http://www.hsvvoice.com/news/20180522/newmans-remember-witnessing-kennedy-assassination---part-i

By JEFF MEEK / Managing editor

Posted May 22, 2018 at 12:01 AM

Dallas residents Bill and Gayle Newman went about everyday life like thousands of others in Texas until that fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963. That afternoon they witnessed, up close, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza.

From that day until today, they are sought after to interview about the horrifying experience, which they did for me on May 3 in their Texas home.

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Bill:

“As he came towards us, about 100 plus feet away from us the first shot rang out, like a boom, boom, about like that. I thought to myself that’s a pretty poor joke, somebody throwing firecrackers beside the car. I remember seeing his arms go up like he was trying to protect his face. As the car got closer to us you could tell something was wrong. You could even see the protruding eyes of Governor Connally and the blood on his shirt,” Bill told me.

“And just as the car passed in front of us the third shot rang out and I remember seeing the side of President Kennedy’s head blow off. At the time I thought his ear blew off. It was just a ball of white going up and you could see the red and he fell over into Mrs. Kennedy’s arms more or less.“

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http://www.hsvvoice.com/news/20180527/newmans-remember-witnessing-kennedy-assassination---part-ii

Gayle:

“As the (President’s) car turned I heard two noises and thought they were firecrackers and thought it was pretty rude to do something like that. I didn’t realize anything was wrong until they got directly in front of us when that third shot rang out. You could see bits of flesh flying up in the air. Bill turned to me and said ‘That’s it. Hit the Ground.’ So we put the children on the ground and shielded them with our body. I was sort of frozen, Bill looked around and saw more than I did. I was just terrified,” Gayle said.

She recalls no reaction from the children at the time. Pictures show them looking around. “They didn’t cry or anything like that,” said Gayle.

As mentioned last week, Gayle, too, was called to testify at the Clay Shaw trial in New Orleans. She was scared about leaving town on her own. “I had to go by myself. Bill had the flu. They (the New Orleans authorities) told me to be sure that the persons that picked me up showed their identification,” she said.

Gayle checked into a hotel and later left for the trial. There she was asked where she was during the shooting and what happened.

Later, with another eyewitness, she went to see Bourbon Street. The next morning, she and Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Zapruder (the man who famously filmed the assassination) went in the same car to the airport to return to Dallas. On the way, a tractor-trailer truck slammed into their car at an intersection. Officers arrived and thankfully no one was seriously hurt. One officer said to them that had they been killed, the incident would have been headline news. And probably their names would have been added to the JFK assassination-related “mysterious deaths” list.

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