Topic: Friday November 23, 1963

[rustybayonet]

For the past fifty years this day has been relived by all of the 'old fart' generation.  Being in my shoes though, it just feels different to me.   Would I vote for him today – probably not – but back then he was MY President.  As one of the 35 founding members of the United States Coast Guard Presidential Ceremonial Honor Guard, I had seen him almost every day for the better part of a year and a half, sometimes multiple times in a day, depending on the ceremonies involved. 

Could I have done anything that fateful Friday had we been there in Dallas – no - of course not.  I guess just having  him literally bumping into me as he is inspecting the troops on the White House lawn, or seeing Jackie and the kids 'hiding' behind bushes right across from me waiting for the ceremony honoring an arriving dignitary, wearing the very 'pink suit – minus pill box hat' 13 months before Dallas.    Memories – yes, more than you can imagine.  But this day ….......................... yes the eyes start leaking.

I'm the third former military, 'civilian to lay a wreath at the gravesite with full military honors --- Memories





RIP Mr President

[oldcoastie6468]

Rusty, how many of the original 35 are still with us?

[rustybayonet]

'old' - I know of 8 that are gone. The first reunion we had after 32 years - 6 of the 16 in a picture of originals I have are gone, plus the Capt. of the base the HG is now out of.  He was the last active duty officer to take part in the funeral while he was in the Academy, so 9 of sixteen in picture are gone.

[oldcoastie6468]

Time passes faster and faster as one ages, doesn't it?

[BigAlSouth]

Time passes faster and faster as one ages, doesn't it?

"Time is like a whirlpool. When you are young, you are on the outside. The older you get, you are sucked to the center where it moves faster and faster until you are down the drain."

[Libertas]

7 left then, eh?  Last one cracks the bottle and toasts the rest.   

[Magnum]

God Bless You Rusty. Thank you for sharing your story. And THANK YOU for your service!

I was just 4 years old playing with my little sister with my newly born little brother in his bassinet nearby while my beloved Ma Ma was folding clothes watching "As the World Turns" when it was interrupted by CBS news. I can still picture it on our old b&w television.

Here is the original broadcast with Walter Cronkite breaking in at around 13:00 minute mark with the first report on the assassination.

JFK`S ASSASSINATION - THREE UNCUT HOURS OF CBS TV COVERAGE FROM NOVEMBER 22, 1963

I remember my mother grabbing us and giving us a big hug.

Maybe because this is one of my earliest memories but I have always been very interested in the assassination. I saw and experienced what it did to our country and how it seemed to forever change after this horrible event. I too don't think many people realize how truly awful a President Johnson was to become after this. His "Great Society" ushered in welfare, medicare/medicaid, and the policies he endorsed I feel have destroyed the Black Families to this day.

Just a quick point on Kennedy. I was listening to Mark Davis this morning as he filled in for Bill Bennett  and he had the author Ira Stoll who wrote the book John F. Kennedy: Conservative. They argued that JFK would have been considered at the very least a Republican today...... I know which is not saying much. But here is the review of the book from the AMERICAN THINKER.


I used to believe in all the conspiracy stuff but now having heard and read Bugliosi and others I am convinced LHO did it alone. I totally understand in the belief of a conspiracy many have. As historian Robert Dallek says; how someone as unconsequential as Oswald could have killed someone as consequential as Kennedy is hard to imagine. To think how one man can literally change the country is hard to accept physiologically.   

Here are a few good documentaries IMHO if interested:

"FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER" (1964 DAVID L. WOLPER FILM)

"THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION: BEYOND CONSPIRACY" (2003)

Why Lee Harvey Oswald Acted Alone in the Assassination of JFK: Proof from Attorney Vincent Bugliosi

[Libertas]

I think there is enough evidence to say there was at least one other shooter...having said that I have no time for Oliver Stone style fantasies.  There are hardcore PaulBots that say Bush and the CIA were involved, whatever.  All I can say is if you look at history in a fuller scope and understand the people of that time, it appears to me the obvious question as to "who did it?" can be narrowed if not specified to persons.  The big question is of course "who benefited"?  To me that answer is obviously "the progressives".  People like to say JFK was this big lefty hero, wanted us out of Vietnam blah blah blah.  It's all BS.  JFK was still a Truman democrat that believed in a strong America both in terms of military stature and economic power combined with that essential do-gooder democrat ethos and old school birthright elitism.  Today JFK would be more at home as a moderate (predominate) republican.  If JFK was going to keep us out of Vietnam (and the evidence is not conclusive one way or the other) it would only be because he saw no compelling reason for the US to be there.  In terms of economics and capitalism JFK would be considered a reluctant classical Keynesian at worst, a supply-side radical at best.  The progressives killed Kennedy, used the Vietnam War to stimulate the economy to pay for their massive welfare expansion and the bloating government behemoth getting deeper and deeper into every aspect of our lives became unstoppable.  It is clear that some sort of Star Chamber has to be calling the shots and keeping the players in line and continuing the progressive march.  When you ask yourself "Why didn't so and so do this, that, or the other thing?" it is because if they did they would be snuffed.  What else could explain Obama's continued good health?

[RickZ]

The one part of the Kennedy assassination that still bothers me to this day is the heavy reliance the Warren Commission (yes, I have a published copy) placed on 'the magic single bullet theory'.  (A guy I knew in college had friends in a band called The Single Bullet Theory.)  There is no way a bullet passing through both Connelly's wrist and Kennedy, and miraculously found on a gurney at Parkman hospital, would be so pristine.

If you ever see this coming up on the Travel Channel, give it a watch.  America Declassified: JFK 50th, Quiet Zone Photos.

The person doing this 'report' is Mike Baker, the former CIA agent seen often on Fox' RedEye.  It was quite a good 20 minutes or so bit creating even more questions.  They do not doubt Oswald was involved, nor that he fired shots, but there are still questions, and those questions will never be answered in this life.

[Libertas]

The one part of the Kennedy assassination that still bothers me to this day is the heavy reliance the Warren Commission (yes, I have a published copy) placed on 'the magic single bullet theory'.  (A guy I knew in college had friends in a band called The Single Bullet Theory.)  There is no way a bullet passing through both Connelly's wrist and Kennedy, and miraculously found on a gurney at Parkman hospital, would be so pristine.

If you ever see this coming up on the Travel Channel, give it a watch.  America Declassified: JFK 50th, Quiet Zone Photos.

The person doing this 'report' is Mike Baker, the former CIA agent seen often on Fox' RedEye.  It was quite a good 20 minutes or so bit creating even more questions.  They do not doubt Oswald was involved, nor that he fired shots, but there are still questions, and those questions will never be answered in this life.

I agree, Warren Commission Report has too many inconsistencies, the behavior of the Secret Service (cleaning the car) and Medical people(doctors at Parkland not following normal procdure and documentation protocols and medical examiners back in DC doing a piss poor job, and the fact that he was put into the ground so fast preventing any further examination) that day was stupid and sloppy, Oswald was involved but his actions were not as important as his presence.  I gave up years ago ever expecting to see anything truthful about that day ever seeing the light of day.