JFK

JFK

Of late, television, the news media, and all else seem to be saturated with stories about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, fifty years ago.  Unlike many younger people today, I can well remember our youthful President Kennedy, and the dreams of “Camelot”.  John Kennedy was far from being the most popular President during his time in office, but his popularity seems to have grown through the years.  A “progressive” Democrat rather than what we today would consider the liberal version, he wanted to move us ahead, not the least including the areas of Civil Rights and space exploration, without stirring up a lot of hate and dissent.  Unfortunately we don’t seem to have anyone of his caliber in national politics today.

I was raised in a family that considered military service a duty that came with citizenship, and, believing our young presidents comment of “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”, joined the US Air Force not long after his election, with the idea that I might defend my homeland from the evils of communism.  Little did I know that so much of my early Air Force career would be entangled with the presidency of John F. Kennedy. 

Following basic training, I was sent to Keesler AFB Mississippi for technical training.  About the only “big deal” that happened in the year I was there was… the Cuban missile crisis.  Considering that Keesler (Biloxi MS) isn’t all that far from Havana, we young airmen promptly figured that if anybody started shooting, we’d probably be one of the first places to get blown away, which made that “defend our country” part downright serious!  When the President came on TV and announced the American response to those Soviet missiles, I think life came to a halt for all of us while we watched and tried to digest what was happening.  Seeing assorted military trains passing the base on the way to Florida got our attention well enough, along with watching a number of Navy and Air Force combat aircraft landing on our short runway for fuel on their way east, convinced us even more strongly that we were in the military service and not just part of Uncle Sam’s airline!  Also that we were a definitely a target!  Fortunately for us, the Russians didn’t like the odds, or the presidents’ determination, and backed down.

Finishing Tech School, I was reassigned to the 496^th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Hahn Air Base in West Germany, where I was when he made the well-known trip to Europe in which he delivered his famous “Ish bin ein Berliner” speech.  The 496^th had the honor of providing the fighter escort for Air Force One during his travels about Europe, and, due to a scheduling glitch, I got to repair a radio malfunction aboard his aircraft.  Somewhere in the squadron archives is a large, framed color picture, autographed by John F. Kennedy, of Air Force One and four F-102’s with a yellow and black fan painted on the tails, all flying in formation.  (Yellow/Black were our squadron colors.)  In my archives is a pack of cigarettes and a book of matches embossed with the presidential seal, that I received aboard Air Force One.

It’s said that everyone who was around at the time remembers where they were and what they were doing when President Kennedy was assassinated.  This is certainly true in my case.  Still at Hahn AB, I was in the barracks at about 8 PM, studying, when one of the guys stuck his head in the door and told us that the president had been shot.  Immediately, we turned the radio to AFN (Armed Forces Radio Network) to find out what was happening.  When it was announced that the president was dead, and somewhat in shock, we all got into uniform and reported to our duty stations.  No alert was called until nearly midnight, but we were all convinced that this was the beginning of WW III, the Russians were coming, and we were making sure we’d be ready to properly welcome them.  Fortunately for the world they decided to stay home that night.

We observed the president’s memorial service as well, holding a military parade in the squadron area, and all standing at “present arms” while an Army artillery battery fired a 21gun salute.  That salute took 21 minutes, and was fired in the midst of a blizzard, which pretty well matched our mood.  It was a cold and miserable day for all concerned…