FOG BLOG U.S. LOG: THANKSGIVING WEEK & THE EVE OF THE ASSASSINATION OF J.F.K. 60 YEARS LATER!

JFK assassination remembered 60 years later

Kennedy's death recalled in Canada and Japan; memorialized throughout U.S. The United States solemnly marked the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination Friday with subdued remembrances at Kennedy's grave and the infamous site in downtown Dallas where the young, glamorous president was gunned down in an open-top limousine.

Flags flew at half-staff, and moments of silence were planned for the hour when Kennedy was shot riding in a motorcade. The quiet reverence extended across the Atlantic Ocean to his ancestral home in Ireland.

Shortly after sunrise, Attorney General Eric Holder paid his respects at Kennedy's recently refurbished grave at Arlington National Cemetery, where a British cavalry officer stood guard, bagpipes played and a flame burned steadily as it has for the last half-century. About an hour later, Jean Kennedy Smith, 85, the last surviving Kennedy sibling, laid a wreath at her brother's grave, joined by about 10 members of the Kennedy family. They clasped hands for a short, silent prayer and left roses as a few hundred tourists watched.

Dallas was bitterly cold, damp and windy, far different from the bright sunshine that filled the day Kennedy died. About 5,000 tickets were issued for the free ceremony in Dealey Plaza, which is flanked by the Texas School Book Depository building where sniper Lee Harvey Oswald perched on the sixth floor.

A stage for the memorial ceremony, just south of the depository building, was backed with a large banner showing Kennedy's profile. Video screens showed images of Kennedy with his family.

CBC's Lyndsay Duncombe reported from Dallas on Friday that it's the first time the city has officially commemorated the assassination.

She said organizers consider it a chance for a younger generation to learn about the JFK presidency, particularly his call to service.