Vernon Oneal’s Ordeal: The Story of President Kennedy’s First Casket
November 22, 1963. Even before President Kennedy’s nearly lifeless body was removed from the presidential limousine at Parkland Hospital, initial reports by United Press International that “three shots were fired today at President John F. Kennedy” ran through ticker machines across the country. With a transistor radio glued to his ear, one of the millions of Americans following the latest news was Vernon B. Oneal, a Dallas funeral director whose business also included an ambulance service.
At approximately 12:46 CST, just sixteen minutes after JFK was shot, and 47 minutes before White House Deputy Secretary Malcolm Kilduff officially announced the president’s death to the world, Oneal’s phone range. It was Secret Service agent Clint Hill calling from Parkland Hospital, advising Oneal to select the best casket for him and transport him to the hospital “as soon as possible.”
“Is it for the president?” Oneal asked.
“Yes,” Hill replied, “it’s for the President of the United States.”
Understanding the urgency of Hill’s directive, Oneal bolted into his showroom and selected his signature model, an eight-hundred-pound solid bronze coffin named “Brittania.” Manufactured by the Elgin Casket Company, it was double-walled and could be hermetically sealed. Fit for a president or a king, Oneal’s price was $3,995.
As his profession dictated, Vernon Oneal was prepared to quietly comfort and assist the grieving Kennedy family in any way possible. At Parkland, he whispered condolences to Jacqueline Kennedy. He and two of his associates were then assisted by nurses to carefully wrap JFK’s remains in various sheets and plastic, hoping that the blood and brain matter still visible from the president’s massive head wound would not stain the luxurious satin ruffle of the coffin.
Before leaving Parkland, Oneal obediently stood by Mrs. Kennedy and the casket as the late president’s White House aides and Secret Service agents endured an ugly shouting match with a local official named Dr. Earl Rose. , who insisted that, by law, JFK’s body must be held for autopsy in Dallas County. Oneal had every right to assume that his services would continue to be needed until President Kennedy’s burial place, and he wanted Mrs. Kennedy to be sure of her loyalty and respect; The full range of services of her establishment was at her request, and the man was determined to do his best, whether the funeral was held in Washington or Massachusetts, to accommodate her every wish.
Then suddenly Oneal’s hopes were dashed. Secret Service agents and JFK’s most loyal aides barely pushed Dr. Rose aside as the casket containing the slain president was hastily loaded into the back of his Cadillac hearse, the same vehicle he and his staff used to bring the bronze casket to Parkland. Hospital. Oneal’s intention had been to take Kennedy’s body directly to his funeral home for embalming and scheduling of funeral arrangements, but the hearse was seized by the Secret Service and an agent advised him to follow in another car, without telling Oneal. Oneal that his true destination was Air Force One at Love Field airport.
Along with a police motorcycle escort, three cars began pulling out of the Parkland service road: Oneal’s hearse, a car filled with Secret Service agents and JFK aides, and the last one with Oneal and two of his employees. . The funeral director sensed that something was seriously wrong when he observed his hearse turning left toward the airport instead of right toward his mortuary. Agents in the second vehicle radioed their counterparts at Love Field, instructing them to allow “only the first two cars” past the airport fence near Air Force One. Under no circumstances will Oneal and his employees, or any another vehicle, they could enter the area near the presidential plane.
Sure enough, officers let the first two cars through a fence in full view of the aircraft, but stopped Oneal’s sedan. The undertaker was furious, and rightly so. The martyr president was inside its case and its coach, both supposedly bound for its funeral home The officers ignored his protests, leaving it to Dallas police officers to assure the embattled businessman that the hearse would be returned to him the moment Air Force One took off. Vernon Oneal felt like a spare tire. The US government had used it to the extent that its main requirements were met, then tossed it out the door.
Perhaps the ultimate insult to Vernon Oneal involved paying for the coffin itself. He repeatedly sent Jacqueline Kennedy a $3,900 bill for nearly a year, but she never responded. Finally, fourteen months after JFK’s assassination, in January 1965, the federal government paid him the sum of $3,160. But by then Oneal was living through a public relations nightmare; his attempts to collect payment from Mrs. Kennedy were widely publicized and his mortuary suffered an agonizing 50 percent drop in business.
Interestingly, Oneal’s casket was not used in John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Its handles and finish were damaged at Love Field when Secret Service agents hurriedly struggled to maneuver through Air Force One’s narrow door. In addition, blood from Kennedy’s head wound oozed through the protective sheeting. and plastic, ruining the coffin’s satiny interior. The flaws were noted before the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital, resulting in JFK’s closest aides choosing a new, more expensive casket at Gawler Funeral Home in Washington’s Georgetown district, being a more exquisite example. made of 500 year old Africans. mahogany. Gawler also prepared the late president’s body for burial following an autopsy in Bethesda.
For many years, the whereabouts of Oneal’s coffin was a closely guarded secret. Understandably, the Kennedy family did not want the artifact to fall into the wrong hands and become a hideous sideshow relic. It was eventually revealed that, in 1966, the casket was deliberately loaded aboard an Air Force C-130 transport plane and unceremoniously deposited in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, never to be seen again.