JFK in Galway Coast

.

The walled city of Galway.

There's nothing between here and the North America but sea -

an ocean of sea.

In the 19th century, wave upon wave of emigrants

trusted their luck crossing the Atlantic

to flee poverty and famine in Ireland

for a new life in a new world.

The family ties and shared history that bridged 2,000 miles of ocean

now bring Irish descendants back across the water.

In June 1963, a famous son of America returned here in triumph

to the land his great-grandparents had left in despair.

All of Galway turned out to salute the world's most powerful man

and I'm to the look for the man who took this photo.

CELTIC MUSIC PLAYS

NEWSREADER: He arrives in Galway to be welcomed by Mayor Ryan

and Bishop Browne of Galway.

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was in Ireland

to reconnect with his roots.

The whole of Galway spilled onto the streets

for the biggest party the city's ever thrown.

Kennedy's great-grandparents had emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts

over 100 years before in the potato famine.

Now, JFK wanted to remind the crowd of the family ties

they also shared with the States.

If you ever come to America,

you'd see down working on the docks, there...

..some Dohertys and Flahertys and Ryans and cousins of yours

who have gone to Boston and made good.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In the crowd that day,

taking pictures of JFK for the Galway City Tribune

was a 19-year-old photographer caught on film on his first big job.

Almost half-a-century later I'm here to meet Stan Shields,

the man who took the picture that brought me here.

That's the picture.

It's the picture that, of all the ones I took of my career,

-that I remember.

-Really?

-And I take pride in having took it.

It wasn't easy.

Every time Stan got close enough

there always seem to be something or someone in the way.

Stan had to seize his last chance as JFK got into the limo.

I saw him in the car and stared at him

until he looked my way and I pointed at the camera and pointed to him.

He said yes so I opened the front door of the car, jumped in,

lifted up the camera and this fella jumped at me.

His nightmare was somebody getting too close to the President with the wrong idea.

Yeah, but I didn't realise that.

Kennedy said, "It's OK, Jim, he's a friend." So the lads let me go, lifted up me camera...

-Really, he said, "It's OK, Jim, he's a friend"?

-Yeah, "he's a friend."

Knelt up, took the picture and shook hands with him

and thanked him for coming.

These images of joy are sadly prophetic.

The motorcade, the open-topped limousine

so much like the day in Dallas just five months later

when JFK became the victim and assassin's bullet.

And how did it feel, those months later

when you heard that he'd been shot?

Er...I got an awful shock. You felt you'd lost a friend.

Seriously. You... You felt you'd lost a friend.

Grief washed across the Atlantic.

Pain shared between people, bonded by blood.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd