Dallas Morning News Photographer Who Covered the JFK Assassination
Veteran of World War Two and a lifetime member of the VFW
John T. Flynn passed away August 9, 2004. Mr. Flynn was born April 30, 1923 in Dallas, TX. He was a Dallas Morning News photographer for 28 years. Then enjoyed 16 years of retirement at lake Athens.
He is a veteran of World War II, a lifetime member and past commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars. He is survived by wife, Jean Flynn of 52 years; sons, Terry Flynn, Tim Flynn and wife, Janet; daughter, Tina Collinsworth and husband, Ken. Grandchildren, Misty Flynn, David Pina.
Visitation will be on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 from 6-8 PM at Restland Funeral Home. Services 10:00 AM Thursday, August 12, 2004 at Restland Memorial Chapel. Interment Restland Memorial Park. Restland 972-238-7111 restlandfuneralhome.com
Credit: Published by Dallas Morning News on Aug. 11, 2004.
**
The Kennedy Assassination
Johnny Flynn is best known for a famous photo he took on the Grassy Knoll area on the afternoon of 11/22/63, in the aftermath of the assassination.
A young, still unidentified, African American couple, with their baby, had been sitting on the small park bench on the parapet that juts out between the stockade fence and grassy knoll steps, and the pedestal on which Abraham Zapruder was standing. According to Mr. Zapruder's secretary, Marilyn Sitzman, who was behind Zapruder steadying him, the couple had brought their lunch and had been eating burgers and drinking Cokes.
Sometime shortly before the arrival of the motorcade, the young man went about half way down the steps closer to Elm Street, and stood with two other men, the Dealey Plaza Groundskeeper, Emmett Hudson, and a visiting businessman, Francis Lee Mudd, who owned a Western-ware store in Shreveport, LA. Little did they know that this would put them in very close proximity the fatal head shot.
At the time of the headshot, all three are seen reacting to the shot. Hudson and Mudd are then seen throwing themselves on the ground to take cover, and the young man turns and is racing up the steps in terror. He was joined by his wife with the baby, and they ran behind the knoll and disappeared into the railroad yard area. A while later they returned to the area and are captured in film by WBAP cameraman, Jimmy Darnell, next to their park bench, along with a large crowd that had raced up the knoll to investigate the origin of the shots.
Later that afternoon, Flynn took a now famous photo of two plainclothes DPD Detectives, investigating the scene. They are leaning over the park bench and inspecting the burger wrappers and paper bag, left behind by the terrified couple, who have never come forward in 60 years. His photo was not published by the DMN at the time, and lay unseen for almost 30 years.
In 1985, Archivist and JFK photo and film expert, Richard B. Trask, author of the JFK photo & film compendium "Pictures of the Pain," learned about the black couple on the bench from Sitzman; and then in 1991, while going through the Dallas Morning News photo archives, he discovered the 8" by 10" glossy print, identified as being taken by "Johnny Flynn" on the afternoon of November 22nd. The photo is of such high resolution that one can discern the time shown on one of their watches; it was 2:17 PM. The wrapper reads:"Tom Thumb 8 Buns 25 cents. One of the detectives is Clinton L. "Lummy" Lewis, the other is still unidentified.
Rest in Peace...
~Linda* (48291572)
*I've been a genealogist and JFK Photo and film researcher for almost 50 years specializing in identifying people in the photo & film record of the assassination. If anyone knows the identity of the young black couple who were on the knoll, or if you are the couple, please contact me, or renowned WAPO journalist and JFK author, Jefferson Morley, who just published an article about this young couple, on his JFK Facts substack entitled: "Black History Mystery: Two African-Americans on the Grassy Knoll - They saw JFK gunned down. They were banished from history." Reassemble the following url for his contact info: jeffersonmorleyDOTcom/contact-2
Dallas Morning News Photographer Who Covered the JFK Assassination
Veteran of World War Two and a lifetime member of the VFW
John T. Flynn passed away August 9, 2004. Mr. Flynn was born April 30, 1923 in Dallas, TX. He was a Dallas Morning News photographer for 28 years. Then enjoyed 16 years of retirement at lake Athens.
He is a veteran of World War II, a lifetime member and past commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars. He is survived by wife, Jean Flynn of 52 years; sons, Terry Flynn, Tim Flynn and wife, Janet; daughter, Tina Collinsworth and husband, Ken. Grandchildren, Misty Flynn, David Pina.
Visitation will be on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 from 6-8 PM at Restland Funeral Home. Services 10:00 AM Thursday, August 12, 2004 at Restland Memorial Chapel. Interment Restland Memorial Park. Restland 972-238-7111 restlandfuneralhome.com
Credit: Published by Dallas Morning News on Aug. 11, 2004.
**
The Kennedy Assassination
Johnny Flynn is best known for a famous photo he took on the Grassy Knoll area on the afternoon of 11/22/63, in the aftermath of the assassination.
A young, still unidentified, African American couple, with their baby, had been sitting on the small park bench on the parapet that juts out between the stockade fence and grassy knoll steps, and the pedestal on which Abraham Zapruder was standing. According to Mr. Zapruder's secretary, Marilyn Sitzman, who was behind Zapruder steadying him, the couple had brought their lunch and had been eating burgers and drinking Cokes.
Sometime shortly before the arrival of the motorcade, the young man went about half way down the steps closer to Elm Street, and stood with two other men, the Dealey Plaza Groundskeeper, Emmett Hudson, and a visiting businessman, Francis Lee Mudd, who owned a Western-ware store in Shreveport, LA. Little did they know that this would put them in very close proximity the fatal head shot.
At the time of the headshot, all three are seen reacting to the shot. Hudson and Mudd are then seen throwing themselves on the ground to take cover, and the young man turns and is racing up the steps in terror. He was joined by his wife with the baby, and they ran behind the knoll and disappeared into the railroad yard area. A while later they returned to the area and are captured in film by WBAP cameraman, Jimmy Darnell, next to their park bench, along with a large crowd that had raced up the knoll to investigate the origin of the shots.
Later that afternoon, Flynn took a now famous photo of two plainclothes DPD Detectives, investigating the scene. They are leaning over the park bench and inspecting the burger wrappers and paper bag, left behind by the terrified couple, who have never come forward in 60 years. His photo was not published by the DMN at the time, and lay unseen for almost 30 years.
In 1985, Archivist and JFK photo and film expert, Richard B. Trask, author of the JFK photo & film compendium "Pictures of the Pain," learned about the black couple on the bench from Sitzman; and then in 1991, while going through the Dallas Morning News photo archives, he discovered the 8" by 10" glossy print, identified as being taken by "Johnny Flynn" on the afternoon of November 22nd. The photo is of such high resolution that one can discern the time shown on one of their watches; it was 2:17 PM. The wrapper reads:"Tom Thumb 8 Buns 25 cents. One of the detectives is Clinton L. "Lummy" Lewis, the other is still unidentified.
Rest in Peace...
~Linda* (48291572)
*I've been a genealogist and JFK Photo and film researcher for almost 50 years specializing in identifying people in the photo & film record of the assassination. If anyone knows the identity of the young black couple who were on the knoll, or if you are the couple, please contact me, or renowned WAPO journalist and JFK author, Jefferson Morley, who just published an article about this young couple, on his JFK Facts substack entitled: "Black History Mystery: Two African-Americans on the Grassy Knoll - They saw JFK gunned down. They were banished from history." Reassemble the following url for his contact info: jeffersonmorleyDOTcom/contact-2
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