Dr. David Wallace Oral History

Twenty-five years prior to this video interview, David Wallace 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 a quarter century later and also record interviews with three of his high school classmates who were with him on November 22, 1963: Charles Hodges, 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. David Wallace, wearing a sweater, can be seen in the background of this Dallas Times Herald photograph: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/3446. 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