Secret Service agent Clint Hill writes about travels with Jacqueline Kennedy

FARGO (KVRR) – A Washburn, North Dakota native who was part of President John F. Kennedy’s Secret Service detail has a new book and a story that’s never been told.

Retired Secret Service agent Clint Hill was in the presidential motorcade when Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, in November, 1963.

The book, entitled “My Travels With Mrs. Kennedy,” was inspired after Hill and his wife, co-author Lisa McCubbin Hill, uncovered an old trunk inside their garage.

“And she wanted to immediately open it up. I told her that we had a flood in that garage years ago and was afraid that what was inside would not be very pleasant. I thought maybe, you might want to have some rubber gloves and some big plastic bags to put the junk in, because that’s what it’s going to be, but it turned out different.”

The trunk was packed with forgotten photos, notes and mementos from the days when Hill traveled around the world as Mrs. Kennedy’s Secret Service agent. Hill says they visited so many nations, that he has literally lost count.

Hill also writes about the days immediately following the assassination and the overwhelming depression and guilt that swept over him.

“When I was a kid growing up in Washburn, North Dakota, my father taught me that when you start a job, you carry it until the very end, finish it and do it to the best of your ability. In the case of protecting President Kennedy that day in Dallas, we didn’t do that. We let him down, we let the country down, we let the world down.”

Suffering from PTSD, the depression and guilt were so intense, that one day Hill says he went to a bar after work and decided to do the unthinkable: to end his life.

“And I just decided it was time to end it all. I just turned around, walked out the door and walked back right into the ocean. Fortunately for me, the owner saw what was happening. He called the police. There was a police officer who was actually a good friend of mine who was not too far away. He immediately got there. He came into the ocean and pulled me out.”

Fifty-nine years after JFK’s death, Hill says he decided to finally share his story in hopes that others who are suffering from mental health issues will seek help.

Hill says he still feels the guilt from that late November day in Dallas, but he says the guilt no longer consumes him.