John F. Kennedy’s bodyguards have recalled their experiences being on the plane that returned the deceased president’s body back to Washington.
In a documentary marking 60 years since the assassination, former Secret Service agent Clint Hill said he “couldn’t break down” as he accompanied JFK’s body back to Washington sitting alongside heartbroken Jackie Kennedy.
Hill, now 91, had been riding in the Secret Service car directly behind the president’s limousine on that fateful day, which had also been carrying John Connally and his wife Nellie.
As the motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository, Lee Harvey Oswald – who had been hiding in a sixth-floor window – fired at the president, with one bullet hitting him in the neck and another fatally striking him in the head.
Hill, who famously jumped onto a moving car to protect the First Lady when the shots were fired, has now recalled how he continued working as usual in the days following the murder despite the shock he felt.
Speaking on One Day in America, a documentary by National Geographic, Hill said: “On that flight between Dallas and DC there was time for grief – for anything – except continue to do the best job you could and that’s what I tried to do.
“Ms. Kennedy was in shock. She cried terribly, of course she was a brand new widow with two children. Now that’s all that was left of that family.
“Bobby Kennedy came running all the way up the front steps of the aircraft and all the way through the aircraft to where Ms. Kennedy and the casket was situated in the back and he was tearful.
“It was shocking, it was emotional, but I couldn’t break down.”
Former Secret Service agent Paul Landis, 88, also spoke about his experience being present at the president’s burial.
Landis had a been a young agent at the time and had been assigned to protect the First Lady.
Landis said: “I just cried I think all the way home. I helped to unload the casket.
“We were tired, we had put in a long day with a lot going on and I hadn’t handled a lot of it very well. I know now I was in shock.”
The new documentary features colorized footage of Lee Harvey Oswald sitting in police custody and being transferred to the country jail.
Two reporters – Bill Mercer, who reported that Oswald had been charged with the president’s murder, and Peggy Simpson, the only female AP worker in Texas in 1963 – were also interviewed for the documentary.
Both reporters recalled their shock in finding out that Oswald had been shot by night club owner Jack Ruby while in custody.
Mercer said: “When I saw that Jack Ruby had shot Oswald, I was shocked. I was sorry that he had messed up like that, he had committed a grave error, one that you can’t eradicate. It’s going to go down in history.
“Jack did what he did. He wanted to be somebody, everyone loved the president so everybody hated the man who had killed the president so now this was going to make Jack a hero.”
The first episode of the documentary airs on Sunday on National Geographic and Disney+.
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