Oswald: No power lunch

[Mitch Todd]

Mr. LIEBELER. So you thought you had picked out a particular building at the time when you heard shots?
Mr. WILLIS. Absolutely.
Mr. LIEBELER. What building was that?
Mr. WILLIS. The Texas School Book Depository Building.
Mr. LIEBELER. You were pretty sure?
Mr. WILLIS. I felt certain. I even looked for smoke, and I knew it came from high up.
Mr. LIEBELER. How did you know that?
Mr. WILLIS. I even observed the clock on top of the building, it was 12:33 when I looked up there.
Mr. LIEBELER. The clock on top of the School Book Depository?
Mr. WILLIS. There is a Hertz sign on top of the building, and it alternates the time of day and the temperature, and when I looked up, it was 12:33, and the temperature was 68 degrees, as shown in my slide on No. 12.

If Willis 12 was taken at 12:33, then when was Willis 8 taken?

Btw Willis 7 shows the press bus going down Elm.

Willis 12 wasn't taken at 12:33. Look at the photo. There is no crowd along either side of Elm, nor on the Dealey Plaza infield, nor is there anyone standing in and around the entrance to the TSBD. Compare that to any of the films or photos of the are around the Depository at that time. For that matter, look at any of the earlier Willis slides.

Willis and Belin are talking about when he heard the shots, not when Wills 12 was taken. Willis just remembered (incorrectly, as the McIntire photo shows) that it occurred at 12:33. Or, at least, it was 12:33 when Willis first looked up at the clock after the assassination.

Willis may have been referring only to the temperature when he said "the temperature was 68 degrees, as shown in my slide on No. 12.

[Martin Weidmann]

Willis 12 wasn't taken at 12:33. Look at the photo. There is no crowd along either side of Elm, nor on the Dealey Plaza infield, nor is there anyone standing in and around the entrance to the TSBD. Compare that to any of the films or photos of the are around the Depository at that time. For that matter, look at any of the earlier Willis slides.

Willis and Belin are talking about when he heard the shots, not when Wills 12 was taken. Willis just remembered (incorrectly, as the McIntire photo shows) that it occurred at 12:33. Or, at least, it was 12:33 when Willis first looked up at the clock after the assassination.

Willis may have been referring only to the temperature when he said "the temperature was 68 degrees, as shown in my slide on No. 12.

Fair enough, but Willis 7 shows the press bus in the motorcade going down Elm street, which happened shortly after the shots. It's reasonable to conclude that Willis 8 was taken not long after that.

[Mitch Todd]

Fair enough, but Willis 7 shows the press bus in the motorcade going down Elm street, which happened shortly after the shots. It's reasonable to conclude that Willis 8 was taken not long after that.

I guess it depends on how you define "no long after." Could be a minute, could be many.

[Mitch Todd]

Mr. Barnett  - Yes, sir; I was back where No. 8 is then. That was probably 2 1/2 minutes after the last shot was fired. About that time, my sergeant came up from this way, from the north of Houston Street and asked me to get the name of that building.

Barnett's sergeant is Sergeant Howard.
Barnett has returned to near his original position and Howard approaches him from "north of Houston".
Presumably Howard is one of the officers Barnett sees behind the TSBD.
I can't find any statements from Sergeant Howard.
Inexplicably he is not asked to give testimony before the WC.

I wondered who Howard was, and what his role was on Nov 22. I found it in Capt. Lawrence's exhibit #2, which lays out the various assignments for the motorcade. Howard was put in change of the detail that set out and enforced "No Parking" signs befor the motorcade, beginning at 7AM.

In the aftermath of the shooting, he appears in a conversation on channel 2:

290 (Howard)           See if you can contact 125.
125 (Capt Lawrence)   290, I am at Parkland.
290                           125, do you want us to stay on Industrial or where do you want us to go?
125                           Stay at your location right now.   

This conversation occurs between Brewer's 12:38 interchange with the dispatcher and the dispatcher's 12:40 reply to Batchelor. At about 12:39, Howard was still at least 2-3 blocks away from Dealey Plaza. Given that Howard expects Lawrence to know his position, it would seem that Howard was at an preassigned location. This in turn implies that Howard is near the Trade Mart, which was at Industrial and 35E. I figure it was quite some time after the shooting before he appeared to Barnett.

[Martin Weidmann]

I guess it depends on how you define "no long after." Could be a minute, could be many.

As you are still desperately trying to push the events back as much as possible in your customary way, just how many minutes would you prefer?

[Dan O'meara]

I wondered who Howard was, and what his role was on Nov 22. I found it in Capt. Lawrence's exhibit #2, which lays out the various assignments for the motorcade. Howard was put in change of the detail that set out and enforced "No Parking" signs befor the motorcade, beginning at 7AM.

In the aftermath of the shooting, he appears in a conversation on channel 2:

290 (Howard)           See if you can contact 125.
125 (Capt Lawrence)   290, I am at Parkland.
290                           125, do you want us to stay on Industrial or where do you want us to go?
125                           Stay at your location right now.   

This conversation occurs between Brewer's 12:38 interchange with the dispatcher and the dispatcher's 12:40 reply to Batchelor. At about 12:39, Howard was still at least 2-3 blocks away from Dealey Plaza. Given that Howard expects Lawrence to know his position, it would seem that Howard was at an preassigned location. This in turn implies that Howard is near the Trade Mart, which was at Industrial and 35E. I figure it was quite some time after the shooting before he appeared to Barnett.

This really doesn't square with Barnett's testimony.
He is stood with Sergeant Howard when the Brennan comes up to them and all three head for the front entrance of the TSBD. Barnett puts a time of "no more than 3 minutes" between the time of the last shot and being posted on the front door of the TSBD.
I have been assuming the two officers in the TSBD doorway were Barnett and Howard. This would place the Willis pic between 3 and 6 minutes after the assassination (if my assumption is correct).
It may be possible to clarify when Willis 8 was taken if the officers in it can be identified.



There are two DPD officers in the doorway.
One DPD officer in the foreground.
Two motorcycle officers - one left, one right (I'm assuming the round white helmets belong to motorcycle police)

[Martin Weidmann]

This really doesn't square with Barnett's testimony.
He is stood with Sergeant Howard when the Brennan comes up to them and all three head for the front entrance of the TSBD. Barnett puts a time of "no more than 3 minutes" between the time of the last shot and being posted on the front door of the TSBD.
I have been assuming the two officers in the TSBD doorway were Barnett and Howard. This would place the Willis pic between 3 and 6 minutes after the assassination (if my assumption is correct).
It may be possible to clarify when Willis 8 was taken if the officers in it can be identified.



There are two DPD officers in the doorway.
One DPD officer in the foreground.
Two motorcycle officers - one left, one right (I'm assuming the round white helmets belong to motorcycle police)

It may be possible to clarify when Willis 8 was taken if the officers in it can be identified.

I had a similar idea re the two African-Americans on the stairs, one in a white shirt and the other, smaller one, in a red jacket.

I seem to recall that all the people on the TSBD stairs at the time of the shooting were identified. If that includes those two, it would be interesting to find out when they left the stairs, because they were clearly still there when Sawyer parked his car in front of the main enterance.

[Mitch Todd]

This really doesn't square with Barnett's testimony.
He is stood with Sergeant Howard when the Brennan comes up to them and all three head for the front entrance of the TSBD. Barnett puts a time of "no more than 3 minutes" between the time of the last shot and being posted on the front door of the TSBD.
I have been assuming the two officers in the TSBD doorway were Barnett and Howard. This would place the Willis pic between 3 and 6 minutes after the assassination (if my assumption is correct).
It may be possible to clarify when Willis 8 was taken if the officers in it can be identified.



There are two DPD officers in the doorway.
One DPD officer in the foreground.
Two motorcycle officers - one left, one right (I'm assuming the round white helmets belong to motorcycle police)

The guys wearing white helmets, jodhpurs, and boots are riding two wheelers. In the photos and films, you'll see that the guys on three-wheelers are all wearing white hats rather than helmets. The patrol division guys are the ones with green shoulder tabs; traffic division officers have red tabs.

I know what you mean about Barnett's testimony. Something is odd in there about the Sergeant. But the channel 2 recording is what it is. The thing is, if you compare Barnett's description of Brennan's approach, Brennan doesn't mention a sergeant. However, Brennan does mention that Barnett led him to Forrest Sorrels at the front of the Depository. Sorrels returned to the TSBD about 12:45. Barnett leading Brennan to Sorrels would also indicate that Barnett's testimony covers a much longer span of time than he remembered.