All 3 Bodies at Kennedy Crash Site Recovered

The bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and sister-in-law were finally found and brought to shore Wednesday, ending a massive five-day search that employed airplanes, ships and submarines and utilized radar, sonar and global positioning satellites.

The bodies--which were found amid the twisted wreckage of the plane’s fuselage, 116 feet below the surface off Martha’s Vineyard--were taken to a medical examiner’s office for autopsies.

“I think we were able to bring closure to two families,” said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Richard Larrabee. “The bodies are being readied for return to the families.”

Navy divers brought the bodies to the surface at 4:30 p.m. EDT. The divers then began the effort to retrieve the main fuselage of Kennedy’s Piper Saratoga, which was severely damaged but intact.

Meanwhile, a spokesman announced that a memorial Mass for Kennedy and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, will be held Friday in the Roman Catholic church where his mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, worshiped. President and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend the service at St. Thomas More Church on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The 11 a.m. service for Kennedy and his wife “will be closed to the public and the press; it is for friends and family only,” family spokesman Will Keyser said.

The families were trying to resolve differences about burial plans, a source said. A senior administration official said that Kennedy would be buried at sea as early as today but that plans for his wife and sister-in-law were uncertain. A Navy ship was positioned for the sea burial, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Wednesday night.

An invitation-only memorial service for Kennedy’s sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, will be held Saturday evening at an Episcopal church in Greenwich, Conn. The ceremony also will include remembrances of Kennedy and his wife, but is meant especially for Bessette.

“I think people have tended to forget that she is a person in her own right,” said Mary Marks, parish secretary.

New York’s Irish community planned a public memorial service tonight at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Lower Manhattan.

“It is intended to supplement whatever service the family will arrange and perhaps accommodate mourners who might not otherwise have an opportunity to pay their respects,” said Brian O’Dwyer, head of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center.

Plane’s Fuselage Is Identified

Shortly before midnight Tuesday, an unmanned miniature submarine equipped with a television camera identified the plane’s fuselage, according to a statement issued by Larrabee and James Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. About noon Wednesday, Navy divers located the bodies.

An hour later, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and his sons, Edward J. Kennedy Jr. and Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.), as well as his nephews Max and Douglas, were taken by helicopter to a Navy ship near the wreckage site so they could be briefed on the recovery operation, federal officials said. The Kennedys were aboard a Coast Guard cutter as the three bodies were transported to Woods Hole, a port on the Massachusetts coast.

The plane was found on the bottom of the sea, about 7 1/2 miles west of Gay Head, the westernmost point of Martha’s Vineyard. Radar enabled search crews to fix the plane’s “splash-down point,” sonar identified the fuselage and satellites guided Navy ships to the location.

A large section of the fuselage, including the instrument panel, was recovered. That and other portions of the plane that are recovered will be transported to a hangar at Otis Air Force Base here to be analyzed, Hall said. The NTSB also will continue to review radar data, study maintenance records and conduct more interviews to try to determine the cause of the accident. A full report will be issued in six to nine months, Hall said.

Aviation experts who have studied radar data believe that Kennedy suddenly lost altitude in an apparent “graveyard spiral,” an indication that pilot error was the most likely cause of the crash.

While the recovery operation continued, nearby residents expressed great sadness when the bodies were recovered.

“I had this little glimmer of hope that he might be alive,” said Miriam Dempsey, a waitress at the Keltic Kitchen in West Yarmouth. “I thought there was a chance. Now it’s over.”

Clinton Defends Massive Federal Effort

At a Wednesday news conference, President Clinton defended his decision to employ extensive federal resources in the search.

“It was the right thing to do,” Clinton said, for several reasons--including “the role of the Kennedy family in our national life and because of the enormous losses they have sustained in our lifetimes.”

At Clinton’s news conference, he spoke fondly about his friendship with Kennedy, whom he first met when Kennedy was a young law clerk at a Los Angeles law firm.

“We have been together on many occasions since then,” Clinton said. “John Kennedy had actually not been back to the White House since his father was killed, until . . . I became president.”

Last year, Clinton said, he invited Kennedy and his sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, to a space program event at the White House “because of their father’s role in starting the space program.” Afterward, he invited them to view some Kennedy memorabilia.

“I have a picture of his father speaking to the Irish parliament and a number of other things . . . We had a very nice evening. I sent him the pictures from it. And then, in return, he sent me a signed copy of his favorite picture of his father, which is now upstairs. It’s John Kennedy campaigning in Virginia, in Charlottesville, in 1960. It’s quite a lovely picture . . .

“I’m not sure he’d really felt he wanted to come back to the White House before he did. But, especially in light of everything that’s happened, I’m glad he had the chance to come back here one more time and see the residence and know where he was when he was a little boy . . . I’m grateful that that happened.”

Library Scene Likened to Diana’s Death

The scene outside Boston’s John F. Kennedy Library and Museum on Wednesday was reminiscent of the outpouring seen following the death of Princess Diana.

Flower arrangements lined the steps. There were small sprigs of wildflowers hand-wrapped in tin foil. Elaborate displays from florists sat next to lone roses or simple daisy bouquets. There were candles and even a hand-made vase decorated with a lighthouse and seaside scenes.

Many visitors to the grand white edifice--the nation’s official memorial to President Kennedy that juts into the bay near South Boston--were moved to stand on the steps and gaze at the large American flag fluttering at half-staff.

“It really reaches into the nation’s heart again,” said Neil Washburn, a social services administrator from Palmyra, N.Y. “I was pretty young when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, but it about killed half our innocence. . . . Now, it feels like we’re losing the rest of it.”

Along with flowers and photographs depicting John F. Kennedy Jr. at various stages of his short life, there were letters, poems and prayers. A grandmother left a copy of a Robert Frost poem, “Nothing gold can stay.” Christine A. Quinn of Arlington, Mass., left a letter written on lined binder paper.

“John,” it began, “I never got the opportunity to get to know you personally, but growing up in Boston and living here my entire life, it was next to impossible not to feel some sort of connection toward you and your family.”

Quinn concluded: “Your death makes me think of my own mortality, and I am going to live every moment to the fullest. I always thought of you as immortal, but you’re only human after all. I’ll never forget you.”

Museum officials said 1,100 people paid for admission on Tuesday, about twice the normal figure for a weekday in summer. Many waited up to an hour or more to leave their feelings in a pair of condolence books. They were set up on a table with a large picture of John and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy taken May 23, at the museum’s annual fund-raising dinner.

Malnic reported from Sandwich Township and Corwin reported from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Elizabeth Mehren in Boston contributed to this story.

Updates, additional photos and video related to the Kennedy plane recovery efforts are on The Times’ Web site:

https://www.latimes.com/kennedy

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Recovering the WreckageThe wreckage of John F. Kennedy Jr.’s airplane is being hauled to the surface by the Navy salvage vessel Grasp. A submersible device with a camera called an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) was launched from Grasp to pinpoint the wreckage, which was discovered in 116 feet of water. The debris will be analyzed by federal investigators seeking to determine the cause of the crash.

More Coverage

* RESCUE MISSIONS: The initial search for the Kennedy party is called typical of thousands undertaken annually. A12

* HISTORY OF TRAGEDY: Martha’s Vineyard has known years of searches, going back to the days of merchant schooners. A12

* RECOVERY: How the Navy is bringing up the wreckage. A12