” he asked agent Roy Kellerman.

“The president,” Kellerman said.

The sight of Kennedy’s body, face down in the hospital, is still engraved on Wunderlich’s mind. So is the funeral ceremony, when even the agents themselves were in mourning.

“I had such tears in my eyes that I couldn’t see anything,” Wunderlich said. “If someone had wanted to kill President (Lyndon) Johnson, that would have been the best time to do it. Everyone had tears in their eyes. No one could see.”

Since then, he said, there have been a lot of stories and myths about the assassination. Among them:

The Secret Service was drunk. Not true, Wunderlich said. Several agents did go to a place called the Cellar Bar the night before, but despite the name, the Cellar didn’t sell liquor. “We had sandwiches and near-beer,” he said.

There was a fourth shot. Not likely, Wunderlich said. Researchers at California Polytechnic State University analyzed the Zapruder film — a home movie that captured the assassination — a few years back, he said, and concluded the sound of the “fourth shot” was actually a police Harley-Davidson backfiring.

Oswald couldn’t have shot so fast, so accurately. The range wasn’t very far, especially for the rifle used, Wunderlich said — 192 feet for the closest shot and 292 feet for the longest one. Moreover, he said, Lee Harvey Oswald had spent hours practicing rapid-fire shots.

Fast enough to fire three shots in 8.5 seconds? As a test, Wunderlich said, investigators sent a truck filled with hay bales down the street at the same speed while the FBI armorer and the Secret Service armorer took shots at it. In 8.5 seconds, each put five shots in the kill zone.

Oswald was trying to kill Texas Gov. John Connally. That may never be known, Wunderlich said. He said Oswald is believed to have had a grudge against Connally, who as secretary of the Navy wouldn’t change his “hardship” discharge to an “honorable” one. The field of fire would have allowed a good shot at Connally, who was wounded by a bullet that clipped Kennedy’s shoulder first. And Kennedy may not have even been in the sights when the second shot was fired — his head was in his wife’s lap after the first shot hit; the second hit his head as she pulled him up.

“Sam Donaldson is the biggest supporter of this theory,” Wunderlich said. “I love to watch people’s eyes when I describe it. It’s another thing that could be logical.”

Jack Ruby, who shot Oswald, was on the mob payroll. Actually, Wunderlich said, Ruby was a big admirer of Jacqueline Kennedy and closed himself in his club after the Kennedy assassination, drinking heavily. He knew several police officers and had a permit to carry a gun because he frequently carried bank deposits with him.

He was on his way with a deposit and had made up a slip to put $20 in an employee’s account when he saw the crowd of media around the police station. After finding out it was Oswald on his way to be arraigned, Wunderlich said, Ruby worked his way close and shot Oswald — a gun in one hand and a bank bag in the other.

“If you plan to kill someone, are you going to be prepared to also make a deposit?” Wunderlich asked. “I think it was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

To this day, he said, America remains fascinated with the case, conspiracy or no.

“Hardly a day goes by when I don’t see something related to Kennedy,” Wunderlich said. “It’s a topic I don’t think will ever go away

[J. William King]

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Ex-Secret Service agent talks at Rotary Club about JFK assassination

By Scott Rochat

Longmont (Colorado) Times-Call

Feb. 6, 2009

http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=14293

**** snip ****

Oswald was trying to kill Texas Gov. John Connally. That may never be known, Wunderlich said. He said Oswald is believed to have had a grudge against Connally, who as secretary of the Navy wouldn’t change his “hardship” discharge to an “honorable” one. The field of fire would have allowed a good shot at Connally, who was wounded by a bullet that clipped Kennedy’s shoulder first. And Kennedy may not have even been in the sights when the second shot was fired — his head was in his wife’s lap after the first shot hit; the second hit his head as she pulled him up.

“Sam Donaldson is the biggest supporter of this theory,” Wunderlich said. “I love to watch people’s eyes when I describe it. It’s another thing that could be logical.”

**** snip ****

“Hardly a day goes by when I don’t see something related to Kennedy,” Wunderlich said. “It’s a topic I don’t think will ever go away

I've always wondered about JBC being the actual target. LHO tried very hard to get his discharge changed, and the fact that JBC (or his office) turned him down may have given him a motive. If LHO had failed to lead the shot correctly, it would have put JFK right into the line of fire. Also, it might explain why a shot wasn't taken on the way down Houston St. The car's windshield, grab bar and maybe the front seat passengers would have been in the way if the target was, indeed, JBC.

Of course, this assumes LHO was the actual shooter and that no others were involved.

JWK

[William Kelly]

There was another article published a few years ago in the news paper in Grand Junction, Colorado about a local retired Secret Service agent who acknowledged there was a conspiracy and a government sanctioned coverup.

I'm trying to locate the clip now but it apparently is no longer on line.

Most of those who claim that Kennedy was killed by a lone nut assassin have a vested interest in the case.

It's apparent he hasn't read Larry Hancock's "Someone Would Have Talked" and the idea that Oswald was shooting at Connally was part of the frame up job before the assassination, given the letter to Connally from Russia and the JFCOTT scenario.

Of course the failure of the Secret Service to keep JFK alive and the government's failure to fully account for what really happened at Dealey Plaza makes the assassination of the President a continuing national security threat today.

BK

[William Ney]

Howdy Mr Kelly,

Can you tell me if/where you folks here have already discussed/accepted/dismissed this footage in which two Secret Service men are pulled off the rear of the target car by their supervisor as they turned (I gather) onto Houston Street?

Footage is at YouTube:

Thanks. I'm a reader.

[William Kelly]

Howdy Mr Kelly,

Can you tell me if/where you folks here have already discussed/accepted/dismissed this footage in which two Secret Service men are pulled off the rear of the target car by their supervisor as they turned (I gather) onto Houston Street?

Footage is at YouTube:

Thanks. I'm a reader.

Howdy Doody to you too Mr. Ney.

I thought St. John's had a good B-ball team?

As for the actions of the Secret Service, I just don't know, and haven't really studied it as much as Vince Palmara. His opinion on the matter of the SS men being pulled off the rear of the target car is probably well thought out and correct, though I don't know what it is. I'm sure there is a thread about that around here somewhere. Or you can ask Vince.

What is an established fact is that the US Secret Service was seriously compromised, subsequently destroyed records requested by the Assassination Records Review Board and failed in their mission to protect the President.

All I wanted to do was to point out is that for every company man who parrots the party line while living off the dole of government pension, there's an honest patriot who realizes that its important to recognize what really happened and continue to pursue the truth.

JFK was going to die whether there were Secret Service agents on the bumber on not.

BK

[Jim Feemster]

Bill K.

AMEN !

jf