From: grant_jo@ripple.enet.dec.com (Joel Grant)
Subject: Lattimer, Questions 9 and 10
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date:  4 OCT 92 13:54:30 PDT


Moving along on Dr. Lattimer, Questions nine and ten:

(refer to Lattimer, pp. 209-210)

9.  "Why did the attempts by government ballistics experts to
reproduce President Kennedy's head wounds not produce skull
wounds more similar to his if the last bullet did indeed
enter the lower part of the back of the President's head,
as indicated by the only drawing in the Warren Commission
report?"

Lattimer's answered may be summarized succinctly: because the
entrance wound in the was not in the lower part of the back 
of Kennedy's skull.

10. "I particularly wanted to know why there was not more evidence
of shattering of the President's skull into many pieces, which,
as far as the drawings whowed, there was not."

The short answer: Lattimer's analysis of the autopsy photos and
x-rays showed that indeed the President's skull was shattered
in a matter compatible with the through and through passage of
metal-jacketed, military-style bullet.  Lattimer's experience as
a WWII army surgeon, working with all kinds of wounds produced by
German and Italian army rifles rendered him completely competent
to offer professional analysis on this point.

A fuller description of the skull wound, as well as comments on
the shattering are reserved for the next question, which deals
with the path of the bullet through President Kennedy's cranium.

Lattimer's description of the skull entrance wound:

"... The head wound of entry could be clearly seen in four of the
color photographs to consist of an ovoid penetrating wound of the
back of the head, about 7 by 15 mm in size, and about 2 cm to the
right of the midline, high up above the hairline where the top of
the skull was starting to curve forward, the area of the cowlick.
This accounted for its ovoid shape, since it was slightly tangential
to the surface of the skull.  The long axis of the ovoid wound ran in
a back-to-front direction.  It conformed in position to the hole
in the back of the skull seen in lateral X-ray film 2.  This position,
clearly shown in the photographs, was considerably higher than that
depicted in the schematic drawings of the head wounds in the
Warren report, since it lay about 10 cm higher than the occipital
tuberosity of the skull, rather than just above it.  It made it
obvious that this bullet came within an inch or two of missing the
President's head altogether."

Lattimer adds that "...The mistake in describing this hole in the
skull at a lower level in the official autopsy report clearly
resulted from the X-rays and photographs being taken away from the
doctors who did the autopsy, and who would have depended on them
for accuracy in this type of detailed measurement."

I would add that another reason for the poor placement was the
extremely odd sketch done by Dr. Boswell, reproduced in many
books.  Glancing at the entrance location in this sketch, it
certainly appears to be just below the middle of the skull
on the right side.  But if you look carefully at this sketch,
you will notice that the wound is nevertheless place *above*
the ears, not below the ears as repeatedly noted, even by
Dr. Humes when he marked the location on the skull.

Aside from having had the x-rays and photos removed from them,
it seems pretty clear that Dr. Boswell's sketch it misleading;
I doubt many human beings, counting from the Paleolithic era,
have had such an oddly-shaped skull...

Joel Grant  (speaking on his own behalf)


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