Article: The Ongoing Kennedy Casket Mystery

[Karl Kinaski]

The Schlesinger quote can not be found in any book. This quote is from an interview with him. The correct quote is: He looked like a wax dummy...which makes sense since the embalmers were using wax to produce a presentable corps for an open coffin presentation on the hill...there was none, because of the unnatural, waxy, look of the face...

KK

[Steve Thomas]

The overwhelming weight of the evidence renders a virtually inescapable conclusion: that some time between Parkland Hospital and Andrews Air Force Base, unidentified agents of the U.S. government secretly removed the president’s body from the expensive, heavy, ornate casket into which it had been placed at Parkland and then secretly delivered it in a cheap shipping casket to the Bethesda morgue at 6:35 p.m.

I think this explains the big fight over the coffin/casket in the halls of Parkland hospital between the Secret Service and the Dallas authorities. The casket was already empty by then and the Secret Service could not afford to let the Dallas authorities get their hands on it.

Steve Thomas

I got to wondering where a "pink/grey" shipping casket may have come from. I mean, what does a hospital do when a person arrives DOA at a hospital, or dies during surgery, etc? Do hospitals keep a supply of caskets in storage or something?

Dr. Price, Parkland Hospital Administrator was asked this. In his Warren Commission Price Exhibit 33, page 111 he wrote this:

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf

About this time a secret service man came to me and asked how we could move the president's body. He asked if we had a casket, a basket or anything that we could get to move the body immediately. I told him that we had nothing like that, but that we had several military installation nearby where we could get a casket, or we could get one from a local funeral director. He asked me to wait where I was, stating he would be back in just a minute,. I noticed that Steve had started out of the area with a secret service man and asked where he was going. He said to get a casket, and I told him to wait a minute as someone had just asked me about one and had asked that no further action be taken at that tine. Another man in the group who had been talking with Mrs. Kennedy and the other secret service agents near her came to me and asked that we get a casket of any kind from any place the quickest possible way. I then turned to Steve and relayed the request to him, and asked that he see what could be done about it.

Right now, I don't know who "Steve" is, and I don't know who this "other man in the group talking with Mrs. Kennedy" was. If you needed a "pinkish/grey" shipping casket similar to ones used to ship servicemen home from Vietnam, what better place to get one than from a military installation.

Is this how the casket was removed?

On page 110 of this Exhibit, Price wrote:

While talking with Mrs. Nelson, one of the secret service men who had been bruised or had a minor injury came to me and asked if there were another way that the President and Mrs. Kennedy could be taken out of the building. I told him there was a tunnel exit and that if he would come with me, I would walk it off for him. I walked down to inspect the tunnel, then returned to the surgery area of the Emergency Room.

(Does anyone know about a Secret Service man who had been bruised or had a minor injury?)

While I was talking with him, (a Mr. Maher) another secret service man grabbed me by the arm and asked if I knew an alternate route the Johnson*s could use for an exit. I told him I had walked out an alternate route with another agent a few minutes ago and that if he would come with me, I would show him. We went to the Emergency Room elevator, one of the maintenance men was manually operating it and told him to take us to the basement....

I instructed the elevator operator to go to second (floor for an emergency delivery of blood),and then to take

us on down to the basement. The secret service agent and I "ran" the alternate route, then when we got back to the Emergency Room area, he asked me to show him where the Johnsons were.

If this is the hearse taking JFK back to Love Field, what is the vehicle on the left hand side of the image, off to the left of the crowd of people?

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVu5QkLRWuBYAwmsnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEwNzJpNmJwBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNyZWwtYm90?p=jfk+parkland+hospital&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&fr2=rs-bottom%2Cp%3As%2Cv%3Aw%2Cm%3Aat-s&fr=yhs-mozilla-001

While all the attention was on Air Force One, could the shipping casket have been placed on Air Force Two, or the C-130 military plane that took the limousine back to Washington? I would have to find the radio logs for Air Force Two or the cargo manifest for the C-130 to find out more.

Steve Thomas

[Steve Thomas]

Dr. Price, Parkland Hospital Administrator was asked this. In his Warren Commission Price Exhibit 33, page 111 he wrote this:

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf

I noticed that Steve had started out of the area with a secret service man and asked where he was going. He said to get a casket, and I told him to wait a minute as someone had just asked me about one and had asked that no further action be taken at that tine.

Right now, I don't know who "Steve" is, and I don't know who this "other man in the group talking with Mrs. Kennedy" was.

I've since learned that "Steve" was Mr. Steve Landregan, Assistant Administrator of Parkland Hospital.

Steve Thomas

[Kathleen Collins]

Some spooky things were going on. I understand that "Air Force 2" landed sometime after Air Force One, if that was where any alterations were made.

Digression: Someone made mention that The Death of the President by Manchester was a great book. If somebody sneezed that day pages would be written about it. The book is dated, with some archaic vocabulary. And of course, Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy alone from the TSBD. If the body showed proof of being hit from the front, that would mean conspiracy. And, further, Johnson was as sweet as can be.

I'll keep plugging along and I welcome anyone's comment on this matter.

Kathy C

[Kathleen Collins]

Manchester's book yielded hardly anything about the coffins. Bobby ordered a new coffin because he was told that the bronze coffin was damaged. Manchester did describe President Kennedy in his coffin. When Bobby and his friend, Bob Walton, looked close-up at Kennedy, they found his face looked like a "rubber mask you'd buy in a novelty store." Jackie said, "It's like something you'd see in Madam Tussaud's" wax museum. They decided he was too cosmeticized. He also described a lot of people in the Bethesda suite where Bobby and Jackie were. Jackie was sitting on the floor. Another woman commented, "It's like she doesn't want the day to end." At the time, a discussion ensued about whether or not to close the coffin. She was used to listening to men. Manchester put it, "Womanlike, she waited." Now, is that not archaic?

Kathy C

[Steve Thomas]

The overwhelming weight of the evidence renders a virtually inescapable conclusion: that some time between Parkland Hospital and Andrews Air Force Base, unidentified agents of the U.S. government secretly removed the president’s body from the expensive, heavy, ornate casket into which it had been placed at Parkland and then secretly delivered it in a cheap shipping casket to the Bethesda morgue at 6:35 p.m.

If this is the hearse taking JFK back to Love Field, what is the vehicle on the left hand side of the image, off to the left of the crowd of people?

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVu5QkLRWuBYAwmsnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEwNzJpNmJwBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNyZWwtYm90?p=jfk+parkland+hospital&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&fr2=rs-bottom%2Cp%3As%2Cv%3Aw%2Cm%3Aat-s&fr=yhs-mozilla-001

While all the attention was on Air Force One, could the shipping casket have been placed on Air Force Two, or the C-130 military plane that took the limousine back to Washington? I would have to find the radio logs for Air Force Two or the cargo manifest for the C-130 to find out more.

Steve Thomas

This was suggested several years earlier in a post on the Education Forum by David Andrews on 23 August 2012 - 12:48 AM entitled:

How JFK's body was wrapped.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=19412

"Kellerman's and other SS agents' behavior on leaving Parkland in a hurry, with guns drawn, knocking people out of the way, could have been to prevent Texas authorities' possession and opening of an empty coffin. (Otherwise, it was necessary to keep the pre-autopsy alterations in DC on schedule.)

I tend to think that David Lifton was on track in Best Evidence, and JFK's body actually returned to Washington on Air Force Two (the V-P plane). Which would mean switching the body at Parkland."

So the question becomes, was there a point at any time when JFK's body was left unattended, or did any hospital personnel report any suspicious activity?

Well, it appears that for a time, many hospital personnel were ushered out of Emergency and Trauma Room# 1 and were prevented from observing anything.

Statement of Steve Landregan, Assistant Administrator of Parkland Hospital. Price Exhibit 7

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdfpage 9

I closed the door to the Ob-Gyn area and had the door to Radiology closed and asked someone to cover the windows on both doors with paper and tape.

Page 14:

At this point, a member of the White House staff approached me and asked if there was any way that the President's body could be removed other .than the public corridor. I advised him that it could be taken out through the 0B-Gyn section and through the doorway across from Minor Medicine and Surgery, but that it would still have to be taken out the emergency room entrance. I showed him this possible route and he agreed that this would be the best one. I then attempted to clear the Ob-Gyn area of all but necessary personnel and asked that the windows and the doors in this area be covered to prevent the possibility of any unnecessary observation or photographs.

ERA LUMPKIN,AIDE

Price Exhibit 16 http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 60

Finally, some one asked every one to leave out of the Emergency Room. So Shirley Randall and me left out and went into the waiting room. The policeman asked every one out. They told us, Shirley and me, we could stay after they asked where we worked. We said in Emergency Room. There were four patients, Shirley Randall and myself and several doctors left in the waiting room. As I looked out the window of the waiting room Oneal Ambulance brought in bronze casket and went towards Emergency Room. Later they came back with the casket.

SHIRLEY RANDALL, AIDE

Price Exhibit 22 http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 69

Era and I left and went back to Surgery and stood in a booth. Mr. Lardrecan asked everybody, including the Emergency personnel, please to leave the room. We then went to the stairway and stood by the door, both feeling very depressed. Finally we went to the Waiting Room and stood there watching outside the window. The police made everyone leave the Waiting Room except the patients. I think it was about four patients in there. One policeman told me to put them all in a corner. So I asked three of them to move to the corner where they couldn't see anything; the other patient was in a wheelchair and I pushed her into the corner too. I explained to them that after everything was over, they could then go back and receive treatments. One patient wanted to know why they were trying to keep everybody from looking and going into the Emergency Room because the President was dead now. I explained that Mrs. Kennedy was not dead and it was probably for her safety.

ROSA M. MAJORS, AIDE

Price Exhibit 23 http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 71

I stood there for a while with Faye; we decided to go across the hall in Minor Medicine and look out of the window. As we were going to look out of the window, Mr. Price came and pushed us out; I was pushed around so much that day until I began to think I was a volley ball. I started back in the Emergency Room when I was told to go back out, that if I was needed, they would call me; so I decided to go in Pedi E.O.R. And stay until we started seeing patients again . After they carried the President's body out, all the area was opened for work again...

ACTIVITIES OF TOMMMY DUNN, ORDERLY

Price Exhibit 26 http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 76

Rose and I removed his (Governor Connolly) shoes and pants. We were then asked to leave Trauma Rooms. I returned to the patients in the booths, Mr. Price then asked everyone to leave the Emergency Room until further notice. After everything was over, I returned to regular duty.

There seems to be a gap of time of about thirty minutes between the time when the casket was brought in and when it was wheeled out.

Activities of 0.P. Wright Price Exhibit 29

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 81

When the casket arrived it was accompanied by Pegg Oneal, owner of Oneal Funeral Home . He was assisted in moving the casket into the area where the late President's body was. Approximately thirty minutes later, the casket was brought out through the door . I was told that it contained the body of the late President.

Statement of R.G. Holcomb Assistant Administrator Price Exhibit 32

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 98

I recall seeing the casket brought into the area and remember seeing it being wheeled down the hall to the Major Surgery door. Mr. Price was, I believe, assisting with the manning it down the hall . Within some 30 minutes or so, Mr. Price came to me and said that they were ready to remove the President's body and for us to get the hall as clear as possible.

David Sanders, who helped clean Trauma Room# 1 Price Ehibit 25 http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 75

said that after Jackie came in and placed her ring on JFK's finger and kissing his hand, she left the room. Afterwards they placed the body in the casket.

Two nurses said that after JFK was placed in the casket, Jackie came back in the room and remained with his body.

Diana Bowron Price Exhibit 12

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 55

When Mrs. Kennedy had left we placed the President's body on a plastic sheet in the casket. We all left the room and Mrs Kennedy entered alone and stayed with the body until it was removed a short time later.

ACTIVITIES OF MARGARET HINCHLIFFE. Price Exhibit 30

http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh21/pdf/WH21_Price_Ex_2-35.pdf page 91

After Mrs.Kennedy and the priests left the room, Miss Bowron and myself, with the assistance of David Sanders, the orderly, prepared the body... We remained with the body until he was placed in the casket. Then, Mrs. Kennedy entered the room and everyone left the room and waited outside until the President's body was taken from the hospital.

So, was JFK ever left alone? I just don't know.

Steve Thomas

[David Andrews]

I got to wondering where a "pink/grey" shipping casket may have come from. I mean, what does a hospital do when a person arrives DOA at a hospital, or dies during surgery, etc? Do hospitals keep a supply of caskets in storage or something?

Steve Thomas

In his interview filmed for The Men Who Killed Kennedy, Bethesda lab tech Paul O'Connor refers to the pink/grey casket as a military-issue item that would become familiar to hospital staff as the Vietnam war escalated.

A strange thought occurs: Could a shipping casket or two be standard emergency items kept in the cargo holds of Air Force One and Two? If not a SOP, could it have been argued into existence ahead of the Dallas trip?

Edited February 8, 2016 by David Andrews