JFK Assassination System Date: 9/23/201 Identification Form rrr $ $ $ $ a eee Agency Information Released under the ohn F. Kennedy AGENCY : HSCA Assassination Records RECORD NUMBER: — 180-10084-10094 aiilecrion Act of RECORD SERIES: | NUMBERED FILES AGENCY FILENUMBER: 007348 TT ss ss ORIGINATOR : FROM: TO: TITLE: DATE: PAGES: SUBJECTS : DOCUMENT TYPE : CLASSIFICATION : RESTRICTIONS : CURRENT STATUS : DATE OF LAST REVIEW : OPENING CRITERIA : COMMENTS : TT EEE v9.1 HW 54756 DBocld: 32250536 Document Information DOD KESTER, JOHN G. BLAKEY, G. ROBERT 04/20/1978 3 DOD NATIONAL NAVAL MEDICAL CENTER KENNEDY, JOHN; AUTOPSY HURT, JOHN DAVID LETTER Unclassified 3 Redact 01/31/1996 Copy attached. Box 141. Page 1
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WASHINGTON. D.C. . 2030! THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT April 20, 1978 C875 G. Robert Blakey, Esq. Chief Counsel and Director Select Committee on Assassinations House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Bob: Attached are two fact sheets in reply to your letters of March 13, 1978, and March 27, 1978, concerning informa- tion on John David Hurt and the Navy camera used during the autopsy of President Kennedy. As your office has previously been informed, all the information requested in fourteen letters sent by you between December 27, 1977 and April 7, 1978 has been made available for review at this Department--with the exception of a few items where further information has been requested to permit completion of the search. Sincerely, Jon G. Kester Attachments HW 54756 DBocld:32250536 Page 3
Fact Sheet on John David Hurt Request In a letter dated March 13, 1978, the Defense Department was requested to provide any documents it has on a Mr. John David Hurt of Raleigh, North Carolina. Subsequently the House Select Committee staff informed the Department that Mr. Hurt was a member of the Army Counterintelligence Corps during World War II. The computerized index to the files in the National Personnel Records Center indicates that a John David Hurt, SSN 107-05-5407, born May 12, 1909, River Bend, Colorado, enlisted in the Army on November 5, 1942, and was dis- charged on December 28, 1945. His Army Service number was 14180986. The personnel file on Mr. Hurt, to which this index entry pertained, was destroyed in the July 1973 fire at the Center that destroyed 16.5 million files on Army personnel who served before 1960. The Defense Department has found no other information on Mr. Hurt. If he served in’ Army intelligence, he would have had an intelligence dossier on him, but such a filé would have been destroyed before now: files of this sort containing derogatory information on the subject of the file are destroyed after 25 years; files without derogatory information are destroyed after 15 years. Although the Defense Department has no further infor- mation on Mr. Hurt, it may be able to aid the Committee in verifying certain facts concerning Mr. Hurt's service in the Army. If he served in Army intelligence, Mr. Hurt would have been provided a badge number. If he can remember this number, the Army could search its records of intelligence badges issued and try to verify the fact. Also, if Mr. Hurt can remember the units to which he was assigned and the places where he served, Army files could be checked to determine whether the units he mentions were assigned to the places he mentions at the times he mentions. Neither of these avenues of inquiry, however, would turn up any new evidence on Mr. Hurt. HW 54756 Docld:32250536 Page 4
HW 54756 Fact Sheet on March 27, 1978 Letter This is in regard to the Committee's request for the Navy camera used during the autopsy of President Kennedy at the National Naval Medical Center on 22-23 November 1978. Based on information provided to Ms. Judy Miller by the Select Committee staff as to the location of Navy documentation pertaining to the autopsy camera and lens, a thorough and diligent search was conducted of the files at the National Naval Medical Center, and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Unfortunately, these additional efforts have failed to reveal any records stating the identity or location of the camera and lens in question. “It! is presumed that the camera previously provided -;:to the Committee was the camera used at the autopsy; the ‘“caimera.was described in a previous Committee request as a +cat x 2‘Graphic View type, and the camera provided to the ’ Committee was the only one of that description in use at the’ National Naval Medical Center in 1963. The lens pro- vided to, the Committee is a standard lens that was in use at the Medical Center in 1963. Although other lenses were also in use at the Medical Center during that time they have been replaced. Furthermore, no records have been located that indicate specifically which lens was used during the autopsy, nor does the Navy hold any records pertaining to the film holders used for the autopsy photographs. It is likely that those holders have been replaced due to normal wear and tear. Docld: 322750536 Page 5