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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. IV - Page 125« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Dr. Charles Francis Gregory)

Mr. Specter.
That Says "G" instead of "C"?
Dr. GREGORY. Yes. It appears to me to be a "G." The number again is 219-922.
Mr. Specter.
Is that the same number as the other X-rays bear?
Dr. GREGORY. I believe it is, yes.
Mr. Specter.
May we reserve then Commission Exhibit No. 694 for that X-ray?
Senator COOPER. It may be so done.
Dr. GREGORY. There are a series of these films. Would you like them marked subsequently "E", "F," and "G"?
Mr. Specter.
Insofar as you feel they are helpful in characterizing the wounds, do mark them in that way.
Dr. GREGORY. All right.
This I understand is Exhibit E, then and it is a single X-ray made on the anterior posterial view of Mr. Connally's thigh. The only thing found is a very small fleck of metal marked with an arrow here. It is that small, and almost likely to be overlooked. This was not consonant with the kind of wound on the medial aspect of his thigh.
Our next natural assumption was that that missile having escaped from the thigh had escaped the confines of this X-ray and lay somewhere else. So that additional X-rays were made of the same date and l submit two additional X-rays identified again as belonging to John G. Connally, the left lower extremity, November 22, 1963, and these two are numbered 218-922, and they are an anterial posterior view which I will mark "F," and a lateral view which I will mark "G."
Mr. Specter.
May we reserve 695 for "F," and 696 for "G"?
Senator COOPER. So ordered.
Dr. GREGORY. Careful examination of this set of X-rays illustrated or demonstrates, I should say, a number of artificial lines, this is one and there is one. These lines I think represent rather hurried development of these films for they were taken under emergency conditions. They were intended simply to let us know if there was another missile in the Governor's limb where it might be located.
The only missile turned up is the same one seen in the original film which lies directly opposite the area indicated as the site of the missile wound or the wound in the thigh, but a fragment of metal, again microscopic measuring about five-tenths of a millimeter by 2 millimeters, lies just beneath the skin, about a half inch on the medial aspect of the thigh.
Mr. Specter.
What is your best estimate of the weight of that metallic fragment?
Dr. GREGORY. This again would be in micrograms, postage stamp weight thereabouts, not much more than that.
Mr. Specter.
Could that fragment, in your opinion, have caused the wound which you observed in the Governor's left thigh?
Dr. GREGORY. I do not believe it could have. The nature of the wound in the left thigh was such that so small a fragment as this would not have produced it and still have gone no further into the soft tissues than it did.
Mr. Specter.
Would the wound that you observed in the soft tissue of the left thigh be consistent with having been made by a bullet such as that identified as Commission Exhibit 399?
Dr. GREGORY. I think again that bullet, Exhibit 399, could very well have struck the thigh in a reverse fashion and have shed a bit of its lead core into the fascia immediately beneath the skin, yet never have penetrated the thigh sufficiently so that it eventually was dislodged and was found in the clothing.
I would like to add to that we were disconcerted by not finding a missile at all. Here was our patient with three discernible wounds, and no missile within him of sufficient magnitude to account for them, and we suggested that someone ought to search his belongings and other areas where he had been to see if it could be identified or found, rather.
Mr. Specter.
Had the missile gone through his wrist in reverse, would it likely have Continued in that same course until it reached his thigh, in your opinion?
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