When the President’s clothing was removed at Parkland Hospital, his tie was cut off by severing the loop immediately to the wearer’s left of the knot, leaving the knot in its original condition.[C3-206] The tie had a nick on the left side of the knot.[C3-207] The nick was elongated horizontally, indicating that the tear was made by some object moving horizontally, but the fibers were not affected in a manner which would shed light on the direction or the nature of the missile.[C3-208]
The Governor’s Wounds
While riding in the right jump seat of the Presidential limousine on November 22, Governor Connally sustained wounds of the back, chest, right wrist and left thigh. Because of the small size and clean-cut edges of the wound on the Governor’s back, Dr. Robert Shaw concluded that it was an entry wound.[C3-209] The bullet traversed the Governor’s chest in a downward angle, shattering his fifth rib, and exited below the right nipple.[C3-210] The ragged edges of the 2-inch (5 centimeters) opening on the front of the chest led Dr. Shaw to conclude that it was the exit point of the bullet.[C3-211] When Governor Connally testified before the Commission 5 months after the assassination, on April 21, 1964, the Commission observed the Governor’s chest wounds, as well as the injuries to his wrist and thigh and watched Dr. Shaw measure with a caliper an angle of declination of 25° from the point of entry on the back to the point of exit on the front of the Governor’s chest.[C3-212]
At the time of the shooting, Governor Connally was unaware that he had sustained any injuries other than his chest wounds.[C3-213] On the back of his arm, about 2 inches (5 centimeters) above the wrist joint on the thumb side, Dr. Charles F. Gregory observed a linear perforating wound approximately one-fifth of an inch (one-half centimeter) wide and 1 inch (2½ centimeters) long.[C3-214] During his operation on this injury, the doctor concluded that this ragged wound was the point of entry because thread and cloth had been carried into the wound to the region of the bone.[C3-215] Dr. Gregory’s conclusions were also based upon the location in the Governor’s wrist, as revealed by X-ray, of small fragments of metal shed by the missile upon striking the firm surface of the bone.[C3-216] Evidence of different amounts of air in the tissues of the wrist gave further indication that the bullet passed from the back to the front of the wrist.[C3-217] An examination of the palm surface of the wrist showed a wound approximately one-fifth of an inch (one-half centimeter) long and approximately three-fourths of an inch (2 centimeters) above the crease of the right wrist.[C3-218] Dr. Shaw had initially believed that the missile entered on the palm side of the Governor’s wrist and exited on the back side.[C3-219] After reviewing the factors considered by Dr. Gregory, however, Dr. Shaw withdrew his earlier opinion. He deferred to the judgment of Dr. Gregory, who had more closely examined that wound during the wrist operation.[C3-220]
In addition, Governor Connally suffered a puncture wound in the left thigh that was approximately two-fifths of an inch (1 centimeter) in diameter and located approximately 5 or 6 inches above the Governor’s left knee.[C3-221] On the Governor’s leg, very little soft-tissue damage was noted, which indicated a tangential wound or the penetration of a larger missile entering at low velocity and stopping after entering the skin.[C3-222] X-ray examination disclosed a tiny metallic fragment embedded in the Governor’s leg.[C3-223] The surgeons who attended the Governor concluded that the thigh wound was not caused by the small fragment in the thigh but resulted from the impact of a larger missile.[C3-224]
Examination of clothing.—The clothing worn by Governor Connally on November 22, 1963, contained holes which matched his wounds. On the back of the Governor’s coat, a hole was found 1⅛ inches from the seam where the right sleeve attached to the coat and 7¼ inches to the right of the midline.[C3-225] This hole was elongated in a horizontal direction approximately five-eighths of an inch in length and one-fourth of an inch in height.[C3-226] The front side of the Governor’s coat contained a circular hole three-eighths of an inch in diameter, located 5 inches to the right of the front right edge of the coat slightly above the top button.[C3-227] A rough hole approximately five-eighths of an inch in length and three-eighths of an inch in width was found near the end of the right sleeve.[C3-228] Each of these holes could have been caused by a bullet, but a positive determination of this fact or the direction of the missile was not possible because the garment had been cleaned and pressed prior to any opportunity for a scientific examination.[C3-229]
An examination of the Governor’s shirt disclosed a very ragged tear five-eighths of an inch long horizontally and one-half of an inch vertically on the back of the shirt near the right sleeve 2 inches from the line where the sleeve attaches.[C3-230] Immediately to the right was another small tear, approximately three-sixteenths of an inch long.[C3-231] The two holes corresponded in position to the hole in the back of the Governor’s coat.[C3-232] A very irregular tear in the form of an “H” was observed on the front side of the Governor’s shirt, approximately 1½ inches high, with a crossbar tear approximately 1 inch wide, located 5 inches from the right side seam and 9 inches from the top of the right sleeve.[C3-233] Because the shirt had been laundered, there were insufficient characteristics for the expert examiner to form a conclusive opinion on the direction or nature of the object causing the holes.[C3-234] The rear hole could have been caused by the entrance of a 6.5-millimeter bullet and the front hole by the exit of such a bullet.[C3-235]
On the French cuff of the right sleeve of the Governor’s shirt was a ragged, irregularly shaped hole located 1½ inches from the end of the sleeve and 5½ inches from the outside cuff-link hole.[C3-236] The characteristics after laundering did not permit positive conclusions but these holes could have been caused by a bullet passing through the Governor’s right wrist from the back to the front sides.[C3-237] The Governor’s trousers contained a hole approximately one-fourth of an inch in diameter in the region of the left knee.[C3-238] The roughly circular shape of the hole and the slight tearing away from the edges gave the hole the general appearance of a bullet hole but it was not possible to determine the direction of the missile which caused the hole.[C3-239]
Course of bullet.—Ballistics experiments and medical findings established that the missile which passed through the Governor’s wrist and penetrated his thigh had first traversed his chest. The Army Wound Ballistics experts conducted tests which proved that the Governor’s wrist wound was not caused by a pristine bullet. (See app. X, [pp. 582-585].) A bullet is pristine immediately on exiting from a rifle muzzle when it moves in a straight line with a spinning motion and maintains its uniform trajectory with but a minimum of nose surface striking the air through which it passes.[C3-240] When the straight line of flight of a bullet is deflected by striking some object, it starts to wobble or become irregular in flight, a condition called yaw.[C3-241] A bullet with yaw has a greater surface exposed to the striking material or air, since the target or air is struck not only by the nose of the bullet, its smallest striking surface, but also by the bullet’s sides.[C3-242]
The ballistics experts learned the exact nature of the Governor’s wrist wound by examining Parkland Hospital records and X-rays and conferring with Dr. Gregory. The C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found in the Depository was fired with bullets of the same type as the bullet found on the Governor’s stretcher and the fragments found in the Presidential limousine. Shots were fired from a distance of 70 yards at comparable flesh and bone protected by material similar to the clothing worn by the Governor.[C3-243] One of the test shots wounded the comparable flesh and bone structure in virtually the same place and from the same angle as the wound inflicted on Governor Connally’s wrist. An X-ray and photograph of the simulated wrist confirmed the similarity.[C3-244] The bullet which inflicted that injury during the tests had a nose which was substantially flattened from striking the material.[C3-245] The striking velocity at 70 yards of seven shots fired during the tests averaged 1,858 feet per second; the average exit velocity of five shots was 1,776 feet per second.[C3-246]