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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. II - Page 366« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Comdr. James J. Humes)

Mr. Specter.
to the wound of entrance which you described as point "C" on Commission Exhibit 385?
Commander HUMES. We believe that they conform quite well. When viewing--first of all, the wounds or the defects in 393 and 394 coincide virtually exactly with one another.
They give the appearance when viewed separately and not as part of the clothing of a clothed person as being perhaps, somewhat lower on the Exhibits 393 and 394 than we have depicted them in Exhibit No. 385. We believe there are two reasons for this.
385 is a schematic representation, and the photographs would be more accurate as to the precise location, but more particularly the way in which these defects would conform with such a defect on the torso would depend on the girth of the shoulders and configuration of the base of the neck of the individual, and the relative position of the shirt and coat to the tissues of the body at the time of the impact of the missile.
Mr. Specter.
As to the muscular status of the President, what was it?
Commander HUMES. The President was extremely well-developed, an extremely well-developed, muscular young man with a very well-developed set of muscles in his thoraco and shoulder girdle.
Mr. Specter.
What effect would that have on the positioning of the shirt and coat with respect to the position of the neck in and about the seam?
Commander HUMES. I believe this would have a tendency to push the portions of the coat which show the defects here somewhat higher on the back of the President than on a man of less muscular development.
Mr. Specter.
Mr. Chief Justice, may it please the Commission, I would like to mark for identification Exhibit 396, which later proof will show is a picture of President Kennedy shortly before the first bullet struck him, and ask the doctor to take a look at that.
Will you describe, Doctor Humes, the position of President Kennedy's right hand in that picture?
Commander HUMES. Yes. This exhibit, Commission Exhibit No. 396, allegedly taken just prior to the wounding of the late President, shows him with his hand raised, his elbow bent, apparently in saluting the crowd. I believe that this action--
Mr. Specter.
Which hand was that?
Commander HUMES. This was his right hand, sir. I believe that this action would further accentuate the elevation of the coat and the shirt with respect to the back of the President.
Mr. Specter.
Now. Doctor Humes, will you take Commission Exhibit No. 395--
Mr. Mccloy.
Before you go, may I ask a question? In your examination of the shirt, I just want to get it in the record, from your examination of the shirt. there is no defect in the collar of the shirt which coincides with the defect in the back of the President's coat, am I correct?
Commander HUMES. You are correct, sir. There is no such defect.
Mr. Specter.
As to Commission Exhibit 395, Dr. Humes, will you identify what that is, please?
Commander HUMES. We had an opportunity to examine this exhibit before the Commission met today, sir. This is Commission Exhibit No. 395, and is the neck tie purportedly worn, purportedly to have been worn, by the late President on the day of his assassination.
Mr. Specter.
What defect. if any, is noted on the tie which would correspond with the path of a missile apparently passing through the folds of the shirt which you have already described?
Commander HUMES. This tie is one of those this tie is still in its knotted state, as we examine it at this time. The portion of the tie around the neck has been severed apparently with scissors or other sharp instrument accounting for the loop about the neck.
The tie is tied in four-in-hand fashion but somewhat askew from the way a person would normally tie a four-in-hand and knot.
Situated on the left anterior aspect of this knotted portion of the tie at a point approximately corresponding with the defects noted previously in the
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