G'day all,

My memory association with the Dallas Shooting is more peripheral ... and, in its way apposite.

A week or two before, Doug, the leader of our Anglican parish Youth Fellowship had buttonholed me and said (~) " I see that you've turned 18. I usually round up enough fit young blokes to fill my Kombi Wagon ... every three months ... and trundle in to the Red Cross Blood Bank - are you in for that?" I reckoned that sounded like a good thing to do and, brisk and early Saturday 23 November 1967, I lined up for a seat in back of Doug's Kombi ... and off to the older Sydney Blood Bank, up the north end of York Street!

We had all signed in (or, newbies like me, had registered ...) and, while we waited, Doug nipped out for a morning newspaper. He came back quite disturbed ... and announced: "They've shot President Kennedy". We were all amazed and aghast ... this being before TVs were blaring out into the early Sydney morning (17 hours ahead of Dallas time) so the morning paper story was the first we heard of it!

I guess that this memory has, ever since reonateed (in 'sympathy' ... if not in direct connection) with the reasons for blood donation ... and has been sitting at the edge of my realisation that I have, more or less, been regularly donating blood ( ... and now blood Plasma - every fortnight for 50 years! Whenever someone comments that I must'have been donating for a long time I always find myself dating my donations from that same morning we all heard of Kennedy's death!

Regards,

Bob