Local honor guard member at JFK’s funeral speaks out 60 years after assassination

On this day, 60 years ago, on Nov. 22, 1963, America lost its 35th president. The assassination of John F. Kennedy shocked the world.

WINK News sat down with a Cape Coral man who stood at attention at our president’s procession.

“I didn’t think they were telling the truth,” said Francis Hercik, an honor guard member at JFK’s funeral. “I couldn’t understand why somebody would do that.”

Hercik doesn’t just remember where he was the day the president was assassinated. He remembers everything that happened next.

“I was basically standing at attention most of the time. We’re just part of an organization that was there to present care casket as nicely as possible, to give him as much credit, as he does deserve,” Hercik said.

Hercik said he wasn’t supposed to look, but he said First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was impossible to ignore as she walked by him, her hands gripping those of her children, John and Caroline.

“I never saw her cry because I think she has so much to do along the way to make this happen for her and her children, and I think she did a very nice job of taking care of the kids while that was happening,” Hercik said.

And while he was only 18 then, Hercik knew history was unfolding before his eyes.

“At that time in my life, to be at a funeral that is such a gigantic proportion and then to see the first lady and the children, that was explosive inside me. I really got– how do you put a feeling on that?”

Sixty years later, at his home in Cape Coral, Hercik hopes the country always reflects on this day and never forgets how a killer changed the course of history.