As America begins a month-long outpouring of remembrances on the 50th anniversary of the shooting of President John F Kennedy, a deputy sheriff who was in Dallas on November 22 1963 recalls finding the rifle that killed the president.
The shots that rang out across Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas 50 years ago were reverberating around the world within minutes, a defining moment of the 20th century as television news came of age.
It was with the assassination of President John F Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963, that people first asked: "Where were you when you heard the news?" The moon landing, the death of Princess Diana and the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 are probably the only rivals for posing that question.
But for a small group, there was no need to hear of his killing as they were there that day when the tragedy unfolded in Texas -- not just as witnesses to history, but chance participants in it.
There was the deputy sheriff who found the rifle that killed the president; the nurse who checked in vain for Kennedy's vital signs when he was rushed into hospital and offered comfort to his widow; the television newsman who unwittingly passed the sniper as he fled the scene; and the car salesman who was late for a date with a girlfriend when he was hit by debris from a bullet fired at the president and is now a leading Kennedy conspiracy theorist.
They have told their stories of that day's momentous events to The Sunday Telegraph as America begins a month-long outpouring of remembrances and a barrage of books about the dashing young president cut down in front of his beautiful socialite wife Jackie.
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