Justification For Killing (12 page)

A time that will be
forever etched into every hidden recess of the minds of all who
stood mesmerized - unwilling witnesses to the unfolding panorama of
one of history’s greatest events which would be played out as if on
a stage right before their eyes.

As Presidential
Roosevelt said of December 7, 1941
, “a day
that will forever live in infamy.”
This
day, November 22, 1963, would also be remembered forever. Anyone
looking at the clock would have noticed...

The time was Friday,
November 22, 1963, 12:27:32.

The day was beautiful - a
clear blue November day. A day where it could be said, ‘Isn’t it
thrilling to be alive on such a day?’ Haven’t you heard this
uttered before? You are right... but it doesn’t alter the fact as
it began no one realized it had the potential of becoming an
extraordinary eventful autumn day!! Extraordinary? Amazing,
incredible, inconceivable, or unimaginable. Those words may convey
what this day was destined to mean to the United States of
America!!

Yes, the brisk
morning was refreshing, with a slight northwestern to southeastern
breeze but nothing unusual for this time of the year in the Lone
Star State. The parade route was covered with the Texas flag. Every
utility pole along the parade route appeared to fly at least one
flag. As, the song lamented,
‘The eyes of
Texas are upon you’
, surely bore truth to
this austere group of the country’s most influential politicians
that warm November day. The sun brightly shone, and everything
seemed to be in perfect unison with the total
surrounding.

It seemed as if nothing
could spoil such a magnificent demonstration of love and admiration
the crowd showed for the President of the United States - John
Fitzgerald Kennedy and his beautiful First Lady Jacqueline. She was
adorned in a double-breasted, strawberry pink and navy trimmed
Chanel wool suit, with a matching pink pillbox hat. In her arms,
she nestled a beautiful bouquet of red roses given to her on her
arrival at Dallas’s Love Field by Mrs. Earle Cabell, the wife of
Dallas’s mayor Earle Cabell.

The motorcade slowly began
its right ninety-degree turn leaving Main Street and heading north
on Houston. The noonday sun was brilliant, and shining almost
directly into the eyes of the occupants of the automobiles.
Although late in autumn, this November day was especially bright
and warm. The driver Special Agent Bill Green and his partner
Assistant Special Agent-In-Charge Roy Kellerman, wearing the
ever-present wire rimmed dark sunglasses, squinted into the bright
sun. Their job was to watch for anything suspicious, or abnormal
before the Presidential limousine, behind them, arrived. The Secret
Service men jumped from the running boards and stood on the black
asphalt preventing the crowd from pushing forward toward the
occupants of the limousine as it crept almost timelessly around the
corner.

The time was 12:28:30,
Friday, November 22, 1963.

A JOURNEY TOWARD
DESTINY

Patrolman James E. Brown,
Sergeant W. Willis and Patrolman Edward D. Jones of the Dallas
Motor Division mounted on their large black and white motorcycles
rode approximately one-half block ahead of President Kennedy’s
limousine. In this position, they were quick to help the Secret
Service block the intersections. Officer Brown who was in front
sped forward and positioned his Harley crossways to block the
intersection of Houston and Elm. Willis and Jones continued on
around the corner clearing the throng of people, especially those
congregating in front of the Texas State Book
Depository.

Little did anyone realize
the man in the back seat, perspiring and waving to the crowd
beneath the hot Texas sun, might be enjoying the last couple of
minutes of his extraordinary Camelot life. Could he perhaps have
had a premonition of his future? Was he aware of the approaching
tragedy? Could this destiny we speak of change if the car sped up?
Or maybe it should slow down? Would it matter, who knows, but fate
was about to enter the scene - a historic moment was about to occur
and occur quickly, so quick, in fact, dozens of eyewitnesses to
this day, cannot agree on the actual sequence of events that took
place that horrible day?

Doctors say the human
memory is unreliable; although, tremendous faith is placed on it.
The brain is not a computer storing data on its hard drive where it
can be retrieved instantly and precisely. The human computer shapes
facts, contorts images, fills in gaps and merges perceived
knowledge with unknown information to formulate what it believes is
the truth. Is it lying? Most certainly it was not, but it may not
be precisely the truth either.

The black 1961 Lincoln
Continental limousine, code named SS-100-X crept... five maybe ten
miles per hour... slowly... slowly... as if time stood still. It
was merely a Detroit constructed machine, it was hard to believe,
but those present that day say it appeared the limousine knew what
was about to transpire. It was as if that Henry Ford inspired large
piece of steel could see the people waving; hear the cheers and
shouts of greeting from the assembled crowd of well-wishers. The
dignitaries in the caravan waved back, it was truly a momentous
event. What a joyous, jubilant day, a day to be remembered forever.
Oh how totally correct this prediction would prove to
be!

Just a few more yards and
a 120 degree turn west onto Elm Street; down Elm through the triple
overpass; turn right up the ramp to North Stemmons Freeway to the
Dallas Trade Mart at 2100 North Stemmons, a mere five minute drive.
JFK would deliver another speech and share in a sizzling,
mouth-watering Texas raised T-bone. The luncheon to be hosted by
the Democratic Party of Dallas along with key government, business,
religious, and civic leaders and their spouses. Later Air Force
One, the giant silver and blue Boeing 707 officially known as
“two-six-thousand”, 26000, would leave Love Field in Dallas and fly
to Austin for another speech, this time for a fund raising dinner
at the Municipal Auditorium. After that a leisurely motorcade drive
of fourteen miles west to the ranch of Vice President Lyndon
Johnson for a weekend of fun and relaxation.

The time was
12:29:10.

“
WHAT THE...WHAT WAS
THAT?”

This was the official
well-planned motorcade route; however, things were about to go awry
but awry is not a strong or powerful enough word to encompass this
day’s events... one must invent a new word describing the next few
minutes taking place next to the grassy Dealy Plaza, in the center
of Dallas, Texas. Everything seemed to proceed as planned. In fact,
one Secret Service agents riding in the automobile following the
presidential vehicle radioed the words “Five Minutes” to the
waiting agents at the Dallas Trade Mart. Little did he realize that
was going to be an exceedingly long five minutes?

As the Secret Service
agent finished his two-word message his world came crashing down,
he would never be the same after this moment in time....

The plan for the
Presidential parade did not include the sharp crack of a rifle, or
the explosive reports of other weapons being fired, which
reverberated off the surrounding buildings.

“
What the... what was
that?” Someone in the press car asked.

The first indication that
there was a problem were the birds - pigeons, to be precise,
gathered on the rooftop at the corner of Houston and Elm Streets.
The building was the Texas School Book Depository. The birds
suddenly fluttered into the midday sky. What startled them?
Nature’s tiny creatures seemly had a gift. What was it called? A...
a... sixth sense, yes that’s the phrase “a sixth sense.” Those tiny
creatures seemed to sense the impending disaster just before it
occurred. Was that the case here?

Had someone arrived on the
roof of one of those buildings? What caused the alarm to the birds?
At almost the precise instant, the birds took flight, or maybe a
fraction after, a loud noise was heard - perhaps it was a car
backfire? No... it could be the muffler discharge from one of the
dozens of Harley Davidson police motorcycles. These ‘cycles were
slowly maneuvering down the street. The distinctive “potato”,
“potato”, “potato”, rhythmic exhaust sound of their two syrup
bucket size pistons created a noise only a seventy-four cubic inch
Harley two-cylinder engine could make. A firecracker? Who would be
crazy enough to set off fireworks in this crowd? But what was that
explosive report? A different description depends on which
witnesses were describing the noises they heard.

About the only thing, most
of the eyewitnesses agree on was the first shot. It occurred just
after the presidential limousine made its final momentous left turn
onto Elm Street off Houston. In slightly less than 300 feet, the
way Americans view their government forever would change. No longer
would Washington be trusted. No longer would officials be trusted,
and no longer would the word conspiracy be considered a
theory.

There was a slight drop in
elevation as Elm continued downward toward the triple overpass. At
this crossroad of history, there would be a large drop in the
prestige of our U.S. government too.

As Abraham Zapruder’s
movie film slowly clicked off the frame by frame advancement of the
president’s limousine... 310... 311... 312...and then at exactly
frame number 313 the first shot occurred. What was heard? No one
knows, the first shot was not recorded on Mr. Zapruder’s silent
slice of historical film. The sound of the rifle shots are still a
tremendous matter of speculation: how many, from which direction
and what were they fired from? The only ones that might have an
idea would be the SCAR team that first witnessed the film, with
full sound, in Cambodia, but one thing is known for
certain.

The time was exactly
12:30, Friday November 22, 1963.

Chapter Ten

12:30 P.M., FRIDAY NOVEMBER
22, 1963

DALLAS, TEXAS

The time was 12:30 on the
dot. No one looked at a watch to validate the exact time. The hour
later would be verified by photographs of the large Hertz time
clock on the roof of the School Book Depository building. The
events transpired so fast it left no time for witnesses to glance
at their watches. They could not remove their eyes from the grisly
scene being played out in front of them; however, later a number of
witnesses said it appeared as though things moved in slow motion.
Noises, voices, motorcycle exhausts seemed garbled, and as they
looked back on the events, movement of others was comical. It was
as if they watched a movie set on slow speed. Those few seconds
felt like hours.

Special Agent (SA) Clint
Hill stood on the left running board of the Secret Service’s follow
car, which was directly behind the President’s limo, heard what he
first thought was a firecracker. Security protocol required him to
act. He jumped from his position and immediately ran and threw
himself on the rear trunk of the limousine.

He spread his body onto
the trunk, trying to use his body to provide, as much protection to
the President, Mrs. Kennedy and the Connally’s as possible when the
second shot rang out. Many days later Agent Hill would state he
could not tell from which direction the sounds seemed to come from.
Others say it was from his right and to the rear.

This statement had to be
taken many days later since the second rifle shot that echoed
through the recesses of the Dealy Plaza complex hit Agent Hill
about four inches below his right shoulder blade, passed through
his upper torso and struck the President about six inches below his
right shoulder. Pictures released by dozens of amateur and
professionals later would show the President reaching for his
throat, but doctors who have examined these pictures say this was
merely a reactionary movement caused by the bullet hitting the
President’s right lung. The movement to the throat was an
indication he had trouble breathing. It was like he had the breath
knocked out of him. That is an understatement! The bullet then
exited the President’s body and struck Governor Connally in his
back.

The First Lady had turned
to her right and was attempting to look back to see the source of
the explosive noise. At first she did not realize it was a gunshot.
She too, like Agent Hill, surmised it was a firecracker. As she
turned she saw SA Hill jumping on the rear of her automobile, and
out of instinct she jumped from her rear seat and extended her arm
in an attempt to help him get into the automobile.

As the bullet tore through
Hill’s body - blood, flesh and bone was strewn over the automobile
and onto Elm Street. Mrs. Kennedy’s beautiful pink dress now almost
matched the exquisite bouquet of ruby red roses she had dropped
onto the limousine’s floor. Fortunately, she was not injured;
however, to those witnessing the event, some as close as a mere few
feet, would think she must surely be wounded due to the large
amount of blood covering her lovely pink outfit. Within seconds,
another shot rang out - from where - who knew - even today it is a
matter of speculation. Then a third shot was fired. This third shot
struck a glancing blow off the right side of the President’s head
missing Agent Hill and did not injure the First Lady. An instant or
two earlier the Governor and Mrs. Connally had glanced to their
right, as did the First Lady and the President. Did they hear a
shot from the right? Or were they reacting to the first shot, which
obviously missed. Is this the bullet that struck the curb and
injured James Teague’s cheek? Could they have heard the thud of the
bullet as it caromed off the concrete?