Washington [US], February 25: Former Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who tried to shield former US President John F. Kennedy and former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy during their shocking assassination in 1963, has died at the age of 93.
CBS reported on February 25 that former Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who threw himself into the arms of former US President John F. Kennedy during his assassination in 1963, has just passed away at the age of 93.
The Secret Service said Hill died on February 21 at his home in California and praised the former agent's "unwavering dedication and exceptional service" to the Kennedy family and four other presidents. The agency did not give a cause of death.
Mr. Hill was a member of the team protecting the late First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in Dallas (Texas) on November 22, 1963, when Mr. Kennedy was riding in an open-top car when he was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Hill was sitting in a car directly behind the presidential limousine and jumped behind Kennedy's car to try to shield himself and his wife. Hill was 31 at the time.
"I wish I had reacted a little faster," Mr Hill later told the media. The tragic moment was captured in a photo showing Mr Hill climbing into the back of the president's car.
He shielded the bodies of Mr. Kennedy and his wife during the trip to the hospital, where the president was pronounced dead.
Mr Hill retired from the Secret Service at the age of 43 and has written several books, including about the assassination, an event he said was "seared into my mind and soul".
"In the blink of an eye, everything changed. Those days remain the defining period of my life," he wrote. Another book, recounts his mission to protect the late presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Just two days after the assassination of President Kennedy, the perpetrator Oswald was shot dead by a nightclub owner named Jack Ruby while being escorted by police to a car to be transferred to a prison.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper