Nurse
Diana Bowron Volume VI page 134-139
TESTIMONY
OF DIANA HAMILTON BOWRON
The testimony of Diana Hamilton Bowron was taken at 2:05 p.m., on March
24, 1964, at
Mr. SPECTER. May the record show that Diana Bowron is present following a
verbal request that she appear here to have her deposition taken.
During the course of deposition proceedings on March 20 and March 21, it
came to my attention that Miss Bowron would have information of value to the
Commission, and authorization was provided through the General Counsel, J. Lee
Rankin, for her deposition to be taken.
Miss Bowron, the President's Commission is investigating the
assassination of President Kennedy and is interested in certain facts relating
to his treatment and presence at Parkland Memorial Hospital, and we have asked
you to appear here to testify concerning your knowledge of his presence here.
Now, I have shown you,. have I not, the Executive order appointing the
Presidential Commission and the resolution authorizing the taking of testimony
at depositions by Commission staff members, have I not?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And are you willing to have your deposition taken today
without 3 days' written notice, as we ordinarily provide?
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Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. So, are you willing to waive that technical requirement?
Miss BOWRON. Yes; I am.
Mr. SPECTER. All right. Will
you stand up and raise your right hand?
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give before the President's
Commission in these deposition proceedings will be the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Miss BOWRON. I do.
Mr. SPECTER. What is your permanent residence address, Miss Bowron?
Miss BOWRON. 1107 Brockbank, Dallas 29,
Mr. SPECTER. Will you spell that street name and speak up more loudly?
Miss BOWRON. B-r-o-c-k-b-a-n-k [spelling].
Mr. SPECTER. Thank you. Are
you a native of
Miss BOWRON. I am a native of
Mr. SPECTER. And how long have you been in
Miss BOWRON . Since August 4, 1963.
Mr. SPECTER. And what are the circumstances surrounding your employment
here at
Miss BOWRON. I answered an advertisement in August and came over on a
year's contract and to work in the emergency room.
Mr. SPECTER. Are you a registered nurse?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And what is your educational background?
Miss BOWRON. I went to private boarding school and to secondary school,
and then I went through nurses' training for 3 years and 3 months in
Mr. SPECTER. And how old are you at the present time?
Miss BOWRON. Twenty-two.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you have occasion to render assistance to President
Kennedy back on November 22, 1963?
Miss BOWRON. I did; yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Will you relate briefly the circumstances surrounding your
being called in to assist in that case?
Mr. SPECTER. Did you know at that time whom you were going to aid?
Miss BOWRON. No, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. You later assumed they were Secret Service men?
Miss BOWRON. Yes, sir; and they encouraged us to run down to the door.
Mr. SPECTER. And did you have a stretcher with you at that time?
Miss BOWRON. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. And was one stretcher or more than one stretcher being
brought forward at that time?
Miss BOWRON. There was another stretcher being brought forward from the
Mr. SPECTER. That's the obstetrics and gynecology section?
Miss BOWMAN. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And were you wheeling one stretcher by yourself, or was
someone helping?
Miss BOWRON. No; the orderly from the triage desk was helping us.
Mr. SPECTER. Was helping you ?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Who was that?
Miss BOWRON. Joe---I've forgotten what his last name is, I'm sorry.
I know his first name is Joe and he's on duty today.
Mr. SPECTER. And who was bringing the other stretcher?
Miss BOWRON. I don't know, sir, I heard afterwards that Dr. Midgett took
one stretcher. I don't know who was assisting him.
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Mr. SPECTER. And what is Dr. Midgett's first name?
Miss BOWRON. Bill.
Mr. SPECTER. And, where did you take your stretcher?
Miss BOWRON. To the left-hand side of the car as you are facing it, and
we had to move Governor Connally out first because he was in the front.
We couldn't get to the back seat. While
all the Secret Service men were moving Governor Connally I went around to the
other side of the car to try to help with the President and then we got him onto
the second cart and then took him straight over to trauma room 1.
Mr. SPECTER. Trauma room No. 1?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And describe in a general way Governor Connally's condition
when you first saw him?
Miss BOWRON. He was very pale, he was leaning forward and onto Mrs.
Connally but apparently---I didn't notice very much---I was more concerned with
the person in the back of the car---the President.
Mr. SPECTER. And what, in a general way, did you
observe with respect to President Kennedy's condition?
Miss BOWRON. He was very pale, he was lying across Mrs. Kennedy's knee
and there seemed to be blood everywhere. When I went around to the other side of
the car I saw the condition of his head.
Mr. SPECTER. You saw the condition of his what?
Miss BOWRON. The back of his head.
Mr. SPECTER. And what was that condition?
Miss BOWRON. Well, it was very bad---you know.
Mr. SPECTER. How many holes did you see?
Miss BOWRON. I just saw one large hole.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you see a small bullet hole beneath that one large hole?
Miss BOWRON. No, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you notice any other wound on the President's body?
Miss BOWRON. No, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. And what action did you take at that time, if any?
Miss BOWRON. I helped to lift his head and Mrs. Kennedy pushed me away
and lifted his head herself onto the cart and so I went around back to the cart
and walked off with it. We ran on
with it to the trauma room and she ran beside us.
Mr. SPECTER. And who was in the trauma room when you arrived there?
Miss BOWRON. Dr. Carrico.
Mr. SPECTER. Where did Dr. Carrico join you?
Miss BOWRON. At the---I couldn't really tell you exactly, but it was
inside major surgery. Miss
Henchliffe, the other nurse who is assigned to major surgery, was in the trauma
room already setting the I.V.'s---the intravenous bottles up.
Mr. SPECTER. And were there any other nurses present at that time when
the
President arrived in the trauma area?
Miss BOWRON. I don't think so, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Were there any doctors present besides Dr. Carrico?
Miss BOWRON. I didn't notice anybody---there may have been.
Mr. SPECTER. What action did you observe Dr. Carrico take, if any?
Miss BOWRON. We tried to start an I.V. cutdown and I don't know whether
it was his left or his right leg, and Miss Henchliffe and I cut off his clothing
and then after that everybody just arrived at once and it was more or less
everybody sort of helping everybody else. We opened the chest tube trays and the
venesectron trays.
Mr. SPECTER. How long were you present in the
emergency room No. 1?
Miss BOWRON. I was in there until they needed some blood, which was the
second lot of blood. I went---ran
out across to the blood bank and came back and went into the trauma room. By
that time they had decided that he was dead, they said.
And then, we stayed in there with him and cleaned him up, removed all of
his clothing and put them all together and Miss Henchliffe gave them to
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one
of the Secret Service men, and we stayed with the body until the coffin came,
and helped put him in there, and then we--
Mr. SPECTER When you say "we", whom do you mean by
"we"?
Miss BOWRON. Miss Henchliffe and myself.
Mr. SPECTER. Anybody besides the two of you?
Miss BOWRON. Yes; there was an orderly called David Sanders who helped us
to clean the floor, because there were leaves and sheets and everything was
rather a mess on the floor and he came to clean the floor for us so that it
wouldn't look so bad when Mrs. Kennedy went in.
And then Mrs. Kennedy wanted to be alone with him after the priests left,
so we all came out and sat there outside and she was alone with him in the
trauma room, and we didn't go in any more after that.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you see him at any time after that?
Miss BOWRON. No, sir---only when they were wheeling him out in the
coffin.
Mr. SPECTER. What doctors were present during the time he was being
treated
Miss BOWRON. Dr. Carrico and---who else was there---there were so many.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you recall any of the names?
Miss BOWRON. I don't.
Mr. SPECTER. Was there any other nurses present other than those you have
already mentioned?
Miss BOWRON. Miss Standridge, Jeanette Standridge came in, Mrs. Nelson---
the supervisor.
Mr. SPECTER. Any other nurses present there?
Miss BOWRON. Not that I could say, sir---I don't know the name of any.
Mr. SPECTER. While the doctors were working on President Kennedy, did you
ever have any opportunity to observe his neck?
Miss BOWRON. No; I didn't, until afterwards..
Mr. SPECTER. Until after what?
Miss BOWRON. Until after they had pronounced him dead and we cleaned up
and removed the trach tube, and indeed we were really too shocked to really take
much notice.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you ever see his neck prior to the time you removed the
trach tube?
Miss BOWRON. No, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, did you personally participate in removing President
Kennedy's body from the stretcher?
Miss BOWRON. No, sir---I didn't touch him.
We held him with the sheet.
Mr. SPECTER. Were you present when his body was removed from the
stretcher?
Miss BOWRON. Yes; I was.
Mr. SPECTER. And did you observe the stretcher from which his body was
removed to be the same stretcher that he had been brought into trauma room No. 1
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. That's the stretcher you took out there for him?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And what sheets were present on the stretcher or in the
adjacent area used in the care of President Kennedy?
Miss BOWRON. The sheets that had already been on the stretcher when we
took it out with the President on. When
we came back after all the work had been done on him---so that Mrs. Kennedy
could have a look before he was, you know, really moved into the coffin.
We wrapped some extra sheets around his head so it wouldn't look so bad
and there were some sheets on the floor so that nobody would step in the blood.
Those were put down during all the work that was going on so the doctors
wouldn't slip.
Mr. SPECTER. What was done with all of the sheets on the stretcher and on
floor area there?
Miss BOWRON. They were all gathered up and put into a linen scape.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you gather them up yourself?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER All of them?
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Miss BOWRON. Yes; with the help of Miss Henchliffe.
Mr. SPECTER. And did the two of you put them in the linen hamper?
Miss BOWRON. Yes; I put them in the linen hamper myself.
Mr. SPECTER. What was done with the stretcher then?
Miss BOWRON. The stretcher was then wheeled across into trauma room No.2
which was empty.
Mr. SPECTER. Was there anything on the stretcher at all when it was
wheeled into trauma room No. 2?
Miss BOWRON. Not that we noticed, except the rubber mattress that was
left on it.
Mr. SPECTER. Would you have noticed anything had anything been on that
stretcher ?
Miss BOWRON. Yes; I think so.
Mr. SPECTER. And where was the stretcher when you last saw it?
Miss BOWRON. Being wheeled across into trauma room 2.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, I am going to show you three photostatic copies of
newspaper stories which I will ask the Court Reporter to mark Bowron Exhibit
Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
(Instruments referred to marked by the Reporter as Bowron Exhibit Nos. 2,
3, and 4, for identification.)
Mr. SPECTER. Will you look at those and tell me whether or not those are
photostatic copies of newspaper accounts of your story of this assassination
day?
Miss BOWRON. They are photostatic copies of the articles that appeared in
the newspapers, but they are not all my story.
Mr. SPECTER. What newspapers did they appear in?
Miss BOWRON. I believe this is the "Observer".
Mr. SPECTER. You are referring to BX Number 2 and what city is that
published in?
Miss BOWRON.
Mr. SPECTER. And BX Number 3 came from where?
Miss BOWRON. I think that this was "The Mail---The Daily Mail".
Mr. SPECTER. Appearing in what city?
Miss BOWRON. It appears in all cities. It is a national newspaper.
Mr. SPECTER. In
Miss BOWRON. Yes; it is prepared in
Mr. SPECTER. And how about BX-4?
Miss BOWRON. Well, this I think was "The Mirror" I think.
Mr. SPECTER. What city is The Mirror published in?
Miss BOWRON. That is a national newspaper.
Mr. SPECTER. Appearing in
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Were there any stories in any other newspapers about you and
your participation in .the events of the day at
Miss BOWRON. I believe there was one---I think it was an Australian paper
and Mrs. Nelson received a letter from there with an article and which was the
same as I think---as this one.
Mr. SPECTER. BX-4?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And does that constitute all the stories which appeared
about your participation in this
event?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, will you state briefly the circumstances under which
this information was obtained, if you know?
Miss BOWRON. Mrs. Nelson spoke to me and told me that there had been two
English reporters in Dallas who had been asking about me, and she told them
where to get in touch with me, and the next day they came to the emergency room
and wanted to speak to me and I said I couldn't tell them anything other than I
was from England, gave them my home address, and the fact that I had been
present and I was the one who went out to the car and brought the President in
and being with him until they finished, and that was all that I told them.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you give them any information beyond that?
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Miss BOWRON. No, sir; and they told me that there would probably be some
English reporters calling on my parents at home, and I am the only child and my
mother worries, so I called home the next---that night and told my parents that
I had been on duty and that there would probably be some reporters calling on
them, and they weren't to worry about it but they weren't to say anything that
except that I had been on duty and that was all.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you been interviewed by any representative of the
Federal Government prior to today?
Miss BOWRON. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. By whom?
Miss BOWRON. I don't really know-he was an FBI agent.
Mr. SPECTER. And when was that?
Miss BOWRON. It was a week or two, I think, after the assassination.
Mr. SPECTER. And what did he ask you and what did you tell him?
Miss BOWRON. He asked us more or less the same questions you have asked
us.
Mr. SPECTER. What did you tell him?
Miss BOWRON. The same as I told you.
Mr. SPECTER. When you say "us", whom do you mean by
"us"?
Miss BOWRON. Mrs. Nelson was there and Miss Henchliffe and myself.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you talked to any other representatives of the Federal
Government prior to today?
Miss BOWRON. No, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. And did I discuss with you the purpose of the deposition and
the nature of the questions that I would ask you immediately before we went on
the record with this being taken down by the Court Reporter?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And did you give me the same information which you have put
on the record here today?
Miss BOWRON. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you have anything to add that you think might be helpful
in any way to the Commission?
Miss BOWRON. Yes. When we
were doing a cutdown on the President's left arm, his gold watch was in the way
and they broke it---you know, undid it and it was slipping down and I just
dropped it off of his hand and put it in my pocket and forgot completely about
it until his body was being taken out of the emergency room and then I realized,
and ran out to give it to one of the Secret Service men or anybody I could find
and found this Mr. Wright.
Mr. SPECTER. Was that the same day?
Miss BOWRON. Yes--he had only just gone through O.B.---I was just a few
feet behind him.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you think of anything else that might be of assistance to
the Commission?
Miss BOWRON. No, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Thank you very much for coming, Miss Bowron.
Miss BOWRON. Thank you.
Mr. SPECTER. Thank you a lot.
Miss BOWRON. All right, thank you.
Margaret
M. Henchliffe
Page
139
TESTIMONY
OF MARGARET M. HENCHLIFFE
The testimony of Margaret M. Henchliffe. was taken at 2 p.m., on March
21, 1964, at
Mr. SPECTER. Miss Henchliffe, the purpose of our asking you to come in
today is in connection with the investigation being conducted by the President's
Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.
The Commission has not written to you because, we have learned from Mrs.
Doris Nelson in the deposition
139
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter from Diana Bowron
"Anthony Marsh" <anthony_marsh@comcast.net>
wrote in message
news:4b9e75c1$1@mcadams.posc.mu.edu...
> Harrison Livingstone has granted permission for me to post the contents
> of a letter from Diana Bowron, dated 24th January 1993, and which
> arrived too late for inclusion in High Treason 2. He recently ran across
> it again, and thought it might be of interest. The only items omitted
> are several personal notes, salutations, and her married name, which she
> asked not be published.
>
> The Cover Letter:
>
> I have enclosed two photostats of photographs which may be of help to you.
>
> 1. From the Illustrated London News dated Nov 30th 1963 showing the
> arrival of the casket at Andrews Air Force Base. That is the casket in
> which we placed the President's body. The colour was bronzeand according
> to the people from the funeral home it was the best they had.
>
> 2. From the Hospital Highlights the news letter of the Dallas County
> Hospital District, of the trauma room where Kennedy was treated. The
> photograph was taken for that edition of the news letter so it shows the
> room as it was at the time of the assassination. I thought it might help
> with the placement or non-placement of photographs, eg. tiles, also
> gurney covers which were black. As I remember all the wall tiles in the
> emergency room were the same height.
>
> I understood the last time I was in Dallas, about two years after the
> assassination, that the Emergency Room was to be moved and enlarged so I
> am assuming that it no longer exists in its original form.
>
> [Note: The photostats were not enclosed, as both pictures are widely
> available.]
>
> [A copy of a JFK back photo, F5, is enclosed, indicating "This is
where
> I remember the wound," but adding, "This is not the back I
saw." The
> location is indicated on the attached copy of the photo.]
>
> [The main statement follows:]
>
> The following is in answer to your questions.
>
> When the president expired everyone left the room apart from Miss
> Hinchcliffe, a male orderly and myself. We tidied the room and changed
> the linen on the gurney and washed the body as best we could. Miss
> Hinchcliffe and the orderly left the room, but I was told to remain with
> the body until the casket arrived. I was told that I had to stay because
> I had been one of the people who had taken the body from the car. I
> remained in the room while the widow paid her respects. After she had
> left I was asked, by a man I assumed was Secret Service, to collect all
> pieces of skull and brain I could find and place them in a plastic bag
> which he gave me. This I did and returned the bag to him (there were
> only a few fragments of bone that had stuck to the dressings and towels
> that we had used to pack the hole in the back of the head). I remained
> in the room until the people from the funeral home arrived. After we had
> placed the body in the casket and it had been closed I was allowed to
> leave. During the time I was with the body only the widow and the priest
> came into the room, any dealings I had with the Secret Service were done
> in the doorway; no one else entered the room and no photographs were
> taken.
>
> Apart from 2-3 mins, when I left the trauma room to collect blood from
> the Blood Bank, I was with the body from the car until it was placed in
> the casket.
> Being new to the establishment, I was assigned to Minor Medicine and
> Surgery, which was across the hall from the Triage desk and the major
> sections of the Emergency room. It being very quiet, there were only two
> or three patients waiting for the results of tests, I was talking with
> the Triage nurse when the call went up for gurneys. I grabbed a gurney
> in the hall and together with an orderly ran to the entrance. I saw that
> the person in the back of the car was injured so I climbed in to render
> what assistance I could until such time as we could move him to a
> trolley, then to the trauma room (others were assisting the Governor in
> the front seat). I saw that there was a massive amount of blood on the
> back seat and in order to find the cause I lifted his head and my
> fingers went into a large wound in the back of his head; I turned his
> head and seeing the size of the wound realized that I could not stop the
> bleeding. I turned his head back and saw an entry wound in the front of
> the throat, I could feel no pulse at the jugular and having seen the
> extent of the injury to the back of the head I assumed that he was dead.
> (not my job, only a Doctor can certify death) When we got the President
> to the Trauma room, word had reached the Trauma team and they were ready
> with I.Vs etc. I worked with the team, assisting where needed for about
> 10 mins (time is difficult to judge in those circumstances), when I was
> told to go to the Blood Bank. I was away 2-3 mins and on my return I
> continued to assist where needed until the President was declared dead.
>
> Miss Margaret Hinchcliffe and an African-American orderly and I prepared
> the body for the coffin. [Marginal note: David Sanders]
>
> I observed no strange activity of any kind and saw no bullets.
>
> As explained above, I thought after examination in the car that he was
> dead. There was no damage to the front of his face, only the gaping
> wound in the back of his head and the entry wound in his throat.
>
> When we prepared the body for the coffin we washed the face and closed
> the eyes; there was no damage to the face, there was no flap of scalp on
> the right, neither was there a laceration pointing toward the right
> eyebrow from the scalp.
>
> When we were preparing the body for the coffin we rolled it over in
> order to remove the bloodstained sheet from underneath and to wipe away
> the blood from the back of the body. I saw another entry wound in the
> upper back (the other entry wound being in the front of the throat).
> With reference to the photograph The Back (F5) I only saw one wound, and
> not the number of wounds in the photograph; I do not think that the
> photo (F5) is of the President. I have marked for you on the photostat
> that you sent me where I think the entry wound was.
>
> I first saw the large wound in the back of the head in the car; when we
> were preparing the body for the coffin I had the opportunity to examine
> it more closely. It was about 5ins in diameter, there was no flap of
> skin covering it, just a fraction of skin along part of the edges of
> bone, there was however some hair hanging down from the top of the head
> which was caked with blood, and most of the brain was missing. The wound
> was so large I could almost put my whole fist inside.
>
> When we prepared the body I washed as much blood as I could from the
> hair; while doing this I didnot see any other wound either in the
> temples or in other parts of the head.
>
> I did not see anything suspicious about any of the doctors, though there
> were far more doctors there than they should have been; perhaps because
> it was the president they all wanted to get in on the act. You must
> remember that I had only been there a short time and I did not know all
> the doctors, some I never saw again, but they were all known to each
> other. With regard to a post: in this context I think it would refer to
> a gathering of the doctors after the event, to discuss the case. This
> was standard practice, when more than one or two doctors were involved.
>
> When the body was placed in the coffin the wound at the back of the head
> was packed with gauze squares and wrapped in small white sheet, there
> was no terrycloth or other type of towel used.
>
> The coffin or casket was bronze with plain fittings, as in the enclosed
> photograph. [This refers to the Andrews Air Force Base photo.]
>
> I don't think the body was removed from the coffin. After I left the
> Trauma room I was in a position to see if any one entered or left the
> room. No one entered or left until they removed the coffin.
>
> A clear plastic sheet was placed in the bottom of the coffin, which may
> have been a mattress cover; the body was wrapped in at the most two
> sheets plus the one around the head, all the sheets were white and none
> had zips. There was no "body bag".
>
> Perhaps the following will be of interest to you.
>
> As soon as the coffin left the trauma room, I went back to Minor Med.
> and Surg. to resume my work: I don't know anything about the fight with
> Earl Rose, which happened at that time.
>
> When I arrived there I found that the patients had been moved elsewhere,
> and the department had been taken over by the Vice President and his
> staff. They were getting ready to leave when I got there, as they passed
> me I heard the Vice President say to his wife "Make a note of what
> everyone says and does".
>
> Again I hope this is of some help to you.
>
> [Signed] Diana Bowron
>
>
>
>> If anyone beside me didn't know this before, nurses Bowron and
Henchliffe
>> and orderly David Sanders removed the clothes.
>>
>
> If anyone besides you didn't know this before it is because he or she is a
> WC defender.
>
>> Evidently, at least Bowron, was afforded even a better (than when they
>> just removed the clothes) look at his back side (BOH and back) when she
washed
>> the blood off the body before they put it in the coffin.
>>
>> I can't find where she told anyone to look at the back wound, but I
can't
>> imagine her keeping that to herself.....if she did tell a doctor about
it
>> or even show a doctor the wound [back], he could be the source of
Rather's
>> "......came out at the base of the neck on the back side"
announcement.
>>
>
> Yeah, she did tell someone. Harry Livingstone. She didn't tell anyone in
> the government because she feared for her life.
> That's what a cover-up does. Covers up evidence.
>
>> Thanks again Paul.
>>
>> John Canal
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