DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the voice carryin' it down the road. There's a farm out here in Red River County — quiet land, the kind that raises people as much as crops — and it's where J. D.
Tippit grew up. That name may not ring a bell the way some others do, but it ought to. J.
D. Tippit was born in 1924, and the roots of his life ran right through this ground. He went from a family farm in Red River County to jumping out of airplanes for his country.
He served as a paratrooper in the 17th Airborne Division during World War II, and he didn't come home empty-handed — he came home with the Bronze Star. In 1946, he married his high school sweetheart, started a family here in Red River County, and began building the kind of ordinary, decent life that doesn't make headlines. In 1952, he joined the Dallas Police Department.
He earned a reputation there — honored for his quick thinking and outstanding judgment. The kind of officer you want on the street when things go sideways. Now.
November 22, 1963. You already know what day that is. President John F.
Kennedy had just been assassinated, and the city of Dallas was on edge, every officer on alert. J. D.
Tippit was working a beat in central Oak Cliff when he spotted Lee Harvey Oswald and stopped him for questioning. Oswald shot and killed him. Just like that, a man who had survived a World War, who had jumped from planes into the smoke of battle and earned a Bronze Star, was gone on a Dallas street.
He left behind a wife and three children. J. D.
Tippit is buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Dallas. The farm where he grew up is still out here in Red River County. Some stories don't end with a monument — they end with a marker on the side of a road, asking you to slow down and remember a name.
What the marker says
Slain in the line of duty while on alert for President John F. Kennedy's assassin, J. D. Tippit (1924-1963) grew up on his family's farm near this site. He served as a paratrooper in the 17th Airborne Division during World War II and received the Bronze Star. J.D. married his high school sweetheart in 1946 and started a family in Red River County. He joined the Dallas Police Department in 1952 and later was honored for his quick thinking and outstanding judgment. On November 22, 1963, Tippit was working a beat in central Oak Cliff when he stopped Lee Harvey Oswald for questioning. Oswald shot and killed him. J.D. Tippit, who left a wife and three children, is buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Dallas. (2001)