Tests Simulating Governor Connally’s Chest Wounds
To most closely approximate the Governor’s chest injuries, the Edgewood scientists shot an animal with the assassination weapon using the Western bullets at a distance of 210 feet.[A10-287] The onsite tests later determined that the Governor was wounded at a distance of 176.9 feet to 190.8 feet from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Depository Building.[A10-288] The average striking velocity of 11 shots at 210 feet was 1,929 feet per second and the average exit velocity was 1,664 feet per second.[A10-289]
One of the shots produced an injury on the animal’s rib very similar to that inflicted on Governor Connally.[A10-290] For purposes of comparison with the Governor’s wound, the Edgewood scientists studied the Parkland Hospital report and X-rays, and they also discussed these wounds with Dr. Shaw, the Governor’s chest surgeon.[A10-291] The similar animal injury passed along the animal’s eighth left rib causing a fracture which removed a portion of the rib in a manner very similar to the wound sustained by the Governor.[A10-292] The X-ray of that wound on the animal is reproduced as Commission Exhibit No. 852.[A10-293] A comparison with the Governor’s chest wound, shown in X-ray marked as Commission Exhibit No. 681, shows the remarkable similarity between those two wounds.[A10-294]
The bullet which produced the wound depicted in Commission Exhibits Nos. 851 and 852 was marked as Commission Exhibit No. 853 and possessed characteristics very similar to the bullet marked as Commission Exhibit No. 399 found on Governor Connally’s stretcher and believed to have been the bullet which caused his chest wound.[A10-295] Those bullets, identified as Commission Exhibits Nos. 399 and 853, were flattened in similar fashion.[A10-296] In addition, the lead core was extruded from the rear in the same fashion on both bullets.[A10-297] One noticeable difference was that the bullet identified as Commission Exhibit No. 853, which penetrated the animal, was somewhat more flat than Commission Exhibit No. 399 which indicated that Commission Exhibit No. 853 was probably traveling at somewhat greater speed than the bullet which penetrated the Governor’s chest.[A10-298] After the bullet passed through the animal, it left an imprint on the velocity screen immediately behind the animal which was almost the length of the bullet indicating that the bullet was traveling sideways or end over end.[A10-299] Taking into consideration the extra girth on the Governor, the reduction in the velocity of the bullet passing through his body was estimated at 400 feet.[A10-300] The conclusions from the animal shots are significant when taken in conjunction with the experiments performed simulating the injuries to the Governor’s wrist.
Tests Simulating Governor Connally’s Wrist Wounds
Following procedures identical to those employed in simulating the chest wound, the wound ballistics experts from Edgewood Arsenal reproduced, as closely as possible, the Governor’s wrist wound. Again the scientists examined the reports and X-rays from Parkland Hospital and discussed the Governor’s wrist wound with the attending orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Charles F. Gregory.[A10-301] Bone structures were then shot with Western bullets fired from the assassination weapon at a distance of 210 feet.[A10-302] The most similar bone-structure shot was analyzed in testimony before the Commission. An X-ray designated as Commission Exhibit No. 854 and a photograph of that X-ray which appears as Commission Exhibit No. 855 show a fracture at a location which is very similar to the Governor’s wrist wound depicted in X-rays marked as Commission Exhibits Nos. 690 and 691.[A10-303]
The average striking velocity of the shots was 1,858 feet per second.[A10-304] The average exit velocity was 1,786 feet per second for the 7 out of 10 shots from bone structures which could be measured.[A10-305] These tests demonstrated that Governor Connally’s wrist was not struck by a pristine bullet, which is a missile that strikes an object before hitting anything else.[A10-306] This conclusion was based on the following factors: (1) Greater damage was inflicted on the bone structure than that which was suffered by the Governor’s wrist;[A10-307] and (2) the bone structure had a smaller entry wound and a larger exit wound which is characteristic of a pristine bullet as distinguished from the Governor’s wrist which had a larger wound of entry indicating a bullet which was tumbling with substantial reduction in velocity.[A10-308] In addition, if the bullet found on the Governor’s stretcher (Commission Exhibit No. 399) inflicted the wound on the Governor’s wrist, then it could not have passed through the Governor’s wrist had it been a pristine bullet, for the nose would have been considerably flattened, as was the bullet which struck the bone structure, identified as Commission Exhibit No. 856.[A10-309]
Conclusions From Simulating the Neck, Chest, and Wrist Wounds
Both Drs. Olivier and Dziemian expressed the opinion that one bullet caused all the wounds on Governor Connally.[A10-310] The wound to the Governor’s wrist was explained by circumstances where the bullet passed through the Governor’s chest, lost substantial velocity in doing so, tumbled through the wrist, and then slightly penetrated the Governor’s left thigh.[A10-311] Thus, the results of the wound ballistics tests support the conclusions of Governor Connally’s doctors that all his wounds were caused by one bullet.[A10-312]
In addition, the wound ballistics tests indicated that it was most probable that the same bullet passed through the President’s neck and then proceeded to inflict all the wounds on the Governor. That conclusion was reached by Drs. Olivier and Dziemian based on the medical evidence on the wounds of the President and the Governor and the tests they performed.[A10-313] It was their opinion that the wound on the Governor’s wrist would have been more extensive had the bullet which inflicted that injury merely passed through the Governor’s chest exiting at a velocity of approximately 1,500 feet per second. Thus, the Governor’s wrist wound indicated that the bullet passed through the President’s neck, began to yaw in the air between the President and the Governor, and then lost substantially more velocity than 400 feet per second in passing through the Governor’s chest.[A10-314] A bullet which was yawing on entering into the Governor’s back would lose substantially more velocity in passing through his body than a pristine bullet.[A10-315] In addition, the greater flattening of the bullet that struck the animal’s rib (Commission Exhibit No. 853) than the bullet which presumably struck the Governor’s rib (Commission Exhibit No. 399) indicates that the animal bullet was traveling at a greater velocity.[A10-316] That suggests that the bullet which entered the Governor’s chest had already lost velocity by passing through the President’s neck.[A10-317] Moreover, the large wound on the Governor’s back would be explained by a bullet which was yawing although that type of wound might also be accounted for by a tangential striking.[A10-318]