If a CT could come to accept the "SBT," would he or she remain a CT?

[Tom Graves]

The nurse who helped to treat Connally, Nurse Audrey Bell, said the bullet fragments recovered from Connally's wrist alone were far more than is missing from the alleged SBT bullet, CE 399. She handled the fragments after they were removed from the governor's wrist. She specified that the fragments were not merely "flakes of metal" but were identifiable pieces of metal 3 to 4 millimeters in length by 2 millimeters wide. This squares with the recollection of one of Connally's other surgeons, Dr. Robert Shaw, who also saw the fragments. Interviewed for the award-winning 1988 documentary Reasonable Doubt: The Single-Bullet Theory, Shaw said, "I am sure that the bullet that inflicted these wounds on Governor Connally was fragmented much more than this bullet [CE  399] shows."

Griffith,

Dr. Charles Francis Gregory was the orthopedic surgeon who operated on Governor Connally's wrist.

Perhaps you've heard of him?

The following is an excerpt from his Warren Commission testimony:


Mr. Specter: Did you observe any foreign objects identifiable as bits of fragments or portions of a bullet missile, Dr. Gregory?

Dr. Gregory: A preliminary X-ray had indicated that there were metallic fragments or at least metallic fragments which cast metallic shadows in the soft tissues around the wounded forearm. Two or three of these were identified and were recovered and were observed to be metallic in consistency. These were turned over to appropriate authorities for further disposition.

Mr. Specter: Approximately how large were those fragments, Dr. Gregory?

Dr. Gregory: I would judge that they were first -- flat, rather thin, and that their greatest dimension would probably not exceed 1/8 of an inch. They were very small.

[...]

Mr. Specter: For the purpose of this consideration, I am interested to know whether the metal which you found in the wrist was of sufficient size so that the bullet which passed through the wrist could not have emerged virtually completely intact, or with 158 grains intact, or whether the portions of the metallic fragments were so small that that would be consistent with having virtually the entire 6.5mm bullet emerge.

Dr. Gregory: Well, considering the small volume of metal as seen by X-ray, and the very small dimensions of the metal which was recovered, I think several such fragments could have been flaked off of a total missile mass without reducing its volume greatly. Now, just how much depends of course upon what the original missile weighed. In other words, on the basis of the metal left behind in Governor Connally's body, as far as I could tell the missile that struck it could be virtually intact, insofar as mass was concerned, but probably was distorted.

Mr. Specter: Would you have any idea at all as to what the fragments which you observed in the Governor's wrist might weigh, Doctor?

Dr. Gregory: No, not really, but it would have to have been very small -- very small.