By John Cofield

Captain Falkner commanded Oxford’s unit, and along with the entire Mississippi National Guard, it was placed under federal control two minutes after midnight on Sunday, September 30, 1962.

The soldiers were told to report to the armory no later than 5:00 AM. The leadership and soldiers spent that Sunday at the armory preparing for a possible “Riot Control” situation. Because the mood on campus was still reasonably calm, at approximately 8 p.m. that night, the unit’s higher headquarters decided to release three-fourths of the soldiers to go home for the night. The officers and senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) stayed behind.

I am sure they were “smoking and joking” as we like to say, when the phone rang a little before 9 p.m. The soldier who answered the phone told Captain Falkner that it was Bobby Kennedy and he wanted to talk to him.

Not wanting to be the brunt of a sure joke, Falkner answered the phone, “Bob, this is Chook.” The next thing the men heard was, “Yes Sir, Mr. Attorney General!” It was actually a call from Robert Kennedy ordering Captain Murry Falkner to move his unit to campus. — John Brown

.