Phillip Willis

Phillip LaFrance Willis (2 August 1918, Kaufman County, Texas – 27 January 1995, Dallas, Texas) [Ancestry.com. "Texas Death Index, 1903-2000" [database on-line] . Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.] [Social Security Death Index.] [Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 7, p. 492, [http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh7/html/WC_Vol7_0250b.htm Testimony of Phillip L. Willis] , July 22, 1964.] was a close witness to the assassination of President Kennedy.

Willis served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and as a young lieutenant he was present at the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Because of a back injury he suffered when he was shot down over the Pacific, Willis retired in 1946 as a highly decorated Major. He earned a bachelor's degree in government at North Texas State Teachers College in 1948. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1946 and 1948. He later became a Lincoln automobile dealer, and an independent real estate broker. [Joe Simnacher, "Pearl Harbor survivor Phillip Willis dies at 76", "Dallas Morning News", January 28, 1995, p. 33A. The Texas House's memorial resolution said that Willis graduated from college before he enlisted in the Army in 1940.] [Richard B. Trask, "National Nightmare on Six Feet of Film", Yeoman Press, 2005, p. 44. ISBN 978-0963859549.] He moved to Dallas in 1960. [Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 7, p. 492, [http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh7/html/WC_Vol7_0250b.htm Testimony of Phillip L. Willis] , July 22, 1964.]

Clearly seen in the Zapruder film at the start of the assassination, Willis was wearing a dark colored suit and tie, standing at the Elm Street south curb to the presidential limousine's left, directly across from the Texas School Book Depository. [In [http://www.assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/z144.jpgZapruder film frame 144] , Willis, in the upper right of the frame, has stepped off the curb and taken a photograph of the presidential limousine. In [http://www.assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/z170.jpgZ-170] , Willis is standing on the curb, above the left headlight of the presidential limousine. His daughter Rosemary, wearing a hooded white jacket and a red dress, is running along with the motorcade.]

During the assassination, Willis snapped a 35mm color slide (the fifth of twenty-seven he captured in Dealey Plaza that day) [Before, during, and after the assassination. Trask, p. 108. Willis published a set of twelve slides in November 1964. U.S. Copyright Office, copyright registration #PA0000000068, registered January 31, 1978.] showing the presidential limousine and its occupants, the United States Secret Service agents' follow-up car and occupants, parade onlookers, and the grassy knoll visible in the background. [The Kennedy Assassination Photographic Archive, [http://www.jfkmurderphotos.bravehost.com/photos.html#_W Index of Photographers] .]

Willis testified to the from Z-160 through Z-206.) [Warren Commission Report, p. 98, [http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0061b.htm The Trajectory: The First Bullet That Hit] .]

In his fifth photo, some conspiracists allege that the image of a still-unknown person can be seen located up on the grassy knoll, seen near a 3-foot-tall concrete wall and near the 5-foot-tall stockade fence. The angled shape of this still-unknown person's outline has led to that person's image being labeled by authors in books and persons working in the Kennedy assassination research community the "black dog man." [HSCA Appendix to Hearings, vol. 6, p. 44, [http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol6/html/HSCA_Vol6_0025b.htm The Number, Timing, and Source of the Shots Fired at the Presidential Limousine: The Trajectory Analysis] . HSCA Appendix to Hearings, vol. 6, p. 121, [http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol6/html/HSCA_Vol6_0064a.htm Conspiracy Questions: Alleged Gunmen in Dealey Plaza] . The Warren Commission, inaccurately, estimated that Willis's fifth photo was taken at Z-210. Warren Commission Report, p. 112, [http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wr/html/WCReport_0068b.htm The Shot That Missed: The First Shot] .]

In 1978, when Willis's daughter Rosemary was interviewed by investigators from the House Select Committee on Assassinations, she stated to the HSCA that her father became upset when the Dallas policemen, sheriffs, and detectives—who first quickly ran onto the grassy knoll where Phillip thought the shots came from—then ran away from the grassy knoll. [HSCA Appendix to Hearings, vol. 12, p. 7, [http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol12/html/HSCA_Vol12_0006a.htm Presence of Possible Gunman on the Grassy Knoll] .] In Willis's Warren Commission testimony he stated that shots came from the Texas School Book Depository. [Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 7, p. 496–497, [http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh7/html/WC_Vol7_0252b.htm Testimony of Phillip L. Willis] , July 22, 1964.]

In 1988 Willis stated on camera in the 1988 BCC documentary, "The Men Who Killed Kennedy," that during his Warren Commission testimony all the Commission wanted to hear about was that Willis heard three shots that probably originated from the depository, but that for President Kennedy's fatal head shot Willis stated, "So I am very dead certain that, at least, one shot, including the one that took the president's skull off, had to come from the right front, and, I'll stand by that to my death." [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2-_UhD3Qgk "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" BBC documentary, 1988] ]

When Willis died in 1995, the Texas House passed a resolution to honor him. [ [http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/74R/billtext/html/HC00179I.htm H.C.R. No. 179] .]

References

External links

* [http://members.aol.com/DRoberdeau/JFK/ROSEwillisANNOUNCEMENT.html Details and Zapruder frames showing the Rosemary Willis rapid headsnap] .
* [http://www.copweb.be/Phil%20Willis%20Camera.htm The Phil Willis Camera - Argus Autronic I - Camera revue and User's Manual] .
* [http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/film/Zapruderstable.mov An Image-stabilized Version of the Zapruder Film, Running in a Loop.] Users must initially wait a few seconds for the first Quicktime version to download, after which the film runs continuously.