From Behind the Fence

[Charles Collins]

     I have been and continue to Focus on the point at which the SS STOLE JFK's Body from Parkland Hospital. The "yarn" almost 30 yrs after the fact, (if true), that You are shifting to would have occurred AFTER the body of JFK was already on board AF-1. At that point in time, the SS theft of JFK's body was already a fait accompli.

… AFTER the body of JFK was already on board AF-1.

No, Wade specifically says it was during the fight.

[Royell Storing]

… AFTER the body of JFK was already on board AF-1.

No, Wade specifically says it was during the fight.

     Just how long do you believe the SS Agents putzed around inside that hallway over the JFK casket/body with Jackie standing there? These SS Agents that have just Failed to protect the POTUS are not to be confused with Diplomats.

[Charles Collins]

     Just how long do you believe the SS Agents putzed around inside that hallway over the JFK casket/body with Jackie standing there? These SS Agents that have just Failed to protect the POTUS are not to be confused with Diplomats.

I suggest that you read Kenneth O'Donnell's testimony if you want to know how, why, and when the decision to take the body back to Washington DC occurred. Here are a few excerpts:

First, O'Donnell believed that LBJ wanted him in charge:

Mr. SPECTER. Did Vice President Johnson look to you in any way for a recommendation on his subsequent plans in terms of your being then in charge of the presidential party?
Mr. O'DONNELL. It was my impression that he did, that he, with the President gone that he felt I was--had to assume a position of responsibility, both with regard to Mrs. Kennedy and as to himself. He asked me, as I recall--he asked me for my advice as to his departure and used the words, "I am in your hands now," at some point in the conversation.
But I did get the impression that he wanted official--that isn't the proper word--but that his movements should be approved by all concerned.


Next, O'Donnell found out Jackie's intentions:

Mr. O'DONNELL. ...I then went back to Mrs. Kennedy, who was in a very understandably distraught condition. It was my opinion--I tried to in some way imply that she might leave and come with us, at least to get her out of that room. She was covered with blood.
Mr. SPECTER. Which room was she in then?
Mr. O'DONNELL. She was in the same room. She had not moved. She was sitting near the door.
Mr. SPECTER. That is the room where the President was treated by the Dallas doctors?
Mr. O'DONNELL. Yes; there is a little corridor. There were swinging doors. He was inside the swing door. She was not in the presence of the body.
Mr. SPECTER. What was her response to you?
Mr. O'DONNELL. Her response to me was she would not leave her husband's body. At that point, I realized that she would not. The doctor had continually attempted to get her to take some form of sedation. And she had consistently refused, and told me she would not take anything, that she was going to stay with her husband. I realized that she was going to stay with her husband, no matter what anybody did, and there was no possible way of in any way getting her to leave. And so, therefore, the only alternative I could see was that we move the President. It is an assumption I probably would have arrived at anyway, but I arrived at it in this manner.


O'Donnell describes well the process of his decision making. It appears to me that the decision wasn't made by a bunch of pissed-off SS agents. It was made by a good friend and adviser of the Kennedys who was very much a diplomatic person.

[Royell Storing]

    I understand your being interested in how different people perceived their roles as events continued evolving around them, but the focal point of Our discussion is WADE. Not DC bureaucrats such as O'Donnell. Wade being informed via telephone as to the specifics of the SS Agents commandeering the JFK Body would have taken time amidst all of the ongoing tumult at both ends of the phone line. (Not to mention the general off/on phone service inside Dallas on 11/22/63.) 

[Charles Collins]

    I understand your being interested in how different people perceived their roles as events continued evolving around them, but the focal point of Our discussion is WADE. Not DC bureaucrats such as O'Donnell. Wade being informed via telephone as to the specifics of the SS Agents commandeering the JFK Body would have taken time amidst all of the ongoing tumult at both ends of the phone line. (Not to mention the general off/on phone service inside Dallas on 11/22/63.)

So I went out and got hold of Dr. Burkley and General McHugh, and one of the agents, and Andy Berger, as I recall, and told them to get a casket, to bring it back, and Dr. Burkley would have the doctors prepare the body for removal, and that we would proceed to the airport and go to Washington.
This was done very rapidly, as I recollect. It seems to me it wasn't more than half an hour that they arrived with the casket. I remember just before they arrived I got Dave Powers and said there was a little room in the back that we ought to just take Mrs. Kennedy under some subterfuge, and talk to her in the room while we brought the casket in, because I thought that might be the final blow. And we did, and--but she knew what was going on. She came out and said, "No, I want to watch it all." And she stood in the doorway, and thanked us for our attempt at being compassionate.
And then they took it in, and put the body in the casket.
We were then all prepared to go. The agents told me the ambulance was ready, and they were prepared to move.
We--the casket was brought out about halfway, and a gentleman arrived who said that we would not be allowed to remove the body from the hospital until the necessary papers had been signed.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you know who he was?
Mr. O'DONNELL. I don't recollect who he was. I think he was---maybe from the coroner's office. My assumption is he would be.
But he took this position. We asked--I don't recollect who transmitted the message that they speed this up as much as possible, and give us some idea how long it took to accomplish this. And they went out into this other little room where there were some telephones, and proceeded to call whoever it was necessary to call to get this permission.
We waited about 10 or 15 minutes, and Dr. Burkley and General McHugh were in the room, and Mr. O'Brien at some time. I went out again and asked them if they had an answer, and nobody seemed to be able to answer the question as to how long it might take, and whether it was a week or an hour.
So I was getting more concerned about Mrs. Kennedy's state all the time although she appeared composed, as she had from the beginning.
Then a gentleman did arrive who has later been identified for me as a Judge Brown, who was on the telephone calling someone. It had been my assumption that upon his arrival that he had the power to permit us to depart. Dr. Burkley was talking to him in a very agitated manner. And the gentleman was very calm and cool and collected. If my recollection is clear, he said something to the effect that as of now this was just a homicide case, and there were certain things that had to be carried out, one of which I interpreted as an autopsy.
Mr. SPECTER. Who was it, Mr. O'Donnell, if you recall, who said this was just another homicide case?
Mr. O'DONNELL. My feeling is it was Brown, but I really would not be--in the excitement of the moment, the discussion of the autopsy, the signing of a certificate from the hospital, and the treatment of this as a homicide case, I would not want to be unfair and misinterpret who might have said it.
My recollection is it was indicated to us that the President is dead, the hospital has to perform certain functions, and the law must be met, no matter who it is, at this moment. In my own mind, when they said autopsy, I realized we were talking not about hours, but perhaps even days, which was an impossible situation for Mrs. Kennedy.
I talked to Dr. Burkley, and had him suggest to them that they could have a doctor come with us, he could accompany the body at all times, and that we would bring him immediately to the Naval Hospital, and that they could perform whatever necessary chores, and there would be no separation physically from the hospital and the performance of their autopsy.
They refused to consider this.
I in my own mind determined that we had no alternative but to just depart. So I went back in the room. I told Mr. O'Brien, and whoever else was assembled there, that we were going to leave. I notified the Secret Service and General McHugh, and told them to get ready to depart. We went in and took the body out. Mrs. Kennedy stood right behind it, I think totally unaware of the problems that were then existing, so perhaps confused as to the speed with which we were attempting to depart.
We pushed the casket out through the hall. This first gentleman that had come in, who, I presume, was from the coroner's office, shouted very loudly, "You can't do that, you can't leave here now." Nobody paid any attention to him. We pushed out through another set of swinging doors. I remember a Catholic priest was between this and the doorway, and was praying. It was most disconcerting because we were concerned at all times that some moment they would say stop, and I hated to think what might happen to Mrs. Kennedy if she had to go back and go through this all over again. So we brushed them all aside and came out the same way we had come in, through the same doors.
There was an ambulance there. Andy Berger was seated in the driver's seat. Several agents were there. The body was put into the ambulance, Mrs. Kennedy got in with it. We climbed into a car alongside of it, and we took off for the airport. I told the agents if they would signal ahead, that there were agents at the airfield, and that as soon as we came through the gate, they were to close the gate and let nobody else in.

[Royell Storing]

  Again, no Specific mention of WADE. Wade himself during his WC Testimony waffled around whether he or someone inside his office got involved. And I do adhere to Sworn Testimony vs stories/recollections.

[Charles Collins]

I find this interesting (from an October 17, 1967 interview for the JFK Library):

McHugh:  Did any of the doctors there attempt to begin postmortem procedures?

Burkley:  Of course not. First place, postmortem would have to be either authorized by a member of the family or ordered by the court.

McHugh:  This was not normally a procedure that they would automatically perform?

Burkley:  In no way.