Nov. 25, 1963: During the Internment of Lee Harvey Oswald, Reporters Were Enlisted to Act as Pallbearers

This black and white photograph taken by Gene Gordon, the chief photographer of the Fort Worth Press, of the funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald. The funeral took place at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth, Texas on Monday, November 25, 1963. Pallbearers carry Oswald’s casket to the gravesite. Reporters were asked to serve as pallbearers because there were not enough funeral attendees. Three of the pallbearers are unidentified: the man in front in the foreground wearing glasses; the man at the back end of the casket wearing glasses, and the man concealed by the first unidentified man. The other reporters are: Mike Cochran, Associated Press (AP); Ed Horn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jerry Flemmons; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jon “Bunky” McConal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Preston McGraw, United Press International (UPI).

Due to a lack of family and friends in attendance at his funeral, the pallbearer’s of Lee Harvey Oswald’s casket were reporters. November 25, 1963

On November 25, 1963, the nation’s gaze was transfixed by the horse-drawn caisson and final burial of President John F. Kennedy. But in the shadow of this grim but stirring procession—on that same Monday—Lee Harvey Oswald was quietly buried in Fort Worth, Texas.

Oswald’s wife Marina, two daughters, brother Robert and mother Marguerite were the only mourners. The public was prohibited from Rose Hill Cemetery, and no friends or other relatives showed up. To avoid argument, the gravediggers were told they were digging a hole for “William Bobo.”

As Secret Service, FBI agents, and a heavy police guard stood watch, seven newsmen serving as volunteer pallbearers carried the pine coffin to the grave. Before the casket was lowered, the lid was opened for the family to see Oswald’s face one last time. As UPI reporter Preston McGraw noted, "One at a time, quickly, the two women bent down and kissed the corpse." 

Two Lutheran ministers had agreed to conduct the service at the request of the Reverend Louis Saunders, an interdenominational Christian minister. But both reneged after learning that the funeral would be outside by the grave rather than in a chapel, fearing the potential threat of snipers. Saunders, who came as an observer, was asked by Marguerite to officiate.

The Oswald family sit next to Lee Harvey Oswald’s casket.

Former AP reporter Mike Cochran recalled serving as pallbearer for Lee Harvey Oswald:

“With no mourners around to serve as pallbearers, it was a task that fell to me and a few other reporters covering the funeral of John F. Kennedy’s assassin. Fifty years later, I remain a reluctant and minor footnote in American history...

“I arrived to discover dozens of police and federal agents, writers and photographers, but no mourners waiting to bid Oswald goodbye or good riddance. A police escort delivered Oswald’s casket in the early afternoon. Much later, officers arrived with his family.

“No one else would follow; even the minister failed to show. Shaking his head ever so slightly, Jerry Flemmons of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram turned to me and said, ‘Cochran, if we’re gonna write a story about the burial of Lee Harvey Oswald, we’re gonna have to bury the son of a bitch ourselves.’

“Sure enough, officials asked the gathered reporters to serve as pallbearers. I was among the first they asked, my reply not just ‘No!’ but ‘Hell no!’ Then Preston McGraw of United Press International stepped forward and volunteered, and with my top competition for scoops accepting the duty, I realized my error and joined McGraw and other reporters.

“The ceremony itself was as brief as it was simple. The Rev. Louis Saunders, executive secretary of the Fort Worth Council of Churches, had been drafted to fill in for the missing minister. His words — ‘we are not here to judge, only to commit for burial Lee Harvey Oswald’ — were barely audible, mingled with muffled sobs by Oswald’s mother and widow. Her eyes red and swollen, Marina Oswald stepped beside her husband’s casket and quietly whispered something.

“Not long after the nation’s slain president was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with tearful family members and millions of television viewers around the world looking on, Oswald’s body was lowered into his grave at 4:28 p.m.”