The Unique Burial of Lee Harvey Oswald
The burial of Lee Harvey Oswald took place under peculiar and understated circumstances on 25 November 1963 at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth, Texas. With few mourners present, the modest ceremony reflected the infamy surrounding Oswald's name and the isolation of his family in the wake of national tragedy. Reporters covering the event were asked to serve as pallbearers, as there were not enough attendees to carry the casket to its grave.
Among them were Mike Cochran of the Associated Press (AP), Ed Horn and Jerry Flemmons of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jon "Bunky" McConal of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Preston McGraw of United Press International (UPI). Three individuals serving as pallbearers remain unidentified: a man in the foreground wearing glasses, another man at the rear of the casket also wearing glasses, and a third obscured behind the first.
The same day that John F Kennedy was laid to rest, 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 the chance of no grave being dug, 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."
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.”