Hey, that was Dad!

CC Lifemember Frank Real

PBS recently aired an “American Experience” segment entitled “The Kennedy’s.”  In this particular segment, Ted Kennedy’s plane had crashed near Southampton, Mass in 1964.  CC Life Member Frank Real’s sons spotted their dad in one portion, taped it and sent several still photos of it to their dad.  Frank tells of his involvement. 

Frank Real caught in background.

These pictures were gleaned from the recently aired PBS program American Experience. The segment was “The Kennedy’s.”  My sons, Kevin and Brian spotted me in the film. copied it and sent me a copy Brian has purchased a DVD copy of the segment, Ted Kennedy’s plane crashed in an apple orchard in Southampton, Mass. in June 1964 while he was on his way to attend the Democratic State Convention in West Springfield. He was taken to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton with a broken back and other serious injuries. The pilot and an aide died in the crash and U.S. Sen. Birch Byeh of Indiana escaped with minor injuries. Bayh’s wife, Marvella, also suffered back injuries. It was reported that Ted Kennedy nearly died in because of his injuries.

 Minutes after his plane crashed, Ed Malley, a Springfield Daily News photographer, approached me at the Democratic Convention where I was working as a free lancer for United Press International.

I immediately called UPI in Boston to report the accident and was told to go to the hospital and keep the office updated.  Because of my familiarity with the local Kennedy associates who were in the emergency room, I was able to get first hand information from them and emergency room personnel and then report it to  UPI.

A press room was set up in the hospital’s auditorium and I was soon joined by Jed Stout of UPI’s Hartford bureau. We spent the night updating the information. Jed stayed in the press room and I moved between it and the ER.  We were the first to report the death of Kennedy aide, Ken Moss. It took a while for the hospital to confirm it but UPI went with the story because if my inside info.

The photo’s show the arrival of Bobby Kennedy, then U.S. Attorney General. About 7 AM, I had to break off and go to the Daily News city room to carry out my normal daily assignments. End of my story –Frank Real, CC Life member