http://www.9news.com/seenon9news
DENVER - Almost 50 years later, President John F. Kennedy's assassination remains as mysterious and controversial as the day it happened.
Although we've heard the story plenty of times, a new book tells it from a fresh point of view. The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence gathers together the memories of secret service agents who were at the president's side during his final hours. Two of those secret servicemen, Gerry Blaine and Clint Hill, sat down with 9NEWS at 8 a.m. to talk about the book.
"This is not based on theory. It's based on fact by the agents who participated, who were assigned to the president and from their viewpoint, their records, the reports and investigations," said Blaine, who co-wrote the book and currently lives in Denver.
Hill, who wrote the forward to Kennedy Detail, was assigned to protect Mrs. Kennedy that historic day in Texas, and he was the closest secret service agent to the Kennedys' car when the president was shot.
"I heard this explosive noise from the right rear. I scanned to my right to get to that noise. When I did that I had to look across the president's car and I saw him grabbing his throat," Hill said. "I knew something was wrong. He was in trouble so I jumped and ran to the President's car trying to get there so I could get on top between him and Mrs. Kennedy and the shooter, whoever it may have been."
By the time Hill was able to get onto the car, the president had already been shot at three times.
"There was a third shot that hit him in the head just above the right ear to the rear. [It] opened up enough of a wound so that the material spewed out over myself and the back of the car," Hill said.
Hill said at that point Mrs. Kennedy came out of the back of the car to try to retrieve some material that came off of president's head.
"She didn't even know I was there. I got off of the car, I pushed her back into the seat. He fell over to his left into her lap," Hill said.
At that point, Hill could see the damage was fatal.
"His right side of his head was up and exposed. I could see the hole in his head was about the size of my palm; almost all the brain material in that area was gone. It was all over the back of the car: blood, bone fragments," Hill said. "His eyes were fixed."
Despite all the conspiracy theories out there about the Kennedy assassination, both Blaine and Hill said they believed Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
"No doubt in my mind," Blaine said.
Hill says he feels a lot of guilt for the president's assassination.
"I was the only agent who had the chance to do something more because of the position I was in," Hill said. "I feel a great sense of responsibility for not being able to do more."
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