Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Dr. GREGORY. As I recall them, the wound dimensions would be so far
as the wound on the back of the wrist is concerned about a half 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?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account