Hide Article Text (OCR)
THEY SAY:««* * **»I h»« In the guard' of honor at the president'* funeral, wrote Cadet Ed. Kemp of the marine corps. “H# got hack from Hyde Tark at 2 o'clock this morning. The whole thing was the biggest thrill I’ve ever experienced In my life. Of course I, along with about two billion other people throughout the world, wanvery dejected at the thought of losing our president, who beyond any shadow of doubt was the greatest man in the world, butsince It had to happen, I was honored to be at the funeral. It* something I’ll always remember and can tell my grandchildren.“We left Quantlco (400 of its who represented the entire marine corps) .Saturday morning. Thefuneral procession started at 10:00 and we marched right In front ofthe caisson that carried the president’s body. We had to march to Chopin’s f uneral March (The funeral dirge) and you can imagine what a Job It is marching in step at such a slow pare. , . .“The real thrill came Sunday though. We left behind the official train carrying the body Saturday night and got into Hyde Park Ktinday morning early. They took 100 of us (I was one of the hundred) and we lined the hedge covered shrine where the grave waa (Inside) and I was about 10feet from the gra\e. About »(Thoughts of Others)f*ED. HEMP.o’clock ail the big officials startedcoming In. Every big man in theworld waa there. It waa the Mg-gest collection of world diplomats that has ever been assembled. (McKenzie King, the prime minister of ( urada—President Truman and his family, the Russian and Chinese ambassadors. Anthony Eden, all the president’scabinet, congress and the senate, •II of Roosevelts family, including Eleanor, Elliott and Eala and allthe rest, any big shot you canthink of was there. I was posted•bout two feet from the entrance and some FBI man was telling uswho everybody was as they entered. lt;»eneral Marshall. Admiral King •Kd Admiral Leahy came with the family. I could see good and heard every 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 about 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 about the most thrilling tiling Itiat e\er happened to me. I was one of the few hundred people 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. Even the hours seem to drag by now. We took our last riam tonight and I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I’ll he to finish this program. I’ve got all my new uniforms finished and they sure arectaahf. . • •it
Newspaper Details
High Point Enterprise
High Point, North Carolina, US
Fri, Apr 20, 1945
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NC, USA 27 May 2021
Other Publications Near High Point, North Carolina
The Review
High Point Enterprise
