"he more or less faced the other side of the street and leaned forward" (see above)
"In slide No. 4 he was looking pretty much toward--straight ahead ... when the first shot was fired, she turned to the right toward him and he more or less slumped forward" (see above)
Jackie turns from looking to her left to looking to her right in the early Z170s. Willis was very close to Jackie by then and could see this clearly.
"When I took slide No. 4, the President was smiling and waving and looking straight ahead,
and Mrs. Kennedy was likewise smiling and facing more to my side of the street. When the
first shot was fired, her head seemed to just snap in that direction, and he more or less
faced the other side of the street and leaned forward" (WC testimony)
"Well, after having photographed the President on Main Street and on Houston Street and
then in front of the Depository Building on Elm Street I cocked my camera for another
picture and this loud shot went off and the first reaction was that could it be a crank or a
firecracker but it was so loud and of such a sound it had to be rifle so I became alarmed.
I was trying to take a picture at the moment and the reflex from the shot caused me to
take one of these pictures." (Shaw trial)
Where does she say that?
Not with this:
"They were gunning the motorcycles; there were these little backfires; there was one noise like that;
I thought it was a backfire. Then next I saw Connelly grabbing his arms and saying `no no no nonono,'
with his fist beating--then Jack turned and I turned--all I remember was a blue gray building up ahead;
then Jack turned back, so neatly; his last expression was so neat; he had his hand out, I could see a
piece of his skull coming off; it was flesh colored not white--he was holding out his hand--and I can see
this perfectly clean piece detaching itself from his head; then he slumped in my lap"
Everything specific Rosemary Willis and her parents say is substantiated by the Zapruder film. Phil Willis made a generalization about his most important slide being "instantaneous" with the first shot (or having captured Kennedy's reaction to the first shot which means the first shot occurred before he took his 05 slide). Willis was selling a slide set at the time.
Willis's memory like everyone else did not improve with time and is proven by how much more vague he becomes as time went by. I know you try to pinpoint the first shot by the coordinated movements of the Jackie, JFK, and JBC. The memory recall of these movements and that anyone would note them is sketchy at best. Few people make any statement as to the wounding of JBC at all let alone what he was doing. It is easier to use the statements of the eyewitness and coordinate their common observations. Basically they state they hear the first shot and see JFK react. They also state where this occured on the street by relating it to where they were standing. No one states there was an early missed shot. They all place it in the same general location as Willis with his photo.
Hugh Betzner took a photo slightly before Willis (Z186) and completely corroborates Willis's statement that it was the first shot. Betzner also stated and describes that there were two shots.
Hugh Betzner 11/22
"....I took another picture as the President's car was going down the hill on Elm Street. I started to wind my film again and I heard a loud noise. I thought that this noise was either a firecracker or a car had backfired. I looked up and it seemed like there was another loud noise in the matter of a few seconds. I looked down the street and I could see the President's car and another one and they looked like the cars were stopped. Then I saw a flash of pink like someone standing up and then sitting back down in the car. Then I ran around so I could look over the back of a monument and I either saw the following then or when I was sitting back down on the corner of Elm Street. I cannot remember exactly where I was when I saw the following:
I heard at least two shots fired and I saw what looked like a firecracker going off in the president's car. My assumption for this was because I saw fragments going up in the air. ...."
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Jackie hears, what is to her a loud backfire, different than the others. I assume Jackie did not have a great deal of experience with the sound of rifles discharging but she does her best by noting the difference. JBC is wounded at exactly the same time, I am unaware of him having any issues with Tourette's Syndrome and just cries out for no reason. JFK having a piece of his skull separate from his head which would definitely be an indicator of a bullet impact. Her WC statement is definitely more detailed.
