Last surviving witnesses of JFK assassination share memories on 60th anniversary

Just minutes after President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot as his motorcade rolled through downtown Dallas, Associated Press reporter Peggy Simpson rushed to the scene and immediately attached herself to the police officers who had converged on the Texas School Book Depository.

“I was sort of under their armpit,” Simpson said, noting that every time she was able to get any information from them, she would rush to a pay phone to call her editors, and then “go back to the cops”.

Simpson, now 84, is among the last surviving witnesses who are sharing their stories as the nation marks the 60th anniversary of the November 22, 1963, assassination on Wednesday.

“A tangible link to the past is going to be lost when the last voices from that time period are gone,” said Stephen Fagin, curator at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the story of the assassination from the Texas School Book Depository, where authorities found Lee Harvey Oswald's sniper's perch.

“So many of the voices that were here, even 10 years ago, to share their memories – law enforcement officials, reporters, eyewitnesses – so many of those folks have passed away," he said.

Simpson, former US Secret Service Agent Clint Hill and others are featured in “JFK: One Day in America”, a three-part series from National Geographic released this month that pairs their recollections with archival footage, some of which has been colorised for the first time. Director Ella Wright said that hearing from those who were there helps tell the “behind the scenes” story that augments archival footage.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)