JFK’s assassination was shocking – but I couldn’t break down: Kennedy’s bodyguards Clint Hill and Paul Landis recall the moment the plane carrying his body returned to Washington in 60th anniversary documentary

JFK’s bodyguard Clint Hill ‘couldn’t break down’ as he accompanied the president’s body back to Washington, sitting next to a heartbroken Jackie Kennedy. This was revealed in a documentary marking 60 years since the shocking murder.

Mr. Hill, now 91, rode in the Secret Service car directly behind the president’s limousine, which also included John Connally and his wife, Nellie.

After the motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository, Lee Oswald – who was hiding in a sixth-floor window – shot the president. One shot hit him in the neck, while another – fatally – hit him in the head.

Decades after Kennedy’s death, Mr. Hill, who famously jumped into a moving car to protect the First Lady when the shots were fired, recalls how he stoically continued working in the days after the assassination despite the shock he felt .

In One Day in America, a National Geographic documentary airing tonight, he said: ‘On that flight between Dallas and DC, there was time for sadness – for anything – except keep doing your best and that’s what I tried to do. Doing.

This colorized archive image shows Secret Service Agent Paul Landis (far left) standing next to President John F. Kennedy as he arrives at Love Field in Dallas, November 22, 1963

This colorized archive image shows Dallas Police Department officers and detectives observing a minute of silence for their slain colleague, J.D. Tippit, who was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963 in Dallas.

‘Mrs Kennedy was in shock. She cried terribly, of course she was a new widow with two children. That’s all that was left of that family.

“Bobby Kennedy came running all the way up the steps at the front of the plane and all the way through the plane to where Mrs. Kennedy and the coffin were in the back, and he was in tears. It was shocking, it was emotional, but I couldn’t break down.’

Meanwhile, former Secret Service agent Paul Landis, 88, also spoke about the profound impact his presence at the president’s nomination had on him.

Mr. Landis, a young officer assigned at the time to protect First Lady Jaqueline Kennedy, said, “I just cried all the way home, I think. I helped unload the box.

‘We were tired, we had had a long day with a lot happening and I hadn’t handled much of it well. I know now that I was in shock.’

The new documentary features colorized footage showing Lee Harvey Oswald in police custody being shot while being transferred to the county jail.

Throughout the three-part series, local reporter Bill Mercer – who would report that Oswald was charged with the president’s assassination – and Peggy Simpson, the only female Associated Press employee in Texas in 1963, are interviewed.

Both remember their shock at hearing that Oswold had been shot in custody by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, with Mr Mercer claiming that Jack had wanted to be a hero.

Murderer Lee Harvey Oswald pictured after being arrested

Mr. Hill (seen standing, wearing sunglasses) rode on one of the running boards of the Secret Service car, directly behind the president’s limousine, which also included Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie.

Mr Hill was famously seen rushing to protect the President after the first shot was fired, but did not reach him in time

He said: ‘When I saw Jack had shot Ruby Oswell I was shocked. I was sorry that he had messed up so much, he had made a serious mistake, a mistake that cannot be eradicated. It will go down in history.

“Jack did what he did. He wanted to be someone, everyone loved the president, so everyone hated the man who killed the president, so this would make Jack a hero.”

Ms Simpson added: ‘I was on the phone to station chiefs and I heard the police say this is Jack Ruby and they say the police know this man, they say it’s Jack Ruby.

‘And he said, “What? I drink at his bar, how is that possible?” He was a well-known person, he was not someone they expected to do any harm.”

The series was created in official collaboration with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas

The first episode airs tonight at 9pm on National Geographic.