In elementary school, a prominent newsman Walter Cronkite did an educational series on US history reenactments ending with "And You Were There."

I love history. I truly believe you have to know where you have come from to know where you are going.

Historic events have shaped the world we know today. Whether you are in Great Britain, Australia, Sweden, or the Americas, my question is Where were you when...

ok. I'll start. I hope you will join.

I am older but trust me, the wheel HAD BEEN INVENTED!!

JFK Assassination - I was in a lunch room, heading onto the playground when a boy ran in with the news. I did not believe him. When the riderless horse and the funeral procession were being televised, I was not happy because it preempted my favorite cartoon show.

9/11 - I was getting my kids ready for school. DH called and said I needed to turn on the news. DH was in Northern CA at the time and had a rental car. Since all the flights were grounded, he drove the car back to AZ.

There are so many more parts of history I remember. I will start with these two and see where we go from here.

What part of history do you remember?

Cool idea, Cyn!

12/15/66, I was in our family room in front of the TV, I was four years old and bawled my little heart out when the news lady said that Walt Disney had died.

When the Apollo landed on the moon, it was summer and I was 9, my whole family sat around the TV with a radio on listening and watching in total disbelief.

Did I do it right? Is there a prize? I was there when Disco hit the scene, does that count?

You did this EXACTLY RIGHT. There is a prize...my unending admiration. Ok, it is a booby prize. And re: disco. oohh John Travolta.

Probably not a biggie for Americans, but for us Aussies the English Royal family are important to us, and the event I remember most vividly was when Dianna, Princess of Wales was killed in Paris.

I was driving to work when I heard the announcement on the radio. I was so upset that I burst into tears and had to pull the car over to the side of the road. It was quite some time before I was composed enough to continue driving to work. That was so sad!

i remember that anne a friend on aol loved princess di so much i ended up talking to her on the phone the whole night

the first shuttle accident I was watching it on TV we had nasa channel back then, I was horrified

Bobby Kennedy...I remember that well, even though I was probably stoned at the time. I was a 'hippie' and lived that summer in Berkeley, CA. We were at a friend's house and happened to be watching him on TV. I remember I was so upset I wanted to go home to Iowa.

Kent State...I remember that all too well also. I was 20 at the time and very into protesting. I cried and cried when the National Guard? Army?, I can't remember now, gunned those students down.

April of 1968 and I was preparig to go to the 'protest capital' of the world, Berkeley/San Franciso. Martin Luther King was assassinated and I was with a group of friends when it happened. Again, probably high. And horrified.

August 1968 the Chicago 7 and that horrible, awful riot that happened outside the convention center, and where was I? Again, with friends watching on television, and probably...well, I was probably altered.

The late 60s/early 70s had a huge impact on my life for certain. Saw too much strife.

Although the highlight of the tumultuous summer in Berkeley was walking down Telegraph Avenue with my soon to be abusive husband and another couple, again...well, we were very altered...And there sat Jim Morrison at an outdoor coffee house and we stsopped and literally stared with our mouths open. He said, "You look like you could use coffee, have a seat." And we did! Don't think any of us spoke one word.

I was there when Di married Charles at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981. . I lived in London then. It was a wonderful time with so much pageantry. we lined the streets to watch the procession and then saw the ceremony on telly at a friends place nearby, followed by a celebratory picnic on the banks of the River Thames .



I was in still a child in South Africa when JFK was assassinated.
We had no TV there in those days. Only radio. so that is how we got the news and then saw it on the Movietone(?sp?) news at the cinema



9/11 I was on the phone in the kitchen talking to a friend with the TV on in background. Her dh was a pilot. She suddenly gasped and asked me if I was watching CNN and I turned around to see the first Tower burning. Just then the 2nd plane hit I still recall how surreal it all seemed till the reality set in



and to end on a light hearted note...........
I was at the premier of Star Wars at Manns Chinese Theater in Hollywood on May 25th 1977

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.