Page 108 of The 9th Man

“I’ve spent the past thirty years working this,” Eckstein said. “Your grandfather helped me in that endeavor. A lot. He was the one who found Rowland’s statement to the Warren Commission. They buried it deep, but Benji hunted it down. He also obtained that recording from the medical examiner’s room in Dallas. That one was tough to get. Speaking of which, wait here.”

Eckstein left the dining room table and disappeared into another room. Luke and Jillian listened to what sounded like a metal file cabinet drawer being opened. The old man returned with a few sheets of paper in his hand.

“These are copies of Rowland’s commission testimony. It’s not much, and it’s pretty innocent, unless you know some other things.”

Eckstein handed the pages to him.

Friday, November 22, 1963 — Awoke about 7:00 a.m. washed, packed suitcase, checked out of hotel and had breakfast. About 8:30 a.m. Agent Sorrels met Agent Kinney and me outside the hotel and drove to the airport arriving about 9:00 a.m. We went directly to the garage and relieved the police of the security of the cars. Washed and cleaned both cars and checked outside, inside, and underneath for security violations—none found. We drove the cars to the area where the President was to be. Cars were kept under close observation until the arrival of the President, when Agent William Greer of the White House Detail took over control.

The President and his party then proceeded up to the fence holding the crowd back and greeted and shook hands with them. I assisted Agents on the detail to make a path for them and helped Agent Greer keep the cars abreast of the President as he moved along the length of the fence.

After the President and his party were seated in their car, I entered the trail car, as I had been instructed to do by Agent Lawson. I was seated in the rear left side seat. The shift leader, Emory Roberts, had instructed me to take control of the AR-l5 rifle. I did this and had the ammunition clip inserted in the rifle and placed the rifle within easy reach.

The motorcade then left the airport and proceeded along the parade route. Just prior to the shooting the Presidential car turned left at the intersection and started down an incline toward an underpass followed by the trail car.

After a very short distance I heard a loud report which sounded like a firecracker. It appeared to come from the right and rear and seemed to me to be at ground level, I stood up and looked to my right and rear in an attempt to identify it. Nothing caught my attention except people shouting and cheering. A disturbance caused me to look forward toward the President’s car. Perhaps 2 or 3 seconds elapsed from the time I looked to the rear and then looked at the President, he was slumped forward and to his left, and was straightening up to an almost erect sitting position as I turned and looked.

At the moment he was almost sitting erect I heard two reports which I thought were shots and that appeared to me completely different in sound than the first report and were in such rapid succession that there seemed to be practically no time element between them. It looked to me as if the President was struck in the right upper rear of his head. The first shot of the second two seemed as if it missed because the hair on the right side of his head flew forward and there didn’t seem to be any impact against his head. The last shot seemed to hit his head and cause a noise at the point of impact which made him fall forward and to his left.

At the end of the last report I reached to the bottom of the car and picked up the AR-15 rifle, cocked and loaded it, and turned to the rear. At this point the cars were passing under the overpass and as a result we had left the scene of the shooting. I kept the AR-15 rifle ready as we proceeded at a high rate of speed to the hospital.

A few moments later shift leader Emory Roberts turned to the rest of us in the car and said words to the effect that when we arrive at the hospital some of us would have to give additional protection to the Vice President and take him to a place of safety. He assigned two of the agents in the car to this duty. I was told to have the AR-15 ready for use if needed.

“The problem is,” Eckstein said, “most of that statement is a lie. It took us nearly twenty years to prove that, but prove it we did.”

He and Jillian listened as Eckstein explained.

First, Rowland made no mention of falling backward, as another witness recalled in their statement. Then there was,at the end of the last report I reached to the bottom of the car and picked up the AR-15 rifle, cocked and loaded it, and turned to the rear. The same witness who saw Rowland fall backward also saw him with the gun at the time of the last shot, not after. Another agent’s statement noted that when he saw Kennedy’s head being struck with a bullet he reached for the riflebut Rowland had already picked it up.

“And Rowland’s declaration that he cocked and loaded the AR-15afterthe shots were fired was directly contradicted by his supervisor who testified that the AR-15 wasalways ready to go. That gun was lying in the car cocked, loaded, with the safety on. Ready to fire.”

Luke listened more as Eckstein pressed his case.

“Rowland was one of the agents in Fort Worth who was involved with drinking and staying out late the night before. Benji was able to get a list of names, which the Warren Commission did not include. The Secret Service tried hard to minimize that by saying everybody was rested and on their toes, but you have to wonder. Were they really? In the end nine witnesses, including Rowland himself, put the AR-15 in his hands just after the last shot. Two witnesses put the gun in Rowland’s hands at the moment the last shot was fired. One witness saw him stand and fall over just as the final shot was fired. And their testimony corroborates the physical evidence I have.”

“Which is?” Luke asked.

“The bullet’s trajectory. Its fragmentation. The size of the entrance wound in Kennedy’s skull. The fact that Rowland was seen to have fallen over. The gunpowder odor that drifted through the plaza. The absence of any cranial debris on bullet fragments supposedly from Kennedy’s head wound. The dent in the empty shell found inside the book depository that seems to preclude any third shot from that location. The disappearance of the brain and other tissue samples that could be used to identify the third bullet. It all points to a singular conclusion.”

“It’s all circumstantial,” Luke said.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Then there’s my film. This will all make sense once you see it. Only Ray, Benji, and myself have watched it.”

Luke glanced at Jillian and read her thoughts.

He agreed.

Damn right, let’s see it.

The old man left the kitchen and returned a couple of minutes later with a large manila envelope from which he removed a flash drive. “I digitized the old film when the technology allowed.”

“And the original?” Jillian asked.

Eckstein removed a small metal reel case from the envelope. “Safe and sound.”

Luke popped the drive into the laptop and opened the video file.

“We’ll watch it at regular speed the first time,” Eckstein said.

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