Michael D. Groves; Capt. White House Guard 1963

Posted by admin on Nov 17, 2013 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Michael D. Groves was Captain of the (White House) Guard. Captains are selected by the incoming president and serve as Captain of the Guard during that presidents term of office. Members of the Guard are selected from the armed forces.

The White House is technically a military post and the Guard is there to protect the Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces. Upon the death of the president the Captain of the Guard assumes command of the White House until such time as he is relieved of by the newly sworn in president. In this case there were more than a few hours before LBJ could get back to Washington to relieve Capt. Groves. During that time he was privy to all communications coming into the White House.

When I first met Don Groves (Capt. Groves father) in 1971 he was working for Ford Motor Company in their heavy truck division in Pontiac Michigan. He was given an executive position  and one of his perks was a new car every year.  Although he drove a Mercedes, as a Ford executive he was entitled to a new car every year. He would order a customized Lincoln Continental with the most god awful combo of interior/exterior fabrics and paint job.  It was a real pimp mobile which he keep parked in front of his house at 251 Euclid Ave. in Birmingham, Michigan just to make a point.  He felt that Ford was forced to keep him employed no matter what he did, whether he showed up for work or not, whether the custom car he ordered each year would not be handed down to lower execs the following year…because it was an embarrassment to Ford.  The Groves family knew, but weren’t sure why, their son was killed and were outspoken to a point. Most of the neighbors knew the story and when I arrived I was told that it wasn’t a good idea to associate with them. To my mind they were wonderful people who were terribly disappointed in the government and the powers that be. They were under a lot of pressure to keep quite.

The daughter, Darbea, was very vocal about the “murder” of her brother. She told me that “they” tried to get her committed and “they” told her if she didn’t “shut up” she’d never see her kids again. Although the circumstances are unknown to me it doesn’t come as a surprise that she died in 1978 at the age of 37, about 5 years after our last conversation.

This is what is known of Michael and his family, largely from obituaries:

Michael D. Groves was born 19 August 1936 in Birmingham (but some say Ann Arbor), Michigan. He went to Birmingham High School (formerly Groves High School…it may have been named after a relative or it was just a coincidence) and then Eastern Michigan University (1959) as an ROTC honor graduate, entering the service immediately upon graduation. He was said to be a close friend of JFK and occasionally babysat for John Jr.

As company commander of the Honor Guard Company, Groves directed military honors at JFK’s funeral on 25 November 1963. A week later, he died of a sudden heart attack (or some say poison) at the dinner table at his home in Arlington, Virginia.

He was reportedly survived by a daughter, Kelly Ann (3 years old), and his wife, Mary, who at that time was eight months pregnant with another child. Mary was about 25 when her husband died and that she later remarried. Capt. “Mike” Groves was also survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Donald W. Groves of Cleveland Heights, Ohio and sister Darbea.

Mr. and Mrs. Donald W. Groves along with daughter-in-law Mary Groves and grand-daughter Kelly Ann moved to Birmingham, Mich., where Capt. Groves grew up. On December 12th, Capt. Groves possessions and mementos—which had been sent home to Birmingham, Michigan—were destroyed in a fire of mysterious origin. The Honor Guard, for some mysterious reason, had been practicing for a presidential funeral for three days before the assassination.

Darbea died at the age of 37 in 1978 predeceasing her parents. Donald W. Groves died in 1993 and was buried Grand Lawn Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan, Gladys died some time later.