FILE - In this Nov. 22, 1963 file photo, President John F. Kennedy slumps down in the back seat of the Presidential limousine as it speeds along Elm Street toward the Stemmons Freeway overpass after being fatally shot in Dallas. Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy leans over the president as Secret Service agent Clinton Hill rides on the back of the car. (AP Photo/Ike Altgens, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 22, 1963 file photo, President John F. Kennedy slumps down in the back seat of the Presidential limousine as it speeds along Elm Street toward the Stemmons Freeway overpass after being fatally shot in Dallas. Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy leans over the president as Secret Service agent Clinton Hill rides on the back of the car. (AP Photo/Ike Altgens, File)

(Reuters) – Dallas will observe the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination with its first official memorial on Friday, as the rest of the nation pauses to remember the event that changed history.

At Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia where Kennedy is buried, family members laid a wreath at his grave, where Jackie Kennedy and two of their children also are buried.

At dawn, Attorney General Eric Holder made a gravesite visit to honor Kennedy, bowing his head and placing a Justice Department commemorative coin at the stone. Holder then walked a short path to the grave of Robert F. Kennedy, who had served as attorney general under his brother, bowed his head and left another coin.

In a late morning ceremony in Dallas, Kennedy will be remembered with prayers, a speech by Mayor Mike Rawlings and military jets flying over the city’s Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was shot.

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