0:28:50 > 0:28:57.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36The walled city of Galway.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40There's nothing between here and the North America but sea -
0:29:40 > 0:29:42an ocean of sea.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46In the 19th century, wave upon wave of emigrants
0:29:46 > 0:29:49trusted their luck crossing the Atlantic
0:29:49 > 0:29:52to flee poverty and famine in Ireland
0:29:52 > 0:29:54for a new life in a new world.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59The family ties and shared history that bridged 2,000 miles of ocean
0:29:59 > 0:30:02now bring Irish descendants back across the water.
0:30:06 > 0:30:12In June 1963, a famous son of America returned here in triumph
0:30:12 > 0:30:15to the land his great-grandparents had left in despair.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19All of Galway turned out to salute the world's most powerful man
0:30:19 > 0:30:23and I'm to the look for the man who took this photo.
0:30:23 > 0:30:24CELTIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:30:24 > 0:30:28NEWSREADER: He arrives in Galway to be welcomed by Mayor Ryan
0:30:28 > 0:30:30and Bishop Browne of Galway.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was in Ireland
0:30:34 > 0:30:36to reconnect with his roots.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39The whole of Galway spilled onto the streets
0:30:39 > 0:30:42for the biggest party the city's ever thrown.
0:30:47 > 0:30:51Kennedy's great-grandparents had emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts
0:30:51 > 0:30:54over 100 years before in the potato famine.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57Now, JFK wanted to remind the crowd of the family ties
0:30:57 > 0:31:00they also shared with the States.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02If you ever come to America,
0:31:02 > 0:31:06you'd see down working on the docks, there...
0:31:08 > 0:31:12..some Dohertys and Flahertys and Ryans and cousins of yours
0:31:12 > 0:31:15who have gone to Boston and made good.
0:31:15 > 0:31:16CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:31:16 > 0:31:19In the crowd that day,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23taking pictures of JFK for the Galway City Tribune
0:31:23 > 0:31:28was a 19-year-old photographer caught on film on his first big job.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33Almost half-a-century later I'm here to meet Stan Shields,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36the man who took the picture that brought me here.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39That's the picture.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42It's the picture that, of all the ones I took of my career,
0:31:42 > 0:31:47- that I remember.- Really? - And I take pride in having took it.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50It wasn't easy.
0:31:50 > 0:31:51Every time Stan got close enough
0:31:51 > 0:31:55there always seem to be something or someone in the way.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59Stan had to seize his last chance as JFK got into the limo.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01I saw him in the car and stared at him
0:32:01 > 0:32:06until he looked my way and I pointed at the camera and pointed to him.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09He said yes so I opened the front door of the car, jumped in,
0:32:09 > 0:32:13lifted up the camera and this fella jumped at me.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17His nightmare was somebody getting too close to the President with the wrong idea.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Yeah, but I didn't realise that.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24Kennedy said, "It's OK, Jim, he's a friend." So the lads let me go, lifted up me camera...
0:32:24 > 0:32:28- Really, he said, "It's OK, Jim, he's a friend"? - Yeah, "he's a friend."
0:32:28 > 0:32:32Knelt up, took the picture and shook hands with him
0:32:32 > 0:32:34and thanked him for coming.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39These images of joy are sadly prophetic.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43The motorcade, the open-topped limousine
0:32:43 > 0:32:46so much like the day in Dallas just five months later
0:32:46 > 0:32:51when JFK became the victim and assassin's bullet.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54And how did it feel, those months later
0:32:54 > 0:32:57when you heard that he'd been shot?
0:32:57 > 0:33:02Er...I got an awful shock. You felt you'd lost a friend.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Seriously. You... You felt you'd lost a friend.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12Grief washed across the Atlantic.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Pain shared between people, bonded by blood.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd