Engineer Memoirs
He suggested I go to the cathedral and rope off a section. Some advice! My big problem became
getting a piece of rope. At Saint Patrick's Cathedral I met a member of the church staff, and I told
him what I needed. So I roped off a section of enough seats and went on my way.
Well, this had taken pretty much the day. Next, I arranged for five buses to bring the delegation
from the airport and soon realized I had another big problem-where to park them near the
cathedral. Around 10 o'clock at night I called Mayor John Lindsay's office. He was there, it
turned out, and I was passed to the chief of police. I was told to get a piece of rope and block off
five spaces on 1st Street, which is alongside Saint Patrick's. So I did the rope trick again.
We finally got the congressmen and their wives into the church and everything went fine. The
members of Congress thought it was well planned! All reserved areas remained intact, and the
members of Congress and their spouses were seated without incident.
a very emotional service, if you recall. Originally, I had planned
Finally, the service was
to come back on the train, but I decided I would fly back down to Washington to help General
Penney get ready for the interment.
When we were ready to board the airplane, Senator [Howard] Cannon, Nevada, a major general
in the Air Force Reserve, was absent. Senator [Everett] Dirksen, Senator McClellan, and their
wives were hot and perspiring. So we decided to depart and have Senator Cannon follow in the
standby aircraft.
Once we landed at Andrews and the congressional people were on their way to town, I waited
until the second plane arrived with Senator Cannon aboard to explain that I regretted leaving him
but we couldn't wait any longer in New York. He was satisfied with the decision and indicated
he would have been embarrassed if the group had had to wait for him.
I'm sure you recall that the train bringing the body struck a boy in New Jersey and was delayed
P.M. or
P.M., it was about
about six hours. Instead of getting to D.C. around
P.M.
In the meantime, we had to change our plans from a daytime to a nighttime interment.
Consequently, we needed hundreds of candles. Well, where do you find so many candles after
6:00 P.M.? Finally, I called the cathedral, and with their help and others we were able to round
up enough candles. The hot, rainy, damp night plus the emotional situation caused several people
to faint. General Penney and I each carried ammonia capsules for those who needed them.
In the summer of 1968, Mr. [Ralph] Abernathy and his Freedom Marchers and also Mr.
Chavez and the lettuce and vegetable people from California were in town. Requests came from
Chavez and from Abernathy to bring their people to the grave site. They were accommodated,.
As it happened, the Penneys weeks earlier had scheduled a party that night. We finally got to his
house at 1 o'clock in the morning. Everybody was gone except Gerry and his wife.
Well, that was the Legislative Liaison, except for one other event. I had been a colonel by then
seven years and, having missed a couple of opportunities to be a general, I figured I wasn't
to make it.
I had not been looking for a job, but sometime in February 1968, Bob Kerr, Senator Kerr's oldest
son, came to see me and asked me if I would like to be the director of the Kerr Foundation out
in Oklahoma. Don McBride, my old friend, had come along, and I told them I was very interested.
I also explained, because I'd gone to the University of Pittsburgh, I had a commitment to
in service for two years or until October 1968. Bob said fine.
In March 1968, Howard Penney came to me one day and announced that I had been selected for
brigadier general. When the brigadier general nomination evolved, I had to decide whether to take
68
Previous Page
