JFK Assassination: Hundreds gather at Dealey Plaza to mark 60 years since president's death
DALLAS - Hundreds of people came to Dealey Plaza in Downtown Dallas on Wednesday to mark 60 years since President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
"I recall when it occurred I was in elementary school, recess as a matter of fact, teacher brought us all in," said David Douglas from Blue Ridge.
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dealey Plaza.
Some of the surviving witnesses of the assassination shared their stories on Wednesday afternoon.
Leslie French was 14 years old at the time.
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He says he was with a buddy, about 150 feet away from Kennedy when the shooting happened.
"Some were running, some were falling, some were standing there. We didn't know what to do," recalled French. "We didn't know what to do as two 14-year-olds, we ran towards the noise."
French said it was hard to tell where the shots were coming from since they echoed off the tall buildings downtown.
Not too far away was 12-year-old Mickey Castro.
He got a permission slip to leave school to attend the parade-like procession.
"We saw him. It was so friendly, I was cheering," Castro said.
Castro and his classmates left Downtown Dallas not knowing about the tragic events that unfolded minutes later.
"We stopped at a Dairy Queen, and we heard it on the radio," he recalled.
They immediately went back to school.
A local radio station was playing on the school intercom.
"I remember teachers crying," Castro said. "It was the longest day, but I can remember every second of that day."
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Castro and French were among the hundreds who gathered to commemorate the tragedy 60 years later.
"It was a dramatic moment and I remember we had school out the next day and watched everything on our black and white TV," said Douglas.
While the City of Dallas does not hold annual events at the plaza, there was a moment of silence Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., around the time of the fatal shooting.
Kennedy was officially pronounced dead a half hour later at Parkland Hospital.
"To the day I die, I'll never feel the high and the low in just a few minutes," said Castro.
The Sixth Floor Museum is featuring a new "Two Days in Texas" exhibit which shows new archives and items from Kennedy's trip to Texas in 1963.