Let's start with the story everyone should know.

One day President John F. Kennedy was late for church. The townspeople stood on the shoreline, hoping to catch a glimpse of the young president. JFK stepped off the pier at Lobsterman's Co-Op in Boothbay Harbor. It was August 12, 1962. 

People on this peninsula have told the story for many years, but other stories remain less known, including those of Kennedy and a local man who served in his honor guard.

Lee “Rusty” Court was 130 pounds when he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1961. After 13 weeks in boot camp, he was asked to try out for the president's honor guard.

The honor guard had 30 members, each from a different military branch. They performed wreath laying ceremonies in Arlington National Cemetery and accompanied the president whenever foreign dignitaries visited. Court served one year in Kennedy's honor guard.

“I was a little skinny tin soldier,” Court said. “They must have thought I looked like an all American boy or something.”

Dressed smartly at attention, his hands holding an M-1 rifle, Court said he remembered standing eye to eye with Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline. He said he admired the young president.

“I think at that time there was a lot of hope for the country,” Court said. “Here was this young president taking the reins of something that older men would do. He had new ideas for the country.”

While the honor guard was expected to keep a “spit and polish” appearance at all times, Court said there were occasional moments of unscripted disorder.

Court recalled an incident when he lined up on the marble steps at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He heard the command to fix the bayonet, but Court never heard the little click. Usually the little click lets you know the bayonet is locked, Court said. Then came the command to present arms. He switched the rifle to the upright position and the bayonet flew off the muzzle.

Tink, tink, tink, went the bayonet down the marble steps. “Everyone stayed frozen, but it was too many steps for comfort,” Court said.

The honor guard remained stationed in Washington, D.C. for special occasions and did not accompany Kennedy on his trip to Boothbay Harbor.

In September of 1962, Court finished his duty in the honor guard. He joined the crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Acushnet, a 210-foot rescue tugboat based out of Portland. He said most of his time was spent 130 miles off the coast chasing Russians. 

“I photographed the whole Russian fleet for the boys in Washington,” Court said.

According to Court, the Russians had 200-foot fishing vessels that would scoop up everything that swam in Georges Banks. It was an around the clock operation.

The Coast Guard would come up next to the Russian fleet, Court said. He once saw a shipmate throw a bundled up magazine onto the deck of a Russian boat. It was a Playboy. 

“He wanted to show the Russians what the American girls looked like,” Court said. “They probably all abandoned ship at that point.”

Court continued to carry out search and rescue operations and snap photographs for the Coast Guard. He had served only two months aboard the ship when the news came in from Washington that the president was dead. The entire U.S. military was put on ready alert.

“It was a terrible thing for the whole country to go through,” Court said. “Just as things had turned around and I thought we were headed in the right direction. There were a lot of tears for the whole country.” 

Court finished up his service at the Boothbay Harbor Coast Guard Station in November of 1965. He cashed in his vacation days, bought a lobster boat and away he went.

Court said the lessons he learned in the president's honor guard and Coast Guard served him well.

For many years he lived and fished off Monhegan Island, a place he spent his summers growing up. Court is now 73 and still fishes the shores off of Boothbay on his boat named after his daughter, Casey Anne. He is a man made by the sea. 

More on JFK in Boothbay Harbor: A presidential visit