Single Bullet Theory - Location of Back Wound

Location of Back Wound

President Kennedy's death certificate places the bullet wound to Kennedy's back at the third thoracic vertebra. The death certificate was signed by Dr. George Burkley, the President's personal physician. As interpreted by the House Select Committee on Assassinations Forensic Pathology Panel, the autopsy photos and autopsy X-rays show a bullet hole at the first thoracic vertebra. The bullet hole in the shirt worn by Kennedy and the bullet hole in the suit jacket worn by Kennedy both show bullet holes between 5 and 6 inches (13 and 15 cm) below the top of Kennedy's collar. These do not necessarily correspond with bullet wounds, since Kennedy was struck with his arm raised, and multiple photos taken of the President during the motorcade show that his jacket was bunched in the rear below his collar. In addition, on February 19, 2007, the film shot by George Jefferies was released. This 8 mm film, taken approximately 90 seconds before the shooting, also clearly shows that President Kennedy's suit coat was bunched up around the neckline around the time of the assassination.

The theory of a "single bullet" places a bullet wound as shown in the autopsy photos and X-rays, at the first thoracic vertebra of the vertebral column. The official autopsy report on the President, Warren Exhibit CE 386 described the back wound as being oval, 6 x 4 mm, and located "above the upper border of the scapula" at a location 14 cm (5.5 in) from the tip of the right acromion process, and 14 cm (5.5 in) below the right mastoid process (the boney prominence behind the ear). The report also reported contusion (bruise) of the apex (top tip) of the right lung in the region where it rises above the clavicle, and noted that although the apex of the right lung and the parietal pleural membrane over it had been bruised, they were not penetrated. The report also noted that the thoracic cavity was not penetrated.

The concluding page of the Bethesda autopsy report states: "The other missile entered the right superior posterior thorax above the scapula, and traversed the soft tissues of the supra-scapular and the supra-clavicular portions of the base of the right side of the neck. This missile produced contusions of the right apical parietal pleura and of the apical portion of the right upper lobe of the lung. The missile contused the strap muscles of the right side of the neck, damaged the trachea, and made its exit through the anterior surface of the neck."

Many years after the Warren Commission report, Representative Gerald Ford stated that he had changed a draft of the Warren Report to indicate that the bullet entered the "base of the back of neck" rather than "his back at a point slightly above the shoulder", but said he did not do it as part of a conspiracy.The original Bethesda autopsy report, included in the Warren Commission report, concluded from the data this bullet had passed above the top of the lung outside the thoracic pleura and, therefore, through the president's neck. Ford's description also matched a drawing prepared for the Commission under the direction of Dr. James J. Humes, supervisor of Kennedy's autopsy. In his testimony to the Commission, Humes said three times that the entrance wound was in the "low neck." The Commission was not shown the autopsy photographs.

The conclusion of bullet entry specifically at the first thoracic vertebra was made in a 1979 report on the Kennedy assassination by the HSCA Forensic Pathology Panel, which created Figure for their report to demonstrate this entrance location. This position is consistent with the back wound location in Figure 4 of their report, a drawing made from one of the still-unreleased autopsy photos. It is also consistent with the unofficial versions of this photo available on the internet. The HSCA examined these photographs and X-rays before rendering its opinions as to bullet entry and exit locations, and obtained testimony from autopsy physicians that these were the correct photographs and X-rays taken during the autopsy.