John F. Kennedy Jr. Killed 10 Years Ago Today

John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of President John F. Kennedy, died 10 years ago today when the plane he was piloting crashed near Martha's Vineyard. Kennedy's wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and Carolyn's sister, Lauren, were also killed in the crash, Boston Globe reports.

Photo: John F. Kennedy Jr. Killed 10 Years Ago Today

Commenting on the accident Kennedy's friend Rob Littell said: "I had a personal sense of, 'Oh my God. I'm going to be mourning my friend my whole life,'" Boston Channel.com reports.

Many Americans sat in front of their TVs for hours as searchers scoured the waters off Martha's Vineyard for the plane.

And when the bodies of Kennedy, his young wife, Carolyn Bessette, and her sister, Lauren, were finally found, grief again galvanized a nation that never really got over Camelot.

"From the first day of his life, John seemed to belong not only to our family, but to the American family," his uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy said in his eulogy.

He also belonged to New York and the Tribeca neighborhood, where Kennedy lived and worked in his last years - and where the grieving was keenest. His apartment building at 20 N. Moore St. became a shrine, New York Daily News reports.