Ich bin ein Berliner -- JFK Assassinated 45 Years Ago Today



    JF Kennedy said "Ich bin ein Berliner." Could be either "I am a native of Berlin" or "I am a jelly doughnut." Berliners knew what he was talking about.



    Some say this was when "the 60s" began and gave rise to the social and musical movements that included the Stones.


    While I have lots of personal, dark, morbid memories of that day and those that followed emblazoned into my memory forever, I prefer to think of something quite powerful and a little more hopeful that I just read today:



    This country changed forever on that day. When we tried to pick up the pieces in 1968 and move forward, again we were body slammed. After that we just became numb. We consoled ourselves with material things, and passing time. Now we are awakened once again. This time, God help us, we will not be denied our due.



    So, any memories or thoughts?




    plexi

    am 25.6.63 war er in Frankfurt und hielt in der Paulskirche eine Rede, draussen hat ihn irgendein Bekannter meiner Eltern fotografiert, das Bild habe ich in meinem Album.
    Das Orginalbild ist in der Qualität viel besser als der Scan.



    I can still remember that day, 45 years ago. We lived on the outskirts of a big city. Extra leaves of the local paper were distributed in the main shopping street, announcing the assassination of President Kennedy. Many people were crying (-> the Berlin speech); the atmosphere was one of public grief.
    Translation by daughter!

    I was age 6, in the first grade at Sacred Heart Grammar (elementary) School in old east Sacramento. Almost all of the teachers were Irish Catholic nuns, Sisters of Mercy and natives of Ireland.


    Don't forget that Kennedy was Irish-American and the first Catholic to be elected president.


    So, obviously among the students and teachers, and Irish priests of the parish, he was highly regarded.


    My recall is that in the afternoon someone came into class or something and said the president was shot or killed, forget which exactly. A good friend of mine all thru school, now having joined JFK in those who have left us, remembered us as being told "the president is sick."


    In any event, all the classes went to the gymn to pray. Don't remember much more from that day, but over the next few days, we were constantly watching television. I remember the plane bearing his casket flying in from Dallas to DC, the unloading of the coffin from the plane (Andrews AF Base??), Jacqueline accompanying him all the way.


    The huge newspaper headlines in the Sacramento Bee, and more TV. Oswald gunned down. The lying in state in the rotunda of the capitol while huge crowds of mourners filed past, and then the Kennedy family -- Jackie, Caroline (the only one still alive today) and John John (John Jr.).


    Jackie in her widower's thin black veil going down over her face.


    The day of the funeral, the caisson and honor guard. Whenever I see a flag draped American coffin today, my mind alway goes to and associates that with Kennedy. The crowds and the silence. The procession to Arlington. And the drums, oh lord the drums, that cadence and that specific drum beat, over and over and over, seared into my mind forever, can still hear it today.


    The graveside at Arlington, John John saluting his father's casket, and eventually the flame, the ever eternal flame.


    I can remember that soon after, the entire first grade class and I suppose many others all had to write a condolence card to Caroline. Dear Caroline ... I am very sorry about your father. He was a great man ....