Carrickfergus Was Sung at JFK Jr's Burial

Who Is That Extra Child?

Beautiful Boy

Anthony and cousin Caroline 

Aunt Jackie

Anthony with unknown injury

Best Friends

Anthony and Caroline

Radziwill Family

Lee Radziwill-younger sister of Jackie

Best Man

As I looked through pictures of the Kennedys from the early sixties I kept coming across pictures of a cute little boy with dark hair. Who was this kid who wasn't John-John but was in photographs with Jackie? I found out it was Anthony Radziwill, son of Jackie's sister Lee. His father was Polish Prince Stanislas Radziwill. Anthony was very close to his aunt and cousins and became John-John's best friend. Anthony  became a respected television executive and filmmaker. He developed metastasized testicular cancer in his thirties and fought it for many years. Anthony served as John's best man at his secret wedding to Carolyn Bessette. Carol Radziwill, Anthony's wife, was one of the first to hear of John and Carolyn's disappearance  in the summer of 1999.  Anthony notified the family, spoke at the memorial service in the last stages of his cancer. A week after his best friend's burial at sea, Anthony passed away at age forty.

Camelot

Thoughts of the Sixties bring about thoughts of the Kennedys. The only thing I remember is the day John F. Kennedy died,  Friday November 22, 1963 at 12:30 PM.  I can remember sitting on the sofa while my mom put on my lacy socks when the special report came on. I was three almost four and should have been putting my own socks on. I was lazy or uncoordinated, I don't know which. My brother would have been at school and my sister a six-month-old,  probably napping. My memory is that I had on a yellow dress and was getting ready for the birthday party of a neighborhood kid. I may not be remembering it right because I'm not sure a birthday party would have been held on a Friday afternoon. I do remember my mom doing lots of shushing so she could hear the news report. As I grew up I was very interested in reading about the Kennedy kids and was very taken with John-John, who was my age. I think of Jackie, and I think of her marvelous sixties style. President Kennedy never made much of an impression on me. I guess he was gone before I was old enough to notice.

It's a 60's Thanksgiving

Burst of Joy

One of the most famous photos from the Vietnam War era was taken on March 17, 1973 at Travis Air Force Base in California by Sal Vedar. He won a Pulitzer Prize.

The Stirm family had not seen Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm for six years.  Stirm left for Vietnam in 1967 and flew 33 combat missions until he went down and was captured and held as a POW for 6 years. In one prison he shared a cell with John McCain. Col. Stirm arrived at the Air Force base while his family waited for him in their station wagon on the tarmac. He finished his speech and the family burst from the car to finally greet him. The oldest daughter Lorrie was the first to reach him followed by brother, Robert Jr.,  sister Cindy, mom Loretta and brother Roger.  Roger followed in his father's footsteps and became a Major in the Air Force.  Robert Jr. became a dentist, Lorrie an executive administrator and Cindy a waitress. Loretta and Robert were divorced within the year and both later remarried. What a bittersweet ending and an example of the devastating effects of war.

Remembering the Vietnam War on Veteran's Day

There were things in the Sixties that were whispered around the kids. The Vietnam War being one of them.  I remember watching Walter Cronkite every night. Cameras were there, up close and personal with soldiers making it the first and last war to be filmed on the battlefield. I remember some nights the soldiers looked like a group of friends hanging out on a Friday night and some nights THERE WOULD BE BLOOD. On those nights I would look away and hope that nobody would die. My grandmother had a grandchild there and I remember her being very worried, so I can remember adding my cousin's name to my prayers at night. There were boys lost in my small town. I didn't know any of them but I remember the adults talking about the devastated families. There was also talk of guys coming home and having trouble adapting to life out of the battle zones. I remember a lady in a store talking about her son sleeping on the floor because he could not get used to the comfort of his bed. I was not aware until the early seventies that there were people protesting the war. My cousin's class went on a field trip to Washington DC and one of the protesters put his sign down and SHE TOOK IT. She brought it home as a souvenir, I can't believe the teacher let her. The sign in big, black, block letters said" Make Love Not War".  That made an impression and in two years I was with that same cousin when the sirens rung, signifying the end of the Vietnam War.