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Elements of the British Army and Irish Army were the only foreign military forces represented during the state funeral of President of the United States John Kennedy. A squad of Irish cadets executed the so-called Queen Anne drill prior to the internment of Kennedy's remains, while a piper from the Black Watch Highlanders XXX.

Irish Army cadets
During the state visit of the United States to Ireland in June 1963, John Kennedy was invited to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arbor Hill Cemetery where leaders of the Easter Rising were interred. The ceremony involved the performance of the Queen Anne drill, an Irish military drill performed during funerary rites, by a contingent of cadets from the Irish army. Kennedy reportedly later remarked to Irish Defense Forces Lt. Frank Colclough that it was "the finest honor guard he had ever seen".

Following his return to Washington, Kennedy requested a film of the maneuver be sent to the White House for his personal study. A new group of cadets was assembled by the Irish Defense Forces to perform the maneuver for a camera crew, reportedly over the objections of Irish Army Sergeant An Rua O'Sullivan who believed it was bad luck to perform the drill for any reason other than a funeral.

Black Watch Highlanders
In late 1963, the band of the Black Watch Regiment conducted a three-month performance tour of the United States. Several days before Kennedy's assassination, the band was invited to undertake a charity performance on the South Lawn of the White House, which Kennedy observed with his children John Kennedy, Jr. and Caroline Kennedy. According to some accounts, Jacqueline Kennedy later remarked it was the last time she had seen the president happy before his death.

Reunion
In 2013, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Kennedy, eleven of the former cadets visited Kennedy's tomb at Arlington National Cemetery. During the visit, they presented one of the Lee Enfield rifles used in 1963 to the cemetery's archives.

Jamie Heaslip