JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2126
PRESIDENT KENNEDY HONORS VETS ON VETERAN'S DAYArlington, Virginia (JFK+50) Fifty-three years ago this morning, November 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited the National Cemetery to pay respects to the veterans of the military forces of the United States.
The President was accompanied by General David M. Shoup, Commander of the United States Marine Corps, the Honorable John S. Gleason, Jr, Administrator of Veterans Affairs, and his son, John F. Kennedy, Jr.
While JFK attended the ceremonies held at the Ampitheater and laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, young John waited in the car.
Thurston Clarke describes the scene..."It was an ideal day for a military pageant, with bright sunshine and a brisk wind snapping the flags."
Thurston Clarke describes the scene..."It was an ideal day for a military pageant, with bright sunshine and a brisk wind snapping the flags."
Clarke says that the President changed his mind about leaving his son alone in the car and told a Secret Service agent.. "I think he'll be lonely out there."Soon John John appeared. According to novemberdays1963..."(John John) marched up to his Dad...imitating him by walking with his hands clasped behind his back."
Thurston Clarke writes that later as JFK strolled down the rows of white tombstones with Hale Boggs, Representative from Louisiana, he said...
Thurston Clarke writes that later as JFK strolled down the rows of white tombstones with Hale Boggs, Representative from Louisiana, he said...
"This is one of the really beautiful places on earth. I could stay up here forever." Just two weeks later, on Monday, November 25, 1963, the 35th President of the United States would be laid to rest "forever" at that "really beautiful place."
SOURCES
SOURCES
JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President, by Thurston Clarke, The Penguin Press, New York, 2013.
www.jfklibrary.org
View of Washington, D.C.
From Arlington National Cemetery
Photo by John White (2016)
JFK at Veterans Day Ceremonies
Arlington, Virginia (11-11-63)
Photo by Cecil W. Stoughton
JFK Library Image
JFK at Arlington
Veterans Day 1963
Photo by Cecil Stoughton
JFK Library Image
John Jr. and JFK
November 11, 1963
Photo by Cecil Stoughton
JFK Library Image
