(Our neighbor Captain Mike Grove, USA, is leading the funeral cortege up Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, bringing President Kennedy’s remains to lie in state under the Capitol Dome. Photo AP).

Dawn is just coming up. I have to be at the farm, but I was not going to try to get there in the deep dark after Willow. The usual crowd was there, plus a few, and it was a grand time, once we got over the coverage of the anniversary, which naturally included dredging up the politics of that long-ago time. The reporting seemed to take a the line that that Dallas was somehow responsible for the actions of the Lone Deranged Gunman, if that is what it was and not something else even more monstrous.

I mentioned the other day that I don’t trust anything or anyone much since that day fifty years ago unless I have personal knowledge of the event, and even then I remain skeptical.

You see, there was more to it. The family who lived next to us on Chester Street were named The Groves- Don and Gladys. They had two kids- a daughter who was old enough to baby sit for us sometimes, and a son who had gone off to serve in the Army after graduating from high school and had an ROTC scholarship in college. Nice people- the families on the street all had kids and we played wherever we wanted.

It was with considerable pride that Don told Raven that his son Mike was serving with The Old Guard, the Third Infantry, the soldiers who manage the affairs of honor at Arlington National Cemetery. As the Captain commanding the

This is what is publicly known of Michael and his young family, largely culled from obituaries and now floating around on the Internet:

Michael D. Groves was born 19 August 1936 in Grabbingham (but some say Ann Arbor), Michigan. He went to Grabbingham High School and then Eastern Michigan University (1959) as an ROTC honor graduate, entering the service immediately upon graduation. He was said to be a close friend of JFK and occasionally babysat for John Jr.

As company commander of the Honor Guard Company, Groves directed military honors at JFK’s funeral on 25 November 1963. A week later, he died of a sudden heart attack (or some say poison) at the dinner table at his home in Arlington, Virginia.

I have no idea whether a young company-grade officer could actually have been a friend of the President, but it is possible that the Old Guard soldiers might be drafted to care for John-John and Catherine. But it certainly meant that our block in Michigan had a particular position of interest in the solemn ceremonies that attended the funeral of the slain president. One of us was actually part of it.

When the news came that Mike had succumbed to a heart attack shortly after the funeral, they chalked it up to stress, and that was the end of the matter, except for the grieving of the Groves clan.

So, imagine my surprise years later to run across this:

“JFK: The Dead Witnesses” by Craig Roberts and John Armstrong (1995), p. 3—“Captain Groves, who commanded the JFK Honor Guard for Kennedy’s funeral, died under mysterious circumstances seven days after the funeral. While eating dinner, he took a bite of food, paused briefly as a pained look came over his face, then passed out and fell face down into his plate. He died instantly. On December 12th, his possessions and mementos—which had been sent home to Michigan—were destroyed in a fire of mysterious origin. The Honor Guard, for some mysterious reason, had been practicing for a presidential funeral for three days before the assassination. Captain Groves was 27 years old at the time of this death. Cause of death: Unknown. Possibly poison.”

Possibly poison? Jesus, I thought. What complete horseshit. Maybe we all ought to just let the dead rest in peace.

John-with-an-H said he had had enough of all this conspiracy stuff for another fifty years last night.

I think I agree with him for once.

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
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