Revealed: JFK's secret visit to Shropshire
John F Kennedy made a secret visit to Shropshire, it was revealed today as the world prepares to mark 50 years since his death.
He and his wife Jackie were the guests of Oswestry MP David Orsmby Gore - who went on to become British Ambassador to America - and his wife Sylvia.
The date of the visit, in the late 1950s or early 1960s, is not known but people in Oswestry at the time were amazed by the visit. The pin ups of the political world were seen walking in the town, having attended a mass at the Catholic Church in Oswestry.
President Kennedy was killed when he was shot as he took part in a cavalcade during a presidential visit to Dallas on November 22, 1963. The assassination shocked the world.
Can you remember JFKs visit to Oswestry? Call (01952) 242424 ext 6099 or e-mail oswestry.reporters@shropshirestar.co.uk
And it has particular poignancy in Oswestry among those who had known about the Kennedy's visit to their friends, who went on to become Lord and Lady Harlech.
Shropshire Councillor and former journalist David Lloyd, now 80, had been working in London when President Kennedy visited Britain shortly before his assassination.
"I remember my office being taken over by the FBI. We all had to move out," he said.
Mr Lloyd cannot remember when the Kennedys visited the Orsmby Gore family in Oswestry, or even if it was after JFK became president in January 1961.
The visit is known by some older residents of Oswestry, but such was the secrecy that little detail is known.
Mr Lloyd said: "I can't remember now when the Kennedy's visited the Orsmby Gore family in Oswestry but I do know that it was a visit that was kept as secret as possible.
"However they did venture into the town to attend a service at the Catholic Church.
"Apparently there were seen walking in the town centre after the service. It caused quite a stir at the time."
David Ormsby-Gore knew John F. Kennedy well from Kennedy's time in London, where his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, had served as American Ambassador.
The two were distantly related and they became good friends with Ormsby Gore two years younger.
Just six month after Kennedy was elected president Ormsby Gore stood down as a Shropshire MP and was appointed British Ambassador to the United States.
The ambassador is credited as having supplied Kennedy with a stream of advice and was said to have been almost a resident at the White House, more a friend of the family than merely ambassador. Referred to under the Kennedy administration as "our kind of Ambassador", he supplied the president with a stream of advice and Cuban cigars via his diplomatic bag.
He is said to have played a significant role in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and helped ensure the first Test-Ban Treaty over nuclear weapons in 1963. Mr Ormsby-Gore retired as Ambassador in 1965, a year after his father died, and took his seat in the House of Lords as Lord Harlech.
Lady Harlech died in a car accident in Wales in 1967 and Jackie Kennedy flew to Britain for her funeral.
Lord Harlech also died in a car crash, on the A5 north of Montford Bridge, in 1985, aged 66. Again Jackie Kennedy, now Jackie Onassis, attended the funeral along with Senator Edward Kennedy and his sister Jean.
Friday: The day that shook the world. Shropshire Star Four-page special to mark 50 years since the death of JFK and your memories of the moment you heard the news.
