The autopsy.. 55 years later

[Oscar Navarro]

In Knudsen's interview, he said he was disturbed that he remembered probe(s) in the body, but nobody else did. Well the photographer, Stringer, certainly saw them.

"Why this sticks in my mind, that there was one with these two probes through the body that nobody else recalls, it puts a question in my mind, and yet but I could not imagine where I could get the idea from, if I had not seen it. And yet it is starting to bother me now that there is nothing in the autopsy about it. Certainly that would be in the autopsy, if it were true. At this point, I wish I had studied the negatives rather than glance at them. At this point, I am confused why it sticks in my mind so strongly that there was this photograph, yet nobody else recalls it, and it is apparently not in any report. If it is not in any report -- I cannot conceive why it would not be in the report. If it were there -- it is really bothering me as to why it does stick in my mind so much. "

What Stringer saw is not in dispute, a single (not "them")probe inserted into the back wound which did not go through the body. Knudsen's claims are unsupported and he even admits in the above quote he just glanced at the negatives. Just think, nobody at Parkland and Bethesda saw any wounds to JFK's body that corroborate Knudsen's claims. There are no holes in JFK's shirt and jacket that corroborate Knudsen's claims. The evidence is just not there.

[Royell Storing]

What Stringer saw is not in dispute, a single (not "them")probe inserted into the back wound which did not go through the body. Knudsen's claims are unsupported and he even admits in the above quote he just glanced at the negatives. Just think, nobody at Parkland and Bethesda saw any wounds to JFK's body that corroborate Knudsen's claims. There are no holes in JFK's shirt and jacket that corroborate Knudsen's claims. The evidence is just not there.

     For whatever reason You seem to have forgotten about the Throat Wound.

[Oscar Navarro]

     For whatever reason You seem to have forgotten about the Throat Wound.

No, I'm referring to the through the body probe. There was a possibility that Knudsen saw a negative of the probe inserted into the back wound and then added that it went through the neck and then just imagined there was another probe through the body. In both cases Knudsen was wrong which is the important point. Knudsen oobviously believed this and told his wife about it but, as he himselff repeatedly asserts, little attention was paid to the contents of the photographs and the negatives.

[Mitch Todd]

In Knudsen's interview, he said he was disturbed that he remembered probe(s) in the body, but nobody else did. Well the photographer, Stringer, certainly saw them.

"Why this sticks in my mind, that there was one with these two probes through the body that nobody else recalls, it puts a question in my mind, and yet but I could not imagine where I could get the idea from, if I had not seen it. And yet it is starting to bother me now that there is nothing in the autopsy about it. Certainly that would be in the autopsy, if it were true. At this point, I wish I had studied the negatives rather than glance at them. At this point, I am confused why it sticks in my mind so strongly that there was this photograph, yet nobody else recalls it, and it is apparently not in any report. If it is not in any report -- I cannot conceive why it would not be in the report. If it were there -- it is really bothering me as to why it does stick in my mind so much. "

Stringer said he saw a probe or probes being used, but didn't see any probe going all the way through the body. He also said, contra Knudsen, he didn't take any photographs of probes in the body.

Q: Did you see metal or any other kind of probes being used during the autopsy?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you take any photographs with probes in the body?
A: Not that I can recall.
Q: Were any probes put inside the cranium that you recall?
A: I don't think so. I think it was primarily in the neck area.
Q: Was the probe put into the neck, or did it come out of the neck?
A: It was put into the back part.
Q: The back of the body. And then did the probe come out the neck?
A: No.

The bigger problem with Knudsen is that, off the record, he'd spent years claiming he was the guy who photographed the autopsy.  However, there is no evidence that he was present for that event other than his own private claims. His name doesn't appear the S&O report as being present in the Bethesda morgue, nor does he appear in any way in the testimony of the various Bethesda witnesses. He couldn't have been the autopsy photographer as he claimed. And if his role as autopsy photographer was a fabrication, how can you vouch for anything else he's said?

[Oscar Navarro]

Stringer said he saw a probe or probes being used, but didn't see any probe going all the way through the body. He also said, contra Knudsen, he didn't take any photographs of probes in the body.

Q: Did you see metal or any other kind of probes being used during the autopsy?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you take any photographs with probes in the body?
A: Not that I can recall.
Q: Were any probes put inside the cranium that you recall?
A: I don't think so. I think it was primarily in the neck area.
Q: Was the probe put into the neck, or did it come out of the neck?
A: It was put into the back part.
Q: The back of the body. And then did the probe come out the neck?
A: No.

The bigger problem with Knudsen is that, off the record, he'd spent years claiming he was the guy who photographed the autopsy.  However, there is no evidence that he was present for that event other than his own private claims. His name doesn't appear the S&O report as being present in the Bethesda morgue, nor does he appear in any way in the testimony of the various Bethesda witnesses. He couldn't have been the autopsy photographer as he claimed. And if his role as autopsy photographer was a fabrication, how can you vouch for anything else he's said?

Knudsen did not even claim that he took photographs of the autopsy when interviewed by Purdy of the HSCA.

Mr. PURDY - When did you first become aware of the existence of photographs of the autopsy of President Kennedy?
Mr. KNUDSEN - The morning following the autopsy, Dr. Berkley -- to the best of my knowledge, Dr. Berkley had the film holders in a brown paper bag and handed them to me. Jim Fox, the Secret Service expert, was told to go over and develop them and see that they were secure at all times.

[Royell Storing]

Stringer said he saw a probe or probes being used, but didn't see any probe going all the way through the body. He also said, contra Knudsen, he didn't take any photographs of probes in the body.

Q: Did you see metal or any other kind of probes being used during the autopsy?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you take any photographs with probes in the body?
A: Not that I can recall.
Q: Were any probes put inside the cranium that you recall?
A: I don't think so. I think it was primarily in the neck area.
Q: Was the probe put into the neck, or did it come out of the neck?
A: It was put into the back part.
Q: The back of the body. And then did the probe come out the neck?
A: No.

The bigger problem with Knudsen is that, off the record, he'd spent years claiming he was the guy who photographed the autopsy.  However, there is no evidence that he was present for that event other than his own private claims. His name doesn't appear the S&O report as being present in the Bethesda morgue, nor does he appear in any way in the testimony of the various Bethesda witnesses. He couldn't have been the autopsy photographer as he claimed. And if his role as autopsy photographer was a fabrication, how can you vouch for anything else he's said?

    Your contention above would hinge on the belief of there being Only 1 so-called "autopsy".  Humes and his "surgery to the head..." comment when JFK's body was removed from the Shipping Casket let the cat out of the bag. Knudsen and Stringer may have been on hand at different times when the body of JFK was worked on. Remember, the developing of the alleged "Autopsy" X-Rays, (when/who), is correspondingly also sketchy.

[Greg Bonkowski]

Interesting things about the autopsy:  Remember when Finck testified that there were "generals in the room" "directing the autopsy?" Well, it turns that was only one general in the room. The only high ranking brass where admirals---Adm. Calvin B. Galloway, commanding officer of the U.S. National Naval Medical Center and Adm. George C. Burkley, White House physician to the President. In fact, the only Army personnel in the autopsy room was Finck himself and the commanding officer of the Washington military district, the guy in charge of the funeral. Hardly something with any pull. Additionally, in order to attempt to fix the body to show wounds from the back, the conspirators would have to have a team, in fact, two teams (and a backup) already in place either at Bethesda or Walter Reed  But, no one knew where the president's autopsy was going to take place until Mrs. Kennedy told them that it was going to be at Bethesda when AF1 was on the way back to Washington.

[Gary Craig]

From a CD of the White House Audio Tapes of Air Force One

MEMORANDUM

October 17, 1995

To: Jeremy Gunn

From: Doug Horne

Subject: Air Force One Audiotapes from November 22, 1963

1. As directed, Joan Zimmerman and I visited Archives II to listen to audio recordings
of the November 22, 1963 Air Force One tapes.

-snip-

4. Joan Zimmerman and I took voluminous notes, noting the many occasions when
spoken word on the tapes is not accounted for on the LBJ transcript. We also took notes
in an attempt to expand on areas of the "transcript" which are only summations of
conversations (vice verbatim accounts), and attempted to correct occasional inaccuracies
found in the LBJ "transcript."

-snip-

B. Onboard Air Force One on the return flight to Washington, Secret Service Agent
Kellerman, and later General Ted Clifton (Military Aide to the President) make it clear
that their desire is for an ambulance and limousine to take President Kennedy's body to
Walter Reed General Hospital for autopsy"..under guard...," as specified by General
Clifton. Gerald Behn, Head of the White House Secret Service Detail, counters that a
Helicoptor has been arranged to take the President's body to the National Naval Medical
Center at Bethesda for autopsy, and all other personnel will be choppered to the
South Grounds of the White House. Ultimately, the President's physician, Admiral
George Burley (on Air Force One), sides with Gerald Behn (at the White House) in
support of a Bethesda autopsy and persuades the Surgeon General of the Army,
Gneral Heaton (in Washington) to cancel arrangements for a Walter Reed autopsy.

Once it becomes clear that Bethesda is to be the site, two things happen:

first, both Admiral Burkley and General Clifton insist that the President's body be transported to
Bethesda by ambulance(vice helicoptor), even though Gerald Behn at the White House
informs General Clifton that President Kennedy's Naval Aide, CAPT Shepard, has
assured him that it will be no problem for the helicoptor to carry the heavy casket;

second, even though Admiral Burkley and General Clifton insist on ambulance
transport of JFK's body to Bethesda, Gerald Behn at the White House subsequently
orders Roy Kellerman: "You accompany the body aboard the helicopter,"

-snip-

(2) An Air Force document titled: "Historical Highlights of Andrews Air Force Base, 1942-1989" states
that "...the body of the slain President was removed to Walter Reed General
Hospital...," which further fuels the controversy over the movements of the President's
body after Air Force One landed at Andrews.

-snip-