Template:Short description Template:For Template:Infobox person Gordon Leslie Arnold (August 14, 1941 – October 15, 1997)<ref name="Nationwide Gravesite Locator">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was a Canadian-American man who claimed to have witnessed the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.<ref name="Golz">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="The Victoria Advocate">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Frederick Daily Leader">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Arnold did not become known as an eyewitness to the assassination until 1978, when on August 27 of that year, The Dallas Morning News published an article by Earl Golz alleging that several "counterfeit" agents of the United States Secret Service were in Dealey Plaza shortly before and after the assassination.<ref name="Golz"/> The following day, the story was reported by the Associated Press and United Press International.<ref name="The Victoria Advocate"/><ref name="Frederick Daily Leader"/> Arnold would later be interviewed on his alleged experience for The Men Who Killed Kennedy.<ref name="The Bryan Times">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Witness to the assassination Senator Ralph Yarborough told Golz that "Immediately on the firing of the first shot I saw the man you interviewed throw himself on the ground....He was down within a second of the time the shot was fired and I thought to myself, ‘There’s a combat veteran who knows how to act when weapons start firing.Template:Single double<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
According to the report, Arnold and at least four other individuals said they met men who identified themselves as Secret Service agents.<ref name="Golz"/> Arnold stated that he was attempting to move to the railroad bridge above the triple underpass to film the presidential limousine and motorcade when a man with a badge who said he was with the Secret Service told him that he could not be there.<ref name="Golz"/><ref name="The Victoria Advocate"/><ref name="Frederick Daily Leader"/> According to Arnold in that interview, he moved to a dirt mound in front of the picket fence on the "grassy knoll" where he filmed the motorcade as it moved down Elm Street.<ref name="Golz"/> He described at least one shot as being fired past his left ear from behind, stating that he "hit the dirt" after feeling the first just over his left shoulder, and that while lying down his impression was that at least one more shot came from that location, although he said he heard the echoes of gunfire through the Plaza which made it difficult to determine the source of the other shot(s) with certainty.<ref name="Golz"/><ref name="The Victoria Advocate"/><ref name="Frederick Daily Leader"/> Arnold indicated that he remained lying down for the duration of the shooting until he was confronted by two policemen who confiscated his film and ordered him to leave the area.<ref name="Golz"/><ref name="The Victoria Advocate"/><ref name="Frederick Daily Leader"/> Arnold would give more information in The Men Who Killed Kennedy interview, where he mentioned that the film was confiscated by a man wearing a policeman's uniform, except he was not wearing a hat.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Arnold suggested that he had been afraid to report the incident due to claims of "peculiar" deaths of witnesses to the assassination.<ref name="Golz"/><ref name="The Victoria Advocate"/><ref name="Frederick Daily Leader"/>
According to the report, at the time of the assassination Arnold was a soldier who had just completed basic training and was reporting for duty in Fort Wainwright, Alaska two days later.<ref name="Golz"/> In 1978, he was an investigator with the Dallas Department of Consumer Affairs.<ref name="Golz"/><ref name="The Victoria Advocate"/><ref name="Frederick Daily Leader"/> Arnold rose to the rank of Specialist 5 in the United States Army.<ref name="Nationwide Gravesite Locator"/>