Is it true that JFK's body was dumped in a brass coffin into the sea? I was told this and it is very odd.?

Question

And that he is not buried at the burial site next to his wife and children (died at birth) at all.

Answer 1

nooooo

Answer 2

President Kennedy's Grave in Arlington National Cemetary

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and two Kennedy infants are interred in Lot 45, Section 30, Arlington National Cemetery.  The permanent graves are located about 20 feet east of the site where the President was temporarily interred on 25 November 1963.  Each is marked by a simply inscribed gray slate tablet.

Work on the permanent burial site began soon after the President's death and was completed on 20 July 1967.  The grave area, which measures 18 by 30 feet, corresponds in size to many special lots in Arlington assigned for the burial of such other outstanding men as President William Howard Taft, Secretary of War John W. Weeks, General of the Armies John J. Pershing, and General Philip Henry Sheridan.  It is surrounded by a stone grave terrace, which lies on the axis from the Lincoln Memorial across the Memorial Bridge to the Arlington House.

The grave area is paved with irregular stones of Cape Cod granite, which were quarried about 150 years ago near the site of the President's home and were located by members of his family.  Fescue and clover have been planted in the crevices to give the appearance of stones lying naturally in a Massachusetts field.

Upon entering the general area, visitors approach the grave by way of a depressed circular walkway to a granite elliptical plaza overlooking the axial vista toward the city.  The plaza is bounded by a granite wall, the relatively low top of which is tapered and inscribed with quotations from President Kennedy's Inaugural address and other speeches.  From the plaza, another short flight of steps leads to the rectangular terrace and the grave plot.  To provide access for handicapped persons to the President's site, a concealed greenstone walkway has been constructed on the slope north of the grave area.

The Eternal Flame, lighted by Mrs. Kennedy on the day of the funeral, now burns from the center of a 5-foot circular flat granite stone located at the head of the President's grave.  The burner, a specially designed appa-ratus which was created by the Institute of Gas Technology of Chicago, consists of a nozzle and electric ignition system.  A constantly flashing electric spark near the tip of the nozzle relights the gas if the flame is extinguished by rain, wind, or accidents.  The fuel is natural gas mixed with proper quantities of air to control the color and shape of the flame.

The entire site, with a total area of about 3.2 acres, was set aside by the Secretary of the Army with the approval of the Secretary of Defense to honor the memory of the President.  The land has been retained for the nation as a whole and has not been deeded to the Kennedy family.  The steep hillside had never been considered suitable for graves or a general burial section.  The area now is appropriately landscaped with new plantings mingled among some of the historic trees.  While magnolias predominate, there are crab apple, willow oak, hawthorn, yellow wood, American holly, and cherry trees interspersed among flowering plants and shrubs.  Some of the larger trees were selected for their grace and beauty from nearby locations and were donated to the Government by their owners.

Actual costs in the immediate grave area were paid by the Kennedy family.  The Government was responsible for the improvements in the surrounding area that were provided for the accommodation of the visiting public.  Funds in the amount of $1,770,000 were included for this purpose in the Fiscal Year 1965 Public Works Appropriation.  In addition, funds in the amount of $71,026 were expended from cemetery maintenance funds for temporary visitor control and landscape work on adjacent burial areas.  The amount paid by the Kennedy family was $632,364.

The architect who designed the permanent gravesite was John Carl Warnecke of John Carl Warnecke and Associates, Washington, D. C., in association with Ammann and Whitney, Structural Engineers, New York, N. Y. The Aberthaw Construction Company, Boston, Massachusetts, carried out the work under the supervision of the U. S. Army District Engineer, Norfolk, Virginia.

Answer 3

As I understand it, President Kennedy's body was put in the coffin in Dallas and the coffin was not publicly opened again--at least, his actual body was never viewed by the public, no doubt because of the nature of his injuries and perhaps also his Catholic faith.  There would probably have been some opportunity for the body to be privately removed and disposed of between his death and his evident burial in Arlington three days later, but why would anyone have wanted to do so?  I beleive that the coffin buried in Arlington was the same one that was carried off the plane from Dallas the evening of November 22, 1963.

Answer 4

On March 14, 1967, Kennedy's body was moved to a permanent burial place and memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, a right he earned by serving as an officer in the United States Navy. The funeral was said by John J Cavanaugh. Kennedy is buried with his wife and their deceased minor children, and his brother, the late Senator Robert Kennedy is also buried nearby. His grave is lit with an "Eternal Flame," a last minute request of Jackie Kennedy that was powered by propane during the funeral service but has since been attached by several hundred feet of underground pipe to a natural gas main. In the film The Fog of War, then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara claims that he picked the location in the cemetery — a location which Jackie agreed was suitable. Kennedy and William Howard Taft are the only two U.S. Presidents buried at Arlington

Answer 5

No, that's a lot of hooey. There are a lot of rumors going around about JFK; I think I know how this one got started, though.

After JFK was shot, his corpse was loaded into a brass coffin and taken to the airport to be transported to Bethesda Naval Hospital. However, when JFK's body arrived (according to sworn testimony from hospital staff), it was in a plain black army-issue body bag. This suggests that the corpse was removed from the brass coffin while in transit. The brass coffin continued on its way, in full view of witnesses and cameras, and arrived at Bethesda with a full honor guard. Kennedy's body was delivered at the back of the hospital by a separate transport vehicle.

Conspiracy buffs believe that Kennedy's body was removed from brass coffin and off-loaded before the jet took off. They cite on-site footage of the funeral plane's auditory track, which they allege contains the sounds of a helicopter nearby. If the body was removed--as they allege--then it seems reasonable to assume that it was taken elsewhere to be doctored up, or to remove shells from weapons which did not match Oswald's rifle.

Apparently someone misconstrued this theory and said that Kennedy's body was dumped. There is no known evidence of this.

For further reading on the JFK assassination and its many theories, I would recommend the book "Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy", by Jim Marrs.

Answer 6

Here's the real answer.  The casket purchased in Dallas was damaged during the transportation process, plus it was probably stained inside because of JFK's bloody unembalmed body.

A nicer casket was purchased in DC, and the original casket was dumped in the ocean on RFK's orders so as not to become a grisly tourist attraction at some point.