We were about two-thirds through basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., in 1963. It was time for bayonet training (we had M-14s), and they marched us out to a training area, where we had our second instruction session that included trainee participation. As we swung and thrust our bayonets, our drill instructor yelled that we were not getting into it with enough zeal.
Then a rumor swept through the by-now paired-off 'cruits that Kennedy had been shot. I said to my buddy that the drill instructors must really want us to go at each other to tell us he had been shot by (we assumed) the Soviets. Fifteen or 20 minutes later we were assembled, told the president had been shot and marched back to the barracks. Other rumors said U.S. Armed Forces around the world had been put on alert.
The next day, I believe, we were assembled in required class-A uniform and told the commander in chief was dead.
It was the first time the officers and non-commissioned officers who trained us appeared to be uncertain of the near future.