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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. V - Page 95« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Dr. Frederick W. , Jr. Light)

Mr. Specter.
time we began to do these specific tests that you mention, Dr. Dziemian was back on the job again. So he took over whatever supervision was needed.
Mr. Specter.
Were the tests which Dr. Olivier described made at the request of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes; they were.
Mr. Specter.
Do you have anything to add by way of any detail to the findings reported by Dr. Olivier in his testimony here earlier today?
Dr. LIGHT. No; I think he covered it very thoroughly.
Mr. Specter.
And as to the conclusions and opinions which he expressed, do you agree or disagree, to some extent, on his conclusions?
Dr. LIGHT. I agree in general at least. I am not quite so certain about some of the things, but generally I certainly agree with what he said.
Mr. Dulles.
What are the things on which you are not quite so certain?
Dr. LIGHT. For example, I am not quite as sure in my mind as I believe he is that the bullet that struck the Governor was almost certainly one which had hit something else first. I believe it could have produced that wound even though it hadn't hit the President or any other person or object first.
Mr. Dulles.
That is the wound, then, in the thigh?
Dr. LIGHT. No; in the chest.
Mr. Dulles.
I was thinking that the wound in the thigh--let me start again. As I understand the previous testimony, Dr. Olivier would have expected the wound in the thigh to be more serious if it had not hit some object.
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Dulles.
Prior to entering Governor Connally's body, but you feel that the wound in the thigh might be consistent?
Dr. LIGHT. The wound in the thigh is the terminal end, is the far end of the whole track. I don't believe that in passing through the tissue which was simulated by what Dr. Olivier described first, 13 or 14 centimeters of gelatin, I don't believe that the change in velocity introduced by the passage through that much tissue can be relied upon to make such a definite difference in the effect.
Mr. Specter.
Do you believe that if the Governor had been struck by a pristine bullet which had gone through his chest, that it would have caused no more damage than which appeared on the Governor's chest?
Dr. LIGHT. I think that is possible; yes. I might say I think perhaps the best, the most likely thing is what everyone else has said so far, that the bullet did go through the President's neck and then through the chest and then through the wrist and then into the thigh.
Mr. Specter.
You think that is the most likely possibility?
Dr. LIGHT. I think that is probably the most likely, but I base that not entirely on the anatomical findings but as much on the circumstances.
Mr. Specter.
What are the circumstances which lead you to that conclusion?
Dr. LIGHT. The relative positions in the automobile of the President and the Governor.
Mr. Specter.
Are there any other circumstances which contribute to that conclusion, other than the anatomical findings?
Dr. LIGHT. And the appearance of the bullet that was found and the place it was found, presumably, the bullet was the one which wounded the Governor.
Mr. Specter.
The whole bullet?
Dr. LIGHT. The whole bullet.
Mr. Specter.
Identified as Commission Exhibit No. 399?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
And what about that whole bullet leads you to believe that the one bullet caused the President's neck wound and all of the wounds on Governor Connally?
Dr. LIGHT. Nothing about that bullet. Mainly the position in which they are seated in the automobile.
Mr. Specter.
So in addition to the----
Dr. LIGHT. And the fact that the bullet that passed through the President's body lost very little velocity since it passed through soft tissue, so that it would strike the Governor, if it did, with a velocity only, what was it, 100 feet per second, very little lower than it would have if it hadn't struck anything else
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