Charles Hester

[William Kelly]

Deputy Sheriff Alan Sweatt stated that a man named "Hester" identified the old Sexton building(TSBD) as where the shots came from.

Charles Hester is listed as a Dealey Plaza witness, but where was he standing, did he give a statement or testify and if so what did he say?

BK

[David Andrews]

A Charles Hester and his wife were the couple in front of the pergola photographed chatting with Marilyn Sitzman. Beatrice Hester worked for Zapruder at Jennifer Juniors dress company.

Hester was filmed going to the cutouts at the back of the pergola after the shots, and looking behind the pergola or perhaps communicating with someone back there. He carried an unusual case that may have been a camera case.

Funny that Hester went looking behind the pergola if he reported shots from the TSBD.

Much discussed in olden times at the Forum. Time to bump the thread below?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=15298

Raise a glass to our friend, Jack White, those who remember this thread.

Edited February 1, 2014 by David Andrews

[William Kelly]

Thanks David

And God bless Jack White

BK

[Robin Unger]

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Date 11/25/63

CHARLES HESTER, 2610 Mayhold Street, furnished the following information:

At approximately 12:30 p.m., November 22, 1963, HESTER and his wife, BEATRICE, were standing along the street at the point immediately preceeding the underpass on Elm Street where President JOHN F. KENNEDY was shot. HESTER stated he saw the President slump in the seat of the car and that he heard two shots fired drom what appeared to be a building located on the corner of Elm Street and Houston Street. He Stated he and his wife were almost in a direct line of the fire and he immediately grabbed his wife and shoved her to the ground. He stated hethereafter immediately escorted his wife across to the north side of the street on an embankment in an attempt to gain shelter.

HESTER stated he did not see anyone with a gun at the time the shots were fired and that after the President's car had pulled away from the scene and officers started toward the aforementioned building, he and his wife proceeded to their car and left the area.

on 11/24/63 at Irving, Texas File # DL 89-43

By Special Agent DOYLE WILLIAMS and HENRY J. OLIVER Date Dictated 11/25/63

[Robin Unger]

VOLUNTARY STATEMENT. Not Under Arrest Form No. 86
SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
COUNTY OF DALLAS, TEXAS

Before me, the undersigned authority, on this the 22nd day of November A.D. 1963 personally appeared Charles Hester, Address 2616 Keyhole, Irving Age 28 , Phone No. None
Deposes and says:

My wife, Beatrice and I were sitting on the grass on the slope on Elm Street where the park is located. When President Kennedy's car got almost down to the underpass, I heard two shots ring out. Thye [sic] sounded like they came from immediately behind us and over our heads. We did [not?] see the shooting. I immediately turned and looked at the Texas Book Depository building and did not see anyone. The shots sounded like the [sic] definitely came from in or around the building. I grabbed my wife because I didn't know where the next shot was coming from and dragged her up next to the concrete imbankment [sic] and threw her down on the ground and got on the ground with her. Then there was utter confusion. The Police rushed toward the railroad tracks and I finally found an officer to go to the Texas Book Depository Building. The officer I contacted was Officer Wiseman of the Dallas Sheriff's Department.

/s/ Charles Hester

Subscribed and sworn to before me on this the 22nd day of Nov A. D. 1963

/s/ Aleen Davis
Notary Public, Dallas County, Texas

Home .. Alphabetical list of witnesses

[Robert Prudhomme]

Sure is good to see the FBI cleaning up statements like this. They were on the south side of Elm, watching the motorcade, facing the TSBD and heard shots come from immediately behind them and over their heads. Thank God the FBI straightened things out. The shots came from the TSBD, of course.

*sarcasm off*

[Robin Unger]

quote:

He stated he thereafter immediately escorted his wife across to the north side of the street on an embankment in an attempt to gain shelter.

Yes, this was just an assumption made by the FBI ?

Hester quote:

My wife, Beatrice and I were sitting on the grass on the slope on Elm Street where the park is located. ( grassy knoll )

[David Andrews]

I'm not going to defend the Hesters, but in photos offered in the old thread started by Jack White (Post #2 above), Charles Hester is sitting on the bench at the east side pergola extension, back to the TSBD, before the motorcade arrives. (He ended up on the grass plot beside his wife during the shooting.) So his "shots came from above and behind [me]" statement at least makes some semantic sense, in its panic-garbled way. Whether it's acoustically accurate or factual is still questionable.

Posts on Jack White's thread make connections between the Hester family and a Dallas photo lab that the Secret Service employed to develop film taken in Dealey, copies of which were lost in an arson fire. Worth revisiting.

Edited February 1, 2014 by David Andrews

[Robin Unger]

Sitzman and the Hesters

Edited February 1, 2014 by Robin Unger

[Robin Unger]

Hesters in Bronson.

[Robert Prudhomme]

I think the FBI made a lot of "assumptions" in the evidence they gave to the WC, as well as several Dallas agencies gathering statements that day.

If the shots were from "immediately behind us and over our heads", and they were at the pergola facing the motorcade, could the shots have come from the TSBD, which was to their left?

[William Kelly]

So while Hester identified the TSBD as the source of shots he didn't see the rifileman and is not the source of the description of the suspect put out on the police radio.

Thanks

BK

[Keyvan Shahrdar]

Does anyone know if the Hesters have any relatives that were alive in 1963?

[Adam Johnson]

Keyvan, they had at least one daughter possibly two from memory. Sorry i cant remember their names. 

[Steve Thomas]

On 2/1/2014 at 8:07 AM, David Andrews said:

Posts on Jack White's thread make connections between the Hester family and a Dallas photo lab that the Secret Service employed to develop film taken in Dealey, copies of which were lost in an arson fire. Worth revisiting.

I wonder if this was the Eastman Kodak lab.

Forrest Sorrels tried to leave the impression with the Warren Commission that he was present in the Dallas Police Headquarters early in the afternoon of November 22nd; testifying that he arrived “fairly close to 2:00PM.”^1.. However, I do not believe this is true.

Phillip Willis was a retired Air Force Major and amateur photographer. He and his wife Marilyn had taken their children out of school that day to go down and see the President and get some pictures. Marilyn Willis told Harold Weisburg that they remained in Dealey Plaza for about an hour after the assassination and then drove out to the Eastman Kodak plant near Love Field to get their pictures developed. She said that they arrived at the plant while Air Force 1 was taking off for the return flight to Washington. From Secret Service accounts, we know that that occurred at 2:47PM. She said that while they were waiting for their pictures to get developed, Abraham Zapruder arrived at the plant with Forrest Sorrels. Both Phillip and Marilyn Willis confirmed to Harold Weisberg that before Sorrels left, all the films had been processed, “and all viewed them”.^2.

 

^1. Testimony of Forrest Sorrels. Warren Commission Hearings and Exhibits, volume VII, p. 352, as cited in the History Matters Archive, http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk..._Vol7_0180b.htm

^2.. Weisberg, Harold. Whitewash II: The FBI – Secret Service Coverup. Harold Weisberg, 1966. p. 203.

Steve Thomas