I was investigated for President Kennedy’s assassination

It was November 22, 1963.  I was at my mom’s house in Tumwater.  It was my 21st birthday, and I was on leave from the US Army, where I was stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington.

I always tried to take leave on my birthday – and the 21st birthday seemed to be something special.

Like everyone else, I was watching the television news in Dallas about the assassination of President Kennedy when a car pulled up in the driveway and two men in suits came to the door.  I answered the door, and one of them said, “Are you PFC Balsley.”  I answered yes and then he said, “We heard you have made threats against the president’s life, and we just wanted to check on where your were.”

Lets digress back a year, back to October 1962.  At that time I was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne division and we had just been sent to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to be ready to invade Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Now, I had no ill-feelings towards the Cubans or to Fidel Castro – – but many young men in my unit did.   My company had several young Cubans, who had been involved in the Bay of Pigs fiasco.  They had been captured by Castro and later ransomed by the United States government.  They had joined the 101st because they wanted to get back to Cuba and kill Fidel.

It seemed the time had come.   We were preparing for the jump and the invasion of that island nation.

Then, President Kennedy called the invasion off.  They were disappointed and so was I.  As a gung ho, brash 19-year old, I wanted to see action.

Fast forward now to November 21, 1963.  I was now stationed at Ft. Lewis.  My birthday was the next day and I was going on leave to celebrated it with the family.  At that time, you could go on leave at midnight.   I was sitting around the barracks with several of the guys and we got to talking politics.  When the subject of President Kennedy came up, I made an off-handed remark – – something to the effect that “Kennedy ought to be shot” for calling off the invasion.

I went on leave at midnight, and that day, November 22, my 21st birthday, he was shot.