PDA

View Full Version : 45 years ago today.............



Cuda
11-22-2008, 07:17 AM
JFK was assassinated. I was in Mrs Register's second grade class in Panama City, Fl, when it came over the intercom.

Where were you who can remember back that far?
It's one of those times you never forget where you were.

BlownCrewCab
11-22-2008, 07:37 AM
I was 1 month & 2 days from being born....:cool:

Barry Eller
11-22-2008, 07:49 AM
5th grade, Gulf Breeze Elementary School. Mrs. Conway was my teacher and she was from Dallas.

My family was glued to the B/W TV all weekend and I can even remember seeing Jack Ruby shoot Oswald on the tube as it happened live.

BUIZILLA
11-22-2008, 07:50 AM
phys. ed time, right after lunch hour, playing basketball at Miami Shores Elementary, 9 years old, probably (?) 4th grade.. teacher quickly huddled everyone back to their home rooms, and then the Principal announced it on PA... I remember it pretty vividly, first time I knew what the term *shock* meant......

gcarter
11-22-2008, 08:13 AM
I was climbing stairs in a stairwell in high school. A friend and I had gone out the prior afternoon and was among the folks that lined the highway from the airport in Houston.
It wasn't so much that I was a fan, but that I had seen him jus about 24 hours before.

Just Say N20
11-22-2008, 09:22 AM
2nd grade, Colebrook Elementary School, Miss Lechner was told something and burst into tears. We all turned out well without the help of any crisis counselors.

Weird thing is I don't remember when/where I heard about the Space Shuttle.

Twin Towers, my wife and I were driving from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo to help the wife of a friend whose husband we watched die the night before at 2:00 a.m. She called and told us. I ended up driving to Chicago to pick up another friend who was flying in from D.C. but only made it to Chicago before they grounded everything. One of the strangest things I've ever done was driving into Chicago that day. It looked like a ghost town.

CHACHI
11-22-2008, 09:56 AM
Mrs. Formwalt's 5th grade class. Stony Hill School, Wilbraham, MA.

Mr. Rubin (principal) walked into the classroom, he and Mrs. Formwalt walked out, she returned seconds later crying horribly.

Ken

zelatore
11-22-2008, 11:25 AM
I'm a bit to young for Kennedy.

I should remember the shuttle, and although I clearly remember the images I can't tell you where I was or what I was doing.

The towers are etched in stone. I still remembe the sense of shock and unreality. I was sitting in our sales office getting ready to walk down to a boat show we were in the middle of when one of the owners came in and we turned on a TV we had in the back. We were watching live as the 2nd tower came down.

DonziJon
11-22-2008, 11:56 AM
First I remember the Cuban Missle Crisis. I was in the NAVY stationed in Norfolk aboard the destroyer tender USS Shenandoah AD-26. Total lockdown. No Liberty until it was over. I think some married guys were allowed to go home....on call. All single guys (me) were restricted... had to stay onboard ship.

Then the Assination. Still aboard Shenandoah in Norfolk. I remember my thoughts at the time.. NAH, he's Not Dead....just gone underground for some reason....cause maybe the Soviets were gunnin for him after the Cuba thing.

John

gold-n-rod
11-22-2008, 12:18 PM
3rd grade, Alger Park Elementary School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We were out for recess and when we came back in, our teacher (I've forgotten her name) told us the President had been shot. I believe school was let out early. It was a Thursday, I think. We didin't have school the next day, IIRC. I don't remember a specific reaction from my parents, but there were a lot of "hushed" conversations of which I was not privy.

I must admit that the emotion surrounding this past election remind me a lot if what I've been told about Kennedy's election; hope, optimisim, encouragement of a brighter future. The country took his death hard. I don't pray, but if I did, I'd pray that history doesn't repeat itself.

PS: I also strongly remember the summer of '68. MLK and Bobby Kennedy's assasinations. There were "race" riots in Detroit and my folks were reluctant for me to participate in my usual summer activities, lest something arise.

I'm greatful my kids didn't have to grow up under such fear.

Cuda
11-22-2008, 12:38 PM
5th grade, Gulf Breeze Elementary School. Mrs. Conway was my teacher and she was from Dallas.
My family was glued to the B/W TV all weekend and I can even remember seeing Jack Ruby shoot Oswald on the tube as it happened live.
I saw Oswald get shot too live on tv.

Cuda
11-22-2008, 12:47 PM
2nd grade, Colebrook Elementary School, Miss Lechner was told something and burst into tears. We all turned out well without the help of any crisis counselors.

Weird thing is I don't remember when/where I heard about the Space Shuttle.

Twin Towers, my wife and I were driving from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo to help the wife of a friend whose husband we watched die the night before at 2:00 a.m. She called and told us. I ended up driving to Chicago to pick up another friend who was flying in from D.C. but only made it to Chicago before they grounded everything. One of the strangest things I've ever done was driving into Chicago that day. It looked like a ghost town.
I remember exactly where I was when both of the space shuttle disasters happened. When the Challenger blew in 1986, I was at a carpet place called Groveners in New Port Richey, and the second one I was on a McDonald's job in Jacksonville on Atlantic Beach. It was 17 degrees that morning. I remember that distincly because one guy had to ride in the bed of the truck from the motel to the jobsite. They presume the freezing temps caused the fuel cell leaks.

I was on a job heading to a job in St Pete, when one of my guys called and told me about the twin towers. I had another guy in Clearwater working on a residential job, and we turned on the tv just before the towers fell.

Cuda
11-22-2008, 12:49 PM
First I remember the Cuban Missle Crisis. I was in the NAVY stationed in Norfolk aboard the destroyer tender USS Shenandoah AD-26. Total lockdown. No Liberty until it was over. I think some married guys were allowed to go home....on call. All single guys (me) were restricted... had to stay onboard ship.
Then the Assination. Still aboard Shenandoah in Norfolk. I remember my thoughts at the time.. NAH, he's Not Dead....just gone underground for some reason....cause maybe the Soviets were gunnin for him after the Cuba thing.
John
Dad was in Gitmo during the missle crisis on the minesweeper, Assurance. I didn't know how close to nuclear war we were, or the ramifications of nuclear war.

mjw930
11-22-2008, 01:40 PM
I was only 5 years old and don't remember much other than it was the first time I saw my Dad cry.

When Challenger exploded I was standing in line at a First Interstate Bank in SoCal watching a TV screen they had tuned to the launch. It was eerie, everything stopped and you could hear a pin drop. From the silence you heard sobbing coming from the bank managers office. She was a college friend of Christa McAuliffe which is one of the reasons the TV's were tuned to the launch and not blaring the marketing babble they normally spewed. Talk about a small world.

When Columbia disintegrated on re-entry I was riding up an elevator at the Chicago Hilton on my way to a meeting. I saw this picture on the small monitor in the elevator:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ab/2003_Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster.PNG/250px-2003_Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster.PNG
I rushed into the meeting room and made them tune CNN. Needless to say the meeting didn't start on time.

When the twin towers were hit I was attending a keynote address at Comdex / Interop in Atlanta. Our CEO was giving the Keynote and half way through cell phones started going off and people started leaving the hall. When he finished they announced that a plane had hit one of the towers but they had no more information. We went back onto the show floor and huddled around 2 large monitors that were streaming CNN. By 11:00 the show was canceled and everyone from our company was huddled in our booth trying to figure out what to do next. The corporate jet was grounded so the CEO and CTO commandeered a rental car from one of the booth staff and drove back to NJ. The company then arranged for a charter bus to take the remaining people in from the North East. I found a rental car at Avis but had to wait 24 hours until they opened up Hartsfield so I could get into the rental car lot. The drive from Atlanta to Orlando was surreal.

DonziJon
11-22-2008, 01:42 PM
Dad was in Gitmo during the missle crisis on the minesweeper, Assurance. I didn't know how close to nuclear war we were, or the ramifications of nuclear war.

Back in those days, most of the seagoing Navy ships were equipped with what was called "The Emergency Water Washdown System." The entire exterior of the ship was covered by a sprinkler system that when activated, would cover the weather decks/superstructure with spray which would provide a "Film" of running water that was intended to Carry Away radio active particles overboard that might result from Nuclear Fallout decending on the ship.

During this excersize, all hands were confined below decks ....probably at Modified General Quarters until such time as radiation readings outside were deemed safe. :shocking: John

Cuda
11-22-2008, 03:00 PM
Back in those days, most of the seagoing Navy ships were equipped with what was called "The Emergency Water Washdown System." The entire exterior of the ship was covered by a sprinkler system that when activated, would cover the weather decks/superstructure with spray which would provide a "Film" of running water that was intended to Carry Away radio active particles overboard that might result from Nuclear Fallout decending on the ship.
During this excersize, all hands were confined below decks ....probably at Modified General Quarters until such time as radiation readings outside were deemed safe. :shocking: John
I remember taking lessons at school on what to do in case of nuclear attack. We were supposed to get under our des.

They should have told us to put our heads firmly between our legs, and kiss our ass goodbye, epecially since we always lived on, or near a Navy base.

mphatc
11-22-2008, 04:33 PM
2nd grade .. Elm St School, Lakeport, NH Miss Greenwoods class, when we were intrerupted by an announcement on the PA system, still recall the whole class looking at the PA speaker . . it was a very somber bus ride home. I too recall the shooting of Oswald live on TV.


But the twin towers hit me harder . . I was driving to work, still know exactly where on what corner, listening to "Imus in the Morning". I will never forget the chill that ran through my body that moment, I knew that Amy Todd Sweeney had died. She was my wife's life long best friend. She was the stewardess that used her cell phone to give American Airlines ground controllers all the critical info on which passengers were doing what.

Mario L.

DonziJon
11-22-2008, 06:10 PM
YUP: This is History. I Remember 911. I was watching the Today Show. The first plane hit. I had an appointment with my heart doctor at Mass General Hospital in Boston at 11.. I think. The ride to Boston was about an hour and a half. I had to leave.. I couldn't stick around and watch the TV. The second plane hadn't hit yet. I left for Boston. On the way I was listening to the radio. The second plane Hit..then the Pentagon. By the time I got to the Rt. 128 Loop around Boston.............I decided to do a U turn. Abort. I was concerned that the next target might be a large building in downtown Boston ...where Mass General was...........John

DonziJon
11-22-2008, 06:39 PM
More History. Remember the Space Shuttle that burnrd up during re-entry? A little background. Up until that time the shuttle had been protected by an insulation foam that was sprayed on..under the heat tiles. It used Freon-12. The Sierra Club didn't like Freon 12. SO: It was banned...everywhere...even in your A/C in the car. Remember?

So NASA had to come up with something else. They did....but it wasn't as good. It could be knocked off by breakaway ICE during the launch. Remember that..of course. NOW every launch requires the shuttle to be inspected in Orbit for missing or damaged tiles. During the first 20 years of the Shuttle..there were NO problems. Now we have problems. The Media is SILENT. The Sierra Club (FUBAR) runs the show. :bonk: John

gcarter
11-22-2008, 07:33 PM
I wasn't a big supporter of JFK. I was resentful at the inauguration...that Eisenhower was handing off to JFK and not Nixon. There had been only about 100,000 votes seperating the two. There was evidence of voter fraud, just like now. But Nixon, nor the GOP raised a stink. There weren't armies of attornies calling for a recount.
Later, I was resentful of the fact that JFK had lied to the Cubans who were to risk their lives invading Cuba at the Bay of Pigs because JFK had promised close air support and then renigged.
And then I was resentful that JFK, during the missle crises, totally dismantled the Monroe Doctrine. He let Soviet Russia roam the Western Hemisphere for Russia to remove the missles.
JFK BLINKED.
He wasn't supported by his own party and had a terrible record of not having his own legislation passed even though the Democrats were in control of both houses.
IMHO, the most important thing he accomplished was to significantly lower income taxes.
It's a shame he was assisinated. No one deserves that. He was in office only about two years.