WHERE WERE YOU WHEN “THE KING” WAS KILLED?

(In response to the title of the cover article in the January 1, 2007 issue of POV, Springfield native and good friend,

James Harden, responded…)

I was at the Jefferson Memorial.  The first week in April, the 3rd Infantry 1st Battalion (Honor Guard) performs a Touch Light Parade at the Jefferson Memorial for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Some of us went to the NCO club after on South Post Fort Myers, VA when the MPs came in and ordered everyone to report to our units.  They said a riot was in DC and Martin Luther King was shot. 

The Honor Guard is first to the defense of the Military District of Washington (MDW).  For the next 16 days, I was on riot duty working 12-hour days on 8th Street NW & NE, 14th Street NW and the Commerce Building.  It was not easy having an oath to GOD and country and a belief in Rev. Martin Luther King.

In August 1968, the Honor Guard was put on alert and parts of DC were off limits. I stole away in the night to see Tent City, MLK's Poor Peoples’ March on Washington.

Your brother,

James Harden

Lilburn, Georgia