What were you doing when JF Kennedy was shot....?

Question

and where were you.. ie .. home, out shopping, working??

Thank you all so much! What great stories.

Very, very interesting!!

The oil truck and your little boy, the same day JFK was shot..you must have been just shaking with nerves.

We were all shocked and sad, it was a tragedy.

I picked the answer from the guy who was on the air force base, his whole world was in chaos at that time.

thanks again all.

Goldwing...great answer too...and how right you are!

Answer 1

I was a teen (15 or so) in upstate New York and was home from school not feeling well. I was a military brat and I grew up on military bases.

ALL the sirens on the base started up, which had never happened before. The sirens usually meant practice alerts for the plane crews. All the sirens meant the whole base was on HIGH ALERT. Planes were taking off like crazy and getting airborne soon as possible. Within moments all the small kids out playing, had been rounded up by their moms and the entire neighborhood fell silent...another first! I had the tv on and realized what was happening. I was scared and crying at the same time. I really adored President Kennedy and his family besides being scared out of my wits.

I couldn't get a call out to my mom who was working off base in town, the phones were dead. I'd say about 20min passed and she called me knowing I'd be upset and got through. She came and got me for the rest of the day with her. Things in town at a custom drapery shop, though sad, weren't near are frightful and scary as being on a SAC airbase in the 60's when the President of the U.S. has been assassinated! I can never forget it.

All my family stayed glued to the tv for 3 solid days and watched every moment of history being made. Can anybody, old enough to have memories anyway, ever forget where they were?????

Answer 2

Geez, the 44th anniversary is coming up Nov. 22nd.

Ok I was nine , in grade 3, we'd just come in from lunch hour and the prinicipal came on the PA system and told us President Kennedy had been shot. I am Canadian btw.

I think everyone in school was shocked, except for the kindergartners and grade oners. I know my teacher got tears in her eyes but tried to reassure us he'd probably be ok.

A little while later the principal came on the PA again and told us he'd died. The principal dismissed school, weren't alot of bussed kids then, told us to go home and watch what was happening because history was in the making .

My mum just came home from shopping when I got home and she asked me if I had heard and I said that's why I'm here , the principal dismissed school and told us to go home and watch tv.

My mum said it's the most sad thing for America and Canada too and the world , that President Kennedy was a good leader trying his best and it's sad that someone hated him that much they had to kill him.

I've been fascinated by the Kennedy assasination ever since. And I have seen too many senseless political and other types of assassinations since.

Answer 3

eating lunch with a group of fellow employees at a local pub when it came on TV...you could have heard a pin drop in the place. The first announcement was that he had been shot in the head in Dallas, was in the hospital...for some reason, everyone at the table knew he was dead. I worked for a National Labratory in Argonne, Ilinios at the time, we were sent home about 2PM that after noon. I remember that 24 hours a day, nothing but JFK wake/funeral on all TV channels for the next 3 days. It was a rough time for the nation...so many had such high hopes under Kennedy...he seemed to bring out the best in so many. I have no idea what kind of president he might have made, but he had the nation united behind him in a movement to become involved. Except in a slow uniting against the Viet Nam war, I have not seen that in the US since then...sort of sad. Goldwing

Answer 4

I was a Senior in High School and working in a Co-op Education Program at a local hospital.

I still remember that when I first heard about it, I was coming out of the elevator between Surgery and the main corridor. I'll never forget that moment. I don't think anybody that lived through it will.

Hospitals are normally quite places anyway, just by virtue of what they do. It's a reverence. But that day, you could have heard a pin drop from 40 feet away. There was an air of sadness.

Answer 5

It was a day I will never forget for more than JFK's death. I was a young mother. My son was about 3 years old. He had been playing in the fenced in back yard. I went to check on him and he was GONE. I called for him and looked around the yard. Then I ran back thru the house to the front door to go outside that way to look for him. As I came thru the living room I heard JFK had been shot & at the same time saw my son in the street with his hand held up like a traffic cop does to stop traffic. He was stopping one of those huge oil delivery trucks in the street. He wasn't as tall as the tires on the truck.

Oh, woe is me...........That was a day I would have cut myself in half. Then everything went in slow motion. I kept running and grabbed him from the truck.

I didn't want anyone to ask me how my day went..................

Answer 6

I was in my 11th grade Home EC class when our principal made the announcement over the PA system. Some cryed, some sat there in total disbelief. When I got home from school, my family & I were glued to the tv set all weekend. It's the only time, I can remember being allowed to eat our meals on tv tables in front of the tv set. That was a no no when I was growing up but my parents made the exception.

Answer 7

I was in elementary school.
South Grade Elementary, in Lake Worth, Florida
We had a PA speaker over the clock.
The school principal got on and told us that the President of the US had been shot (we had NO IDEA who that was), and asked us to pray for him because he died. After a minute, we were dismissed to go home. There were NO busses, so we all walked home. My mother was in the living room when I told her what happen. She started to cry. I did not know why she was crying, sorry I made her cry. It was on the news that night (there was no earlier news in those days). We did not have a radio, except in the car, and dad was at work.
We have 3 channels; all were black and white.

Answer 8

I had just moved to San Francisco, and was working my first job in the city at a savings and loan company. There was a news stand outside the building and the newpaper seller came in and announced that Kennedy had been shot. My boss made the insensitive comment, " Oh, now they'll make a martyr out of him." I was so upset with that comment. Later, my roommate and I consoled ourselves with a bottle of wine as we watched the evening news. Many tears flowed that night.

Answer 9

I was sitting in Mrs Landers class second grade. The principle came over the pa system and said our president has been shot. We were let out of school then and did not have classes for the next three days. I remember walking home being very afraid of what that meant to our safety. The next three days were filled with only television accounts of the car, funeral and of course John John saluting his Father in the hearse.

Answer 10

I was playing volleyball outside at our school playground when the announcement came that Kennedy had been assassinated. Teachers began crying. I was 12 years old and the main thing I remember is watching the endless TV coverage of JFK's death, the funeral and the things about Oswald.