Charles Hodges Oral History

Twenty-two years prior to this video interview, Charles Hodges was one of the earliest participants in the Museum's Oral History Project. He recorded a brief audio interview during a visit to the newly-opened exhibit in June 1989. It was a pleasure to reconnect with him more than two decades later, and in doing so, the Museum was also able to record interviews with three of his classmates who were with him on November 22, 1963: David Wallace, Will O'Hara and Ronald Cantrell.

These interviews helped us solve a longtime photographic mystery as we were able to finally identify a group of previously unknown young men mingling with journalists outside the emergency entrance at Parkland Memorial Hospital and later inside a nurses' classroom for the official announcement of President Kennedy's death. Charles Hodges, wearing a dark shirt and holding his camera case, can be seen in this Dallas Morning News photograph: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/45135. We shared the story of the "Boys from W.W. Samuell" in images and oral histories as part of a public program commemorating the 52nd anniversary of the assassination on November 22, 2015: Moments & Memories: Reflecting on November 22, 1963 - YouTube. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator