In Memoriam: Black Jack · 11:18am Nov 22nd, 2013
I normally forgo blog posts about holidays, current events, and the like. But today, I wanted to make an exception. Today, we are showing reverence to the passing of an honored and beloved leader on the 50th anniversary of his death. There are many images that are going to be invoked repeatedly as various groups and networks strive to give us something to remember him by: images of processions and motorcades and people running and screaming after his head is tossed back by the impact of the bullet. Instead, I offer this one:
"Riderless Horse" by Dot Lewis
Black Jack was the caparisoned horse -- a "riderless horse" who, as part of a military funeral procession, represents the last journey of a fallen warrior who will ride no more -- who symbolized John F. Kennedy in his funeral procession. Named after General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, Black Jack was an unusually beautiful and spirited horse whose temperament was often seen as symbolic of the fire and fight of those whom he represented. He walked for J.F. Kennedy and two other U.S. Presidents, and in over a thousand Armed Forces Full Honors funerals. Richard Nixon spoke of him with a gravity befitting this day:
“Black Jack has been a poignant symbol of our nation’s grief on many occasions over the years. Citizens in mourning felt dignity and purpose conveyed, a simpler yet deeper tribute to the memory of those heroic ‘riders’ who have given so much for our nation. Our people are grateful to Black Jack for helping us bear the burden of sorrow during difficult times.”
Cool, don't know who this horse is, so I really can't feel any form of sorrow.
I am not American, so it's not really my place to comment. I can't say anything about Mr Kennedy as a human being, for I know him only as a politician, through the spectre of UK-US relations. But it was interesting to learn about this horse.
That moment when you haven't read the latest chapter of Project Horizons and this blog's title makes you panic slightly
I thought the title said Jack Black at first and was starting to freak out.
wow so hot brave stallion 10/10 would have banged.
(Sorry, but a comment like that was going to be made sooner or later.)
1529275 That moment when you think you've gotten a spoiler to something you haven't started reading yet because you want to read it all for the first time over a weekend when it's complete...
Also... Wow, I can't believe it's been 50 years already...
Wow, that painting does speak volumes. Very sad.
As an American and a future historian I know how sad it is remembering Kennedy. He was one of the few presidents that everyone loved. After Kennedy it seemed that Americans haven't loved a president like that since.
I did not even know there was a horse that JFK rode, let alone other presidents... I might not have known Black Jack, but I certainly hope he is resting in peace.
1529334 That might be how it appears after his death, but at first people were flipping tables about a Catholic in the White House. People were afraid the Pope would become the de facto leader of America!
There's just no pleasing some folks.
1529455
He got guts.)
That is true. I remember watching a documentary on the History channel about that. And yeah people were crazy until Kennedy actually went to the Pope and shook his hand not kneeling or bowing to him like most Catholics would.
(From watching the old footage of that I was like, Wow.
I was 6 years old on this day in time, and I remember sitting in my in school as everything leading up to Mr. Kennedy's death was announced over the loud-speaker to every class in my elementary school. I remember, very well, the tears running down the face of my teacher, and my fellow students, at the time. (Including my own.) I remember what a good, much-loved man that he was, and how our country mourned his untimely, and, to my mind even now, totally unnecessary, death.
I remember going home after school and finding my mom sitting on the corner of the gas fireplace in our living room, holding my younger sister, Terry, in her arms, watching the TV coverage of the assassination, and her face soaked with tears as she did. I remember what she said, that our country had lost a very good man, and that it, and we, would never be the same. She was so right, too.
I also remember the entire Thayer, MO, school system being dismissed the day of his funeral, and watching the funeral with Mom, Terry (even if my sis was just 5 years old at the time and didn't know what was really going on) and my dad (he was allowed to go into work at our local post office late that day, which, in my later years, I thought was just down-right amazing). I remember John-John (JFK, Jr.) standing at attention and saluting his dad's casket as it passed (how ironic that he, too, died so young), and I especially remember seeing this majestic black stallion walking behind our dear fallen president's caisson as it took him to his final rest at Arlington National Cemetery. (Just a bit of FYI here, about Arlington: did you know that, before it became the National Cemetery that we all know today as the final resting place of so many of our valiant fighting men and women, generals and presidents, was also, at one time the home and estate of the Lee family, specifically of the most famous son of that family, no less a personage than Confederate General Robert E. Lee (whom, somehow or other, through some family lineage, my own brother-in-law, Steve Smith, is distantly related to).)
So while we commemorate and still mourn Mr. Kennedy's passing this day, we also do so for Black Jack, the great horse who followed him on that sad day. May they both be traversing the Heavenly Plains together today.
1529348 I don't think JRK ever actually rode him at any time (Black Jack was technically an Army mount, and Jack was a Navy man); just that Black Jack followed behind his caisson during the funeral procession.
But I could be wrong, so don't hold me to that, okay?
Heh, a Fallout: Equestria themed memoriam. Very nice.
1529260
I was not familiar with Black Jack prior to this blog either and was a little confused at first, but it's explained in the post:
"Black Jack was the caparisoned horse -- a "riderless horse" who, as part of a military funeral procession, represents the last journey of a fallen warrior who will ride no more -- who symbolized John F. Kennedy in his funeral procession."
Which in turn clarifies a prior text "Today, we are showing reverence to the passing of an honored and beloved leader on the 50th anniversary of his death."
That leader was John F. Kennedy, a U. S. President. This blog post is about the President, and expressing reverence with another symbolic figure through Black Jack.
Man, you wrote that title to make us all panic on purpose, didn't you? I mean, good job, but you gave us all one heckuva scare!
Wow that's pretty cool, surprised I've never heard of Black Jack before. Also, am I the only one who didn't panic at that title? I figured Sombra maybe finally decided to end the ridiculously long story. Sure Blackjack dying would suck, but I'm sure she'd go out by self-detonating an Enclave Death Star or something equally epic, so S'all good.
Ahhh, good ol' JFK. There will probably never be another president like him. It seems that every one after him was about as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe.
1529922 Got it, well I still don't feel anything for a foreign countries figure, so Imma get back to killing the Master and stopping Unity.
I hadn't read update 62 of Project Horizons and I thought this was about her. That post had me terrified for a second... I mean *cough* it's a shame he died so young.
1529315
Only one weekend?
Good luck.
And yeah, that title gave me a bit of a start too...
1529348
Whitewolf is correct. JFK didn't ride him; the riderless horse is a part of the full military funeral procession, which is performed for Army and Marine Corps soldiers of Colonel rank or above. (The President and Secretary of Defense are included since they are part of the chain of command.) Black Jack participated in over a thousand such funerals, including those of General MacArthur and three presidents -- JFK, Hoover, and LBJ.