TSBD Encirclement & Sealing.... Who? When? Where? Why? How?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

H.B. McLain    Larry Sneed    University of North Texas Press   Chapter   View Citation
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H.B. McLAIN Solo Motor cycle Officer Dallas Police Department "Unfortunately all their accusations that it was my microphone that was stuck open and the shots were heard on it were printed in the newspapers, and it'll be that way from now on. They'll never be convinced otherwise, regardless ofwhat I say... " Born in the piney woods of East Texas in Nacogdoches County, H.B. McLain moved to Dallas in 1942, attended high school for six weeks, then joined the Merchant Marines during the Second World War.
After joining the Dallas Police Department in 1953, he worked in the Patrol and Burglary and Theft Divisions until he became a solo motorcycle officer in November 1955. McLain was one of the escort officers in the motorcade on November 22, 1963. It was a hazy morning as we went out to Love Field to wait for the President to come in. When we arrived, we parked our motorcycles on the outside of the fenced area until he arrived. Then, as the motorcade began, we met it at the gate and came on out. The escort route had been picked out for him by the Tactical Group. Normally we had done our own scheduling, but they took it upon themselves this time. It was rather unusual because they had people working in positions they didn't normally work. We usually rode side by side with the senior man riding on the left and the junior man on the right. In this case, they had it reversed.
 H. B. MeL A IN, MOT 0 R eye L E 163          My assignment was to ride alongside the procession mostly between the President's car and the press buses five or six cars behind the President on the left side. There was nothing extra special about the escort as we had done many of them. It was routine. Our job was to keep the pedestrians back out of the way so they didn't get run over. We'd just ride alongside, and if anybody was too close, we'd tell them to move back. If that didn't work, we might bump them. There were a lot of people along the motorcade route, especially in the downtown area from Akard to Houston Streets.
When I made the turn onto Houston on the left side, we had caught up with the cars in front of us, and I had stopped right by the side of the entrance to the old jail, which is about midway between Main and Elm Streets on Houston. I heard one very clear shot. Evidently I must have felt like it was coming from straight ahead because at that instant I was looking down, and when I heard the shot, threw my head up and it appeared that about 5,000 pigeons flew out from behind that building (the Texas School Book Depository) straight ahead. In fact, I thought to myself, "Somebody's shooting at the pigeons!" But I could see the limousine off to my left on Elm and saw Mrs. Kennedy crawling on the back of the car. I had a good idea that somebody had been shot at but didn't know which one.
About that time the chief came on the radio and said, "Get to Parkland Hospital!" and the race was on. As I sped through Dealey Plaza, the only thing I noticed was Hargis with his motorcycle laid down crawling on his hands and knees across the grassy knoll. I didn't have any idea what he was doing. You think maybe he might have fallen or that he lost his footing when he stepped off and slipped on the grass.
In any case, I caught up with and got in front of the limousine on Stemmons somewhere around Continental. The ride was wild! You know in your mind that you're going way too fast, but if you slow down or fall, the cars behind are going to run over you. But you don't think about those things, though, at the time; it's all instinct.
We had to slow down when we got off Stemmons at Industrial. Along Industrial there was a railroad track which was located on a small incline some twenty to thirty feet before we were to hit
164 NO MORE SILENCE           Harry Hines Boulevard. Chaney, myself and another officer went airborne up the incline, hit the ground, and made the sharp left onto Hines. When we arrived at...

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

W.G. Lumpkin   Larry Sneed   University of North Texas Press   Chapter   View Citation
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W.G. "BILL" LUMPKIN Solo Motorcycle Officer Dallas Police Depar tment "We were going fast, very fast! I'm going to say we might have hit speeds up to 80-85 MP.H on Stemmons... ! saw the limousine behind us, and ! noticed this Secret Service man hanging on the back of it with his coat hanging, and ! was amazed that he could hang on....
When we got to Hines, there was a railroad track, and! know that! got airborne....! knew that if! went down I'd probably get run over... "
Born and raised in Avery, Texas, Bill Lumpkin worked at General Dynamics as an aircraft electrician after serving a hitch in the military. He joined the Dallas Police Department in 1953 and was assigned as one of the lead motorcycle officers in the Kennedy motorcade. I don't know what time we went to work that day. I remember having a detail with all the squads of the motor jockeys together, and we were all given our assignments. We knew the route and where we were going and approximately how long we were going to be. We were told what to do in case things happened, what hospital to go to if an emergency came up. That would be the only time we would use the siren.
I was one of the people that led the parade along with Leon Gray, Ellis, and McBride. There were quite a few of us in the parade, but some of the motor jockeys weren't assigned to the parade. Some of them were sent to stand-by stations. It wasn't
W. G. L UM P KIN, MOT 0 R eye L E 155            considered necessarily an honor; you just did what they told you. I escorted a lot of parades, so it was just an assignment. Probably if I hadn't been in the parade, my feelings would have been hurt. But we used to have a lot of parades in town and there had been times when the other jockeys had gone out of town on assignments, and I'd stayed in to lead a parade because I had done it so many times. I was used to doing it.
There was nothing special about that particular morning. We spit and polished our equipment and our uniforms and were told to assemble at Love Field. There were a lot of folks there, a lot of folks! We had no problems with the parade except one time, I believe, the President got out of the car on Lemmon. The Secret Service got on the back end and proceeded again. When you lead a parade, you limit your speed to whatever speed they want to go. And so we really had to keep our eye on his vehicle by turning around and looking because he was slowing down. My job in leading the parade was to make sure the crowd was back out of the street in front, and then, of course, you alert the officers up on the parade route that the parade is behind you. But the main thing is, when you're four abreast like that, you keep the street clear for the parade. You look back and try to be sure that the parade is in a group, that it hadn't straggled out. And you can slow them down for that. But nothing stands out. It was just a presidential motorcade.
We were in front of the President's car when the shooting took place. We were stopped on Elm Street between Houston Street and the Triple Underpass. There were only three of us at the time. McBride had already gone over to Stemmons to notify them that we were getting ready to come through since they were going to close Stemmons northbound. Sergeant Ellis had asked him to go on up and notify them that we were en route.
But we had turned off of Main Street onto Houston for one block, then over to Elm Street, then turned back left, and we were stopped at the time before we heard the shots. When the shots occurred, I thought it was a motorcycle backfiring. The motors were running really hot because we had been going slowly for so long. They would have a tendency to backfire when they were running hot, and running slow for a long period would cause them to run hot.
156 NO MORE SILENCE         I heard three distinct bangs with none of them...

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Stavis Ellis       Larry Sneed        University of North Texas Press     Chapter   View Citation
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STAVIS "STEVE" ELLIS Solo Motorcycle Officer Dallas Polic e Department "Sarge, the President's hit!... Hell, he's dead! Man, his head's blown off..!"
Born in 1918 in Laredo, Texas, and raised in San Antonio, "Steve" Ellis' graduated from Brackinridge High School and later attended college in the military. During the Second World War, he joined the National Guard and served as an MP.
Ellis began his career with the Dallas Police Department in 1946 as a patrolman and became a solo motorcycle officer fifteen months later with promotion to sergeant in 1952. Sergeant Ellis was the officer in charge of the motorcycle escort for the motorcade through Dallas. I always liked riding motorcycles and had ridden them half way around the world in the Army. I guess I liked that kind of work. You work on your own; you're out there by yourself; you
 • The name Stavis has been a curiosity to a number of researchers, including the author. Sergeant Ellis's father was a Greek immigrant who entered Ellis Island at the age of thirteen. His surname, He1iopoulis, was eventually changed to Ellis either as a shortened version of Heliopoulis or for Ellis Island itself. Stavis is the Anglicized derivation of the Greek "Stavros," while "Steve," as Ellis is known to his friends, is the Americanized version of Stavis.
STA VIS ELLIS, MOTORCYCLE 143            don't have a partner that will do the driving for you. When I was a kid, my father owned a restaurant in San Antonio just a block or so from the Municipal Auditorium. Whenever the San Antonio police officers came to work traffic in and around the auditorium, they'd stop by the restaurant and drink coffee with my dad. Since I was there quite often, they became my idols. That's why I had it in my mind to become a motorcycle officer, and it's what I did for almost thirty-one years.
The motorcade assignments were, I believe, made up by Captain Lawrence and Chief Lunday. I'm just guessing at that because Lawrence had been making up all the assignments, and they'd ask me a question or two about who should be put here or there in the motorcade. I recommended the four guys that I had to ride immediately to the rear of the President's car: Chaney, Hargis, Martin, and Jackson because they made a neat appearance, and I knew that I could count on them and the job would be done properly. That morning was rainy. It wasn't raining hard, but hard enough in riding your motorcycle that you needed a rain suit. So, as we left the garage on our Harleys, we put our rain suits on and headed out to Love Field where we racked our motorcycles and waited for the motorcade to begin. A few minutes after we arrived, the rain quit, the sun came out, and we pulled our rains suits off and put them in the saddle bags.
Kennedy had arrived but there was a bit of a holdup. There was a huge crowd and he wasn't ready to go right away as he had walked over to a little fence and was talking to everybody and shaking hands. Some of the Secret Service boys seemed worried about this while other agents were taking the bullet proof top off the car. When that had been rolled up, he got in, and we took off on the escort. We didn't have any idea that anything was going to happen. Our job was to look for any kind of interruption en route: maybe some radical might run out and holler or otherwise try to stop the motorcade. We were always on the alert for that and were prepared to take quick action to get them out of the way.
I was in charge of the actual escort of the President's car. All the other officers had their assignments, but some were just assigned to us as surplus. At the airport, Chief Curry told me, "Look, you see that double-deck bus up there? That's full of news
144 NO MORE SILENCE            media. Now they've got to get to the Mart out there where the President is going to talk, but we don't want them messing up this motorcade. Just give them one of your men back there and tell him to escort them there on time but to keep them out of the...

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Bobby Joe Dale   Larry Sneed   University of North Texas Press   Chapter  View Citation
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BOBBY JOE DALE Solo Motor cycle Officer
"I caught up to the limousine on Stemmons somewhere around Continental....
Your mind runs wild at a time like that. Maybe he's hit; if he is, maybe it's an impersonator. Maybe it's not really happening....Your mind just runs loose..!" Born and raised in Dallas, Bobby Joe Dale served in the Navy as a boiler man during the Korean Conflict. Following his discharge in 1953, Dale considered working in boiler shops, but remembering the heat involved with the job, he instead joined the Dallas Police Department in 1954 as a patrolman. By 1960 he transferred to solo motorcycles and was part of the motorcycle escort for President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
Two or three days prior to the President's visit we'd ridden with the Secret Service checking to see where the turns and problem areas might be. We had three possible routes, but we didn't know which one we were going to take, and we were not briefed on it. But by riding during the week, I kept hearing the phrase "escape routes," which dawned on me later that should something happen to any part of the motorcade we had an escape route to either Baylor or Parkland Hospitals. I was impressed with the details in covering all emergencies should they arise.
I assume the assignments were drawn up in a joint meeting of the sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. We had our assignments prior to the 22nd. It was to be a routine escort with experienced riders. At the time, I didn't consider it an honor to be included
BOBBY JOE DALE, MOTORCYCLE 133           since I had been on VIP escorts several times in the past. To me it was just another assignment. That particular morning it was raining and everybody had on their rain gear, so it really didn't matter whether your boots were polished or shined. Everybody was either assigned to the escort or at Market Center whether you were working late nights, evenings, or whatever. We all assembled at the motorcycle shed at the police department downtown; those of us who were in the escort were to meet at Love Field at a particular time. We rode casually out to Love Field in groups of four or five together riding slowly since it was raining and we were being careful. While we were waiting in the restricted area at Love Field for the plane to arrive, it cleared off, the streets dried, and everybody came out of their rain gear.
Once we were assembled and the President was ready to go, we started the motorcade by going out a gate at the far end. At that time, we didn't know which route we were taking; we had three: right, straight, or left.
As we were leaving, the word came over the radio that we would use the particular route that went left. As soon as we heard that, we knew where we were going. That meant that we would hit Mockingbird at the entrance to Love Field, make a left and go up to Lemmon Avenue, then tum right to Cedar Springs, which then changes names to Turtle Creek, then Harwood to Main. They seemed to be concerned with the timing element in this motorcade more so than in others I had been in. Time was given continually over the radio to check the progress of the motorcade. We'd give a certain check point and time was given. We were held up a little as we got to Lemmon and Lorna Alto, and after this was cleared, we were told that we were running forty-five seconds to a minute behind, so we picked it up a little to be on schedule. There was no reason given for the concern about time but, in retrospect, probably what they were doing was trying to shuffle those with multiple assignments so they could cover those assignments.
Nothing was noteworthy about the motorcade; it was jovial and everybody seemed happy till we got to Lemmon and Lorna Alto. There the crowd was lining the sidewalks and seemed to move in, narrowing the street, creating congestion. People ran to the car to greet the President once it slowed down which created a
134 NO MORE SILENCE             nuisance for us because we had a schedule to keep. It was about that time it dawned on me just how important he was. My particular assignment was behind the President...

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

James W. Courson          Larry Sneed         University of North Texas Press      Chapter  View Citation
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JAMES W. COURSON Solo Motor cycle Officer Dallas Police Department "We were taught in the Marine Corps on the rifle range to count your shots, then on the police department the same thing on the pistol range: count your shots! That's one reason that I know there were three shots, and they probably came from the same gun..."
Jim Courson served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War and joined the Dallas Police Department after his discharge in 1954. Two years later, in 1956, he became a solo motorcycle officer and was assigned to escort the Kennedy motorcade on November 22, 1963. The Kennedy motorcade was much the same as many others which I had escorted. We went to work fairly early that morning and spent a lot of time getting our equipment shined and polished since we always wanted to look sharp on those escorts. At that time, we were riding Harley-Davidsons, which was a tradition with the police department. We were given our assignments that morning through our sergeant which had been coordinated between the Secret Service and the police department. It had been raining that morning, so we had to wear our yellow slicker rain gear out to the airport. Just as we pulled in to Love Field and just as the plane arrived, the sun came through making for a beautiful day. We then stripped off the rain gear and put them in our saddle bags.
128 NO MORE SILENCE               After the President had met with many in the large crowd, we all left the airport, made a left tum on Mockingbird Lane, then a right on Lemmon Avenue. There were people scattered all along the route. In the early stages of the escort, they were not big crowds, but as the sirens were heard, businesses let their employees out and it appeared to be a good tum out. It was all fairly routine for us. The motorcycle officers were concerned with the traffic, with side streets and driveways, and making sure that no one ran out into the motorcade. Tactical officers and patrol officers were stationed at all the intersections including all railroad trestles and overpasses throughout the entire route. There was a lot of security out that day. No traffic was moving except for the motorcade. The motor jockeys in the escort were all experienced and were graduates of the Motorcycle Training School. When they got through with you, you were ready for just about anything. The newer, less experienced men were stationed further back in the escort. The ones in the front and around the President's car were the more experienced.
The route itself was fairly straight, with the exception of a few turns, and was designed for convenience and quickness. It would have been shorter and safer to have gone a more direct route between Love Field and the Trade Mart, but Kennedy wanted to be exposed to as many people as possible, so the route included the downtown area which was out of the way.
By the time we arrived in the downtown area at Harwood and Main, many of the City Hall employees and policemen came out to watch. On Main Street, the crowds were very heavy, three or four deep. All was going well until we had just made a right tum from Main onto Houston Street due to the limousine having to make the sharp left tum up ahead on Elm which slowed the motorcade. We had to stop, thus I was sitting on my motorcycle in the left lane on Houston looking more or less at the Book Depository.
That's when I heard the shots! I couldn't tell exactly from where the shots came because of the echo pattern, but there were three very distinct shots. The first two were fairly close together then there was more space between the second and third. I could tell that they came from
JAMES W. COURSON, MOTORCYCLE 129            one location, but really I was concentrating more on the President and seeing if they needed help up ahead. People near me were just astonished: there were surprised, shocked looks. They didn't know what had happened. I looked to my left and tried to see down across Dealey Plaza what was going on then sped to catch up with the President's car. At that point, we forgot about the rest of the escort; we were just concerned about the President. We had orders if...

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Marrion L. Baker       Larry Sneed          University of North Texas Press      Chapter      View Citation
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MARRION L. BAKER Solo Motor cycle Officer Dallas Police Department
"What attracted my attention was this huge bunch of pigeons that flew off; fifty to a hundred of them were flying off the top of this building. I just knew that it had to be close to them or they wouldn't be disturbed like that... "
Patrolman Baker was born in the small town of Blum located in Hill County, Texas. After moving to Dallas in 1940, Baker later graduated from W.H. Adamson High School, located in Oak Cliff only a few blocks from where Officer J.D. Tippit allegedly was slain by Oswald. Baker worked at a variety of jobs after high school, then joined the Dallas Police Department in 1954. After nearly two years in Radio Patrol, he joined the Solo Motorcycle Division and had ridden motorcycles for seven years prior to the Kennedy motorcade.
I think that morning we were already assigned locations when we arrived at headquarters. They didn't want anyone around the Presidential car, so they told us to follow in behind the news media. We didn't know whose instructions those were; it might have been from the Secret Service. I know Johnson didn't want anyone around him, especially a motorcycle officer. He never liked that motorcycle noise beside his car. In fact, he didn't like police anyway.
As we made it all the way from Love Field to downtown, it was a pretty routine motorcade till we got to Main and Houston, then we cut over north on Houston. Most of the front of the
124 NO MORE SILENCE             motorcade had already turned west on Elm Street down toward the triple underpass. At the time, I was approximately 150 feet south of Elm Street traveling north on Houston on the right hand side of the street. Suddenly, I heard these three shots. It was my impression that they came directly in front of me and high. I just assumed that they came from the top of the Texas School Book Depository Building.
The shots were very distinct. The first two were pretty evenly spaced, and the last was a little bit closer. It was kind of BOOM! ... BOOM! ... BOOM! I wasn't sure what kind of gun it was. I just heard three distinct shots. What attracted my attention was this huge bunch of pigeons that flew off, fifty to a hundred of them were flying off the top of this building. I just knew that it had to be close to them or they wouldn't be disturbed like that.
 I immediately rode to the corner of Houston and Elm and parked my motorcycle. At that time, there was just mass confusion down there. I remember one woman standing on the corner screaming, "Oh, they shot that man! Oh, they shot that man!" I didn't know what man they had shot. I was assuming.
So I ran into the building, and at that time, it seemed like everybody else was, too. Most of them that were standing in front of it were going into the Texas School Book Depository Building. When I got there, I asked which way were the stairs or the elevator, and this man stepped up and said, "Officer, come on! I'm the building supervisor." So he led us into the back, and we tried to get the elevators, the freight elevators. For some reason he couldn't get them down so he said, "Come on, we'll take the stairway!" So we started up the stairwell at the back. I later learned that this was Mr. [Roy] Truly. Mr. Truly was ahead of me.
As he had turned the corner and started on around toward the third floor stairwell, I happened to look over in front of me, and about twenty feet away there was a doorway with a small glass. I caught a movement behind the glass, so I went over, opened up the door, and saw this man standing approximately twenty feet in this next room. At that time, I didn't know if it was a coffee room or what. By this time, I had drawn my pistol on the first flight of stairs. I called to him, "Hey, you!," and he started turning around toward me. He didn't have
MAR RIO N L. B A K E R, MOT 0 R eye L E 125                 time to respond; it was momentary. He didn't have time to say anything, and...

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

https://www.nbcdfw.com/local/retired-dallas-police-officer-died-during-charity-event/1847007/
Retired Dallas Police Officer Died During Charity Event
Published December 8, 2008 • Updated on December 8, 2008 at 8:33 am
 
A longtime veteran of the Dallas Police Department died in a motorcycle accident over the weekend.
73-year-old Raymond Ross was taking part in the Santa Cops charity event in Mesquite Saturday when he lost control of the motorcycle he was riding and hit a curb at Big Town Boulevard and I-30.
Ross' grandson tells The Dallas Morning News the medical examiner is investigating whether a health crisis, such as a stroke or heart attack, caused the accident.
Ross was a 30 year veteran of the Dallas Police Department from February 1960 to July 1990.
The Dallas Morning News reports Ross was on duty on Nov. 22, 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was shot and was assigned to search boxcars for suspects in the rail yards near Dealey Plaza.
Ross was a member of Blue Knights, a motorcycle club of retired police officers.