Dallas, TX—It was 50 years ago today when a somewhat
trusting U.S. president rode his last motorcade in an open top limousine. We all think we know what happened. However it seems the only thing we agree on
is that a young president and war hero John F. Kennedy was shot to death.
Had that happened today with our present technology there
would have been thousands of revealing and stunning camera images and
videos. Abraham Zupruder had his new
Bell & Howell 8 MM film camera with color film and captured the somewhat grainy
movie film. Had he a modern consumer HD
digital video camera the images would have been more revealing and much more
difficult to watch. That also would have
answered many more questions for investigators.
Those of us that were alive remember exactly where we were
that day and how we learned about that “crime of the century.”
For me that day was ordinary. I removed my cased Springfield .22 rifle from
under my bed, put a box of 50 .22 long rifle rounds in my pocket and grabbed my
books. I traveled to Senn High School on
two Chicago Transit Authority busses.
I was proud to be on the rifle team of Junior ROTC and
people around as usual were totally unconcerned that I obviously was carrying a
rifle. I walked from the bus stop to and
through the front door of the school.
The assistant principal greeted me as I entered. I then went directly to the ROTC room where I
handed the rifle to either Sergeant Ketzner or Mautner who placed it in the
vault. That vault contained about 50 M-1
Grand rifles, A BAR automatic rifle, a M-1 .30 caliber carbine and a dozen or
so Springfield .22 rifles exactly like my own.
We had a small-bore rifle range constructed within the ROTC
classroom area. This day was a regular
rifle team meet day.
I entered the ROTC after lunch and was told to sit down by a
somber Sgt. Mautner. He told us that
President Kennedy was shot in Dallas but he did not know his condition. Everyone in the room was shocked. A radio or TV was connected to the intercom
and we listened intently to the live news reports from Dallas. Finally the report was broadcast that our
president was dead.
There was no more class instruction. There was a lot of conversation about this catastrophic
event at the height of the Cold War and at the beginning of our involvement in the
Viet Nam War. We all speculated that
Castro must have been involved because of the recent Cuban Missal Crisis. After an hour or to we were all dismissed
from classes. There would be no rifle
team shooting. I retrieved my rifle from
Sgt. Ketzner and took the CTA buses home.
I watched as the female students and teachers crying
everywhere. The same was true for female
bus passengers. Public emotion of
sadness and anger was rampant everywhere.
Writers began shamelessly killing entire forests of trees as
they filled millions of pages of conspiracy theories. Some of the books seemed reasonable and others
were extreme nonsense.
I still believe in a single shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was a committed Communist looking for recognition from Fidel Castro
and I believe he wanted to become a hero in Cuba. At least one earlier TV news interview showed
Oswald passing out literature for a group know as, The Fair Play for Cuba
Committee.
As an investigator I’ve kept my mind open to the idea of a
conspiracy. There are lots interesting
motives and no shortage of suspects including the Vice President of the United
States!
Secret Service agents violently snatched Kennedy’s body from
Dallas authorities breaking Texas laws that required an autopsy by the Coroner’s
office. The post mortem examination was
not conducted by experienced forensic pathologists but by politically connected Washing DC physicians. Their failure to properly
document the examination is still an embarrassment today.
Oswald had a young wife and two daughters. He had very limited assets and was living at
the poverty level. He purchased a really
second rate Italian military 6.5 MM surplus rifle under an assumed name from Klein’s
Sporting Goods in Chicago. The rifle had
an inexpensive telescopic sight attached.
I believed had their been a conspiracy he’s have had a much better rifle
like the M-1 Garand. That superior rifle
was offered in the same advertisement.
Instead of $20.00 the M-1 cost over $90.00.
I personally have stood at that infamous sixth floor window
at the Texas Book Depository window.
The sniper’s vantage point was excellent and facilitated an easy field
of fire for anyone with minimal skill. Remember the target was moving away
rather than from left to right eliminating the normal challenge of hitting a
moving target.
This was a sad chapter of American history. Kennedy did not deserve his fate. History proves tyrants are always much better
protected.
"Where was I? Hmmm, that's a good question, but since Bronx Bullschitz is only talking to you Paul, I'll tell you. I was on the grassy knoll taking careful aim at a streetlight when I noticed this motorcade going by and..... Uh, wait a second is this a blog that goes over the Internet? Oh, man, I was never there. I was never there!"
ReplyDeleteWhere is the Presidents brain??? Why did the SS clean the car at the hospital???
ReplyDeleteTwo shooters.The 6.5mm Carcano round was not the head shot.
SS Agent Hickey had an AD with his AR15.
ReplyDelete