James Tague, the last surviving victim of the JFK assassination, died this past February.
Tague, at the time heading for a lunch date with his girlfriend (and future-wife), had to stop halfway under the triple underpass because of motorcade traffic. He got out, and just as he emerged, he heard a shot. He then heard two more very close to each other. Between the second and third shots, he felt a sting on his right cheek. A bullet had struck some nearby concrete, which then flung abrasive debris towards his face.
Tague insisted that his injury did not occur after the first shot, but most likely the second and before the third (hard to tell because the two shots were very close together). This presents a severe challenge to the Warren Commission's findings, for the bullet’s trajectory would indicate that it came straight from the Texas School Book Depository. Assume, for the sake of argument, that the Warren Commission was correct, and Oswald fired three bullets from the sixth floor. The second shot had to be the magic bullet that caused seven wounds in Gov. John Connally and President Kennedy. The third shot would have to be the fatal head wound. In both of these scenarios, there would have been insufficient force to have blasted cement near Tague. Thus, he would have to have been hit by the first shot.
Yet, Tague insisted that the first shot didn’t hurt him.
Moreover, he heard the shots coming from the grassy knoll. But after hearing about the Warren Commission findings, Tague backed off of that position, and deferred to the panel's opinion, explaining in a 1966 interview:
Figure 2. Tague, 1966 interview
While the above would make it seem that Tague supported the Warren Commission, the truth is he didn’t. He would eventually become a prominent JFK assassination researcher. Last year, Trine Day came out with a paperback version of his book LBJ and the Kennedy Killing. In this, and on his website, Tague made clear his criticism of the Warren Commission’s findings.
Tague, at the time heading for a lunch date with his girlfriend (and future-wife), had to stop halfway under the triple underpass because of motorcade traffic. He got out, and just as he emerged, he heard a shot. He then heard two more very close to each other. Between the second and third shots, he felt a sting on his right cheek. A bullet had struck some nearby concrete, which then flung abrasive debris towards his face.
Figure 1. Tague’s recreation of the shooting
Yet, Tague insisted that the first shot didn’t hurt him.
Moreover, he heard the shots coming from the grassy knoll. But after hearing about the Warren Commission findings, Tague backed off of that position, and deferred to the panel's opinion, explaining in a 1966 interview:
[Interviewer] Mr. Tague, on the 22nd, when the shots were being fired, your first impression was that they came form the area near the wooden fence.
[Tague] That’s correct.
[Interviewer] Where do you now think that the shots came from?
[Tague] I believe that they did come from the school book depository, because of the things I read about it, the evidence that’s been brought forth in newspapers, through the Warren Report and so on.
Figure 2. Tague, 1966 interview
While the above would make it seem that Tague supported the Warren Commission, the truth is he didn’t. He would eventually become a prominent JFK assassination researcher. Last year, Trine Day came out with a paperback version of his book LBJ and the Kennedy Killing. In this, and on his website, Tague made clear his criticism of the Warren Commission’s findings.
