Where were you when?

Question

What is the big memorable event(s) of your generation?
Pearl Harbor?
Kennedy assassination?
O.J. trial verdict?
9-11?
Or Something I have not mentioned.

Whatever it is, where were you and why was it so impactful for you personally?

driftbadger- I hadn't thought of the children at school, mine where still at home and hadn't left yet. I wonder what some of those little ones thought about what they heard.

Moon- I have had a great sense of the wonder and awe of the events of Apollo 11. My grandfather was one of the engineers. Can you remember the name of the astronaut who was the second man to step on the moon?
Thank you for sharing.

pasky- I love your opening...here it is so more people can see it
----you never know at the time what will turn out to be 'historical' or 'memorable'. but some things you are witness to just make you pause, and your jaw drops, and you say to yourself, "i will always remember where i was when ______ happened..."

Answer 1

I was on vacation with my family during the O.J. ordeal (that's as far back as I can go on your list, lol). We ended up spending the whole day watching the car chase rather than out enjoying ourselves. I was in my Civics class when the verdict was read on TV. I'm pretty sure all the teachers had it on in their rooms.

I was on my way to class at college when the first tower was hit. I think one person mentioned something vague about it during class, and the professor said, "Yeah, that's bad" and moved on. My husband (fiance at the time) was on his way to his first class when I was leaving from mine and told me what happened. I tuned into the radio on the way home from class to learn more about it and was just starting to grasp the severity of the situation. When I got home, I saw the 2nd tower hit. My husband skipped the rest of his classes. I was glued to the TV for a solid week.

I don't think OJ had too much of an impact on my personality, but 9/11 is a tragic part of our collective history. I don't think I've ever felt more connected to people I don't know, and it really made me understand how horrible things can really get here on Earth. I think I've learned to take things far more seriously now than I did before it.

Answer 2

Pearl Harbor...not born.
Kennedy assassination....it was the 1st time our class had been to the school library. They sent us all home.
O.J. trial verdict......I was an on the road salesperson for beauty products and one of the salons that I was calling on had their TV on and they were watching the trial. We were all dismayed at the verdict. But not surprised.
911...I was at work at the salon and I went into the back room to mix some color up and came out very shaken by the strike of the 1st plane. I knew at that moment we would end up at war.
I think the Kennedy situation made me look at the world outside of my family and small school. It made me aware of evil people in the world. I was luckily sheltered from the daily reporting of the news that so many kids today hear and have no skill to deal with them. Our principle came on the PA system and tried to console us and keep us calm until we got on the buses headed for home.

Answer 3

I watched it live, thinking for moment they're filming a movie at the WTC then realizing this was real. I saw the second plane hit WTC2, then the announcement that airplanes have been hijacked, around 9:00 am the Pentagon was under attack, shortly after that flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania. My next thought was that this is like Pearl Harbor. Are we under attack? It was just one thing after another, it was just unreal when WTC1 collapsed soon after WTC2 collapsed. Peter Jennings said "it's gone, they're both gone, the World Trade Center, one of the symbols of New York, gone". He also had tears in his eyes, spit screen so did Tom Brokaw and Diane Sawyer. The news people didn't even know what to say, they were just in shock as the rest of America. New Yorker's exiting lower Manhattan on foot, huge ash clouds, fire engines mangled, debris everywhere, it looked like a war zone. :(

Answer 4

you never know at the time what will turn out to be 'historical' or 'memorable'. but some things you are witness to just make you pause, and your jaw drops, and you say to yourself, "i will always remember where i was when ______ happened..."

space shuttle challenger: in the student center at the university i attended. there was a small tv in a concourse with a few chairs, and dozens of people milling about silently looking on, as they played the replay of the shuttle explosion against the clear blue sky over and over and over... space exploration and science in general was never quite the same for me.

hostages in iran: were i a bit older, watergate might have been the drama unfolding each and every night on tv. but as it was, the hostage crisis in iran was a moment (a long long time, actually) that put my eyes on things that happen outside of these 50 states for the first time in my life. that view forever changed how i thought of the world, and how i thought of america as a player in it.

9/11: watching the coverage on live tv as i was getting ready for my first day of work for the wall street journal, selling and maintaining subscriptions. i saw the coverage as the second jet hit the towers. then came the news about a 3rd and 4th missing jet, headed west. my immediate thought was sabotage or terrorism, not an accident. my second thoughts were for my brother, who was living in downtown chicago, the reported destination of one of the other planes.

Answer 5

Kennedy assassination I was in my 5th grade class. I knew he was just a little older than my dad. I was sad thinking about having my dad die. He did about 8 months later. He was 43.

911 Had a day off from the Police department. Had made Sergeant few months before. Heard the news, gassed up my vehicles before the crunch would come and sure enough, by the end of the day, one gas station in my town was charging over 4 bucks a gallon. I also went to work and kinda hung out seeing if any city close by like Chicago was going to have a problem and would need cops from out of town.

Answer 6

For the O.J verdict, I had just gotten home from work. They passed that domestic violence law in Michigan right after that and I was one of the first people arrested for it. Wasn't fair seeing as how my husband is three times my size. Thanks, O.J.!

On 9-11 I was at work. I worked at an elementary school and it was absolute chaos. Parents were pouring in to pick up their kids. We tried not to let the younger kids know anything was wrong, but the older kids were telling them. It was crazy!

Answer 7

first two in my dads sack still, o.j. verdict-at work-school, 9-11, in front of a 64 inch t.v. 9-11 had to have a big impact, joined the NAVY, is General Patton said, many years from now, when your talking to your grandchildren, and they ask, ' what you did during the war, I wont tell them shovel S*^T back home."

Answer 8

I was watching TV in Australia about 9.30 at night then they interrupted the program just before the second tower was hit.I remember thinking I hope they had an evacuation in plan process to get the people out and I couldn't believe it when the towers collapsed.I will never forget it and I wished I hadn't seen it live.

Answer 9

9-11
I was working as a server at a pancake house. It was like 5 am and the mayor and a bunch of other men were in there we just all sat in the lobby of the hotel attached to the restaurant and watched the news.

Answer 10

Peral Harbor? I was not born yet
Kennedy asassination: I was three years old
OJ trial verdict: going threw my diviorce,,did not pay all that much attention
9-11 Was on my way into work,,,,,,,,boss kept us updated all day,,went home and my husband and son were watching all the events on TV ,,,,, I could not go into work the next day,,,,to horrified about the events
Princess Diana: sitting in Safeway grocery store parking lot,,getting ready to go shopping,,,,hearing it on the news,,,,,,,