10 Facts About Rufus Youngblood

Rufus Youngblood's father was a railroad worker who died in a rail accident when Rufus was only two.

Rufus Youngblood was left with his mother, whose permission he asked before enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.

Rufus Youngblood was a waist gunner in the 324th Bombardment Squadron on some of America's first bombing raids on Germany.

Rufus Youngblood joined the Secret Service in March 1951, having obtained the job ahead of thirty-four applicants for the post.

Rufus Youngblood considered the public attention to his quick action in protecting Johnson somewhat exaggerated.

In January 1965, Youngblood succeeded Gerald A Behn as head of the White House detail.

In October 1966 Rufus Youngblood was figured prominently in photographs and stories in Australian newspapers when two young men, John and David Langley, threw bags of red and green paint at the presidential limousine as it drove through the streets of Melbourne.

When Johnson was succeeded by Richard M Nixon, Youngblood felt increasingly sidelined by the new administration, and took early retirement in 1971, at the age of 47.

Rufus Youngblood then sold real estate and became a master gardener in Savannah, Georgia.

Rufus Youngblood died of cancer at the age of 72 in a hospice near his Savannah home.