JFK Facts - Kennedy's Back Wound

KENNEDY’S BACK WOUND

Secret Service agent Glen Bennett wrote in his notes that day that he, “... saw a shot that hit the Boss about four inches down from the right shoulder...” His observation is confirmed by the Zapruder film. In frame 256 Kennedy jerks sharply forward knocking his hands away from his throat. Here he has clearly been shot from behind. This would also explain the hole 5 and 3/8 inches down from the collar of his shirt.

Doctors at Parkland Hospital found no wound on the President’s chest, so the bullet that caused the hole must have come from behind. They did not see the wound in his back because they never turned him over. But the hole in the shirt, seen in FBI exhibit 60, and suit jacket, seen in FBI exhibit 59 confirms that it existed.

Dr. Humes who performed the autopsy testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations he concluded that the bullet which caused the back wound had fallen out of the body. The bullet is mentioned in a receipt given to the Bethesda commanding officer by the FBI agents James Sibert and Francis O’Neill, to whom it was given. In 1978 reporter Mark Lane obtained this classified Warren Commission Document (CD) under the freedom of information act. The receipt reads:

22 November 1963

From: Francis X O’Neill, Jr., Agent FBI

James W. Sibert, Agent, FBI

To: Captain JH Stover, Jr, Commanding Officer, US Naval Medical School, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland

I, We Hereby acknowledge receipt of a missle [Sic] removed by Commander James J. Humes, MC, USN on this date.

Francis X O’Neill

Francis X. O’Neill, Jr.

James W Sibert

James W. Sibert

Published in the House Select Committee on Assassinations’ report, this bullet receipt coincides perfectly with the autopsy conclusion that a bullet had fallen out. Some claim that this bullet was merely a bullet fragment. This theory has absolutely no basis. Certainly FBI agents would have known the difference between a fragment and a “missile” . Besides, fragments were all marked as evidence separately.

Secret Service agent Clinton J. Hill testified that during the autopsy, the back wound was measured to be on the spine six inches down from the neck.

Secret Service agent Roy Kellerman testified Dr. Finck told him during the autopsy that he could find no exit wound for this back wound.

Autopsy photos and testimony place this wound much higher, but as was previously discussed they are both in serious question. Since the hole in his jacket is consistent with the hole in his shirt, the wound most likely occurred 5 and 3/8 inches down from his collar.

The trajectory of this back wound is directly consistent with the Book Depository, behind the car.