![]() ![]() I wrapped it around his right hand and then they wheeled him away.” “I remember I had a rosary in my shirt pocket and I took it out, thinking that he would need it a lot more than me. “I could feel a steady stream of blood coming through my fingers,” Romero said. “I kneeled down to him and I could see his lips moving, so I put my ear next to his lips and I heard him say, ‘Is everybody OK?’ I said, ‘Yes, everybody’s OK.’ I put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to make him comfortable.” Romero spoke to Stor圜orps earlier this year and recounted the events of that night - a night that would haunt him for decades. A friend, Rigo Chacon, told the Los Angeles Times that Romero had died following a heart attack he suffered a few days earlier. A remarkable photograph captured the scene: young Romero, an immigrant from Mexico, cradling the glassy-eyed Kennedy, member of an American political dynasty. He had met the candidate the day before, bringing him room service at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.Īs Kennedy briefly paused to shake the hand of the 17-year-old, a man named Sirhan Sirhan gunned down Kennedy in front of Romero. Robert Kennedy moments after his victory in the California presidential primary. And I felt good.On June 5, 1968, hotel busboy Juan Romero raced to congratulate Sen. “When I wore the suit and I stood in front of his grave, I felt a little bit like that first day that I met him,” he said. In 2010, Romero traveled to Arlington National Cemetery to visit Kennedy’s grave - and bought a suit for the occasion. “He wasn’t looking at my skin, he wasn’t looking at my age … he was looking at me as an American.” “I will never forget the handshake and the look … looking right at you with those piercing eyes that said, ’I’m one of you. Romero never forgot how, when he’d delivered room service to Kennedy, the presidential candidate had held both his hands and thanked him. “I felt like I needed to ask Kennedy to forgive me for not being able to stop those bullets from harming him,” he told Stor圜orps.Įvery year, Romero had the habit of leaving flowers at a monument to Kennedy in a San Jose park to mark the assassination. He wondered if he could have done something to keep Kennedy from being shot and asked himself what would have happened if he hadn’t asked for a handshake. Kennedy was pronounced dead at a hospital hours later at age 42.įor decades, Romero said, he was haunted by the moment, which was captured in an eerie photo. ![]() “I could see his lips moving, so I put my ear next to his lips and I heard him say, ‘Is everybody OK?’ I said, ‘Yes, everybody’s OK,’” Romero recalled to Stor圜orps earlier this year. He held the bleeding senator’s head so it wouldn’t touch the kitchen floor and placed a rosary in his hand. The teen knelt down to cradle the mortally wounded Kennedy as he lay dying on the ground. 22-caliber revolver, hitting Kennedy three times, including once in the head. That’s when 24-year-old gunman Sirhan Sirhan fired his. Leaving the ballroom, Kennedy cut through the kitchen and Romero - then a 17-year-old busboy who’d met the senator the previous night delivering room service - jumped in to shake his hand. Over five decades ago, shortly after midnight June 5, 1968, Kennedy, who had just won the California presidential primary, addressed his supporters in the ballroom at LA’s Ambassador Hotel. Juan Romero died Monday in Modesto, Calif., at 68 after suffering an apparent heart attack days earlier, his longtime friend and veteran San Jose TV anchor Rigo Chacon told the Los Angeles Times. Kennedy’s side, cradling the New York senator moments after he was shot in 1968, died this week, it was reported Thursday. The night Marilyn Monroe died: What really happened with Kennedy RFK assassin challenges parole denial after being called threat to public JFK & Marilyn Monroe items from the iconic 'happy birthday' night in NYC ![]() Legacy of Kennedy greatness 'thins out' through generations ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |