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JFK Assassination I was in a high school cafeteria in Texas.
RFK Assassination I was at home watching TV.
Man walks on moon At home watching TV.
Space Shuttle Challenger I was at work
Reagan Shot I don't remember where I was
9/11 Terrorist Attacks At work in a federal office. We had turned on the TV in the manager's office so we could keep the staff informed about it. We watched a rerun of the first plane. When the second hit I said "That's not an accident. We are under attack."
I remember how quickly the sky emptied of aircraft. I worked near DFW airport and there were two military installations nearby plus several smaller airports. All of a sudden it was so quiet. It was so surreal and numbing.
The Challenger - I worked in a credit union in those days in Concord, NH. Most of the local teachers were members there and that included Christa McAuliffe. We had met, but I can't say that I knew her outside of work. An old friend who was a dj on local radio was to broadcast the launch. I broke early for lunch and went home to watch. And of course it all went horribly wrong.
When I returned to work, no one seemed to know when I told them of the tragedy. Some thought I was joking. I remember going to my old high school a few days later and seeing classrooms full of flowers that had been sent from all over for Christa McAuliffe.
JFK Assassination
RFK Assassination
Man walks on moon
Space Shuttle Challenger
Reagan Shot
9/11 Terrorist Attacks
JFK - I was in class in second grade.
RFK - My parents were watching television, I was outside playing.
Man walks on moon. I was visiting my grandmother in Los Angeles.
Space Shuttle Challenger - I was visiting in-laws in Louisiana.
Reagan - Don't remember (didn't care).
9/11 Terrorist Attacks, I was in Durango Colorado. I NEVER watch televison in the morning but for some strange reason I turned it on that day.
9/11: I was 14 years old, in my second week of my freshman year of high school, in English class, during the final 5 or so minutes of the period. Just when it was about to end, a part-time teacher came into the room to tell the teacher who taught the class that planes were flown into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and next up was the White House (!) She immediately relayed the information to the class, becoming somewhat tearful, and told us to pray for those affected, which was kind of strange because it was a public school. I didn't grasp at all that day the gravity of what happened (nobody around here really did) - I even made a joke in one of my classes that it was like watching the History Channel, except live. When I came home, I noticed that almost all the TV channels had live news coverage of the event, and oddly enough, local police traffic on the scanner was utilizing some odd voice inversion (rudimentary scrambling) technique.
O.J. Simpson chase - I was 7 and had finished 1st grade about a week earlier. I turned on CNN on our eight-channel wireless cable system and saw a police chase underway. I had no idea who O.J. was.
RFK Assassination -- I was six, but read the newspapers everyday. I read about it the next morning.
Man walks on moon -- We were glued to the television. I also remember listening to the live radio broadcast as the LM touched down. I had all kinds of spacecraft models, etc. etc.
John Lennon Shot -- I worked in a newsroom as a copyboy. The entertainment editor was reading the newswire and said, "Hey, John Lennon was shot!" in kind of a lighthearted way, as if it were a joke. Then it all dawned on us what a terrible thing had happened.
Reagan Shot -- A few months later, I came into the newsroom and found out about it. I thought to myself, "Uh oh, this is going to be a long day." I remember three things distinctly. 1) Some national news anchor announcing that James Brady was dead and then erupting on-air when he learned he had the wrong information; 2) The long line of cars driving past the newspaper to get the first edition, and the guys who were taking the newspapers out of the vending box and selling them to motorists at a 500% markup; and 3) the wirephoto machine breaking down. I wound up having to fix the thing, talking to some guy in Washington. I ruined a new pair of pants with the toner, but I got a bonus.
Space Shuttle Challenger -- I was at work (Not the newspaper. I wised up quickly and decided to not pursue journalism) and a woman walked into my office to tell me the news. I went home and watched a couple of hours of coverage. I thought it was tragic, but also understood that space travel is risky.
Berlin Wall Comes Down -- I'll never forget this. I was in New Zealand on vacation, staying in youth hostels. I paired up with this blonde German girl to hike and camp. Finally, we emerge from the forest and hitch a ride into Queenstown, the big resort area on South Island. This sweet older lady gave us a ride. We get to the youth hostel, take showers, and then hear the news. She and I immediately sprinted into town to a bar where there was a television and watched for hours. She alternated between laughing and crying because she was so happy. As it happened, her mother's family had been separated at the end of World War II. It was one great day.
Gulf War I -- My wife-to-be and I were attending our pre-marriage class when the very dull counselor strolled in and said, "By the way, we've started bombing Iraq," and then kept teaching the class as if it weren't a big deal. Let me tell you, that was the longest hour of my life. We dashed back to the apartment and watched the coverage until the wee hours of the morning.
9/11 Terrorist Attacks -- I had dropped the kids off at school. I went online to check the news immediately after the second plane had hit. About thirty minutes after that, a priest from my church called to ask me a question, and I informed her what had happened. "Oh goodness," she said, "I wonder what this means." To that, I said, "Jane, it means there will be a war."
I was at my desk writing when a friend called me up to ask if I'd had my TV on (which I didn't). He said that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit.
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