What is going on here? The autopsy doctors are finally shown the photos of the president's wounds. Read these statements:

Humes, Boswell and Finck at National Archives

Agency = DOJCIVIL, Record

Number 182-10001-10000, Records Series, Director, Federal Programs Branch, Civil Division. The cover sheet says it is dated 1/26/67.

[begin document]

The undersigned physicians performed the autopsy on the body of late
President John F. Kennedy. In charge was James J. Humes, M.D., at that time
Commander, Medical Corps, United States Navy, and Director of Laboratories,
Naval Medical School. He was certified in 1955 by the American Board of
Pathology in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. Assisting him were J.
Thornton Boswell, M.D., and Pierre A. Finck, M.D. Dr. Boswell at that time
was a Commander in the Medical Corps, United States navy, and Chief of
Pathology, Naval Medical School. He was certified in 1957 by the American
Board of Pathology in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. Dr. Finck, a
Lieutenant Colonel, Medical Corps, United States Army, was then Chief of the
Military Environmental Pathology Division, and Chief of the wound Ballistics
Pathology Branch, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Walter Reed Medical
Center. He as certified in 1956 by the American Board of Pathology n
Anatomic Pathology, and in 1961 in Forensic Pathology.

The Surgeon General of the Navy advised Dr. Humes that the purpose of
the autopsy was to determine the nature of the President's injuries and the
cause of his death.

The autopsy began at approximately 8:00 P.M. in Friday, November 22,
1963, and was concluded approximately at 11:00 P.M. The autopsy report,
written by Dr. Humes with the assistance of Dr. Boswell and Dr. Finck, was
written on November 23 and the morning of November 24, and delivered by Dr.
Humes to Admiral Burkley, the President's physician, on November 24 at about
6:30 p.m.

Dr. Humes was chosen to perform the autopsy because of the decision to
bring the body of the late President to the naval Medical Center in
Bethesda, Maryland, where, as stated, he was Director of Laboratories.

At the direction and under the supervision of Dr. Humes, x-rays and
photographs of the President's body were taken during the autopsy. The xrays
were examined that same evening. However, the photographs were not
seen at that time. All x-rays and photographic plates were delivered that
evening to Secret Service personnel. Dr. Humes and Dr. Boswell first saw the
photographs on November 1, 1967, when requested by the Department of Justice
to examine, identify, and inventory them at the National Archives. Dr.
Finck first saw the photographs on January 20, 1967.

The undersigned physicians have been requested by the Department of
Justice to examine the x-rays and photographs for the purpose of determining
whether they are consistent with the autopsy report. Pursuant to this
request, we met after our regular work day, on January 20, 1967, at the
office of Dr. Robert H. Bahmer, Archivist of the United States, where the xrays
and photographs were made available to us. Our findings with respect
there to follow.

THE NECK WOUND

THE LOCATION

The autopsy report states that the wound presumably of entry" was "in
the upper right posterior thorax." In non-technical language, this wound
was located low in the back of the neck. Photographs Nos. 11, 12, 39 and 39
verify the location of the wound, as stated in the report. Warren
Commission Exhibit 397 includes a drawing (Vol. SVII, p. 45) which purports
to show the approximate location of the wound, and specifically states that
it was 14 cm. (5-1/2 inches) from the tip of the mastoid process (behind the
right ear), and 14 cm. from the tip of the right acromion (the extreme tip
of the right shoulder bone). Photographs 11, 12, 38 and 39 confirm the
accuracy of these measurements. The drawing itself may be somewhat
misleading as to the location of the wound, making it appear at a point
lower than it actually was. No one photographs shows both the wound at the
back of the neck and the wound in the throat, but by comparing Photographs
11, 12, 39 and 39 with the side views shown in Photographs Nos. 1-4,
inclusive, it is clear that Warren Commission Exhibits 385 and 386, which
also depict the location of the neck wound, are accurate. Photographs Nos.
26 and 38 show the wound in the back of the neck to be higher from the
horizontal plane than the wound in the throat.

ENTRANCE

Our finding, as stated in the autopsy report, that the wound low in
the back of the neck was an entrance wound is supported by Photographs Nos.
11, 12, 38 and 39. they show the edges of the wound to be inverted, regular
and smooth. At such a location and in such tissue these are the principal
characteristics of an entrance wound.

THE SIZE OF THE ENTRANCE WOUND

The autopsy report states that the wound was 7 by 4 mm, (0.275 inches
by [unclear in my copy - jg]; and Photographs Nos. 11, 12, 38 and 39 confirm
the accuracy of this measurement.

EXIT

The autopsy report states that the "wound presumably of exit" was that
described by Dr. Malcolm O. Perry of Dallas. This wound was used as the
site of a tracheotomy incision, and it character thus distorted.
Photographs Nos. 106 inclusive, 13,14, 26-28 inclusive, 40 and 41 show the
wound as being below the Adams apple.

It should be noted that the morning after the autopsy, Saturday,
November 23, 1963, Dr. Humes telephoned Dr. Perry at the Parkland Hospital
in Dallas. Dr. Perry was the physician who attended the President
immediately after the shooting. Dr. Perry advised Dr. Humes that he had
observed a missile wound below the Adams apple, and that the site of this
wound had been used as the site of the tracheotomy incision. This
information made it clear to us that the missile which had entered the back
of the neck had exited at the site of the tracheotomy incision.

THE HEAD WOUND

ENTRY

The autopsy report states that a lacerated entry wound measuring 15 by
6 mm. (0.59 by 0.24 inches) is situated in the posterior scalp approximately
2.5 cm. (1 inch) laterally to the right and slightly above the external
occipital protuberance (a bony protuberance at the back of the head). In
non-technical language this indicates that a small wound was found in the
back of the head on the right side. Photographs Nos. 15, 16, 42 and 43 show
the location and size of the wound, and establish that the above autopsy
data were accurate. Due to the fractures of the underlying bone and the
elevation of the scalp by manual lifting (done to permit the wound to be
photographed) the photographs show the wound to be slightly higher than its
actually measured site.

The scalp wound shown in the photographs appears to be a laceration
and tunnel, with the actual penetration of the skin obscured by the top of
the tunnel. From the photographs this is not recognizable as a penetrating
wound because of the slanting direction of entry. However, as we pointed
out in the autopsy report, there was in the underlying bone a corresponding
wound through the skull which exhibited beveling of the margins of the bone
when viewed from the inner aspect of the skull. This is characteristic of a
wound of entry in the skull.

EXIT

The autopsy report further states that there was a large irregular
defect of the scalp and skull on the right involving chiefly the parietal
bone but extending somewhat into the temporal an occipital regions, with an
actual absence of scalp and bone measuring approximately 13 cm. (5.12
inches) at the greatest diameter. In non-technical language, this means
that a large section of the skull on the right side of the head was torn
away by the force of the missile. Photographs Nos. 5010 inclusive, 17, 18,
26-28, 32-37 inclusive, 44 and 45 portray this massive head wound, and
verify that the largest diameter was approximately 13 cm. The report
further states that one of the fragments of the skullbone, received from
Dallas, shows a portion of a roughly circular wound presumably of exit which
exhibits beveling of the outer aspect of the bone, and the wound was
estimated to be approximately 2.5 to 3.0 cm (1 to 1.18 inches) in diameter.
X-ray Nos. 4,5 and 6 show this bone fragment and the embedded metal
fragments. Photographs Nos. 17, 18, 44 and 45 show the other half of the
margin of the exit wound; and also show the beveling of the bone
characteristic of a wound of exit. Photographs Nos. 44 and 45 also show
that the point of exit of the missile was much larger than the point of
entrance, being 30 mm. (1.18 inches) at its greatest diameter. Photographs
5-10 inclusive, 32-37 inclusive, 44 and 45 show the location of the head
wound, and verify the accuracy of the Warren Commission drawings (Exhibits
386 and 388, Vol. XVI, pp. 977 and 984) which depict the location of the
head wound.

NO OTHER WOUNDS

The x-ray films established that there were small metallic fragments
in the head. However, careful examination at the autopsy, and the
photographs and x-rays taken during the autopsy, revealed no evidence of a
bullet or of a major portion of a bullet in the body of the President and
revealed no evidence of any missile wounds other than those described above.

SUMMARY

The photographs and x-rays corroborate our visual observations during
the autopsy and conclusively support our medical opinion as set forth in the
summary of our autopsy report.

It was then and is now our opinion that the two missiles which struck
the President causing the neck wound and the head wound were fired from a
point behind and somewhat above the level of the deceased.

Our examination of the photographs and x-rays lasted approximately
five hours, and at its conclusion the photographs and x-rays were returned
to the Archivist of the United States.

(signed by Humes, Boswell, and Finck)

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