Smoking Doc. #5 - NPIC Records
Velma Reumann (nee
Vogler )
Call Report: Public
Document’s Author:
Douglas Horne/ARRB
Date Created: 10/02/96
The Players
Who called whom?
Douglas Horne called Velma Reumann (nee Vogler) of Witnesses/Consultants
Description of the
Call
Subject: ARRB
Interview of Velma Reumann
Summary of the Call:
Dave Montague and I
telephonically interview Velma Reumann this date.
We asked her to recap
her Navy experience up to the time of the assassination. She said she completed
OCS in 1956, then served at the following locations: Newport Rhode Island;
Naples, Italy; Bainbridge, Maryland; and then the Naval Photographic Center at
Anacostia. She said her tour of duty at NPC began in 1963 and ended in 1966.
She began her tour of
duty as Personnel Officer, and prior to the end of her tour, also assumed the
larger duties of Administrative Officer, as well.
NPC Command Structure:
she said that approximately 300 people worked at NPC, and that there were 3
separate photographic departments, or entities, as follows: Still Photo Lab,
Motion Picture Lab, and Research and Development.
Names: she remembered
that the C.O. had been CAPT McNair, the X.O. had been CDR Kubbe (now deceased),
and that there had been the following additional people working at NPC: Tom
Atkins (detailed to the White House for the making of both still and motion
picture photography; Sandra (Sandy) Spencer, whom she remembered as an E-6
(First Class Petty Officer) “top performer” who had been the senior enlisted
technician working in the Still Photo Lab on White House photography; J.J.
Jamroga (sp?), a former LDO LT (O-3); and a Chief Petty Officer involved in
photography whose name she could not remember who, in spite of being a high
school dropout, had obtained both a Baccalaureate Degree and a Master’s Degree
while in the Navy; and Vince Madonia, an LDO whose name (but not
responsibilities) she remembered when asked. She did not remember anyone named
Nolan or Knowlin (phonetic).
She was inspecting a
Barracks in Arlington on Friday, November 22, 1963, when she heard of the JFK
Assassination; she then went back to NPC in Anacostia before going home on
Friday. She does not recall any photography related to the assassination taking
place on Friday before she went home, and she did not work on Saturday, Sunday
or Monday (the day of the funeral). She does not specifically remember talk
immediately after the assassination weekend about work done that weekend.
She vaguely remembers
some photography work related to the assassination being done within the 2 or 3
week period following the assassination, but does not know what kind of
photography it was, or what the subject matter was.
DISPOSITION OF
ASSASSINATION-RELATED PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDS.
She has a strong,
independent recollection of NPC personnel boxing up all photographic materials
(“everything we-the film department-had”) related to the assassination on the
orders of Robert Kennedy and sending them to the Smithsonian Museum for permanent
storage sometime within 6 months or so after the assassination.
She cannot remember
whether the orders from Robert Kennedy were in writing, or oral, but she was
guite firmly of the impression in 1996 that the direction had come from Robert
Kennedy. In order to test the strength of her Smithsonian recollection, I asked
her whether she may have been confusing the Smithsonian with the National
Archives or some other government body; she replied emphatically that she knew
the difference between the National Archives and the Smithsonian, and
reiterated that the boxed material went to the Smithsonian. She said she was
certain of this because she, herself, was required to call an official at the
Smithsonian to discuss the imminent transfer, and recalls that the individual
to whom she spoke was as surprised by the selection of the Smithsonian as she
was. Unfortunately, she does not remember the official’s name or job
description, nor does she remember the exact date of this transfer.
When I asked her if
she was ever aware of the Zapruder film being shown, or present in the building
at NPC, and she said no.
She said that there
was general awareness during lunchroom conversation at NPC shortly after the
assassination that the autopsy doctors had been silenced, i.e. were forbidden
to talk about the autopsy. She said she thought NPC probably did so some
autopsy photography, but could not remember why she had this impression.
She had no knowledge
of disposition of records, other than the material boxed up by the photographic
department and sent to the Smithsonian. She had no records of her own relating
to contemporaneous events in which she as involved at the time of the
assassination. END
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