ARTHUR CARLSON Hand Signed Autograph 9X11 LETTER - BLACK HORSE JFK ASSASSINATION

Description

FK - The Old Guard, 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment; led riderless horse 'Black Jack' for fallen president at John F. Kennedy's funeral ARTHUR CARLSON Hand Signed 9X11 LETTER. I have Address covered with a piece of paper .  is Hand Signed by ARTHUR CARLSON . %100 Authentic Autograph . The Autograph is BOLD & Looks Amazing ! Has 2 Folds. .RARE AUTOGRAPH ITEM. Will be shipped SUPER FAST to you & will be Well packaged . I will ship to you . The SAME DAY you pay :) YES.... I even ship on Saturday . Payment MUST be made in 3 days or less after this listing ends ! . In the 3 day Period . combined s&h is $ 1 Extra each additional listing . Check out my other Autographs & my Fantastic %100 Feedback :) Ad my STORE to your FAVORITES LIST . I do list new Low priced autographs EVERY DAY ! I will ad my COA Upon Request . Just message me at Checkout . Thank you :) Amanda
Flag-draped casket of President John F. Kennedy departs from the U.S. Capitol. The riderless horse 'Black Jack' with empty reversed boots is seen in lower left.(John F. Kennedy Library and Museum) MOBILE, Alabama -- Pfc. Arthur Carlson spent the night before in a stable caring for Black Jack, so he used his day off to stop by the laundromat. Walking out that November day, Carlson, then 19-years-old, saw a group of people gathered around a car and heard the news over the radio: President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas."My day off was over and I reported for duty," Carlson said. The Robertsdale native was one of The Old Guard, the elite unit of soldiers who keep eternal vigil over the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery as part of their service with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment -- the oldest active Infantry Regiment in the U.S. Army with roots tracing back to 1794. Carlson had been with the unit for about six months and had no idea he would soon be guiding Black Jack -- a 16-year-old quarter horse named in honor of General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing -- as the riderless horse walked through the streets of Washington while the world watched Kennedy laid to rest. Carlson also had no idea the kind of fight Black Jack was going to give him. "He'd always been a calm horse. He knew his job and he did it. No problem," Carlson said.The Sunday after the assassination, the day Lee Harvey Oswald was shot, they followed the coffin to where Kennedy would lie in state. A metal gate resting against the wall of a tunnel they passed through came crashing to the ground. "It made a hellacious noise," Carlson said. "Black Jack got spooked, he stayed wild for two days and then he was back to normal." The next day, as they followed the caisson with Kennedy's coffin to Arlington, Carlson had to keep control of a terrified horse. Prior to the military, Carlson said his only experience with horses was seeing them in the movies. "I knew it was important and I had better do it right," Carlson said in a telephone interview from his home in Mobile. "I knew if this horse gets away from me I'm going to be walking guard duty around a radar station in Greenland before the week is out." Carlson, however, did keep control, even when Black Jack stepped on his foot outside St. Matthew's Cathedral. "At first, I thought he broke a couple of toes on my right foot, but he didn't," Carlson said. His shoe, however, was ruined. In the extensive news coverage of that day's events, Black Jack's antics did not go unnoticed."The black, riderless horse that symbolized the lost leader in the funeral procession of President Kennedy today seemed spirited and difficult to handle," The New York Times reported. Of the many tributes that day, the report continued, "Perhaps the most poignant touch of all was the sight of the huge steed, not quite black, more of a dark chestnut, spiritedly trailing the horse-drawn caisson and its coffin of the deceased president.""At the White House, instead of standing steady, Black Jack constantly threw his head and danced around me. After about 10 seconds people stopped crowding us and gave us space. We carried the president’s body from the White House to the Capitol. Then we moved out and walked back to the stable. When we got there, the few men who had stayed to take care of the other horses said that all the TV people had talked constantly about Black Jack and the soldier with him. The horse had the public’s attention . After the president had lain in state, we went back to the Capitol. Black Jack continued to act up. We moved the president’s body to Saint Matthew’s Cathedral for the funeral service. I saw Charles DeGaulle and Haile Selassie, men who influenced history, among the mourners, and also Mrs. Kennedy and Prince Phillip of England... At the cathedral people again decided not to crowd Black Jack and me. I tried to stand at parade rest holding his bridle -- at least one of us should behave in proper military fashion. At one point he was pawing the pavement and struck my right shoe. I was afraid some toes might be broken. Later I found that the shoe was ruined, but no bones were broken. The shoe had to be replaced." Speaking to AL.com today, Carlson said losing control of the horse was a real concern. "It was all I could do to keep him under control and still maintain social bearing and dignity," Carlson said. After the ceremonies, back at the stables, the telephone rang. Jackie Kennedy was requesting the tack -- the gear the horse the wore that day -- be delivered to the White House. "I put on a clean uniform, borrowed some shoes and gathered up the tack, cleaned but not polished, and a car came to pick me up," Carlson said. Arriving at the White House, the lights had been dimmed and the mood somber, Carlson said. "I gave everything to a colonel. She (the first lady) wasn't seeing anyone," Carlson said. The horse’s saddle and blanket, and the boots and saber the horse carried in honor of the president, remain part of the Kennedy Library’s permanent collection. Following his military service, Carlson spent a career in off-shore gas production, married, had a daughter and now has three grandchildren. Black Jack died in 1976 having participated in state funerals for two more former presidents -- Herbert Hoover and Lyndon B. Johnson -- and five-star Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Carlson has told the story of that day repeatedly, including an interview today with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Although Carlson knew the significance of the event, it was lost on his daughter until she was in college and saw a split second image of her father in the music video for Michael Jackson's 'Man in the Mirror.' "She got all excited. Now dear, old dad has done something significant -- he appeared in a Michael Jackson video," Carlson said.