Arnold was another of the witnesses that felt tremendous fear and did not come forwards to speak about the assassination willingly. Gordon Arnold's wife and son said he was tricked by Earl Golz, a reporter at The Dallas Morning News, into telling his story, on the understanding he had not agreed to it being published.
Gordon Arnold's wife (Mary) and son gave an interview with Gary Mack.
Mary: He had been behind the railroad track and he was going to take pictures of what was going on and he was told by someone that he could not be back
there, so he went back onto the Grassy knoll. And he had the camera (pulls camera out of box)… this is the camera he had at the time, and he was taking pictures of the motorcade
and he actually had Kennedy in his viewfinder at the time it happened. But when the firing, when the bullets started, he said it was like coming over his shoulder and he said
so close to his ear. Well, he had been… they had used live ammunition in basic training and he had just completed twelve weeks of rigorous basic training and he was
conditioned. In fact, from what he told me, he had been trained to go behind the lines of combat in Cambodia. But because he was not an American citizen they found out they
couldn’t send him out of the country. They could send him out of the country but they couldn’t get him back because he was not a citizen. So that’s why he was sent to Alaska
for eighteen months. It was his oversea duty.
Mary: Well, like I said, he was taking pictures when the firing started and he hit the ground which was just an automatic reaction to his training. At that point a
man came up to him and had a rifle in his hand, and I don’t remember if he said it was the first man or the second man that had the rifle. But he, they told, asked him if he had been
taking pictures, and he said yes. And he took the camera from him. He told Gordon hewanted the camera. And he said, “You can have anything you want. Just take it and
leave me alone.” And he took the camera, took the film out of the camera, and threw the camera back at him. And he never saw the film, don’t know what happened to it. But the
uh, uh, he was joined by another gentleman and he said, I think he said, it was the second one that had the gun, and he said that the second man who had the gun had tears in his
eyes and was shaking and was extremely agitated. And he said he wasn’t going to cross anybody that was in that condition.
Mary: Yes, he did, but my mind is not sharp at all on how they were dressed. It seems like they were policemen, right? And, but he said they had on muddy
shoes. That caught his eye because he was lying down on the ground, and he said that they had on muddy shoes.
Mary: They identified themselves as Secret Service.
Gary: The men who came up to him after the shooting or…?
Mary: (Nods head)
Mary: Uh-huh. I believe he had on a police officer’s uniform. He was the one who told him to move from behind the railroad tracks onto the Grassy knoll.
Gary: Did he think that was odd that someone would ask him to do that?
Mary: Uh yes, but he was conditioned to military and you do what you’re told.
Gary: Do you remember what he was wearing that day?
Mary: Gordon? Yes, he had on a khaki uniform with the little pointed cap.
Gary: Why did he have his uniform on?
Mary: Because he had just arrived from boot camp and he was still, he was in the military. And I don’t know, maybe he just wanted to show it off to his
mother’s friends or what.
Gordon Arnold's mother worked as a sewing machinist at either Zapruder's or one of the other garment making business. Mary Arnold stated Gordon's mother worked in the Dal-Tex building and was due to meet Gordon during her dinner break. That he wore the military uniform for the photographs his mother wanted.
