16-06-2013, 11:40 AM
Paul O' Connor told Andy Purdy that the "pink shipping casket..arrived approximately eight o'clock." (ARRB MD64) He said the same thing to David Lifton (Best Evidence, paperback edition, p. 695), to Roger Feinman (Between the Signal and the Noise, chapter 6), and William Matson Law (In the Eye of History, p. 35).
Dennis David said in a telephone interview for the ARRB that he witnessed the arrival of a "gray shipping casket" at about 6:45 pm. He did not see the casket opened. (ARRB MD177)
Roger Feinman writes about Donald Rebentisch in chapter 6 of Between the Signal and the Noise:
[quote]
For Donald Rebentisch, a petty officer who was stationed at Bethesda on the night of the autopsy, there was no big secret. Rebentisch was studying dental and medical equipment repair at the hospital at the time. According to Rebentisch, two ambulances carrying two caskets were employed one of them empty and one with the body of Kennedy in a deliberate charade to slip the President's body into Bethesda Naval Hospital. Rebentisch says his commanding officers told him the secrecy was planned to avoid the media and other onlookers. The empty casket was brought in the frontdoor while the casket carrying Kennedy's body was driven in a 1958 Chevrolet hearse to the back of the hospital where medical officials were to perform an autopsy:
"It was about 4:30 p.m., when our chief petty officer came to me and about five other petty officers and told us to go to the back of the hospital. I'm talking about the loading ramps where they used to bring in supplies.
"He told all of us that we were going to be there and we were going to bring the President's casket into the mortuary. We were told not to leave our posts.
"The chief said we got all the … ghouls and reporters and the TV and everybody at the front of the hospital. He said there would be an empty casket in the ambulance. He said the President's body would really come in the back.
"This made sense to me. I felt there was nothing wrong with this. I just bought it, as did the rest of us."
Rebentisch said he and five other officers took the President's casket out of the black hearse and pushed it through a rear freight entrance, 35 or 40 minutes before another coffin was taken through a mass of reporters and photographers at the front door. "Rebentisch said he doubted most of Lifton's claims." (The Associated Press, January 23, 1981, AM Cycle) Robert Muma, who was a Bethesda staff dental technician, corroborated Rebentisch's account:
"There were two ambulances that came in. One was lighted. It came up to the front door. The second one they kept dark and it went around to the back. That was the one that had Kennedy in it. It was common knowledge that there were two caskets." (The Associated Press, January 23, 1981, AM Cycle)
Another of Rebentisch's associates, Paul Neigler, also corroborated the former petty officer's story. (United Press International, January 24, 1981, AM cycle)
[end quote]
The report of Marine Sgt. Roger Boyajian does not say that the casket he and his men picked up on the evening of November 22, 1963, contained the body of President Kennedy. Asked during a telephone interview for the ARRB "if he remembered the arrival of the President's casket" he said "no." (ARRB MD236)
Dennis David said in a telephone interview for the ARRB that he witnessed the arrival of a "gray shipping casket" at about 6:45 pm. He did not see the casket opened. (ARRB MD177)
Roger Feinman writes about Donald Rebentisch in chapter 6 of Between the Signal and the Noise:
[quote]
For Donald Rebentisch, a petty officer who was stationed at Bethesda on the night of the autopsy, there was no big secret. Rebentisch was studying dental and medical equipment repair at the hospital at the time. According to Rebentisch, two ambulances carrying two caskets were employed one of them empty and one with the body of Kennedy in a deliberate charade to slip the President's body into Bethesda Naval Hospital. Rebentisch says his commanding officers told him the secrecy was planned to avoid the media and other onlookers. The empty casket was brought in the frontdoor while the casket carrying Kennedy's body was driven in a 1958 Chevrolet hearse to the back of the hospital where medical officials were to perform an autopsy:
"It was about 4:30 p.m., when our chief petty officer came to me and about five other petty officers and told us to go to the back of the hospital. I'm talking about the loading ramps where they used to bring in supplies.
"He told all of us that we were going to be there and we were going to bring the President's casket into the mortuary. We were told not to leave our posts.
"The chief said we got all the … ghouls and reporters and the TV and everybody at the front of the hospital. He said there would be an empty casket in the ambulance. He said the President's body would really come in the back.
"This made sense to me. I felt there was nothing wrong with this. I just bought it, as did the rest of us."
Rebentisch said he and five other officers took the President's casket out of the black hearse and pushed it through a rear freight entrance, 35 or 40 minutes before another coffin was taken through a mass of reporters and photographers at the front door. "Rebentisch said he doubted most of Lifton's claims." (The Associated Press, January 23, 1981, AM Cycle) Robert Muma, who was a Bethesda staff dental technician, corroborated Rebentisch's account:
"There were two ambulances that came in. One was lighted. It came up to the front door. The second one they kept dark and it went around to the back. That was the one that had Kennedy in it. It was common knowledge that there were two caskets." (The Associated Press, January 23, 1981, AM Cycle)
Another of Rebentisch's associates, Paul Neigler, also corroborated the former petty officer's story. (United Press International, January 24, 1981, AM cycle)
[end quote]
The report of Marine Sgt. Roger Boyajian does not say that the casket he and his men picked up on the evening of November 22, 1963, contained the body of President Kennedy. Asked during a telephone interview for the ARRB "if he remembered the arrival of the President's casket" he said "no." (ARRB MD236)