I was in school having a history lesson 
Where were you when you heard that JFK was shot?
- Thread starter Yeoman Randi
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I love threads like this.
I, too, was only 6 months old when JFK was killed, though I do remember where I was when we heard that RFK had been killed: in my parents' livingroom watching something, I don't recall what. Oddly, for years, I confused when and where I heard about RFK and MLK because I was essentially in the exact same place at about the same time of day.
Other significant events I vividly recall:
1. the evacuation of Saigon - staying with my grandparents at the time;
2. Nixon's resignation - I seem to recall that it interrupted some TV show I wanted to watch (maybe Star Trek?)
3. Elvis's death - also in a car, as someone else said, and I too remember my mom bursting into tears.
4. Reagan being shot - it was my 18th birthday, and some friends and I had gone to my house for lunch (and a little "liquid libation" - yeah, we was bad) and the girls had the TV on to watch some Soap Opera, and they cut in to tell us.
5. Challenger - I was in college in a history class. I remember hearing someone run screaming down the hall outside the room something like, "Oh my God it blew up, it blew up, they're all dead, it blew up!"
6. the Berlin Wall falling - I was in law school, and I remember my housemates and I sitting in the livingroom of our apartment captivated by the TV. For us all, the wall had always been. It was amazing to see it come down.
7. World Trade Center - I was standing in line at a Staples paying for something I'd purchased before going to my office, when a woman came out of their back room saying that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. We all thought she meant a small plane; some horrible accident, but on a smaller scale. When I got to my office, my colleague had pulled out this little 5" B & W TV he kept in his desk drawer and a bunch of us huddled around that and were watching in shock at what had really happened. Then, our video imaging people had just set up a larger color TV in our conference room and turned it on just in time for us to see the second plan hit. At first we thought they were replaying the first hit from a different angle. Then we realized what had happened.
I think that's enough for now.
I, too, was only 6 months old when JFK was killed, though I do remember where I was when we heard that RFK had been killed: in my parents' livingroom watching something, I don't recall what. Oddly, for years, I confused when and where I heard about RFK and MLK because I was essentially in the exact same place at about the same time of day.
Other significant events I vividly recall:
1. the evacuation of Saigon - staying with my grandparents at the time;
2. Nixon's resignation - I seem to recall that it interrupted some TV show I wanted to watch (maybe Star Trek?)
3. Elvis's death - also in a car, as someone else said, and I too remember my mom bursting into tears.
4. Reagan being shot - it was my 18th birthday, and some friends and I had gone to my house for lunch (and a little "liquid libation" - yeah, we was bad) and the girls had the TV on to watch some Soap Opera, and they cut in to tell us.
5. Challenger - I was in college in a history class. I remember hearing someone run screaming down the hall outside the room something like, "Oh my God it blew up, it blew up, they're all dead, it blew up!"
6. the Berlin Wall falling - I was in law school, and I remember my housemates and I sitting in the livingroom of our apartment captivated by the TV. For us all, the wall had always been. It was amazing to see it come down.
7. World Trade Center - I was standing in line at a Staples paying for something I'd purchased before going to my office, when a woman came out of their back room saying that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. We all thought she meant a small plane; some horrible accident, but on a smaller scale. When I got to my office, my colleague had pulled out this little 5" B & W TV he kept in his desk drawer and a bunch of us huddled around that and were watching in shock at what had really happened. Then, our video imaging people had just set up a larger color TV in our conference room and turned it on just in time for us to see the second plan hit. At first we thought they were replaying the first hit from a different angle. Then we realized what had happened.
I think that's enough for now.
Continuing the under-50 thread-jack (the events, my age and details):
Moon landing, 6 - Too young to remember many details, but we did watch TV coverage.
Nixon resignation, 11 - For some reason, I had a precocious interest in following the Watergate scandal from the start. I watched and read as much as I could about it, including the resignation speech. The first time I ever skipped school was to go see the "All the President's Men" movie.
Elvis' death, 13 - At a restaurant with my parents, and we overheard people at the next table talk about it.
John Lennon murder, 16 - In bed, and my mother burst in and told me it was on the news.
Reagan shooting, 17 - At the library, heard about it when I got home.
Challenger explosion, 23 - At the library, heard about it when I got home.
Berlin Wall demolition, 25 - Weird, but I don't remember much. I was working long hours at the time.
9/11, 37 - Last day vacationing with my wife, visiting my parents out of state. Our return flight was scheduled for that afternoon. We ended up driving home over the following weekend.
Moon landing, 6 - Too young to remember many details, but we did watch TV coverage.
Nixon resignation, 11 - For some reason, I had a precocious interest in following the Watergate scandal from the start. I watched and read as much as I could about it, including the resignation speech. The first time I ever skipped school was to go see the "All the President's Men" movie.
Elvis' death, 13 - At a restaurant with my parents, and we overheard people at the next table talk about it.
John Lennon murder, 16 - In bed, and my mother burst in and told me it was on the news.
Reagan shooting, 17 - At the library, heard about it when I got home.
Challenger explosion, 23 - At the library, heard about it when I got home.
Berlin Wall demolition, 25 - Weird, but I don't remember much. I was working long hours at the time.
9/11, 37 - Last day vacationing with my wife, visiting my parents out of state. Our return flight was scheduled for that afternoon. We ended up driving home over the following weekend.
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I don't remember JFK being shot. I would have been 5 years old at the time but maybe the reaction in Australia wasn't as great as it was in the USA.
However I remember that when Robert Kennedy was killed my mother remarked how terrible it was that he was killed the same way as his brother. I remember asking my mother "Who was his brother" and being told about JFK. I also remembr Martin Luther King being shot.
Far stronger in my memory was the disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt a few months before Kennedy and King were killed. Holt went missing while swimming at a beach. There was a massive search that went on for days but his body was never recovered.
However I remember that when Robert Kennedy was killed my mother remarked how terrible it was that he was killed the same way as his brother. I remember asking my mother "Who was his brother" and being told about JFK. I also remembr Martin Luther King being shot.
Far stronger in my memory was the disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt a few months before Kennedy and King were killed. Holt went missing while swimming at a beach. There was a massive search that went on for days but his body was never recovered.
I was minus 8 years old when JFK was assassinated. 
My sister was two months old.
I have vague memories of the Nixon resignation, but at three I had no clue what it meant. First big news event I really remember was the Pan-Am/KLM disaster at Tenerife, I was five, almost six. Seeing the news coverage of the wreckage of the planes, and the 580 coffins in the hangar was something that stuck in my mind for a long time...and of course, the Jonestown murder-suicide happened the next year. The 70's were a bitch.
Of course I also remember the Lennon murder, assassination attempts on Reagan and Pope John Paul II, Challenger, Berlin Wall...
My sister was two months old.I have vague memories of the Nixon resignation, but at three I had no clue what it meant. First big news event I really remember was the Pan-Am/KLM disaster at Tenerife, I was five, almost six. Seeing the news coverage of the wreckage of the planes, and the 580 coffins in the hangar was something that stuck in my mind for a long time...and of course, the Jonestown murder-suicide happened the next year. The 70's were a bitch.
Of course I also remember the Lennon murder, assassination attempts on Reagan and Pope John Paul II, Challenger, Berlin Wall...
The first major news story I clearly remember is the Aberfan disaster. A slag pile collapsed and slid down the hill burying everything in its part including a school. 144 people died, 116 of them were children at the school.
This occured in October 1966 when I was 8 years old.
This occured in October 1966 when I was 8 years old.
JFK: Front row of 8th grade. I remember one of the few of the lay teachers coming into our room and whispering to our teacher. Ours nun turned to us and said, "The president has been shot" and I started to turn to look at our class president.
We watched the black & white TV we used for local PBS science shows.
So many of these other stories resonate with me but some of the details are hazy...probably hear/saw on evening news.
9/11 I was here and saw a TNZ thread labeled "WTC goes boom" Then taught nothing in my classes that day, just watched and held students hands.
We watched the black & white TV we used for local PBS science shows.
So many of these other stories resonate with me but some of the details are hazy...probably hear/saw on evening news.
9/11 I was here and saw a TNZ thread labeled "WTC goes boom" Then taught nothing in my classes that day, just watched and held students hands.
JFK assassination: my mother was 4 years away from entering this world.
My time begins in '87, so here are my "remember when's":
Fall of the wall: 2 years old, long term memory synapses not built
Oklahoma City bombing: almost 8, musta been living under a rock, hardly heard about it, might have seen a picture of it on TV, but didnt know the significance and no one told me.
9/11: 14, eating cereal, watching the news before heading to school. First thought seeing the footage: "Woah, not good." Oddly enough, one wouldn't have known it was anything other than an ordinary day at my high-school, there was none of the "whole school watching the news" that (I learned lather through these type of threads in later years) was happening in the rest of the country.
My time begins in '87, so here are my "remember when's":
Fall of the wall: 2 years old, long term memory synapses not built
Oklahoma City bombing: almost 8, musta been living under a rock, hardly heard about it, might have seen a picture of it on TV, but didnt know the significance and no one told me.
9/11: 14, eating cereal, watching the news before heading to school. First thought seeing the footage: "Woah, not good." Oddly enough, one wouldn't have known it was anything other than an ordinary day at my high-school, there was none of the "whole school watching the news" that (I learned lather through these type of threads in later years) was happening in the rest of the country.
I was 2 1/2 years old when JFK was killed; I have no memory of it at all.
The first major events that I have memories of are the Moon Landing and Nixon's resignation; both happy events.
The first major events that I have memories of are the Moon Landing and Nixon's resignation; both happy events.
I was half sitting somewhere in my mom's ovaries and a particulate of atoms somewhere that would later become a sperm in my dad's testicle.
Fifth grade. I remember all the teachers were standing out in the hall crying. My parents were Republicans and always talking the VP down so I asked my mother if she thought Johnson was behind it. She was surprised and said NO. I remember that day more clearly than I do yesterday.
It was very shocking in a way that later generations can't understand. Murder and assassinations aren't few and far between today. It's a different world.
It was very shocking in a way that later generations can't understand. Murder and assassinations aren't few and far between today. It's a different world.
As my mother likes to say, "Up in Heaven- eating ice cream."
I remember three of those very specifically. Don't remember the OKC bombing very much.
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Jetfire
Guest
The only thing I saw live was when I was a kid and the Challenger exploded...I was 7 about to be 8...I was crazy about space and the shuttle.
I was a little less than four years away from being born.
I remember quite a few events that have occurred throughout my life, but with very few exceptions, I don't remember exactly where I was when I heard about them. I was in my office when I heard from a co-worker about Challenger, and I was on my way to work when 9/11 happened - there were a bunch of people gathered around a TV in a coffee shop that was between the subway station and my office, so that's how I found out about that. Elvis Presley's and John Lennon's deaths, I heard about when my mother told me when she came into my bedroom to wake me up.
I remember quite a few events that have occurred throughout my life, but with very few exceptions, I don't remember exactly where I was when I heard about them. I was in my office when I heard from a co-worker about Challenger, and I was on my way to work when 9/11 happened - there were a bunch of people gathered around a TV in a coffee shop that was between the subway station and my office, so that's how I found out about that. Elvis Presley's and John Lennon's deaths, I heard about when my mother told me when she came into my bedroom to wake me up.
I was splitting my time between Mom's ovaries and Dad's testes...
Events I remember.....
Elvis Presley's death - I was 6 and listening to my transistor radio.
John Lennon's Murder - 9 years old, in the hospital (I think) and watched it on the news. Had no real clue who he was at the time.
Reagan assassination - 10 - Had just walked in from school, turned on the radio, and heard the news.
Challenger - 14 - Was sitting in my Arizona History class, waiting for the teacher to begin. She walked in and told us to follow her to the media center so we could watch history unfolding at that very minute.
Berlin Wall - 18 - Watched it on the news.
OKC - 24 - Was walking on the NAU campus when I heard this on the radio.
9/11 - 30 - Had just unlocked the door to the restaurant to let the crew in. One of them asked me to turn the radio on and tune a local station so they could hear what was happening. We watched the second plane hit on the 13 inch color tv in my office that we used for training videos. I left that set on for the rest of the day and watched the footage while I calculated and double checked my inventory, processed and sent my food order for the following week, and tallied the week ending sales numbers and payroll. Finally turned the set off when I left at 10PM.
Events I remember.....
Elvis Presley's death - I was 6 and listening to my transistor radio.
John Lennon's Murder - 9 years old, in the hospital (I think) and watched it on the news. Had no real clue who he was at the time.
Reagan assassination - 10 - Had just walked in from school, turned on the radio, and heard the news.
Challenger - 14 - Was sitting in my Arizona History class, waiting for the teacher to begin. She walked in and told us to follow her to the media center so we could watch history unfolding at that very minute.
Berlin Wall - 18 - Watched it on the news.
OKC - 24 - Was walking on the NAU campus when I heard this on the radio.
9/11 - 30 - Had just unlocked the door to the restaurant to let the crew in. One of them asked me to turn the radio on and tune a local station so they could hear what was happening. We watched the second plane hit on the 13 inch color tv in my office that we used for training videos. I left that set on for the rest of the day and watched the footage while I calculated and double checked my inventory, processed and sent my food order for the following week, and tallied the week ending sales numbers and payroll. Finally turned the set off when I left at 10PM.
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