Warren Commission (06 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (06 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. SPECTER. Did you notice any bullet hole below that large opening at
the top of the head?
Dr. BAXTER. No; I personally did not.
Mr. SPECTER. Will you describe with as much particularity as you can
the wound which you noticed on the President's neck?
Dr. BAXTER. The wound on the neck was approximately an inch and a half
above the manubrium of the sternum, the sternal notch. This wound was
in my estimation, 4 to 5 mm. in widest diameter and was a spherical
wound. The edges of it--the size of the wound is measured by the hole
plus the damaged skin around the area, so that it was a very small
wound. And, it was directly in the midline. Now, this wound was excised
in the performance of the tracheotomy and on the entry into the deeper
tissues of the neck, there was considerable contusion of the muscles of
the anterior neck and a moderate amount of bleeding around the trachea.
The trachea was deviated slightly, I believe, to the left.
Our tracheotomy incision was made in the second tracheal ring which
was immediately above the area of damage--where we thought the damaged
area of the trachea was, which we did not dissect out, but once the
endrotracheal tube was placed, the tracheotomy tube was placed into
the trachea, it was below this tear in the trachea, and gave us good
control or perfect control of respiration.
Mr. SPECTER. Were the characteristics of the wound on the neck
sufficient to enable you to form an opinion with reasonable medical
certainty as to what was the cause of the hole?
Dr. BAXTER. Well, the wound was, I think, compatible with a gunshot
wound. It did not appear to be a jagged wound such as one would expect
with a very high velocity rifle bullet. We could not determine, or did
not determine at that time whether this represented an entry or an
exit wound. Judging from the caliber of the rifle that we later found
or become acquainted with, this would more resemble a wound of entry.
However, due to the density of the tissues of the neck and depending
upon what a bullet of such caliber would pass through, the tissues that
it would pass through on the way to the neck, I think that the wound
could well represent either exit or entry wound.
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