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THEY SAY:(Thoughts of Others)M ... I us* In the guard nf honor st the president’* funeral, wrote Cadet Ed. Itcmp of thr marine corps. W’e got hark from Hjrdl Park st 2 ©’clock this morning. Thi* whole thing nw the biggest thrill I’ve ever experi-wjitd in my life. Of course I, slong with shout two billion other people throughout the world, wsavery dejected st the thought oflosing our president, who beyond snv shadow of doubt wsa the greatest msn In the world, butsince It hsd to happen. I was honored to be at the funeral. Its something I’ll always remember and can tell my grandchildren.We left Quantleo lt;400 of 11* who represented the entire marine corps) Saturday morning. The funeral procession started at 10:00 and we marched right In front of the caisson that carried the president’s body. He had to march toChopin’s Funeral March (The funeral dirge) and you can imagine what a job it fa marching In step at *uch a slow pace. « • .The real thrill came Sunday though. We left behind the official train carrying the body Saturday night and got into Hyde Park Sunday morning early. They took 100 of us (I was one of the hundred) and we lined the hedge covered shrine where the grave was (Inside) and I was ahout 10 feet from the graie. About 9o’clock all the big officials startedcoming In. Every big man in the world was there. It was the biggest collection of world diplomatsthat has ever been assembled.(McKenzie King, the prime minister of Cucada—President Truman and his family, the Kusslan and Chinese ambassadors. Anthony Eden, all the president’scabinet, congress and the senate, all of Roosevelts family, including Eleanor, Elliott and Fala and all the rest, any big shot you can think nf was there. I was posted •bout two feet from the entrance and some FBI man was telling us who everybody was as they entered. (ieneral Marshall, Admiral King and Admiral Leahy came with the family. I could see good and heard e%ery word of the service. Mr. Stone, chief justice of the supreme court, and Lord Halifax of England, stood within arms length of me during the service. All In all there were ahout two or three hundred people inside the shrine not counting the sen Icemen who lined the Inside shoulder to shoulder. The West Point hand was there and the music was beautiful. There must have been several tons of flowers there and I wish you could have seen them.It was ahout the most thrilling thing that eter happenrd to *ne. I was one nf the few hundredpeople who had an inside place at the funeral of one of the greatest men that ever lived. . . .In ten days I’ll he an officer. Exen the hours seem to drag hy now. We took our last exam tonight and I can’t begin to tell you how relieved PH he to finish this program. I’ve got all my new uniforms finished and they sure are classy . ...
Newspaper Details
High Point Enterprise
High Point, North Carolina, US
Fri, Apr 20, 1945
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NC, USA 26 May 2021
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