DALLAS – On November 24, 1963, former Dallas police detective Jim Leavelle says Officer L.C. Graves saved his life.
"I am confident I would have gotten one bullet," Leavelle said, "maybe two."
Leavelle is the detective who was handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when Jack Ruby shot him as he was being escorted from DPD Headquarters.
Officer Graves grabbed Ruby's gun.
In an interview on the day of the shooting, Graves said, "Well, I grabbed his arm, and took the pistol away from him."
Leavelle says he saw Ruby repeatedly trying to pull the trigger, but Graves grabbed the cylinder, preventing it from rotating.
"When L.C. grabbed him by the wrist with his left hand and he grabbed the cylinder of the pistol with his right — I can see that picture today just as well as I can see this picture right here," Leavelle told News 8.
Officer Graves was never honored for his heroic actions, until now.
"It was the crime of the century, and officers were trying to solve and investigate the crime of the century - the assassination of the president - and that was much more important than medals back then," said Sr. Cpl. Rick Janich.
Leavelle and Janich, who runs the DPD Museum, wanted Graves to be given the Medal of Valor posthumously. It's a high honor for officers who help save lives.
So, more than 50 years later, Graves is getting his medal.
"I told him," Leavelle said. "I always told him, that day when we came back from Parkland, I said, 'You are my hero today.'"
Graves' family will receive the medal in his honor next month.
"They always knew their dad was a hero," Leavelle said. "Now everybody knows."
