Mortician Explains JFK's Embalming, Funeral & Burial

Four men worked in a room at a naval hospital through the night of 22 November 1963 and finished at four in the morning. Then the family decided the casket would stay closed, and nobody ever saw the work. I spent thirty-nine years embalming in a Midwestern funeral home. I wasn't there and never met anybody who was. This is the funeral-home record only: the caskets, the preparation, the closed lid, the grave. What I cover: Vernon O'Neal, twenty minutes' notice, and the $3,995 bronze casket What broke loading it at Love Field, and why accounts differ Why a state funeral replaces a damaged casket, never repairs it The four men from Gawler's, named - and the one aged twenty Why the paperwork says 4am, and what that time really means The closed casket, and the lead embalmer's reported disappointment The first casket: 1966, a C-130, and 9,000 feet of water FACT-CHECK: The Dallas casket - a Handley Britannia by Elgin from O'Neal Funeral Home, $3,995 - was damaged loading at Love Field; sources disagree on what gave way. Replaced with a Marsellus 710 mahogany from Joseph Gawler's Sons. Autopsy at Bethesda, 22 Nov. Gawler's team: Hagan, Van Haesen, Stroble, Robinson (arrival time disputed); their own document records the work complete at 4am, 23 Nov. Rotunda: Lincoln's 1865 catafalque; funeral and burial 25 Nov 1963. Stroble's words and his disappointment come from a memorial notice - reported, not sworn. Reinterred 14 Mar 1967 beside two infant children. First casket sunk off the Maryland-Delaware coast 18 Feb 1966, per the 1999 document release. Trade detail is general practice, not a claim about his preparation. DISCLAIMER: General information and personal opinion only. The narrator was not present and claims no connection to anyone involved. This video does not cover the assassination and takes no position on it. Where accounts conflict, both are given. No one is accused of wrongdoing.