There are certain events in history which,
for those who were alive at the time of the event, will remain imbedded in
their memory for the rest of their lives; whether it was a sporting event, a
world catastrophe, great human achievement or the death of an important or
famous person.
If your
long-term memory is as acute as mine, (it’s strictly genetics folks, my Mom had
it, her Mom had it and some of my siblings have this gift/curse), you will
remember details of exactly where you were, who you were with, what the weather
was like and how others were reacting to the same event. VE Day, the first manned
landing on the Moon, Paul Henderson’s goal in the Summit Series in 1972, or the
assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, are exactly the kinds of events that
I am talking about.
John
Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was
assassinated at 12:30 Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in
Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, exactly 50 years ago this Friday. Fifty-years ago
and the debate still rages on as to who killed JFK and why, but more on that
debate later.
My
Dad, Mom and five of my nine siblings were living in Gravelbourg at the time.
My brother Gordie was my closest friend and he was a year-and-a-half older than
me. We did everything together. We always walked the five or six blocks to
school and home every morning, lunchtime and at the end of the school day,
usually with our buddies Bobby Nickish, and Wayne and Walter Schmidt.
We
were always jacking around doing six and seven-year-old stuff, roughhousing and
such, and November 22nd, 1963 seemed no different than any other day
walking home for lunch. But Gord and I knew that something was up the second we
walked through the back door of our house. We were shushed sooner than usual
and the seriousness and sorrow in the room made it obvious that something
terrible had happened. Did Grandma die? Did someone else in the family die?
When
you’re very young and your parents and older siblings are really upset…you’re
upset. What was going on? Dad quietly explained, as best he could to two young
boys, about what had transpired in Dallas and at that particular moment there
weren’t a lot of details other than the fact that the President of the United
States had been shot. Mom and Dad and my older sisters were watching the TV and
listening to the radio reports as they were coming in but my brother and I were
shooed back to school before President Kennedy was even pronounced dead at
Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. So many years later, acute memory aside,
the memories of that day have faded somewhat but I do recall a solemn walk back
to school wondering how such a terrible event could happen at all and who would
do such a thing.
That
was the general feeling of most of the free world that day and the helplessness
would feed conspiracy theorists for the next five decades. How could a
Communist sympathizing, 24 year-old high-school dropout, (ex-marine dropout, by
the way, with a US Marines’ shooting test classification of “sharpshooter” in
1956 and “marksman” in 1959), buy a mail-order rifle and shoot the King of
Camelot, the American Golden Boy and THE President of the United States? If he
wasn’t safe who the heck was? Who was next?
I’ve
read reams and reams of information on the subject and watched numerous
documentaries and there is so much information available on the internet now
that I couldn’t possibly live long enough to digest it all but I’m leaning
towards the “lone gunman theory” regardless of the Conspiracy Theorists.
You
don’t have to believe me, though, do your own research and decide for yourself,
if you haven’t already, but before you do check out author Brad Meltzer’s
Decoded series for an in depth look at the complete story.
Fifty years later and the subject will still
spark a lively debate. Whether you were alive at the time, or not, the
assassination of John F. Kennedy will remain one of the most talked about,
tragic and infamous moments in, not just the 20th Century, but in
all of human history.
“Those who make peaceful revolution
impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”-John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
No comments:
Post a Comment