Gunfire on the Grassy Knoll: The Jean Hill Interview
Jean Hill was an eyewitness to
history. To JFK assassination buffs, she is known as "the lady in red," because
of the red raincoat she was wearing on November 22, 1963.
Standing less than 10 feet from President Kennedy's passing limousine, Jean Hill
saw the shadowy figure of a man fire at President Kennedy from behind the picket
fence, atop what is now commonly referred to as the grassy knoll. Only seconds
later, she also saw a man running from the direction of the School Book Depository,
towards the Grassy Knoll. Jean Hill later identified that man as Jack Ruby.
As she ran up to the grassy knoll area to find out what was going on, two men
in trench coats grabbed her, took her to the Dallas County Records Bldg. and
proceeded to interrogate her. When she told them, what she had seen and heard
(four to six shots fired), Jean Hill was told, 'You would be very wise to keep
your mouth shut."
Since that awful day in Dallas, Jean Hill's life has been a living hell. She's
been harassed by the F.B.I., C.I.A., the Secret Service, and the Warren Commission.
She's been the recipient of numerous death threats, and actually had a contract
put out on her life. Her phone has been tapped. She's been followed.
Today, Jean Hill, a third grade teacher in Dallas, Texas, is the last surviving
assassination eyewitness to openly dispute the Warren Commission's version that
Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
Jean, along with Bill Sloan, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, and veteran Dallas newspaperman,
has written her story in a newly published book titled, JFK, The Last Dissenting
Witness (Pelican Publishing Co., 1101 Monroe St., Gretna, LA 70053).
You may recall seeing Jean Hill recently on the nationally syndicated T.V. show “The
JFK Conspiracy," hosted by James Earl Jones.
Jean also served as a key technical consultant to Oliver Stone for his film JFK.
It should also be pointed out, that on that fateful day in Dallas, Jean Hill's
boyfriend, J.B. Marshall, a Dallas motorcycle patrolman, was helping provide
security for the President. He was right behind the Kennedy limousine when the
shots rang out in Dealy Plaza.
Here then, is Jean Hill's story.
Q. The C.I.A. just recently released part of its files on Lee
Harvey Oswald, but, there are government agencies holding another million documents
on the assassination. With that many documents still out there, you have to wonder
what kind of information is being withheld.
A. Well, I got my F.B.I, file and it's 119 pages on me alone, and I supposedly
wasn't doing anything. One thing that was really kind of strange about that,
I only read the documents after we started doing research for the book, and it
says, “Top Secret, See Soviet Section.' I have no idea what that means.
Q. You've never been to Russia have you?
A. Heavens no.
