Clint Hill dies at 93

[Briar Lee]

Associated Press

Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who leaped onto the back of President John F. Kennedy’s limousine after the president was shot, then was forced to retire early because he remained haunted by memories of the assassination, has died. He was 93.

Hill died Friday at his home in Belvedere, California, according to his publisher, Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. A cause of death was not given.

Although few may recognize his name, the footage of Hill, captured on Abraham Zapruder’s chilling home movie of the assassination, provided some of the most indelible images of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

Hill received Secret Service awards and was promoted for his actions that day, but for decades blamed himself for Kennedy’s death, saying he didn’t react quickly enough and would gladly have given his life to save the president.

Xxx

I was 5 years old, when I wanted to grow up to be Clint Hill.

Words fail.

Non ministrari, sed ministrare

 

[VDL_Piper]

Probably one of a handful of people who actually knew what happened and how.

 

[huntertrw]

May God bless Mr. Hill and those like him.

 

[Briar Lee]

Probably one of a handful of people who actually knew what happened and how.

His words:

“I only know of three shots, and I only heard two,” Hill said. “I started to run toward the presidential car. That put me in a line between the president's car and the follow-up car, running in between a motorcycle on the left and a car I was riding on the right and they told me later that there was a shot fired at that time, but I couldn't hear because of the engine noises of the motorcycle and the car.

“So, I get up on it [running at full speed] just to approach the back of the presidential vehicle when he gets hit in the head and that, you know, it's just horrendous. Mrs. Kennedy all of a sudden turns and comes up onto the trunk. She's grasping at some of that material. I grabbed her, put her back in the seat. And when I did that, then his body fell farther to its left. His head ended up in her lap. His face was cut off. I could see his eyes. They were fixed. There was a hole in the skull about the size of my palm. There was nothing there. The brains were gone. Everything was just ... I assumed he was dead at that time.”

Xxxx

Ever the team player, Hill only heard two shots and deferred to others of the Phantom Shot.

Lee Harvey Oswald Only Fired Two Shots, Argues Author Mike Majerus in New Book PHANTOM SHOT

/PRNewswire/ -- Lee Harvey Oswald only fired two shots at President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, according to a new book, PHANTOM SHOT. This is different than...

www.prnewswire.com

I can remember those old preachers leaning low over the pulpit, right into your eyes, and in almost a whisper, ask—-


Can you do what Clint Hill did?

Can you run to trade your life for another?

Somehow, I thought Clint Hill would live forever.

Now he joins Captain Thomas Benton Weir, wherever in heaven he roams.

Thomas Weir (American soldier) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[huntertrw]

In September of 2001 I was in Dallas, Texas to attend the national sales meeting of the pharmaceutical company for which I worked. One evening a group of us went out to dinner and then walked from the restaurant to Dealey Plaza, the site of President Kennedy's assassination. There is still something about that place, and to be honest being there that night made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, The next day was Tuesday, September 11th.

 

[Richmond B. Funkenhouser]

I guess once all these people die off they might tell us part of the truth about what actually happened.

 

[Briar Lee]

In September of 2001 I was in Dallas, Texas to attend the national sales meeting of the pharmaceutical company for which I worked. One evening a group of us went out to dinner and then walked from the restaurant to Dealey Plaza, the site of President Kennedy's assassination. There is still something about that place, and to be honest being there that night made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, The next day was Tuesday, September 11th.

In 1987 my first wife and my son and I flew to Dallas to see if Dr Adrain Flat would operate on my son’s arms, to correct VATER. He referred us to the Louisville Hand Clinic where he received wonderful care.

I wish I’d read Phantom Shot. I assumed there were three shots, not two.

The Texas School Book Depository was closed for renovations.

But I got to see all the rest.

Oswald almost chickened out and went home to Marina. The best shot was right at, or before the corner.

But if Oswald had, Clint Hill would have ran straight to the Depository.

Oswald wanted get away with it.

 

[Briar Lee]

I guess once all these people die off they might tell us part of the truth about what actually happened.

The best truth we will ever know, is Oswald fetched his Carcano on Thursday night from Mrs Paine’s garage south of Dallas.

She’s still alive.

Ruth Paine - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The house is sort of a shrine.

Ruth Paine Home - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Oswald got his job at the Depository and was supervised by Buell Westley Fraizer, also still alive and giving speeches.

Living History: 60th Anniversary of the JFK Assassination with Buell Frazier and Michael Donahue

www.bellcountymuseum.org

Marina is still alive.

Marina Oswald Porter - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The most famous living person from Humansville is one of my mother’s students Distinguished Professor Emeritus Doctor Alonzo L Hamby.

Alonzo Hamby - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

My mother said Lonnie Hamby made her feel stupid when he was in the third grade.

Lonnie and I talk occasionally.

He claims the mass delusion there was a conspiracy involving JFK in Dallas is the genesis for all the distrust in government and all our American institutions since.


But talking with him makes me feel dumber than my mother.

But of all those very real and ordinary people involved, only Clint Hill ran towards the danger.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

"A sloped roof"

 

[Briar Lee]

"A sloped roof"

Two thirds of Americans still wrongly believe Oswald did not act alone, and I used to be one of them.

But after I visited Dallas I realized I was wrong.

Yes, the grassy knoll would be a good place for a second shooter, had there been one.

But he’d have been seen before he took a shot. If he’d gotten off a shot they’d have caught him or shot him, like they did when a guy on a slightly sloped roof took several shots at Trump.

Texas preserves the Sixth Floor as a museum.

Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The worst part about America’s lingering obsession with November 22, 1963 in Dallas is there are copycats likely inspired by it.

We may have seen the last open air speech by any president.

To Billy Dixon proof a President requires a security zone of farther than a half mile.

Billy Dixon - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

If he’s enclosed, it’s easier to scan the crowd, and if a waiter like Sirhan Sirhan does manage to kill him, he’ll be instantly caught.

Sirhan Sirhan - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Rosie Grier got him within seconds.

Rosey Grier - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org