The 'Other' Wounds

[Bob Prudhomme]

Actually, Cliff, I believe there were more than two wounds inconsistent with what should have been produced by a 6.5mm Carcano bullet.

I do not believe the wound to Connally's right wrist could have been caused by the bullet that entered him from behind, under the right armpit. The fact that this bullet was supposed to have struck the back side of his right wrist, hitting the radius bone full on, and exited the palm side of his wrist, excludes this possibility, as it would have been impossible (unless his elbow was double jointed) for Connally to be able to hold his forearm in a position that would have presented the back side of his wrist to the bullet.

That being said, the bullet hole in Connally's shirt cuff was not a neat round hole but, rather, was 2.5 cm. long; the approximate length of a Carcano bullet. This leaves two possibilities; 1) this bullet struck something on its way to Connally's wrist and was tumbling when it hit his wrist or 2) this bullet was travelling at such a low velocity, it de-stabilized and began tumbling before it struck Connally.

Connally's surgeon stated that a rifle wound to the wrist should have destroyed the bones in his wrist and that such a wound would often result in amputation. At the very least, the bullet should have travelled through Connally's radius bone rather than being stopped by it. Even if one subscribes to the SBT, the bullet had not travelled through enough matter to have slowed it this much, especially if one remembers that 6.5mm FMJ bullets were used to kill elephants in Africa; exclusively with head shots.

The other oddities that bother me are the crack in the limo windshield and the bullet dent in the trim above the limo's windshield. It is just remotely possible the crack in the windshield was caused by a tiny piece of shrapnel from JFK's head. The mortician Tom Robinson did report two small shrapnel wounds in JFK's face and it is possible the crack in the windshield was caused this way.

The dent in the windshield trim is another matter, though. It definitely looks as if it was made by a much larger piece of metal and has all of the appearances of an intact bullet striking the trim nose first. Once again, though, there does not seem to be sufficient damage to the windshield trim to account for a rifle bullet hitting it, as a FMJ bullet travelling at just over 2000 fps should have done far more damage. And I cannot see this strike being tied to any of the wounds, including the fatal head shot, as there was no evidence of a bullet exiting JFK's face. Even if one subscribes to the "cowlick" entry wound in JFK's head, its required exit path should have taken it into the back of Connally's jump seat.

So, it seems we now have at least four bullets to be explained away by the "short shot" theory. The odds of this occurring in WCC ammunition are remote, to say the least, and having four "short shots" out of a box of twenty would have to be a record for WCC ammunition.