Bardwell Odum, CE2011, And CE399

[David Von Pein]

Eleven years ago, in December of 2011, I was engaged in some discussions [archived HERE] concerning the question of why there were evidently no official "FD-302" FBI forms associated with the interviews the FBI conducted for Warren Commission Exhibit No. 2011.

At that time, in 2011, I had speculated this:

"It's possible that an official FD-302 report by Odum (or Shanklin) would not really be required in the instance of the FBI interviews with Tomlinson, Wright, Rowley, Johnsen, and Todd.....and that's because the July 7, 1964, FBI report essentially COULD serve as the FD-302 report regarding those interviews. In other words, the FBI report of 7/7/64 (seen in CE2011) says the exact same thing that a 302 would also say." -- DVP; December 2011

Well, thanks to Tom Gram's post today in another EF thread, I saw for the first time this June 27, 1964, FBI Airtel, which seems to confirm my above speculation that there were no FD-302 reports filed by the FBI agents for the individual interviews they conducted for the FBI report which eventually became Commission Exhibit 2011.

Quoting from the 6/27/64 Airtel (also pictured below):

"Inasmuch as this investigation was conducted at the specific request of the President's Commission, information contained in the letterhead memorandum will not be set forth in a subsequent report UACB [which means: Unless Advised to the Contrary by the Bureau]."

 

And even though the above 6/27/64 FBI Airtel message doesn't specifically say the words "We're not going to bother with all the individual FD-302s in this matter", I think that that Airtel does provide enough information ("will not be set forth in a subsequent report") to at least cast a lot of doubt over whether Bardwell Odum filed any FD-302s at all for the interviews he conducted at Parkland Hospital in June of 1964. (And Tom Gram, in his post I linked to above, obviously thinks that way as well.)

So, should the issue of "The Missing FD-302s" now be considered a non-issue altogether? I think so. Just like Steve Roe's discovery of Elmer Todd's initials on Bullet CE399 should forever silence the CTers who for years kept asking "Where are Todd's initials?!"

I'd say that 2022 has been a good year for debunking tired old conspiracy theories.

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com / Darrell Tomlinson And CE399

http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com / Elmer Todd's Initials Are On CE399

 

Edited December 18, 2022 by David Von Pein

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Good work David. It is surprising what you find in the files sometimes.

[Tom Gram]

I’ve posted the link to that AirTel on here a few times. I agree that it almost certainly explains why there are no FD-302 reports for the interviews in CE2011. 

I’ve seen some other examples that are similar, but the FBI overall seems to have been inconsistent in their internal reporting when it came to WC requests. A good example is CD881. On 2/21/64, the WC requested that the FBI obtain originals of all the purchase records pertaining to the rifle, and CD881 was the result. Some field offices wrote up separate 302s when they reinterviewed the relevant witnesses, others just obtained the documents and sent them to headquarters via AirTel with a note saying the documents were obtained from so-and-so. There’s some interesting stuff regarding New York on this one but I’ll spare you the details. The point is that it looks like writing up 302s for WC requests was at the discretion of the acting field office unless a separate report was specifically requested by FBI Headquarters. 

It might be interesting to look for any other LHMs prepared for WC requests by the Dallas field office and see if there’s any similar language on the submission AirTel. 

[Benjamin Cole]

2 hours ago, Tom Gram said:

I’ve posted the link to that AirTel on here a few times. I agree that it almost certainly explains why there are no FD-302 reports for the interviews in CE2011. 

I’ve seen some other examples that are similar, but the FBI overall seems to have been inconsistent in their internal reporting when it came to WC requests. A good example is CD881. On 2/21/64, the WC requested that the FBI obtain originals of all the purchase records pertaining to the rifle, and CD881 was the result. Some field offices wrote up separate 302s when they reinterviewed the relevant witnesses, others just obtained the documents and sent them to headquarters via AirTel with a note saying the documents were obtained from so-and-so. There’s some interesting stuff regarding New York on this one but I’ll spare you the details. The point is that it looks like writing up 302s for WC requests was at the discretion of the acting field office unless a separate report was specifically requested by FBI Headquarters. 

It might be interesting to look for any other LHMs prepared for WC requests by the Dallas field office and see if there’s any similar language on the submission AirTel. 

Excellent response. For what it is worth:

So Odum says he remembers filing the 032. This is the problem with doing an investigation decades after the fact---can we trust Odum's memory?

 

"Again, Mr. Odum said that he had never had any bullet related to the Kennedy assassination in his possession, whether during the FBI’s investigation in 1964 or at any other time. Asked whether he might have forgotten the episode, Mr. Odum remarked that he doubted he would have ever forgotten investigating so important a piece of evidence. But even if he had done the work, and later forgotten about it, he said he would certainly have turned in a “302” report covering something that important. Odum’s sensible comment had the ring of truth. For not only was Odum’s name absent from the FBI’s once secret files, it was also it difficult to imagine a motive for him to besmirch the reputation of the agency he had worked for and admired."

---30---

https://www.history-matters.com/essays/frameup/EvenMoreMagical/EvenMoreMagical.htm

Also, I tend to believe someone who says they never handled the bullet thought to have been the projectile that murdered a sitting US President. If I had handled CE-399, and thought it the assassin's bullet, I would remember that moment always--who wouldn't?