The entire nation was glued to the black-and-white images on our TVs, in a state of shock and grief, amplified by the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald right before our eyes.
The pageantry of the funeral cortege is something I've never forgotten. This was when I was young and naive and considered the Kennedys royalty.
Just before Jack Ruby shot Oswald, my dad (who grew up in Texas) said "they'd better get that guy indoors or somebody is going to shoot him."
That was a terrible time. In fact, from then until about 1980 was a terrible time.
It was the first time TV stayed on 24/7. My kids STILL don't believe that........LOL.
They needed a contigent to represent the USCG but the only large group that could march was those in Boot Camp. We drilled for 3 days doing manual of arms drills with the old WWI rifles but when the officers reviewed our performance they decided to have us march with M-16s at sling arms. It was a long day driving from Cape may to DC and back but the Chiefs and 1st Class PO's had a great time bringing along several cases of beer making them piss-drunk by noon time.
Yeah! another "old" person. I was feeling really old this week-end watching the anniversary of D-Day. 1944....the year of my birth.