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The Back Wound

Gil Jesus

By Gil Jesus
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Gil Jesus

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Posted (edited)

Evidence of Deception Regarding President Kennedy's Back Wound

By Gil Jesus ( 2022 )


 



"During the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital another bullet hole was observed at the base of the back of President Kennedy's neck slightly to the right of his spine which provides further enlightenment as to the source of the shots. The hole was located approximately 5 1/2 inches ( 14 centimeters ) from the tip of the right shoulder joint and approximately the same distance below the tip of the right mastoid process, the bony point immediately behind the right ear." ( Report pgs. 88-89 )



No piece of evidence in this case screams "deception" louder than the President's non-fatal back wound. That deception mainly concerned the destruction of Dr. Humes' original autopsy notes and then re-writing of his autopsy report which misrepresented of the location of the wound. But the autopsy photographs indicate that the prosectors were quite clever in the manner of how they handled the body when taking measurements.


Deceptive measurements

Using the mastoid process and the acromion as measuring points was brilliant from a deception standpoint. The mastoid process is the bony structure behind the ear and by being part of the head, is easily moved as the head moves.

The Acromion is top outer edge of the shoulder blade and is also easily moved by moving the shoulder up and down.


 



Dr. Cyril Wecht, Director of the Institute of Forensic Sciences at Duquesne University School of Law and Chief Forensic Pathologist of Allegheny County ( PA ) wrote in a letter dated February 10, 1967 :

"the acromion and/or the mastoid process are not customarily or routinely used by forensic pathologists as landmarks in pinpointing the location of bullet wounds on the body. Therefore, on must ask why these points were used by the pathologists who performed the autopsy on President Kennedy." ( Accessories After the Fact, Sylvia Meagher, 1967, pg. 141 )

Dr. Wecht's point is not only well taken, it's a proven fact.

When we look at Oswald's autopsy ( CE 1981 ), also a murder that involved a gunshot wound to the torso, we see that the measurements were taken from the top of the head and the midline of the body.


 



Using the mastoid process and the Acromion as landmarks is ridiculous because neither one is stationary and both can be moved easily to produce whatever measurement is required.

And the evidence indicates that that's exactly what they did.


Forcing the head backward

The below graphic shows how the distance between a fixed location ( bullet hole B ) and the mastoid process ( A ) is shortened when the head is tilted backward.


 

 

 

If measurements are taken while the head is tilted backwards, not only is the distance going to be shorter than it really is, when the head is returned to its normal position, the "B" position will move up closer to the reference point "A".

This is what they did to President Kennedy. They jerked his head all the way back to take measurements and one of the autopsy photos shows the creases in his neck as a result of the head's forced position.


 

 

 

By using these false measurements in the 1964 drawings done by Harold Rydberg, it created the fallacy that the wound was in the base of the President's neck rather than below the top of his shoulders, as seen in the autopsy photo.


 

 

 

It also substantiated Humes' re-written autopsy report that located the wound was in the "base of the right side of the neck". ( 16 H 983 )

This was not supported by the autopsy photos, the autopsy face sheet, the death certificate, the clothes of the President or the testimony of witnesses.


Exposing the Deception

Any deception regarding the location of the President's back wound begins and ends with Commander Humes.

Dr. J. Thornton Boswell assisted Humes in the autopsy and on his face sheet is the correct location of the back wound.


 

 

 

I say correct because the prosectors did not find out about a bullet wound in the throat until Saturday morning, long after the body had left the morgue.


In his testimony, Dr. Humes admitted that he had not spoken with Dr. Perry about the tracheotomy until Saturday morning and that's when he found out about the wound in the throat.

Humes testified that, "he had done a tracheotomy and as a point to perform his tracheotomy he used a wound which he interpreted as a missile wound in the low neck, as the point through which ot make his tracheotomy incision."

Mr. SPECTER. When did you have that conversation with him, Dr. Humes ?
Commander HUMES. I had that conversation with him early on Saturday morning, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. On Saturday morning November 23d ?
Commander HUMES. That is correct, sir. ( 2 H 362 )

Humes never saw the wound in the front of the throat. He assumed it was a tracheotomy and never examined it. By the time he found out it was a tracheotomy made through a bullet wound, the body was gone and there was no chance of examining it.


The document problem

The location of the back wound on Dr. Boswell's original face sheet, showing the back wound to be below the top of the shoulders, is corroborated by other evidence.

President Kennedy's personal physician, Dr. George Burkley's death certificate describes the location of the wound at "about the level of the third thoracic vertebra". ( red dot )


 



The report of the two FBI agents present during the autopsy, James Sibert and Frank O'Neill, reported that "Dr. Humes located an opening which appeared to be a bullet hole which was below the shoulders and two inches to the right of the midline of the spinal column." ( ARRB MD 44, pg. 5 )


The clothing problem
More corroboration of a bullet hole below the top of the shoulders comes from the physical evidence provided by Kennedy's shirt and jacket. Both show bullet holes well below the top of the shoulders.


 



It becomes more apparent when you look at the President's shirt from the front. It becomes obvious that the bullet hole is well below the top of the shoulders and well below the knot of the tie.


 



In his own testimony to the Warren Commission, Dr. Humes testified that the holes in the President's coat and shirt were 6 inches below the top of the collar. ( 2 H 365 )

The FBI also measured the holes in the back of the President's shirt and coat and found that the hole in the coat was 5 3/8" below the collar and the hole in the shirt was 5 3/4" below the top of the collar. It reasoned that the 3/8" difference was due to the shirt collar "sticking up above the coat about a half an inch." ( 5 H 60 )

This was in conflict with Humes' autopsy report that located the "neck" wound only 5 1/2 inches ( 14 cm ) below the tip of the right mastoid process. ( 16 H 980 )


 



As anyone can see, the mastoid process is well ABOVE the top of the collar, meaning that any measurement below the top of the collar using the mastoid as a reference point should be greater than the measurement to the top of the collar.

Unless, of course, you jerk the head backwards to take your measurements. Which is what they did.

Humes tried to explain the discrepancy by saying the Kennedy was waving to the crowd and this waving process caused the coat and shirt to rise up. ( 2 H 366 )

He used Commission Exhibit 396 to prove his point. But CE 396 shows the President with his elbow resting on the body of the car and his hand raised.

 



Here's JFK with his arm up on the car. As you can see, his shirt and coat are certainly not "bunched up" enough to align the holes in the shirt and coat with the hole in the back.


 



Not only was the hole in the President's back too low to have exited just below his Adam's apple, the path of the bullet that caused it was estimated at 45-60 degrees DOWNWARD. ( ARRB MD 44, pg. 5 )

Researcher Paul Lee shows exactly how ridiculous the amount of "bunching up" the jacket and shirt had to do in order for the bullet holes to line up.


 



In addition, the FBI's photos of the front of the President's shirt deliberately hid the fact that the bullet hole was too low to make the throat wound by making sure the shirt was closed enough so the hole wouldn't show from the front.


 



The FBI's photographs of the shirt and coat were omitted from the Warren Commission exhibits.

And there was another problem for the Commission : the bullet that made the holes in that clothing never transited the body.


Lack of a track
It is a complete and utter impossibility for a bullet to travel through a human body and not leave a bullet track in its wake.

In this case, the prosectors tried to probe the back wound and could not.

Dr. Humes testified to the Commission that, "attempts to probe in the vicinity of this wound were unsuccessful without fear of making a false passage." ( 2 H 361 )

He further testified that, "we were unable, however, to take probes and have them satisfactorily fall through any definite path at this point." ( ibid. )

In his deposition to the ARRB, Col. Pierre Finck was asked about probing the back wound:

Q: Did you insert a probe into the wound in the back ?

A: From what I remember, we tried at the time. It was unsuccessful. ( ARRB deposition of Pierre A. Finck, MD, 5.24.96, pg. 92 )

When questioned about the probing, Dr. J. Thornton Boswell told the ARRB that it went in a "very short distance. Three inches about." ( ARRB depsoition of Dr. J. Thornton Boswell, 2.26.96, pg. 119 )

In their 11/26/63 report on the autopsy, FBI agents Sibert and O'Neill said that the back wound was "probed by Dr. Humes with the finger" and that "further probing determined that the distance travelled by this missile was a short distance inasmuch as the end of the opening could be felt with the finger." ( ARRB MD 44, pg. 5 )

Their report went on to say that, "no bullet could be found in the back" and that inspection revealed there was "no point of exit". ( ibid. )

This evidence indicates that an attempt was made to probe the back wound that and attempt revealed that the bullet that caused it penetrated only a short distance, so short that its end could be felt with the fingertip.

This unsuccessful probing proves that the bullet did not transit the body and that there was no connection between the back wound and the wound in the President's throat.

Conclusion
On page 2 of the FBI's Supplemental Report dated January 13, 1964, the report reads, "there was a small hole in the back of his shirt and coat approximately six inches below the collar."

The Report goes on, "the bullet that entered his back had penetrated to a distance of less than a finger length."

Secret Service Agent Clint Hill testified that he saw the back wound at Bethesda after the autopsy was completed, as the morticians were preparing it to be placed in the casket. He described its location as, "about 6 inches below the neckline to the right hand side of the spinal column." ( 2 H 143 )

Secret Service Agent Glen Bennett was on the running board of the followup car and reported that he saw a "shot hit the President about 4 inches down from the right shoulder". ( 18 H 760 )

None of the physical evidence and none of the witnesses' descriptions corroborate a wound at the base of the neck.

None.

But that didn't stop the House Select Committee on Assassinations from publishing a drawing of JFK depicting his position as the bullet transited his body. It was a most ridiculous rendering, showing Kennedy leaning forward and the bullet entering his back above the shoulder at the level of the 7th cervical vertebra.


 



The truth is that the witnesses were correct that the wound was below the top of the shoulders. The autopsy photo shows the wound below the top of the shoulder. The death certificate indicates the wound was below the top of the shoulder. The autopsy face sheet shows that the wound was below the top of the shoulder.

All of this evidence is correct. The wound was below the top of the shoulder.

Humes had been confused because there were no bullets in the body and the back wound had not penetrated very far. The FBI called their office and found out a bullet had been found on a stretcher in Parkland Hospital. Humes assumed that that was the bullet that had made the wound in the back and had fallen out during cardiac massage.

I suggest that this is what was in his original autopsy notes, which he destroyed.

The deception began on Saturday morning, when Dr. Humes spoke to Dr. Perry on the phone and found out that there had been a bullet wound in the throat, a wound that he missed.

Dr. Humes gleaned from Dr. Perry any and all information regarding Dr. Perry's observations of the throat wound and the damage to the surrounding area, including the trachea.

"Dr. Humes concluded that the missile that entered the upper back had traversed the body and exited in the anterior portion of the neck although he had not observed...any such hole during the examination of the body." ( 7 HSCA 16 )

How is that even possible ? How on earth can anyone conclude that a wound is a wound of exit if they've never even seen it ? How can you tell the direction of the bullet if you never saw the exit wound ?

You can't. It's all an assumption.

And it was an assumption that was not supported by the President's clothing, the witness observations and the documentation presented prior to Dr. Perry telling him of a bullet wound in the throat.

All of the evidence prior to that Saturday morning phone call to Dr. Perry is correct.

All of the evidence obtained after that is false.

Edited by Gil Jesus
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Jamey Flanagan Community Regular

Jamey Flanagan

Posted
Posted

Aside from the location of the wound, there is at least some dispute over whether this was actually from a gunshot. If I'm not mistaken, and I understand correctly, David Lifton still refers to this wound as a defect, not a gunshot wound. If I understand correctly, from interviews I've seen on YouTube and ones I've read over the years, he thinks this was a manufactured wound in the cover-up when the body was manipulated to try and show evidence of shots from behind instead of in front.

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Matthew Koch Veteran

Matthew Koch

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Posted

 

 

 

In Bloody Treason, Noel Twyman interviewed Gerry Patrick Hemming and in the interview Hemming talks about using an underpowered round meant to leave a bullet that leads back to a gun and a suspect by using a sabot round. I always found this explanation to be fascinating.. 

 

"Twyman: What abut sabot bullets? 

Hemming: Well that's what we call a "meat" shot. Putting the shot into the target's back. It's not a lethal shot. If you want a shot that gives you a pristine bullet, that gives it to you. 

Twyman: Does that explain the shallow back wound? Kennedy's shallow back wound? 

Hemming: Yes. And the angle, 44* 

Twyman: From a tall building? 

Hemming: From above. 

Twyman: Yes, not form the School Book Depository.

Hemming: Not likely... they'd of had to shoot through the trees." 

 

Bloody Treason P.665/666 

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John Deignan Contributor

John Deignan

Posted
Posted

 

Quoting from another forum. I have heard this story before. Does anyone know anything about it?

 

"There are numerous reports of other missed shots; some bullets have even been
found in Dealey Plaza, literally years after the assassination. In 1975, a
maintenance man named Morgan found a 30.06 shell on the roof of the County
Records Building, which is about half a block south of the Book Depository. The
casing has an odd crimp in its neck, suggesting it may have been fired from a
sabot, a device used to fire a smaller caliber bullet out of a large caliber
weapon. This is useful for criminals, as the caliber, type, and brand of the
recovered bullet cannot be linked with their gun (Marrs, Crossfire, 317). The
shell had been hidden underneath a lip of roofing tar, and was greatly
deteriorated from exposure to moisture; it had obviously been there a while."

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David Von Pein Veteran

David Von Pein

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, John Deignan said:

"There are numerous reports of other missed shots; some bullets have even been found in Dealey Plaza, literally years after the assassination..."

More discussion about "Other Bullets":

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2011/12/jfk-assassination-arguments-part-103.html

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2014/05/jfk-assassination-arguments-part-713.html

 

Edited by David Von Pein
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John Deignan Contributor

John Deignan

Posted
Posted

From David"s website

"4) The Dal-Tex Specimen: A rusty shell casing was found on the rooftop
of the Dal-Tex bldg. in 1977 by an air-conditioning repair man. The
bldg. is just east of the TSBD, across Houston St. What was most
interesting about this case was the crimping it had around the edges
of the neck, which indicates it was either hand-loaded or was used in
conjuction with a sabot (allows a smaller caliber bullet to be fired
from a higher velocity gun)."

This seems like the same story as the County Records Building. I never heard the version connecting it to the Dal Tex. You don't address it in your follow up talking about other bullets.

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David Von Pein Veteran

David Von Pein

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, John Deignan said:

This seems like the same story as the County Records Building. I never heard the version connecting it to the Dal Tex. You don't address it in your follow-up talking about other bullets.

I know nothing about it. I was just quoting a CTer there.

 

Edited by David Von Pein
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Michael Griffith Mentor

Michael Griffith

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Posted

One historic piece of information that came to light through ARRB-released files and private interviews with autopsy witnesses is that on the night of the autopsy, the back wound was probed repeatedly, that part of the probing was done after internal organs had been removed to afford a better view of the probe, and that the autopsy doctors knew for an absolute fact that the back wound was a shallow wound with no exit point. One of the medical technicians could see the end of the probe pushing against the lining of the chest cavity and could see that the wound had no exit point. 

 

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Cliff Varnell Mentor

Cliff Varnell

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

One historic piece of information that came to light through ARRB-released files and private interviews with autopsy witnesses is that on the night of the autopsy, the back wound was probed repeatedly, that part of the probing was done after internal organs had been removed to afford a better view of the probe, and that the autopsy doctors knew for an absolute fact that the back wound was a shallow wound with no exit point. One of the medical technicians could see the end of the probe pushing against the lining of the chest cavity and could see that the wound had no exit point. 

 

Exactly.  JFK suffered a shallow wound in soft tissue between T3 and the upper margin of his right shoulder blade.

6.5mm Full Metal Jacket rounds never leave shallow wounds in soft tissue.

Why is CE399 a topic of discussion at all?

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Ron Ege Collaborator

Ron Ege

Posted
Posted

Cliff, exactly.

Maybe, in order to go off topic so as to distract/muddy the waters, and/or fill up empty space on the threads, or ?  You name it.

After decades, it does seem akin to a "fool's errand" - just my two cents.

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Cliff Varnell Mentor

Cliff Varnell

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, Ron Ege said:

Cliff, exactly.

Maybe, in order to go off topic so as to distract/muddy the waters, and/or fill up empty space on the threads, or ?  You name it.

After decades, it does seem akin to a "fool's errand" - just my two cents.

Or take up the first 10 minutes of narrative in an Oliver Stone doc?  Absolutely pointless!

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Eddy Bainbridge Collaborator

Eddy Bainbridge

Posted
Posted

Hi Gil, I found your collection of evidence very impressive but I have a question. You propose that Hulme's manipulated the measuring to change the position of the back wound , but you also state he changed the story after the autopsy when he had spoken to Perry. Are you saying he changed his measurements after the autopsy? or are you saying he recorded the measurements in the autopsy knowing what he was trying to hide?

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Bob Ness Experienced

Bob Ness

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 hours ago, David Von Pein said:

More discussion about "Other Bullets":

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2011/12/jfk-assassination-arguments-part-103.html

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2014/05/jfk-assassination-arguments-part-713.html

 

Just curious. Where is the testimony of the Connely's in these discussions? If I recall correctly, they both said the Govenor was hit AFTER JFK, not simultaneously. These seem to have been totally eliminated from your arguments. What else has been left out?

Are you saying they weren't there? Maybe you think they fabricated their stories to create book opportunities??

Edited by Bob Ness
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