The Jfk Funeral 50 Years Ago: My Personal Story

By Michael Ledford

NOVEMBER 22, 2013, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States.

For all of us who lived through that great national tragedy we are now compelled to tell something to the next generation. I have a very unique, but perhaps many would say, insignificant personal story concerned going to his funeral.

I am not a professional author. I am a retired high school biology teacher - one of over a million average citizens who went to Washington. At my age I still feel an emotional connection to John F. Kennedy.

I was a college student when he was assassinated on that Friday, November 22, 1963. On Sunday night, after listening to the media

coverage, three others and myself on a double date decided impulsively to go from Ohio to Washington to see the funeral.

There were many unseen problems on this trip. It ended up being almost more than four naive students could handle - but we did make the trip and got back safely.

Years later I have decided to tell the personal story of this trip. I still have detailed information from my diary, two letters that were written after the trip and other notes that I had.

I have decided to put all of this information together and tell the story of a unique adventure I took as a young man. Please let me share this with you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483620183

Michael Ledford

Michael Ledford received a Bachelors Degree in Education from The Ohio State University and Master of Education Degree from Xavier University. Now retired, he taught high school biology for thirty years. He married his wife Heidi in 1967 and they have one daughter Catharine.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Michael Ledford.

ISBN:   Softcover   978-1-4836-6632-7

             eBook        978-1-4836-2018-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 01/14/2015

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Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

INTRODUCTION

N OVEMBER 22, 2013, M arked the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States.

For all of us who lived through that great national tragedy we are now compelled to tell something to the next generation. I have a unique personal story concerning going to his funeral.

I am not a professional author. I am a retired high school biology teacher — one of over a million average citizens who went to Washington. I still feel an emotional connection to John F. Kennedy.

I was a college student when he was assassinated on that Friday, November 22, 1963. On Sunday night, after listening to the media coverage, three others and myself on a double date decided impulsively to go from Ohio to Washington to see the funeral.

There were many unseen problems on this trip. It ended up being almost more than four naive students could handle — but we did make the trip and got back safely.

Years later I have decided to tell my personal story — but I want to keep it factual-getting all the facts correct. Everything in this book is historically accurate.

I still had my college diary that contained many facts and several letters that were written after the trip as well as other notes. I have decided to put all this information together and tell the story of a unique adventure I took as a young man. Please let me share this with you.

CHAPTER ONE

And so my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you — Ask what you can do for your country… . JFK Inaugural address January 20, 1961

I WAS 142 days old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. I have seen many important events in the second half of the twentieth century. This includes the time frame from the conclusion of