Can you remember where you were when....?

[harry]

When world war two was declared,by Britain,the time was a little after 11 O'clock on a sunday morning.I was in the kitchen of our home in Britain listening to the radio.When the 11/9 attacks took place,I was in bed listening to the radio.

[Robert]

Hi Harry

I don't think Chamberlain actually said, "I hereby declare World War Two." It was declaration of war on Germany.

[lynn cates]

then

Hello Robert. 10 years ago, contracts were slow, so I found myself teaching high school mathematics and physical science at a private academy. I was tutoring a young lady on polar coordinates--how to find the angle.

Just then, the Principal's administrative assistant came into our portable and whispered that there was an attack. We all went to the office to watch in disbelief.

Odd how minutiae sticks in your mind.

Cheers.
LC

[Errata]

9/11 : I was on my way to class and when I turned my car on I heard about the condition of the first tower hit, but somehow I never heard anything about a plane at that point, so I thought it was another bombing. And as I'm driving to class I'm hearing the descriptions of the damage, and it wasn't adding up, and I started to wonder if it was some kind of homemade nuke or something. So I turned around and went to my parents house (who had cable) walked into the house, said hello to my mother and watched the second plane hit.

I thought it was over Israel. And I felt terrible. And my favorite uncle was in the army and I knew we were going to go to war, and I was crying, and devastated. We have a lot of New York family, but there was no reason to think they would have been in Manhattan. Except my sister, who lived in Manhattan. And we weren't worried about her until the towers collapsed. She would have had no reason to be in the World Trade Center, but there was every reason to believe that she would have been on the subway line that goes under it. We didn't hear from her until that evening. She had been at home, but ran down to the site because both of us had taken part in so many mass casualty drills that she thought she could be of help. She spent the day tending to firemen.

I spent the day watching the news, and spent the night sitting on the lawn of the local Mosque, letting the rednecks know that if they wanted to get to the mosque they were going to have a fight on their hands. And they wouldn't be beating up "A-rabs", they were going to have to do violence to a fair sized group of light haired light eyed Caucasians, mostly girls. Most of them pulled up, slowed down, turned around and left. Some got out of their trucks. Some got violent. Nobody got through.

Diana: I was having a cast party for the Renaissance festival when we found out. So it was a really large group of interested people crowded around my parent's tv.

Challenger: What is it about sixth grade English classes?

JFK: I'm not old enough for this, but my uncle found out when they wheeled the president past him in the hospital. He though the guy kind of looked like the president, but didn't think it was, until he saw the first lady, who was unmistakably the actual first lady. He asked at the desk if it was the President, and they said no, but a tv was on behind the desk saying that the President had in fact been shot, and was in fact at Parkland Memorial.

[Mayerling]

9/11 - I was in a subway car in lower Manhattan, a block or so from the towers, which halted for ten minutes. One woman who had heard what was going on by a radio said, "This is the sort of thing I hate about living in New York City. I am glad I'm moving to Orlando!" I looked at her and said, "And you do not think that these characters would hesitate to attack Disneyworld or Epcot?" She was rather confused thinking about that.

JFK - in my fourth grade class in our American public school system. The radio system went on throughout the classrooms, and we heard the President was shot, and later that he died A lot of crying. My mother and a friend picked me up and took me home (schools closed early that day).

RFK, Dr. King, John Lennon, the first Moon landing, Princess Di, JFK Jr.: The various deaths and tragedies (as well as the triumph of the Moon landing) occurred when I was home at night, or began then, but ended the following morning (RFK and Princess Di).

The Challenger, and the first World Trade Center attack (1991): Home sick those days and I heard what happened on television.

Special - report of death of General Douglas MacArthur (1965) - I was with my family walking about two miles from our apartment Kissena Park Queens, when we heard the news on somebody's radio.

Jeff

[Robert]

Hi Lynn

I know where I was but not quite sure where I was when it actually sank in. I think the TV was on and a plane went into a building, and I thought they must be making a new Thunderbirds film. I don't know when it sank in. I saw some footage the other day and it still seems so unreal.

[Phil Carter]

9/11: At work (school) and a phone call came from one of my colleagues' husband. During the next hour or so, more news filtered in until at the end of the school day, I drove home and put the news on. I must have seen those scenes dozens of times in the next few hours, until I just couldn't watch any more.

7/7: Same place. News was on the staff-room TV and it was break, so loads of people were huddling round it. This was quite scary, as there were bogus phone calls coming in that there were bomb allerts at tube stations nearby. (one of my former pupils died in the attacks).

Diana: Living with my parents; my Dad was a printer working that night. He phoned the house at an ungodly hour to explain that Diana was injured in a crash and he'd be late as the presses had to stop and plates changed. He phoned 3 more times that night, each time with a worse story, until the news was eventually that she'd died. He got home at 10am (rather than the usual 4am).

Berlin Wall: Watching it unfold on a black and white portable TV in my student digs, Brighton.

Challenger: At my girlfriend's after having a free afternoon from 6th form. I think I was on exam leave. Put the TV on and... well, there it was happening before our eyes.

John Lennon: Getting ready for school. The radio said that most newspapers were published too late to report the death of John Lennon. I told my Mum and she thought I was messing about - until she heard the next bulletin. It was the big talk that morning at school, though I was surprised to find that one of my friends had never heard of John Lennon!

Man on the moon? - I was one and a bit years old. No chance. Although I vaguely remember the later ones in the early 70s.

Hello John,

Utøya.. Here. Stunned. Helping a friend in Sky News with info and translations.

11th Sept Just got in from a short day at school when it started.. Sky News.. watched non-stop for 6 hours, tried to phone people in the States to check on them.

7th July Just got home from England-- left Liverpool Street Station at 6.am that morning.. too near for my liking that one. Missed being in the middle of it by 2 or three hours.

Diana. Visiting a dear friend 4 hours north of here. Woke up early that morning, turned on the TV.. and bang! Watched in shock that Sunday morning.

Berlin Wall.. at home here watching it on the TV

Challenger.. got a call from my uncle who then worked for NASA. Turned on the TV straight away.

Live Aid.. watched with complete pride here in Norway, and started help with setting up the Norwegian Live Aid the next day. Must have made a million calls that week.

John Lennon.. At home in England.. listening to the radio in bed with flu.

Elvis.. at home, listening to the radio in my bedroom.

Moon landing. (1969) I was almost 11. Dad let me stay up to watch it. Found it fascinating.

Torrey Canyon disaster (1967).. remember the weather and the storms around that time...wondered if our annual holiday would be cancelled in North Cornwall.

Aberfan disaster (1966).. I can still see that rainy day's news on the TV.. all that sludge that poured down onto a Primary School after heavy rain..

Moors murders.. Summer England won the World Cup (1966)..Remember Mum's warning when I went out that summer to play.. don't talk to strangers.. first time I can remember her saying it.

Churchill... remember watching the funeral(1965).. grainy black and white TV. Dad proclaiming that he was the greatest Englishman ever.

JFK.. have only vague memories of this..our neighbours were Irish. and I remember they were crying a lot.

Earliest News item I can remember was the capture of a Nazi.. that turned out to be Adolf Eichmann, in 1961. I can vaguely remember Dad happily saying out loud.. "they got the b**tard!"...or words to that effect.


kindly

Phil

[Robert]

As a kid, I hated the teatime news. It got in the way of Huckleberry Hound.

The JFK news came in later, during the evening. There was a newsflash, saying JFK had been shot. I didn't know who JFK was but everyone at home was stunned and I knew it must be important (I was only 8). Then another newsflash to say he'd died. Then for some reason the BBC showed the Harry Worth show, whereas ITV had an old girl in black playing dirges on a piano. A day or two later Oswald got shot, but after that the story finished for me. Once people weren't being shot any more it slid down my list of priorities.

[harry]

Robert,
It was the first declaration of war by any country.Does that suit you?

[Errata]

It occurred to me that I remember exactly where I was when the first gulf war was declared, but I have no idea why since it was such a non event. I mean, it was the day after my birthday so I could understand remembering the day, but there's no reason for me to remember that I was dressing out for gym class, and telling Claire Ackerman that I was kind of relieved it happened on her birthday instead of mine.

I also remember watching Terry Anderson get off the plane on American soil after being released from a super long stint as a Lebanese hostage, but I don't know why I remember that either, since it wasn't until high school that I learned anything about the various hostage crises in the 70s.

But far and away my favorite was watching the Woods Hole crew find the Titanic, and seeing all the images from Alvin and Jason. It was also a little sad, because it made me realize that man would never set foot on the moon in my lifetime. I will never see a moon landing, and the Titanic is the closest thing to that I will ever see. And I was so young that I didn't appreciate a lot of things I should have, and unless they drill to the core of the earth or find Atlantis, the most significant exploration man will ever make in my lifetime was wasted on the eyes of an 8 year old. It makes me sad.

[Robert]

Hi Harry

Seems OK. It's just that I had this image of Chamberlain saying, "I now declare this world war open."