James Tague

Template:Short description Template:Infobox person James Thomas Tague (October 17, 1936 – February 28, 2014)<ref name="The Telegraph; April 29, 2014">Template:Cite news</ref> was an American car salesman who received minor injuries during the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.<ref name="WCH-VII">Template:Cite book</ref> Tague received a minor cut to his right cheek caused by tiny pieces of concrete debris from a street curb that was struck by fragments from a bullet that was fired at Kennedy. Aside from Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, Tague was the only other person known to have been wounded as a result of gunfire in Dealey Plaza that day.

Life

Tague was born on a farm near Plainfield, Indiana.<ref name="The Telegraph; April 29, 2014"/> He dropped out of Purdue University to join the United States Air Force. He graduated from the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine<ref name="The Telegraph; April 29, 2014"/> and became a car salesman in Dallas, Texas.<ref name="The Telegraph; April 29, 2014"/>

Kennedy assassination

Tague had been driving to Downtown Dallas to have lunch with his girlfriend, and future wife, when he came upon a traffic jam caused by the presidential motorcade that was traveling west on Elm Street.<ref name=oopppa>Template:Cite web</ref> Tague testified to the Warren Commission that because of the traffic, he parked his car on the north curb of Commerce Street, where he then "got out of his car and stood by the bridge abutment."<ref name=oopppa /> Tague was a few feet north of the southern edge of the triple underpass railroad bridge when he saw the presidential limousine and heard the first shot.

As with many other witnesses, Tague remembered hearing this first shot and likened it to a firecracker. He later testified that the first shot he recalled hearing had occurred after the presidential limousine had already completed the 120-degree slow turn from Houston Street onto Elm Street and then straightened out. The motorcade then proceeded in his direction down Elm Street, parallel to Commerce Street.

Soon after the shots were fired, Tague was approached by Dallas Detective Buddy Walthers, who noticed specks of blood on Tague's right cheek.<ref name=oopppa /> The detective asked Tague where he had been standing. The two men then examined the area and discovered, on the upper, curved part of Main Street south curb, a "very fresh scar" impact that they believed indicated that a bullet had struck there and had taken a small chip out of the curb's concrete. They came to the conclusion that one bullet had ricocheted off the curb and the debris then hit Tague.<ref name=oopppa />

The curb surrounding the scar chip was not cut out until August 1964, after Tague had repeatedly reminded authorities of also being wounded during the shots, and it is now in the National Archives. The scar chip was Template:Convert north of the south edge of the triple underpass railroad bridge, about Template:Convert from where Tague stood during the attack. The detective told Tague that it appeared that a bullet had been fired from either the Texas School Book Depository or the Dal-Tex Building.<ref name=oopppa />

After assassination

Warren Commission and FBI

Tague was called by the Warren Commission to testify on July 23, 1964.<ref name="WCH-VII"/> He told the commission that his impression at the time was that somebody was throwing firecrackers from behind the pergola on the grassy knoll.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to the Warren Commission's final report, forensic tests by the FBI revealed that the chipped bullet mark impact location contained no embedded copper metal residue, which indicated that it was not created by "an unmutilated military full metal-jacketed bullet such as the bullet from Governor Connally's stretcher."<ref name="WCR-C3">Template:Cite book</ref> In Tague's Truth Withheld, he published pictures of the wound that were taken on November 23, 1963.<ref>JFK - L. Fletcher Prouty; Chapter 19, Page 300, Paragraph 3</ref>

Books and events

In 2003, forty years after the assassination, Tague published a book called Truth Withheld (Template:ISBN), detailing his experiences during and after the assassination. He wrote that he was injured after the second shot.Template:Cn

In 2011, Tague revisited the scene of his injury for the researcher Max Holland's investigation into the first shot for the documentary JFK: The Lost Bullet.Template:Cn

In 2013, Tague published his second book, LBJ and the Kennedy Killing (Template:ISBN), which claimed that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his associates were involved in the assassination.Template:Cn

Later life and death

Tague became a car salesman in Bonham, Texas, where he retired.<ref name=McNichol>Template:Cite news</ref> He died there on February 28, 2014, at the age of 77.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Single-bullet theory

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• William M. Goggins, James Tague: Unintended Victim in Dealey Plaza.
• Template:Find a Grave