Grassy knoll couple recall JFK assassination
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
By DYLAN T. LOVAN / The Associated Press
DALLAS — It seems as if the gracious couple has told the story a thousand times — how the crack of an assassin’s bullet struck the president just a few feet from where they stood.
Sometimes it’s a reporter or author, but often it’s a curious citizen who hopes Bill and Gayle Newman can uncover a sliver of evidence to buttress their own theory about the death of John F. Kennedy.
Who wouldn’t want to hear from the couple who were so close to the assassination that is arguably the most scrutinized in American history — particularly as the tragic event marks its 45th anniversary on Saturday?
Just before 12:30 p.m., Kennedy's limousine entered Dealey Plaza and approached the Texas School Book Depository. Texas First Lady Nellie Connally turned to Kennedy, who was sitting behind her, and said: "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you," which Kennedy acknowledged.
When the limousine turned and passed the depository and continued down Elm Street, shots were fired at Kennedy; the great majority of witnesses recalled hearing three shots. There was little reaction in the crowd to the first shot. Many later said they thought they had heard a firecracker or a vehicle backfire.
Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally, sitting next to his wife in front of the Kennedys, both turned from looking to their left to their right. Connally recognized the sound of a high powered rifle: "Oh, no, no, no", he said, and then started to turn left, attempting to see Kennedy behind him.
According to the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations, as Kennedy waved to crowds on his right, a shot entered his upper back, penetrated his neck and exited his throat. He raised his clenched fists up to his neck and leaned forward as Mrs. Kennedy put her arms around him. Gov. Connally also reacted as the same bullet penetrated his back, chest, right wrist and left thigh. He yelled, "My God, they are going to kill us all!"
As the final shot was heard, a fist-size hole exploded out from the right side of Kennedy's head, covering the interior of the car and a nearby motorcycle officer with blood.
Secret Service agent Clint Hill was riding on the left front running board of the car behind the limousine. Sometime after the shot that hit Kennedy in the back, Hill ran to overtake the limousine. He jumped onto the back of the limousine, pushed Mrs. Kennedy back into her seat and held on as the car left Dealey Plaza and sped to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
“At the time, we were both 23 years old and we didn’t realize the part in history that we played, because we were the closest people to him when that third shot rang out,” Gayle Newman said in a recent interview. “Now as we have grown older, we do realize that this is something that will be a part of all of our life.”
The Newmans settled into a spot on the lawn at Dealey Plaza — just below the infamous grassy knoll — a few minutes before Kennedy’s motorcade glided by on Nov. 22, 1963. Their two young sons, 4-year-old Billy and 2-year-old Clayton, were in tow.
Bill Newman said he had voted for Nixon in the 1960 election but wanted to get a glimpse of the popular president.
“It’s not every day the president of the United States comes to your hometown,” he said.
The presidential motorcade arrived in Dealey Plaza by turning right on Houston Street, then left on Elm where it passed by the Texas School Book Depository.
As the president’s black convertible came into sight, Bill Newman said, he heard what he thought were fireworks.
“I didn’t recognize it as a gunshot,” he said, clapping his hands twice with a pause to simulate the sounds.
But as the limousine drew closer, Newman said he could see blood on Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally, who was in the car with the president.
“Ten, 12 feet in front of us, the third shot rang out, and that’s when the side of his head flew off and I could remember seeing” the blood, Bill Newman said. “I turned to Gayle and I said, that’s it, hit the ground.”
An iconic picture of the Newmans shielding their two boys is on display the depository building, which has since been converted into a museum.
“It seems like everybody around us was running up the grassy knoll hill,” Gayle Newman said. “The police officers had their guns drawn.”
Do the couple feel a second gunman fired from the grassy knoll?
“I do tend to want to lean in the direction that it was a conspiracy, meaning more than one person was involved. But so far, no one’s ever come forward with concrete evidence,” Bill Newman said.
In the 45 years since that day, the Newmans have rarely rebuffed a curious questioner.
“I get calls and letters all the time,” Bill Newman said.
But some witnesses to the assassination are not as accommodating as the Newmans and would rather forget the day they saw Kennedy killed.
“The witnesses, for the most part, have very mixed feelings about everything connected to the assassination, beyond the fact, obviously, that a president died in front of them,” said Gary Mack, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which occupies the same space as the former book depository.
“This subject rarely goes away for most of them,” Mack said.
The Warren Commission concluded in 1964 that Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots at Kennedy’s motorcade from the sixth floor of the depository, which overlooked Dealey Plaza.
Oswald was arrested as a suspect but was slain two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
Post Your Comment
Standards and RulesYour posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.
it wrote on November 22, 2008 10:29 am: