Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the assassination of John Kennedy. I'm sure anyone over the age of 50 remembers where they were (and what they were doing) when they heard the news.

Since the majority of our members weren't born yet, I'll widen this question to include any other day/event of historical note and ask, "where you were you (and what were you doing) when you heard about" ___________________ [FILL IN THE HISTORICAL EVENT].

Was it when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon? One of the great blackouts? The September 11th attacks?

C'mon, EVERYBODY has a story about a day they'll never forget. What were you doing???

Great topic SC!

I was just a tot when Kennedy was killed, so I really don't remember.

I do remember being in my aunts kitchen when Armstrong made his first step on the moon.


I also remember that we were in the middle of getting gasoline at a gas station when the blackout of 1979 (or was it 1978?)happened.


As for September 11th, well I know that you are very familiar with my story. But for those who may be new here, I'll post a link to it :

http://www.gangsterbb.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000087;p=0


Don Cardi

DC, I had never read your account...Dear God!


As one of the older members, I was at Chaminade High School in Hollywood, Fla heading for a Friday Pep rally. The Principal came to the mike and said the president had been shot. There was a gasp and dead silence. He told us to go back to our classrooms, and they turned on the school speaker system, and we listened to the news that he had been killed. We all said a prayer and were dismissed from school. The sheer horror of thinking a thing like that could happen in America back then was beyond belief. In my life nothing has come close except for 9/11.

8th grade math class at Lefferts JHS (61), Empire Blvd. and New York Ave.

Mr. Walters was the teacher. First reports were that the shots came from the grassy knoll.

My memory is pathetic - I don't remember what I was doing for anything!

I actually slept through 9/11.

Sorry, but I was one and a half when JFK was shot. I do remember the first shuttle explosion in 1986. I was at home, recovering from surgery (a seemingly common occurence in my household ) and I saw it happen live. The second shuttle explosion, I was at my best friend's mother's funeral.

When John Lennon was shot, I was still in college. We all went to a friend's house and turned on the radio to listen to the reports (why not the TV? Not sure). Then we smoked pot and ordered Chinese food.

As for September 11th, I was at a marketing committee meeting of my local United Way when the first reports came in. We broke up the meeting and I was listening to the radio as I drove back to my office. That's when the first tower fell. When I got back to my office, we watched the skyline from our conference room. I just remember thinking that the horrible plume of smoke looked like someone had nuked Manhattan. I was never quite able to look out that conference room window again.

I'd bet that that could be the closing line in describing quite a number of your youthful experiences.

At the moment of 9/11, I remember myself to be very happy because the school day was almost finished.
1,5 hours later I heard the news, but I just didn't understand it very well. I didn't even know what the WTC was. Can you imagine?

I remember the Columbine school shootings, I had just come home from school (4th or 5th grade, I forget), and I was mad because I wanted to watch cartoons but all they had was the coverage.

For those who live in the DC area, there was the day some guy shot up the Capitol and was on the loose. I remember being 6 to 8 years old, by myself at home. I locked all the doors and went under my bed til my mom came home .

On 9/11, I was at school. The doors were locked and we played games and stuff.

For those in the DC area, we can all remember the horror of the sniper rampage. I remember being in middle school, and running home everyday. I also remember the guardian angels (the dudes in red jackets) filling up the gas tanks when we needed gas. Thanks to them, it made the situation easier.

:p

What? No ice cream?

JFK- I was in 10th grade, 5th period English class. They turned the P.A. system on as we listened to them announce that the President was shot in Dallas. Silence fell across the entire room. I saw a teary eyed teacher (Mrs. Bergstrom)and couldn't help but get teary myself.

The bus ride home, for the most part was silent...except for one very "outspoken" kid who proceeded to say, "They should have shot him again & again & again, as far as I'm concerned." I'm sure a reflection of his politics and perhaps influenced by his parents, I don't know, but I wanted to strangle him. I always wonder if he remembers that.

Just a couple years earlier, during his campaign, I saw him in person, sitting on top of the back seat (in the open)in a convertible motorcade, drive right by the Catholic School I had attended. The nuns were overjoyed to have a potential Catholic President, and each teacher of the very small school, took the classes to the corner to wave at JFK as he drove by. I'll never forget it.

911 stands out of course very vividly in my mind. It was early here, and out of habit I turned on the news right when I wake up. The first tower was hit and appeared to be an accident. I saw the second plane hit, and everyone knew then it was much more than an accident. Left me in a daze the entire day, much like the JFK assassination, only with many many more lives lost.

TIS

Somewhere in my dad's prostate gland...

But seriously, you old folks have so much more to remember than us young kids. The only national event I'm going to remember like this is 9/11. I can't think of anything else.

Someone needs to take biology... :p

Well Patrick, what my parents would tell me when we were talking about things before my time....."you were just a gleam in your father's eye."

I remember a few years back (before 911), on another JFK Assassination anniversary, asking my daughters if anything similar stands out in their minds, that they thought they'd remember.....they said the Challenger disaster. They were in school and watched coverage on tv. I would guess today for everyone old enough, it'd have to be 911.

TIS

Someone needs to take biology... :p [/b][/quote]You mean, I didn't come from my father's gland that controls the of urine and secretes the liquid found in semen?

I was at work on 9/11 in B'ham Alabama. It took us a little while to actually get how big the event has been, since we just heard a plane flew into a building.

The most dramatic event in my life that I actually was there to see was the attack on the Campus of University of Tehran in July of 1999. I'd just finished my final exams and it was on weekend that we heard they've attacked the boy's dorms that were about 300 yards away from girl's because they had been marching for a few nights in a row. We went to see what's happened there. There was cracked window glasses, doors, blood, papers, etc everywhere, someone had posted a bloody shirt on billboards...

I was a lil' Snake in my crib when JFK got shot. But I do recall where I was and what I was doing when. . .

Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Jim Jones basically killed over 900 people in his cult.
America withdrew from Saigon.
Skynyrd's plane crashed.
Elvis kicked the bucket.
Reagan was shot.
Lennon was shot.
The space shuttle (Challenger) blew up.
The O.J. verdict was read.
9-11-01.
Reagan died.

Stay tuned. . .

No, you didn't. The prostate secretes a component of semen, but, sperm itself comes from the testes. :p

I was in high school and 9/11 was just a bizarre day. I was in my German class early. Out of the hall a kid ran up and said the World Trade Center had been hit. This was around 9:25 AM.

I turned and looked at a couple kids in my class and the general consensus was "Oh, shit." I remember this kid Alex saying "This is one of the most important parts of America, like the White House, Congress-" and this dumb girl said "And me!" We just glared at her.

The teacher refused to believe it. He thought it was a joke and refused to turn the TV. There were TVs in every class room.

It wasn't until my English class, where an antenna had been rigged up, that I was able to see or learn anything. All we saw was smoke and I remember looking at it and thinking. All I said was "Where are the towers?"

I skipped lunch and ran over to the only room with cable TV. (Side note, this teacher had a room next to the AV room and had maintenance run a line into his room years earlier) And I just sat and watched. In the rest of my classes we just watched TV, trying to know as much as we could.

Not yet born for JFK's assassination. But I remember in 1993, on the 30 year anniversary, NBC re-aired the coverage they had of that day. It was fascinating to watch because 1963 wasn't instant media like we are accustomed to now. Even more strange was seeing the air personalities smoke cigarettes on television. But all they really were doing was speculating. First on JFK's condition and then, after confirmation of his death, who was behind it and what was the motive.

9/11: I was at work and rec'd a call from my mom. She said she couldn't understand why 2 US pilots would fly into the WTC. I knew instantly that it was a hijacking because no rational person would do what was done. Maybe one plane could have been an angry American. But I instinctively knew that 2 planes was a terrorist hijacking without seeing an TV coverage or seeing anything on the web.

A few of my co-workers went to our University's student lounge and watched the coverage for about 30 minutes. We saw the 1st tower fall live. It was surreal.

Attempted Reagan assassination: I came home from school (3rd grade maybe) and my friend John ran over to our house to announce that the president had been shot. I watched Dan Rather's coverage of it on CBS for the next few hours.

Challenger explosion: I want to say I was in 7th grade and it came over the PA announcement in school. I remember the stunned silence of everyone at school.

No, you didn't. The prostate secretes a component of semen, but, sperm itself comes from the testes. :p [/b][/quote]I think you misunderstood me, Geoff. That was sarcasm. :p

For bragging rights, I passed bio with a 92! Foo'.

9/11 is the main historical event that I remember actually experiencing in my lifetime. I was in 7th grade, and I heard the first reports on the radio as I rode to school with my mom and cousin. I heard more in 1st period Band class from my teacher, and my mom picked me up from school a few classes later. I spent the rest of the day reading, watching, and listening to all the media reports, gradually realizing the dire significance of it all.

One other event that came to mind was when John Glenn became the oldest person to go into space. It was in 1998, which fits, because I remember I was in 4th grade. I recall that my mom told me about him in the morning, before I went to school, then our teacher either told us about it or showed us it on TV, and I was so proud that I'd already known about it.

9/11
Like Geoff, I was asleep when the 9/11 attacks took place (I could be wrong but I vaguely remember hanging out 'til the wee hours online with Geoff the night before). I woke up about 9:30 and as was habit I turned on the tv. I had disconnected my cable hookup (getting ready to move) so I only had a rooftop antenna getting the broadcast channels. I couldn't figure out why the set wasn't getting any reception until I discovered only Channel 2 was coming in. They were showing both of the towers on fire and it wouldn't "sink in" to my mind that what I was watching was real. I watched for awhile and a short time later I turned on the p.c. to see what news was online. I spent most of the rest of that day online here while listening to the Air Force jets fly over my neighborhood.

JFK Assassination
I was in Spanish class (right after lunch). One of the other teachers came running in and shouted something in Spanish to our teacher. She translated for us about the president being shot. We were sent to our "homerooms" and the principal announced on the p.a. that school was closing. In the mass confusion of everyone leaving at once I couldn't find my friends and I walked home alone. I passed by an appliance store (in those days they always had tv's in the window) and I watched Walter Cronkite announcing that JFK was dead. I cried as I walked the rest of the way home.

And who could forget the following Sunday, just two days after JFK's assassination, watching Oswald's murder as it happened. I remember all the on-screen turmoil, with cameras moving, newscasters all hyped up and another dose of disbelief for the nation. Thinking back now, Ruby seemed to very easily glide thru the crowd of people, no??? Boy, were we naive.


TIS

9/11 is still new, so of course I remember every detail about that day. But even when it's not so new anymore, I doubt I'll ever forget a single thing about it. I was still at home when I found out because it was around 6. When I got to school, we had an assembly in the courtyard where the dean told us the details, and we sang the National Anthem. Then we went to our classrooms and watched the news, and were allowed to leave anytime we wanted. For once, no one rushed to leave school... we all stayed for around an hour or so, sitting around, watching the news, and talking about it, still stunned.


Another "news at school" time was during the OJ trial. We watched the news in my history class every day from the day both sides rested, until the day the verdict was read. It took about two weeks, give or take. I was in 5th or 6th grade, and my history teacher told us, "This is history too, except we get to live it." So it took the place of our lesson. Very exciting times.

I also remember where I was about a year and a half before the verdict, that fateful day when a certain freeway chase ended up being a little different from all the others. Every channel you'd flip to had that white Bronco, even during Game 5 of the NBA finals!! Poor Knicks, though. They made it that far, won game 5, and everyone was watching a football player drive down the 405 freeway instead. No wonder they didn't make it that year. Sorry if that was a sore spot for any NYers. :p

Kennedy-I was only 4 so I didn't really understand what was going on, but I remember the adults crying. The image I remember for some reason is the funeral-the riderless horse with the boots turned backward in the stirrups and Kennedy's son saluting. And my parents still have newspapers and magazines from then.

Moon landing-we were at a picnic and they were listening to it on the radio and when they landed the adults all broke into spontaneous applause. I also remember when the first Apollo crew was killed in a fire in 1967. We were in second grade and the teachers were all crying.

911-woke up to get ready for work, listening to NPR, they broke in to say that a small plane had crashed into the tower. An accident, I thought. Went by my parents house on my way to work just in time to see the second plane hit and my dad told me there were other planes not responding to orders. Went to work in a state of confusion, knowing we were going to be at war but not knowing how this day would end. We didn't do any work, just watched it on TV in a state of shock and dismay.

Hurricane Katrina-still living through this one, my life and the lives of thousands of others will be divided by August 29, 2005. What is strange is that being in it and not having power is not seeing anything on tv until the third or fourth day when it was getting real bad in the city. We only had the radio, people looking for people, nothing but bad news. Then going down and seeing it for yourself, it is unreal.

When JKF was murdered I was just a little child, but I clearly remember when the TV announced it with a special edition of the news. Even if I was so little I knew who JFK was because my older sister was a great fan of him and of course I was a great fan of him too 'cause my sister was my idol and if she said he was good and attractive he surely was! JFK was a living legend for young generations all over the world and he was regarded with special affection here in Italy because he was the first Catholic to become President of the USA.

When Robert Kennedy was shot and then died I was in primary school and I remember I cried because I was sure he would have been the new US President and I wanted so much it to happen. I loved him because he was handsome (much more handsome than his brother) and because he had so many children!

When Pope John XXIII died I was at home watching television and they interrupted the programs and I was so sad (because I was watching a movie and I liked it! )

When Pope John Paul II was shot on 13th May 1981, I was attending my Sociology class at the Catholic University Maria Santissima Assunta, very close to the Vatican. They gave us the news and we all prayed "Our father who art in heaven".

On 9/11 I was working at my office. It was about 15, 15.30 and I was at my PC when I came across the news. I immediately turned the TV on and watched the horrible scenes. I couldn't believe what was going on. At first I thought it was an accident, then it was clear that it was a terror attack. My way back home seemed to be the longest journey I ever had. I was quite sure the terrorists were going to do something similar here too and that very night I thought, well, at least I'm with my family. A real shock that was to last in the days to come.

JFK...I was only 18 months old, but I do have vague memories of Robert Kennedy being shot.

Moon landing...I remember this because it was unusual in those days to get up in the morning and there was a programme on TV. The actual moon landing had happened in the middle of the night our time.

Elvis...I was 15 and was playing table tennis in my mother's kitchen (and yeah we didn't have too much room to make shots!)

John Lennon...again this happened during the night over here so I remember in those days when I got up I used to take the radio to the bathroom while I got ready for school. I heard the news as I was brushing my teeth!

9/11...I was in my office (it was 2:30pm here) when the phone rang. It was a colleague and we talked about business for a while, then he suddenly said "By the way do you have a TV in your office?". I said I didn't and he said "Well you should get to see one somewhere because something major is happening in New York". I spent the next few hours on-line.

Moon landing!!!! of course!!!!! I remember I was on holidays at the seaside. I was allowed to get up in the middle of the night for watching Neal Armstrong having his first stroll on the moon!!! Unforgettable!!!