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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. IV - Page 124« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Dr. Charles Francis Gregory)

Mr. Specter.
the wound on the back of the wrist is concerned about a haft a centimeter by two and a half centimeters in length. It was rather linear in nature. The upper end of it having apparently lost some tissue was gapping more than the lower portion of it.
Mr. Specter.
How about on the volar or front side of the wrist?
Dr. GREGORY. The volar surface or palmar surface had a wound disclosed transversely about a half centimeter in length and about 2 centimeters above the flexion crease to the wrist.
Mr. Specter.
Then the wound on the dorsal or back side of the wrist was a little larger than the wound on the volar or palm side of the wrist?
Dr. GREGORY. Yes; it was.
Mr. Specter.
And is that characteristic in terms of entry and exit wounds?
Dr. GREGORY. It is not at all characteristic of the entry wound of a pristine missile which tends to make a small wound of entrance and larger wound of exit.
Mr. Specter.
Is it, however, characteristic of a missile which has had its velocity substantially decreased?
Dr. GREGORY. I don't think that the exchange in the velocity will alter the nature of the wound of entrance or exit excepting that if the velocity is low enough the missile may simply manage to emerge or may not emerge at all on the far side of the limb which has been struck.
Mr. Dulles.
Would this be consistent with a tumbling bullet or a bullet that had already tumbled and therefore entered back side too?
Dr. GREGORY. The wound of entrance is characteristic in my view of an irregular missile in this case, an irregular missile which has tipped itself off as being irregular by the nature of itself.
Mr. Dulles.
What do you mean by irregular?
Dr. GREGORY. I mean one that has been distorted. It is in some way angular, it has edges or sharp edges or something of this sort. It is not rounded or pointed in the fashion of an ordinary missile. The irregularity of it also, I submit, tends to pick up organic material and carry it into the limb, and this is a very significant takeoff, in my opinion.
Mr. Specter.
Have you now described all of the characteristics on the Governor's wrist which indicate either the point of entry or the point of exit?
Dr. GREGORY. There is one additional piece of information that is of pertinence but I don't know how effectively it can be applied to the nature of the missile. That is the fact that dorsal branch of the radial nerve, a sensory nerve in this immediate vicinity was partially transected together with one tendon leading to the thumb, which was totally transected.
This could have been produced by a missile entering in the ordinary fashion, undisturbed, undistorted. But again it is more in keeping with an irregular surface which would tend to catch and tear a structure rather than push it aside.
Mr. Specter.
Would that then also indicate the wound of entrance where that striking took place?
Dr. GREGORY. I believe it is more in keeping with it, yes.
Mr. Specter.
As to the thigh wound, what, if anything, did you observe as to a wound on the thigh, Dr. Gregory?
Dr. GREGORY. I was apprised that the Governor had a wound of the thigh, and I did examine it immediately the limb was available for it after Dr. Shaw had completed the surgery.
The wound was located on the inner aspect of the thigh, a little to the front surface about a third of the way up from the knee. The wound appeared to me to be rounded, almost a puncture type of wound in dimension about equal to a pencil eraser, about 6 mm.
I suspected that there might be a missile buried here and so an X-ray was obtained of that limb, and----
Mr. Specter.
Have you brought the X-ray with you?
Dr. GREGORY. Yes; I have.
Mr. Specter.
On what date was that X-ray taken?
Dr. GREGORY. This X-ray is marked as having been taken on November 22, 1963. It indicates that it was made of the left thigh, and it belongs to John Connally, John G. Connally.
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