SNIPPET: Leitrim's Willie KEANE recalls: "I worked in Customs and Excise at Shannon Airport during the sixties. On that fateful night a group of us were watching television in our Hostel. The programme was interrupted for a "News Flash" - 'President Kennedy has been shot and wounded in Dallas, TX ... No other details are available at this time.' ... We rose as one and walked the long pathway to the Airport Terminal. People were gathered around transistor radios awaiting news. When the sad fate of the President was confirmed, some broke into tears, while others embraced their friends. Kennedy was perceived then as our man in the White House, he could not die! We remembered that June morning just months back, when he addressed the crowds assembled to watch his departure from Ireland. He quoted from a poem given to him in Aras An Uachtaran by Bean De VALERA the previous day: Tis, it is, the Shannon Stream, Brightly glancing, brightly glancing, See, O See, the Ruddy Beam, Upon its waters dancing! Thus returned from travel vain, Years of exile, years of pain, To see old Shannon's face again, O the bliss entrancing! Hail, our own majestic stream, Flowing ever, flowing ever. Silent in the morning beam, Our own beloved river! Then KENNEDY said - 'I am leaving now but, I will return to see old Shannon's face again,' and with a few handshakes, a wave to the crowd, he mounted the steps of Air Force One, and stepped into history." -- Excerpt, 'Crossroads of the World, Shannon Airport'/"Leitrim Guardian" periodical 2004