Well, I should have done this first. I Googled it and this is what I found. I should always go to Google instead of TERB.
More info here: http://www.jfklancer.com/LNE/coffin.html#anchor2456189
JFK's Family Insisted on Casket's Disposal
WASHINGTON Jun 01 -- It was the Kennedy family that insisted that the polished bronze casket
used to carry President Kennedy's body from Dallas to Washington be dumped into the ocean,
newly released documents say.
Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in a mahogany coffin and there have been
lingering questions about what ever happened to the casket used in Texas after Kennedy was
assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.
"What I would like to have done is take it to sea," Robert Kennedy, the president's brother, told an
official of the General Services Administration in February 1966.
Despite concerns that the casket was government property, Kennedy told GSA Administrator Lawson
Knott Jr. that he believed it belonged to the family "and we can get rid of it any way we want to,"
according to a memo recounting their telephone conversation.
About two weeks later, on Feb. 18, 1966, an Air Force van picked up the casket at the National
Archives building in downtown Washington.
To make sure that it would sink, the casket was loaded with three 80-pound bags of sand. Numerous
holes were drilled into the coffin and a pine box that encased it. It was bound with metal banding
tape and rigged with parachutes to break the impact of hitting the water.
At 8:38 a.m., a C-130 airplane carrying the casket left Andrews Air Force Base and flew off the
Maryland-Delaware coast. The plane descended to 500 feet and at 10 a.m., the tail hatch of the
plane was opened and the 660-pound load was pushed out.
"The parachutes opened shortly before impact and the entire rigged load remained intact and sank
sharply, clearly and immediately after the soft impact," John Steadman, special assistant to the
defense secretary, wrote in a Feb. 25, 1966 file memo.
"The aircraft circled the drop point for some 20 minutes at 500 feet to ensure that nothing returned
to the surface," wrote Steadman, who was on the plane.
The drop point -- in 9,000 feet of water beyond the continental shelf -- was chosen because it was
away from regularly traveled air and shipping lines and would not be disturbed by trawling and
other sea-bottom activities, the documents said.
The government paid for the bronze coffin, but it was unclear whether it was covered by a law that
made certain items of evidence related to the Kennedy assassination government property.
Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach said in a Feb. 11, 1966 letter to the GSA that he felt it was
necessary to dispose of the coffin.
"I am unable to conceive of any manner in which the casket could have an evidentiary value, nor
can I conceive of any reason why the national interest would require its preservation," Katzenbach
wrote.
"It is obvious that it could never be used for burial purposes and its public display would be
extremely offensive and contrary to public policy."
