JFK Assasination

Location: East Fork Park (Corps of Engineers Campground); Wylie, Texas : Near Dallas

All pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 Cell Phone

The freedom of full time RV'ing allow travelers to see many wondrous natural surroundings such as mountains, canyons, oceans and lakes. These are great and I've enjoyed many of them over the years. But for me, that freedom also includes man-made surroundings such as Washington D.C., the Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam just to name a few. This second freedom is what brought me to this campground. I searched for a campground that was close enough to downtown Dallas to where I could camp in a somewhat rural setting, but get downtown kind of quickly. At first I planned to stay in a State Park just south of town, but decided against that when I read reviews and official warnings about he campground being infested with Argentine Ants. I didn't need that problem, so I found this Corps of Engineers campground which is located about 13 miles from the end of the DART Red Line which is Dallas's light rail service. 

I made it from the campground to the train station in about 20 minutes and for $2.00 I was able to take the train downtown. The distance was 20 miles one way and took about 40 minutes. It is a very good way of seeing a lot of a place in a short time period. It was cheaper than driving plus I didn't have to worry about finding parking. 

Destination: West End Station, about 3 blocks from Dealey Plaza. I wanted to see the place where President Kennedy was assassinated. I wanted to see the Grassy Knoll, the School Book Depository, the Triple Underpass. I had seen all of these things in photographs and movies (Zapruder film) over the years but I wanted to put them all together. I wanted to see them all in relation to one another. But mostly I wanted answers.

I was disappointed in that I ended up with more questions than answers. To discuss all of the events surrounding the assassination would take way more space than this measly little blog, so I won't even try. I will make a few statements, ask a few questions and post some pictures. 

First the pictures:

This is looking back towards the 6th floor window of the School Book Depository where Oswald took his shots. The city has conveniently placed X's where Kennedy was located when he was shot.  

A closer view of the previous picture

This picture was taken while standing on the Grassy Knoll. It gives a perspective to the Book Depository and the locations of the shots.

When I took this picture, I was standing on the corner of Elm where the motorcade had just made the turn onto Elm. The School Book Depository is directly behind me at about 60 feet. I'm standing in line between the 6th floor window and the line of sight Oswald would have seen. The fatal shot was about 100 yards from Oswald. This also give a good view of where James Tague was standing when he was shot.

This is standing across Elm Street looking at the Grassy Knoll. The distance from the Grassy Knoll to the location of the fatal shot is about 50 yards. The white structure and wood fence are as they were in 1963. Directly behind the Grassy Knoll is a large parking lot and train yard, just as in 1963. 

This is a panoramic picture of the area. To my back is the triple underpass where the motorcade passed under when fleeing the scene. 

My first impression of the area was the size. In my mind, it had always appeared much larger. Perhaps that was my mind putting size to the place in relation to the size of the event (pretty deep uh?)

Everything surrounding the assassination is convoluted and complicated. There are literally a hundred or more conspiracy theories about what happened in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. The Warren Commission headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was supposed to answer all the questions and get to the bottom of who did what and how did they do it. Sadly, after 10 months of investigating, the commission issued their report and it left so many questions unanswered. That just left the door wide open for all the wild ideas people had as to what could have happened. I believe, the Warren Commission was the beginning of the distrust in the Deep State we hear about so much now. The 60's was a wild decade. Besides the assassinations of two Kennedy's, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, there was Vietnam, the Hippie movement and moon landings. It shouldn't be surprising that trying to understand what happened back then is dang near impossible. 

A couple of things make me go,,,"hmmm, I wonder?"

One "hmmmm" is the "magic bullet". Is it possible for a shot from the 6th floor of the School Book Depository to hit Kennedy in the back (about 5 1/2 inches below the collar of his jacket), come out his neck (between his adam's apple and the knot on his tie), then hit Governor Connally in his right ribs, come out his chest, then go through his wrist before finally coming to rest in the Governors thigh???? Then have the bullet found on a gurney that the Governor was on at the hospital. Oh and by the way, if that isn't enough of a "hmmmm", the bullet looked as if it was just removed from the cartridge (pristine condition). 

The reason for the "magic bullet" theory is there could only have been three shots fired. If there were four shots fired, then that would have meant more than one shooter which meant a conspiracy. That would have been bad news for the commission. The timeline of the number of shots and where they went goes like this (remember, 3 shots and 3 shots only or there is more than one shooter):

December of 1963: The FBI reported 3 shots. One hit Governor Connally causing all of his injuries, One hit Kennedy in the back and One hit Kennedy in the head (the fatal shot). Neat package tied with a bow.

Ut oh,,,,, in June of 1964 it is unexpectedly made public that private citizen, James Tague, was wounded while standing by the triple overpass. This was a problem since it meant a fourth bullet. They solved that problem by coming up with the path of the "magic bullet". Now they reported still only 3 shots with one hitting James Tague, one following the "magic bullet" path and one hitting Kennedy in the head. 

Another "hmmmm" that always bothered me was the fatal shot to Kennedy's head making his head go backwards when the commission says he was shot from the back. A shot from the Grassy Knoll would have been from the right/front side. And what was Jackie reaching for when she climbed backwards onto the trunk of the limousine. Some say she was reaching for parts of her husband. 

Another "hmmmm",,, the commission says after shooting the president, Oswald left the Book Depository and walked 2 1/2 miles in 45 minutes where he then shot Dallas Police Officier, J.D. Tippit. Tippit supposedly recognized Oswald from a description put out over the police radio of the Kennedy assassin. This description was issued less than an hour after the shots. After killing Tippit, he runs away from that murder scene, takes his jacket off along the way and throws it on the sidewalk. Finally ends up in a movie theater. I wonder where Oswald was originally going when he killed Tippit. To make a plan to kill the president, he sure didn't plan his escape very good.

"Hmmmm", I wonder why so many people at the scene of the assassination ran towards the Grassy Knoll after the shots. Many said they were going to where the shots came from.

"hmmm, I wonder why the commission never interviewed the four motorcycle policemen that were riding close by the limousine at the time of the assassination. 

"hmmmm", I wonder why both the government and Governor Connally's family refused to allow the coroner to remove the bullet fragments remaining in the Governor's body after his death??? I guess there may have been a problem if the weight of those fragments added to the weight of the previously found fragments was more than the weight of one bullet. That would mean a fourth bullet again,,,,ut oh.

"hmmmm", was Oswald a good enough shot to fire 3 shots in 8 seconds and hit a target that was angled downwards 13 degrees while traveling away from him and going downhill? Oh, and also do it with cheaply made Italian rifle with a 4 power scope. 

Too many questions. I don't think we will ever know what really happened back then. Maybe it was just one man that changed the direction of the country by firing three shots from a rifle.

Oh well, it was a nice day with the train ride and walking around the plaza. Well worth the trip here. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.