August 28 is a very memorable day for me. In addition to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, it was also the day a young boy named Emmett Til was beaten to death in 1955. His mother had an open-casket funeral. He's buried down the street from me. I wasn't around when it happened, but it was still a big deal around here. It caused a lot of anger.

August 28, 1990 - From an 18th floor window, I watched a huge tornado destroy a lot of land in Plainfield.

August 28, 1991 - After a five-year battle, my father died from cancer.

August 28, 1998 - I stood at my kitchen window that afternoon admiring a butterfly I had never seen before. It was perched on a brick outside and stayed there for the longest time. It looked like a Monarch, but the distribution of color was different.

That evening, news broke that Princess Diana had been killed in an auto accident. The next day, I went up to the library to find out the name of the butterfly I saw the day before. It was a "Diana." May she rest in peace.

I think this year on August 28th I'll stay in my room and not watch any TV.

9/11 whoa what do we all say, it was a nasty day thats for sure, i was late going to work and had heard about a plane hit the first tower and the radio wasnt sure as to what type and what extent and as i pulled into work the reporter shouted while doing his interview omg another plane just hit the other tower,

I walked into work told them turn off music and turn on news on radio they gave me a hard time i said do it we are being attacked, I knew that two planes was not an accident. needless to say we all freaked,

deb and my mom went and got all 5 boys out of school and stayed at her house. I was on tonys route that day, I use to do the same 5 different routes each week. about an hour in to the route a guy started saying its horrible the building is down, and as far I could comprehend, he meant facial structural damage not the whole building,

did not see another customer the whole day walking and were i delivered we are not real far from Ohare airport and it got quieter and quieter in the air, finished my route got home to my moms as fast as i could and as i walked in they were showing the second plane, going over that reporters head and into the building, my knees literally buckled and i went to my knees, I was in such shock,

I still had absolutely no idea of the extent of damage and it just floored me. the friendly gent who told me the buildings were gone, that concept hit home a few moments later when they showed it all,

debs cousin worked at the pentagon and it took about 3-5 days after it to find out she was ok, she took some time off and no one knew except her job, her and her boyfriend went camping and when they went to a nearby store for some more food provisions, they saw a newspaper and immediately called her family and friends to let them know what was up,

Ms will never take this memory away, all those innocent souls, 9/11 still gets to me, i burn a candle every 9/11 all day all night and my kids were told when i die they are to continue it, and i mean it, sorry to go on i didnt want to touch the 9/11 memory because i knew i would go on about it, it still touches me very deeply, what they did was a sin in any Gods eye.

One thing I remember well, from when I was little, is the Zodiac Killer (notorious from the San Francisco Bay Area).

Every morning and afternoon before boarding the school bus, it was "drilled" into us what we were supposed to do if we heard something similar to a tire blowing out.

Federal officers boarded our school buses, and took seats.

I don't remember how long that lasted, only that it was pretty freaky. I think that probably affects why I still have an aversion to public transportation.


It happened around the same time my uncle held his family hostage and 17 Sheriff's deputies surrounded his house; he refused to come out even after canisters of tear gas were used. He also refused to give up his weapons. Officers broke into the house, he spun around (with those guns) and they shot him. He died. And, I'll never forget the smell of tear gas.


911: I was asleep, and a friend woke me to tell me to turn on the "Today Show." The rest, we all know too well .

ok - I'll play...

JFK assasination - I was in Kindergarden. People just went crying for no apparent reason to me. His funeral - it must've been on a Saturday because I remember being upset because it preempted cartoons.

7/20/69 - The Tuesday Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper was as thick as a Sunday paper!!! I delivered 75 of those things. Who cares man landed on the moon! I still have a copy...

7/25/69 - The Sunday Plain Dealer weighed at least 20 pounds! I delivered 110 of them! Who cares if the first men on the moon splashed down. I still have a copy of that one too.

6/10/66 - Cleveland Indians' pitcher Sonny Siebert pitched a no hitter. Cleveland 2, Washington Senators 0. I was there...

9/11 - Sitting at my desk at work, boss sticks his head into my office and says a plane flew into 1 WTC. I said yeah right...

November 1983 - I was stationed in West Germany when we received the first batch of the Pershing II nuclear missiles - they replaced the Pershing 1A missiles. We could hit Moscow and most major soviet bases with the PII. The PIA could only hit bases in the satellite countries. Guess what? Cold war's over. It took a few years for the INF treaty, but deploying the PII ended the cold war. We had no idea at the time we were making history...

8/24/92 - stupid me tried to drive from Tampa FL to Miami FL that morning. I finally made it to Miami that evening. Have you ever tried to drive thru a hurricane? House destroyed. Hurricane Andrew.

Can y'all tell my vacation starts in 4 hours????

Tom

Feb. 1964-watching the Beatles on Sullivan Show...I was 8. Said "They're goofy." Dad said, "They're going to be real popular." Understatement if I ever heard one.

Apr. '68-MLK shot. I remember my dad saying, "America's going to burn." Why was he always right?

Dec. 8, 1980-The night John Lennon was killed. Weirdly, it changed my life. I hadn't even bought his and Yoko's album, but his death did something to me. I read all the interviews he'd done right before his death, and it opened my mind up to reading many things that made me think about reality and why we're here. Began photography, writing, exploring New Age thinking.

9/11-DH called, told me, "Planes just crashed into the WTC." I got up and watched, horrified. Woke my DS (he was 21 at the time) up; I couldn't be alone. When the south tower fell, I collapsed in his arms, and said, "I'm so sorry I brought you into such an evil world." DD called from high school, crying and worried about her dad, who worked near the Sears Tower. She'd heard that it was about to be hit. I told her not to worry, they evacuated the downtown Chicago area. DH said it was eery down there. That day felt like Armageddon...I think about those souls who were stuck up above the impacted areas...and those who felt it was better to die jumping than to die up there...prayers for them...

All my historical memories seem to be sad, so I'll add a happy one....

Summer, 1975 - Pink Floyd concert in Milwaukee, WI. We arrived early, and it was a hot day. It later raned hard during the concert, but it felt good. As the rain let up and they were finishing "Dark Side of the Moon," the clouds parted. Out popped a beautiful full moon just above the stadium. There was a collective hush in the crowd - we all felt blessed, and baptised.

How could I forget those. Well, I haven't but they really hit me hard. LOL the Sullivan show, my best friend and I were watching it on our tiny black and white TV and we were both crying our heads off, just like the rest of the crazy fans. I was instantly in love with John Lennon while I watched all the girls around me fainting over Paul.

December 8. Yes, my hero died. My then little girl was sleeping in bed with me. I was 30 something and going to college and was laying in bed reading a text and had the Saturday Night Live show on. When they broke in with the news about Lennon...well, I mourned for a long time. I'll never forget the worldwide candlelight vigil and moments of silence that one night in his memory. Both my daughter and I sat in a dark living room with candles lit respecting the moments of silence. Sigh. I do think his death was a huge loss for humanity. I can just see him now! I believe he would still be an inspiration.

1962 when JFK was assasinated, I was in Chemistry Class in my Roman Catholic High School.

We were all girls sitting in the glass. I was 14 years old. The principal made an announcement over the loudspeaker.

I remember her words exactly.

She interrupted the lesson and said "Girls, we have just been informed that the President of the United States has been shot. He is not dead. He is still alive (Never forgot those words).

"We are shutting down the school out of respect and you all will be dismissed"

I remember no one hooped or hollared because we were getting the rest of the day off from school, but we all looked at each other and said "wow, we get to go home???"

I went home and put on the tv. Everybody was quiet. No funeral procession yet because it was too soon. It was all over the tv for weeks.


Now on 9/11 I will NEVER FORGET THAT DAY because my friends 25 year old son was painting the roof of the World Trade Center (Building 2) and he was on the job for only one week. His friends were able to get off the roof.

That morning, Alan and I went to Columbus breakfast diner for our usual morning breakfast. Alan drove at the time. Before his neuropathy got the better of him.

We were sitting eating our breakfast when one of the staff member said "Look everybody, there's a plane that crashed in the World Trade Center."

We all got up from our seats and walked over to the tv that was mounted on the wall. We all looked. This was after the first plane crashed and BEFORE the second plane crashed. Someone said "how stupid is the pilot that doesn't see the World Trade Center???"

So we all forgot our breakfasts at our tables, and we continued to watch.

Then the second plane crashed into it. Not one person ever thought of terrorism. Someone said 'oh my god, another pilot did the same thing".

We sat down again, finished up and drove home. Alan had an acupuncturist appointment at Coney Island Hospital for 11 a.m. that day.

We go home and I phoned Coney Island Hospital. We were still not sure what went on. The tv had all the news but still, no one said terrorism.

The people at Coney Island Hospital said 'we are still keeping all appointment, please come in"

Alan and I hop in our car and we drive over the Belt Parkway to get to Coney Island Hospital. We look up in the sky and we see this pillar of smoke, or whatever it was. We did not know it was the debris from the explosion. We really didn't know what it was. Alan said 'wow, look at that".

We get to the hospital and there's police everywhere. There are guards in front of guards. We try to enter the hospital and a police officer says "Where do you think you are going?" We said "to our acupuncturist appointment on the 3rd floor".

The Police Officer said "are you for real, we are at Red Alert, you are not going anywhere"

I said "what do you mean we are at Red Alert", what the heck does that mean??

She said 'It means we are at war". I said 'WHAT???"

We got in our car and went home and watched tv.

The next morning, when we walked out of our home, every single car, every single windowsill, everybody's property was FILLED WITH WHITE DUST.

I yelled to my landlord "go inside and close the windows, you don't want to inhale any of this".

Everybody was washing the cars down. All of Brooklyn was like this.

So that's what I remember from 9/11.

Sad day. Lots of my friends in my neighborhood, lost their sons and daughters.

jfk - got home from school and dad was watching the news on tv.

1st shuttle explosion - my youngest son was a baby I was feeding him and it came on tv , the rest of the day I just held him and cried a lot

9/11 - at work many of us had radios, friend said "a plane crashed into some buildings in NY" I was thinking a small plane , not a airliner LOL.
then everyone turned up their radios to the same channel and everywhere we went we could hear it all unfolding.
not too much work got done that day.. management set up some TVs in the cafeteria too.

Wow Melody. What an experience for you on 9/11.

Heh, you were in chemistry class and I was in home ec class and 13 yrs old. I don't remember the exact words, but I do remember the teacher was in tears when she made the announcement about JFK and my whole class was in tears. And they let us go as well. I walked home to find my mom in tears in front of the television set.