April 14, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession on the streets of Washington, DC

Last edited Thu Oct 19, 2023, 02:40 PM - Edit history (3)

Thu Apr 14, 2022: April 14, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession on the streets of Washington, DC

Wed Apr 14, 2021: April 14, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession on the streets of Washington, DC

Link to tweet

Tue Apr 14, 2020: April 14, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession on the streets of Washington, DC

Low-power FM station WERA, in Arlington, Virginia, ran a show {on the afternoon of Monday, April 13, 2020,} about the death of President Roosevelt. It consisted of radio broadcasts from the days following his death.

https://www.facebook.com/939941119429678/photos/a.942268432530280/2843874072369697/

Local radio personality Arthur Godfrey was covering the funeral from his vantage point on top of the Riggs Bank building at the northwest corner of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. He had been sent there by WJSV, which became today's WTOP. He was quite knowledgeable and detailed in his narrative. I urge you to give the podcast a listen.

Sun Apr 14, 2019: April 14, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession on the streets of Washington, DC

Since we've had threads today about Lincoln's assassination, in 1865, and Black Sunday, in 1935, it's my turn. This is about today's events in Washington, DC, in 1945.

Sat Apr 14, 2018: April 14, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession on the streets of Washington, DC

Sat Apr 15, 2017: April 14, 1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral procession on the streets of Washington, DC

It's 4:3 format stretched to wide screen. I don't know how you can undo that.

This is the first time I've seen this footage. When the video was made from the film, some portions were flipped.

In a sequence starting at 2:20, the soldiers or Marines (the uniforms are OD), and some sailors too, are saluting with their left hands. I could verify that this part was flipped by knowing how a flag is supposed to be placed over a coffin.

I just looked that up. See: United States Flag Code

The flag in mourning

{snip}

When used to cover a casket or coffin, the flag should be placed with the union at the head and over the left shoulder. It should not be lowered into the grave; it is also to be removed before the casket is set for cremation. It is considered a proper sign of courtesy to salute a casket covered with the American flag as the pall (in military and state funerals) at the proper time.

In the same footage where the military personnel are saluting with their left hands, the flag is on the coffin so that the union is over Roosevelt's right shoulder. Flag protocol would have been excruciatingly observed for such a service, so the footage is reversed in this portion.

In a sequence at 3:18, Admiral Ernest King salutes with his right hand, and the steering wheels of the automobiles are on the left hand side. That part is right.

How did we ever get along without computers?




Here's a newsreel of Roosevelt's death:




On board the train, and in the procession in DC, the flag is shown correctly placed on the coffin. See 1:11, 3:18, 3:36, and 4:08.

One more. I find these fascinating.



Again, see 2:53 for the proper placement of the flag. That scene shows the procession coming up ... well, I don't know what that's called. Google says it's Union Station Drive NE, or maybe it's Columbus Circle NE. It's that street on the east side of Union Station that goes down and makes a right to become F Street NE. The SEC is there now, right at the bottom where the turn is. See https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8968247,-77.0046912,19z .

Roosevelt died on the 12th. I used to be able to find that week's issue of Life magazine at Google Books. An article in that issue covered the funeral train. FDR's body was moved to Atlanta on the 13th, and a train took it up the Southern Railway mainline to DC. It made the trip on the night of the 13th and morning of the 14th.

Here is the train at dawn in Charlottesville, Virginia:



Edited: no can do. The historical society has changed its name and its policy on linking to photographs. Here's an article from the Charlottesville Daily Progress with a lower-quality version of the photograph:


That's looking to the northeast. The large white building above the tracks, where Main Street goes over the tracks, is the old Queen Charlotte Hotel. It was torn down years ago. The train stopped so that railway officials could use the telephone. Southern Railway trainmaster (and mayor of Alexandria from 1940 to 1949) William T. Wilkins rode the train from Monroe, Virginia, (yes, the town mentioned in "Wreck of the Old 97") up to Alexandria or DC.

The picture was taken from an interlocking tower at the northeast corner of the crossing where the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway crossed the Southern Railway.

FDR Funeral Train {edited: bad link}


Here's a thread at a forum for the TV show The Waltons about Roosevelt's funeral train:


The first reply at that forum has a link to this:

Kenan Research Center, Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, Funeral Procession


The footage is out of order. There's a brief clip that starts at 0:11. I'm certain that's Alexandria. The clip at 0:22 shows Alexandria too.




Edited to add:

If you have the patience, here is a long version of the footage. I have not sat through this to see if they have the flipped sequence restored to its correct original version. As a commenter notes, this happened on Saturday, April 14, 1945, not on the 13th.

As the caisson is moving away from Union Station, at around 1:45, you can that the flag is correctly draped upon the coffin. That section of the footage is not flipped. At 4:02, the footage is flipped. I don't know why they can't get that right.




Sun Jun 3, 2018: Funeral Of President Roosevelt (1945)