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Testimony of: Pfc. John P. Lee (Contd)

232 Q Who gave the order to shoot them?

A Commanding officer.

233 Q Do you remember what he said at the time?

A I believe it was just get ready to shoot them, and then somebody hollered "fire", I don't think it was the company commander who hollered, and about three rifles and a machine gun started shooting, and my BAR.

234 Q How many shots do you estimate you fired?

A I fired one and it jammed, and I tried to fix it and heard our colonel say to stop firing.

235 Q That was Col. Sparks?

A Yes, sir.

236 Q Was he present when you first came to the yard?

A No, at least I did not see him. I don't believe he was present.

237 Q Did these prisoners make any effort to move away from the wall?

A When they got ready to fire a lot started to move forward toward us.

238 Q Was that after you started firing?

A No, sir, when we were preparing to fire.

239 Q After the firing stopped were some of the men still standing?

A Most of them I don't believe were shot at all but fell to the ground and hid under each other or tried to hide. That is why I believe they moved forward so that they would have room to fall on their face.

240 Q Do you remember any of them standing after the firing ceased?

A A few of them stooped, sir, and jumped back up when the firing ceased and held up their hands and were yelling.

241 Q When I examined some of these bodies I observed that some had their skulls crushed in, the foreheads smashed back. Did you see any of that?