OFF SEASON: Where Were You on Huge Days American History?

[WorsterMan]

Pearl Harbor: My Dad became a Navy Lt. in 1944 and served on an LST in the Pacific. I was still a gleam in his eye.

OCT. 1962: Cuban Missle Crisis. Fear & concern. Drills in Elementary School taking cover under our desks.

11/22/63: JFK assassination. Terrible and epic day.

I was in Mrs. LAMBERT'S 4th grade class. INCREDIBLE SHOCK. Recess for the entire school about 1-1:30 pm until about 3 pm when school ended early. Confusion, sadness, bewilderment, disgust, anger, etc. Deep mourning, despair, loss. JFK funeral procession in DC and burial at ANC.

1968: MLK and Robert Kennedy were suddenly and horribly assassinated.

1969: Two events:

July 20, 1969: Man landed on the Moon! I was at summer camp in Colorado and gathered around a black & white TV in the camp owners home to see this incredible moment in our history.

August 1969: ghastly and horrible Manson murders were reported. I was back home from camp and terribly outraged and disgusted by Manson and his clan.

October 1: Beatles release Abby Road album.

1973: Richard Nixon impeachment. Summer prior to Soph. year in college.

1978: August - Elvis died. I was in Philadelphia area on business trip.

1979: Jimmy Carter weakness. Iran hostage crisis. I think I was at a football game when I'm learned of the embassy takeover.

1986: Challenger crash killing all the astronauts on board. I was in Albany NY on a business trip.

1993: first attempt by Al Queda to bomb the World Trade Center. I was at home from work in McKinney that day. Terrorists promised to come back and finish the job.

Sept. 11, 2001: HORRIBLE DAY - co-worker from Atlanta called me after 1st plane crash. I immediately told him it was terrorist. In the afternoon, I stood in line in Dallas to donate blood. Eventually turned away as they could not take anymore that terrible day.

HATE to state this, but due to Biden border crisis, America will have a 9-11 day far worse in the near future.

 

[LonghornEE72]

Pearl Harbor: My parents were 11 and 12 years old and had not met yet.

OCT. 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis.
Dad was in the Army, stationed in Korea. Mom stocked some extra canned goods, we spent time in school learning about atomic blast effects and practicing "duck-and-cover". I did not really grasp the danger, but became fascinated with atomic bombs and read what I could find on them. Mom started taking us to Civil Defense "lessons" after that. More intrigued and excited than scared. Dumb kid.

11/22/63: JFK assassination.
7th grade, "home room" after lunch. I was shocked and dismayed anyone would do such a thing. I was not wise in the ways of the world (still not, in some ways.)

1969: Two events:

July 20, 1969: Man landed on the Moon!
Glued to our TV for the entire Lunar Module separation, descent, landing, walk around, and re-dock with Command Module. To that point, the proudest moment I can remember to be American.

August 1969: Heard about it, wasn't much moved. Was becoming more jaded, I guess.

1973: Richard Nixon impeachment.
Stricly speaking, Nixon was not actually impeached. The House abandoned the impeachment proceedings as Nixon's resignation made them irrelevant.
Happened the year after I graudated college. Watched his resignation announcement at the girl's coop where I had signed up for their dinners.

1979: Iran storms the US embassy in Tehran.
Heard about it on a TV newscast, CBS I think. Maddest I've ever been at another country.

How about this one? Wasn't apparent it was the work of the US at the time, but can now look at it with some satisfaction.
Sunday, January 27, 1980: Eight American hostages rescued from the Iranians by Canada. The joy in our country was electric.
Turns out it was a CIA op with the Canadians playing a key role in sheltering the escapees. If you haven't seen the film "Argo", give it a watch. Really captures the atmosphere in Iran and the frustration in the US at the time. The film "Hollywoods" it up some especially when leaving the airport, but the lead up to that is apparently pretty close to the actual planning and events. Ben Affleck gives a really good performance, as do Brian Cranston, John Goodman, and Alan Arkin.

1993: first attempt by Al Quedua to bomb the World Trade Center.
Again, watching nightly TV newscast. Couldn't understand why the bad guys thought a car bomb would bring down a building that size.

Sept. 11, 2001: HORRIBLE DAY.
Yeah, the twin towers. Heard about it at work. Seethed all day, started watching footage and follow-up reports that evening.

No hookem for this post.

 

[Mr. Deez]

You guys make me feel young. I added a few.

1979 - I was 3 years old. No memory of the embassy storming, but based on my limited memories of that age, I was probably playing with toys or playing the piano.

January 27, 1980 - No memory of the incident. Probably doing the same things I was doing in 1979.

December 8, 1980 - John Lennon murdered. I was 4 years old and had no idea who he was, but I remember my mom being very sad.

January 28, 1986 - Challenger explosion. I was in 4th grade and watching it on TV in class because a teacher was on board. Shocking to see that as a little kid.

November 9, 1989 - Fall of the Berlin Wall. I didn't hear about it until that evening because I was in school (8th grade), but I remember being blown away watching the news and feeling genuinely happy for East Berliners.

February 26, 1993 - World Trade Center bombing. I was a junior in high school. Again, I didn't hear about it until I saw it on the news that night. I was pretty horrified but relieved that it wasn't a full scale collapse. I had visited the World Trade Center 4 years earlier, and it scared me that a landmark I had visited was almost destroyed.


December 12, 2000 - Bush v. Gore handed down effectively ending the Florida recount. I was in my Secured Transactions class in my second year of law school. My professor was a guy named Larry Bates. As you can see, he's a long haired hippie. His exact words in a '60s tone - "hey man, he's not my President."

9/11 - I walked into Practice Court class, and a classmate told me a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. He thought it was just a small plane, so I had no appreciation yet for what actually occurred.

About an hour later in Evidence class (in the same room), the career services lady came in crying and told the whole class and the professor what happened. Everybody was horrified. The professor told us that if anyone needed to check on family or loved ones who were in the areas, they would be excused from class to do that. Then he gave a totally improvised speech about how great of country America was, how it would be our generation's responsibility to protect it and its founding principles, and to defeat all threats to it, whether we were on battlefields or in courtrooms. Very inspiring.

November 8, 2016 - Trump gets elected. I went to bed with projections saying he had lost. Then I woke up the next morning, looked online and saw that he won. I turned to Mrs. Deez and said, "you're not gonna believe this, but he won." She was shocked, because she went to bed hearing the same things I had heard. She said, "it's like Biff from Back to the Future got elected president." We both laughed.

 

[guy4321]

Can add in Oklahoma City bombing in 1995

I was in class when a teacher mentioned it.