When Was JBC Hit?

[Charles Collins]

The sudden movement of JBC that begins at z271-272 and continues through z278 before he falls back. It is subtle but before he falls back onto Nellie he moves toward the front of the car without moving any part of his body to initiate this motion.

There is also a slight change in his hand position and the hat he is holding between z271 and z272.

There is also the odd lifting of JFK’s hair on the right side of his head that George Hickey observed at the time of the second shot (z273-277).

Finally, there is Wm Greer’s first turn around at around z280 which he said he did immediately after -“almost simultaneous” with- the second shot.

The sudden movement of JBC that begins at z271-272 and continues through z278 before he falls back.


The position of JBC at 271-272 relative to the sniper’s nest window is not compatible with a bullet entering and exiting JBC’s back and chest respectively in the places that it actually did enter and exit. Plus, going from memory, JBC testified that he turned back to his right AFTER he was shot. How do you explain these two issues with your idea?

[Jack Nessan]

Watson was on the air continuously up to the time he interviewed Zapruder and we can see that he didn’t have any opportunity to meet with him. It is apparent from the beginning of the interview that Watson was meeting Zapruder for the first time, just after Zapruder had walked into the studio.

Zapruder’s uncertainty about the number of shots may be because he was concentrating on watching the President and relying more on visual cues. He observed effects from only two shots.

Wow. You can’t even view a simple interview without attempting to twist it into this goofy story you have going on all the time. Actually, it is mind boggling unbelievable. 

Wouldn’t it be better to just stick to proving you do not know anything about physics, firearms, witness testimony, sound analysis, and ballistics instead of branching out to proving you do not know anything about assessing the Jay Watson -Zapruder interview?

[Steve M. Galbraith]

The sudden movement of JBC that begins at z271-272 and continues through z278 before he falls back.


The position of JBC at 271-272 relative to the sniper’s nest window is not compatible with a bullet entering and exiting JBC’s back and chest respectively in the places that it actually did enter and exit. Plus, going from memory, JBC testified that he turned back to his right AFTER he was shot. How do you explain these two issues with your idea?

Yes, that was going to be my followup question: How can JBC be hit in the back when he's clearly turned sideways at 271/272? Even before that he's turned away from the building.

[Charles Collins]

Yes, that was going to be my followup question: How can JBC be hit in the back when he's clearly turned sideways at 271/272? Even before that he's turned away from the building.

Once one accepts the validity of the physical evidence, it should become clear that the only conclusion that fits the physical evidence is the single bullet conclusion. Therefore some of the witness accounts must simply be inaccurate. I believe that even JBC admits that he could be wrong (in his book).

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Once one accepts the validity of the physical evidence, it should become clear that the only conclusion that fits the physical evidence is the single bullet conclusion. Therefore some of the witness accounts must simply be inaccurate. I believe that even JBC admits that he could be wrong (in his book).

I used to be a conspiracy believer in large part because the lone assassin explanation made no sense. But it wasn't explained properly - they (I think it was primarily Groden's book) had the bullet zig zagging and I fell for it; *and* the alternate explanations for what happened didn't add up. Plus this enhanced Zapruder film has details we didn't have before. Any other explanation for what happened, for me, simply doesn't work.

[Jerry Organ]

Yes, that was going to be my followup question: How can JBC be hit in the back when he's clearly turned sideways at 271/272? Even before that he's turned away from the building.

Mason has an answer:

Mason's own graphic.

Mason's original graphic (shown left) used an      oblique Daliesque view in order to lessen the      severity of the deflection angle.

[Charles Collins]

Here’s a snip from “November 22, 1963: You are the Jury” by David Belin (page 304-306):

Meanwhile, long before we saw Life’s original Zapruder film, I had an idea to try to prove that the same rifle had not fired all of the shots. I wrote to the Dallas office of the Secret Service and asked them to contact the three physicians who had treated Governor Connally - one for a back wound, one for a hand wound, and one for a slight leg wound. I asked Secret Service to have these three doctors assemble and reconstruct the position of Governor Connally as it must have been to receive the wounds he received on Nov. 22. Secret Service did contact these physicians, and I received in the mail the reconstructed position of Governor Connally as it would be from five different viewpoints. The only difficulty was that in three of the poses the doctors showed that the bullet entered the back of Governor Connally’s wrist and came out on the front side and in two it was shown vice versa.
I called this discrepancy to the attention of the Secret Service and asked that they in turn call this to the attention of Governor Connally’s physicians. I eventually received a revised set of drawings in which in all five poses the wrist wound was shown entering from the back or dorsal side of the wrist and exiting from the front.
Through a substantial portion of the Zapruder film, Governor Connally’s right arm and wrist could be seen with relation to the rest of his body. I then asked the FBI experts to look at the drawings prepared by Governor Connally’s physicians, compare them with the Zapruder film and tell us where Governor Connally could not have been hit on the film.
To have the full impact of what happened next, you should have this frame of reference: Almost everyone had assumed up to this point that the first shot struck President Kennedy, the second shot struck Governor Connally, and the third shot struck President Kennedy, and all three shots had been fired from one weapon. The FBI had reached this conclusion, as had the Secret Service. No physical evidence had been found up to that point that would prove otherwise.
On the other hand, here was one independent, a lawyer from Des Moines, Iowa, who was trying to prove - in the face of the FBI and the Secret Service - that this theory was wrong.
And I succeeded. According to the FBI photographic laboratory experts, Governor Connally was not in the position reconstructed by his doctors at any time after frame 240.

Edit: Would I like to see documentation of this including the drawings and correspondence? Yep, I sure would.

[Andrew Mason]

The sudden movement of JBC that begins at z271-272 and continues through z278 before he falls back.


The position of JBC at 271-272 relative to the sniper’s nest window is not compatible with a bullet entering and exiting JBC’s back and chest respectively in the places that it actually did enter and exit.

The bullet did not pass through the pleural lining of the chest. It went around the fifth rib until the last 10 cm, which it shattered, driving bone shards through the pleural lining and into the right lung.  If you draw a path along the fifth rib from the very exposed right armpit that was facing the SN to just below the right nipple, it is almost a straight line - just a small deflection to the left. That deflection is consistent with the impact felt by JBC and with the force required to break the fifth rib close to the spine.

The bullet then exited the chest and struck the back of the radius well above the wrist joint in the middle of the french cuff, which happens to be pressed against the chest with the entry point on the cuff at the same point as the exit point (through the right jacket pocket).

In striking the back of the radius that is pronated so the back of the forearm is against the chest, the bullet fragmented and drove bone shards down into the wrist and made a jagged tear in the cuff.  The bullet fragmented, as evidenced by the jagged cuff mark and the lead deposits as well as the large entry wound on the forearm. 

Some fragments likely deflected up away from the point of contact and some  possibly continued forward through the wrist striking the windshield.  A fragment from the second shot struck the curb near Tague. That is consistent with several fragments, one of which went just over the windshield toward Tague and two of which did the damage to the windshield frame and glass.  SA Greer (whose right ear was about 12 inches away) described a "concussion" from the second shot.  That's not all, there is a change in the appearance of the wrist and hat which is consistent with a slight change in the position of the hat in the hand. 
He does turn toward his left from that far right turn as he falls back on Nellie. He told the WC he intended to turn to the left when he was hit but wasn't sure how far around he was when hit.  Nellie told DR. Shires that he was turned right when he was hit and did not mention turning forward or to the left before he was hit:

 6 H 108:
Dr. SHIRES. She had thought, and I think correctly so, that he had turned
to his right after he heard the first shot, apparently, to see what had happened
to the President, and he then later confirmed this, that he heard the first shot,
turned to his right, and then was hit.
I forgot about that a moment ago, incidentally. He definitely remembers
turning after hearing the first shot, before he was struck with a bullet. I forgot
about that.
Mr. SPECTER. When did Governor Connally tell you that?
Dr. SHIRES Oh, several days later.
Mr. SPECTER. While he was in the hospital?
Dr. SHIRES. Oh, yes. 4 or 5 days later and we were constructing the events.

....
Connally was in the room too, and reconstructing events, she related the story
of her last conversation with the President, relating to him, that the reception
had been warm and that she was glad he couldn’t say that people of Texas
and in Dallas didn’t like him and admire him, and she was very pleased with
the way things had gone the whole visit. Then, the next event that occurred
was that she remembers hearing a shot, he remembered hearing a shot-he
remembers turning to the right, he remembered being struck by a bullet, and
his next thought as he fell over toward his wife was “They’re going to kill all
of us,” and that’s the last really clear memory that he expressed to me until
he remembers vaguely being in the emergency room, but very little of that,
and then he remembers waking up in the recovery room several hours later.