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
Dr. JENKINS. Well, I'm afraid my description of it would not be as
accurate, of course, as that of the surgeons who were doing the
tracheotomy, because my look was a quick look before connecting up
the endotracheal tube to the apparatus to help in ventilation and
respiration for the patient, and I was aware later in the day, as I
should have put it in the report, that I thought this was a wound
of exit because it was not a clean wound, and by "clean" clearly
demarcated, round, punctate wound which is the usual wound of an
entrance wound, made by a missile and at some speed. Of course,
entrance wounds with a lobbing type missile, can make a jagged wound
also, but I was of the impression and I recognized I had the impression
it was an exit wound. However, my mental appreciation for a wound--for
the wound in the neck, I believe, was sort of--was overshadowed by
recognition of the wound in the scalp and skull plate.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you now described the wound in the neck as
specifically as you can at this moment?
Dr. JENKINS. I believe so.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, will you now describe the wound which you observed in
the head?
Dr. JENKINS. Almost by the time I was--had the time to pay more
attention to the wound in the head, all of these other activities were
under way. I was busy connecting up an apparatus to respire for the
patient, exerting manual pressure on the breathing bag or anesthesia
apparatus, trying to feel for a pulse in the neck, and then reaching up
and feeling for one in the temporal area, seeing about connecting the
cardioscope or directing its being connected, and then turned attention
to the wound in the head.
Now, Dr. Clark had begun closed chest cardiac massage at this time
and I was aware of the magnitude of the wound, because with each
compression of the chest, there was a great rush of blood from the
skull wound. Part of the brain was herniated; I really think part of
the cerebellum, as I recognized it, was herniated from the wound; there
was part of the brain tissue, broken fragments of the brain tissue on
the drapes of the cart on which the President lay.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you observe any wounds immediately below the massive
loss of skull which you have described?
Dr. JENKINS. On the right side?
Mr. SPECTER. Yes, sir.
Dr. JENKINS. No--I don't know whether this is right or not, but I
thought there was a wound on the left temporal area, right in the
hairline and right above the zygomatic process.
Mr. SPECTER. The autopsy report discloses no such development, Dr.
Jenkins.
Dr. JENKINS. Well, I was feeling for--I was palpating here for a pulse
to see whether the closed chest cardiac massage was effective or not
and this probably was some blood that had come from the other point and
so I thought there was a wound there also.
Mr. SPECTER. At approximately what time was President Kennedy
pronounced dead?
Dr. JENKINS. Well, this was pronounced, we know the exact time as 1300,
according to my watch, at least, at the time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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