When the sound of a gunshot pierced the lively hum of a crowded motorcade more than 60 years ago, Clint Hill threw himself across the bodies of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy.
The former Secret Service Agent, whose actions became a defining part of that fatal Dallas day, was laid to rest this week at Arlington National Cemetery — the same burial ground as President Kennedy — with military honors.
Hill was 93 when he passed away Feb. 21, 2025, according to the United States Secret Service Association.
Hill was drafted and served three years in the Army Counterintelligence Corps before he was sworn in as a Secret Service agent in 1958. He went on to work as an agent under five presidents, including Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
He was awarded the Treasury Department’s highest civilian award for bravery and Jacqueline Kennedy personally requested that Hill remain a member of her security team after the assassination, accompanying her from the fated limousine to the hospital and eventually to the president’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.
When the North Dakota native retired, Hill had climbed the ranks to become responsible for all Secret Service protective forces as the assistant director of protective operations.
But he never forgot the moment that a second bullet barreled into President Kennedy’s head, killing him.
Though he progressed in his career, Hill sunk into depression and was tormented with post-traumatic stress, self-doubt and guilt. He retired from the service in 1975 at the advice of medical professionals.
Hill later said that he spent the seven years after his retirement, which was at the age of 43, sequestered away from the world.
“Nobody talked about PTSD. There was no counseling for guys like me,” Hill said in a quote from the cemetery’s Thursday release. “Now when I talk to groups or people struggling with trauma, I tell them to find somebody they can talk to,” he said, adding “no matter how old you are, talking about it will help.”
Hill worked with journalist Lisa McCubbin on four different books and the pair eventually married in 2021.
McCubbin Hill said the couple chose the national burial ground because “it gave him a lot of peace,” to be laid to rest where he stood decades before at President Kennedy’s funeral. Mourners placed their hands on his urn in farewell.
After Hill’s ceremony and service, his wife and her family visited President Kennedy’s gravesite. “It feels full circle,” she said.
Eve Sampson is a reporter and former Army officer. She has covered conflict across the world, writing for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
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