BS: Where were you when.......

Subject: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Susu's Hubby
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 06:19 PM

It's funny how you can't remember what you had for breakfast yesterday but you can remember, down to the minute, what you were doing when Kennedy was assassinated or when the Space shuttle exploded (both times) or during the attacks on 9/11.

What is your most moving "Where were you when" moment?

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Amos
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 06:29 PM

When "they shot Kennedy", I was driving a Vespa up a steep hill in San Francisco and was paused at a stop sign when the guy in front of me yelled out the news.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 06:33 PM

Driving into town and seeing a poster "Beatle shot" and praying it was one of the others..I know, but that's the truth.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: John O'L
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 06:34 PM

I was doing some spannerwork under my old VW beetle up the back yard at my parents' place when my dad came up from the house to tell me John Lennon had been shot.
He had been like an uncle to me. I just kept fixing the car. What can you do?

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 06:43 PM

When John Kennedy was shot I was sitting the barracks at Ft. Riley, Kansas, taking a break from "clearing post" prior to going home. The next day I marched, arms reversed and at slow march, in a parade at which we were officially notified of the murder of the Commander-In-Chief.

When ML King was shot I was in college -- within 24 hours I was in the National Guard Armory, activated by the State of Illinois for possible riot duty.

When Robert Kennedy was shot I was on Federal active duty at Ft. Carson, Colorado; the National Guard unit had been activated by LBJ and readying for deployment to Vietnam.

When the Challenger exploded I was at work in Elkhart, Indiana.

When the Columbia exploded was in in Kentucky, AIMing with a young lady (11 at the time) whose father worked (and works) for NASA. I broke the news to her.

On September 11, 2001 I was working across the Ohio river from Cincinnati.

I learned of the outbreak of the Korean War while riding in a car with my father and mother. I asked my father if he would have to go to this war like he had gone to the other one (WW2). He said no; a month later he was dead in a construction accident. I was five at the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 06:45 PM

Must be showing my age---there were so many---

FDR dies---standing outside a dentist's office talking to my friend inside

JFK--in my office

9/11-- driving to work and seeing the smoke from the NJ side and hearing all the misinformation on the radio

The first space Shot Shepherd (well, it was suborbital) ---standing in NYC listening with the crowds on radio

Lincoln's Assasination---I was not able to get tickets to Ford's that evening. Heard about it-=--missed the show.

Hamilton / Burr Duel---missed that one due to lack of funds to cross the bridge (not yet built) to NJ.

The Gates---missed it completely due to having a "who in hell cares" attitude. If you know any Yidish---try this---should have been hung in the garment center and titled---Shmattes from Lamposts. Nikce piece of goods though

Bill Hahn


Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Metchosin
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 07:01 PM

The day Mt St. Helen's blew, we were at our neighbours having an outdoor feast of just smoked venison tenderloin and salmon. Both our vehicles, by the middle of the afternoon, were dusted with an odd light grey ash and we were many, many miles away and not in direction of the prevailing wind from the volcano or the smoker at the time. I guess essentially we had volcanic venison.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: annamill
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 07:22 PM

I was walking in the mezzenine of the World Trade Center when the first underground bomb went off. I was sure it was world war III and, in a state of shock, waited for another bomb to go off. The ground waved like an earthquake. The 20 or so revolving doors filled with smoke. Everyone, slowly, turned and ran. Smoke was billowing out of the PATH we had to go past. I was frightened and my friend pulled me past the PATH, leaving big bruises on my arms. Very scary!

9/11 brought all that back, in spades!

Love, Annamill

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: open mike
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 07:34 PM

when the trade towers went down i was working on a fire
which was thousands of acres at that time...and we were
immediately without any of our usual air support...water
drops, medical helicopters, spotter planes, due to FAA
orders for all planes to land or be shot down. I believe
there was a large fire in Oregon at the time as well, the
Biscuit fire if i recall, "ours" was the POE fire.

we had some fire fighters in a steep canyon with medical
conditions requiring evacuation to hospital..broken ankle,
etc. and were building a bull dozer line 8 blades wide to
prevent the fire jumping to a peninsula of land containing
a ranch. We were counting on water drops to hold that line
and the fire advanced past the point when we no longer were
able to use air tankers and helicopter drops from above. We
eventually got permission to continue emergency air operations,
but it took a reqluest from high level gov't officials. The
Bin Laden family was probably tying up the phone lines at
the same time!! any way we finally got thru and got it out.
http://www.fire.ca.gov/cdf/incidents/Poe%20Fire_59/photos.html
it was at 6,000 acres at the time of this graphic and went to
over 8,000 in the next couple of days
http://www.fire.ca.gov/cdf/incidents/Poe%20Fire_59/graphics/113_Poefirehillshademap.jpg
http://yubanet.com/powerhouse.shtml

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 07:54 PM

I was almost 6 when FDR died....we were in a railroad yard in Dalhart, Texas, and an engineer told my mother...I didn't really understand why she was crying.

when JFK was shot, I was on my way to an American History!! class at college....heard rumors, went to class.....the prof showed up, dismissed class and I ran to the student union and watched Walter Cronkite give the news....THEN I had to go deliver newspapers on a paper route, and they stopped the presses and re-did the front page 3 times, and I got all 3 copies- from no news to headline and few details to several columns. It was a long, slow walk delivering those paper that evening.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 07:57 PM

When Kennedy was shot: kicking my Mum from the inside of her womb

When Nixon Resigned - washing dishes in my Grandmothers Kitchen in Up-State New York while the grown-ups all sat around a little black and White in the living room talking in hushed tones. We children knew something major was coming down but didn't quite get it. We figured..guy screwed up, guy resigns, no biggie. Heck, we kids were thrilled cuz we hated the old fart. Our parents seems bewildered.

When Siagon Fell - listening to the news on a transister radio whilst sitting a boat on a river fishing for large mouth bass with my young cousin aboard whose Dad died in Vietnam (Cambodia actually)

First Man on The Moon - Eating pretzel sticks and glued to the TV with my older sister in our cottage in the woods. Reception was lousy and she put tin foil on the Antenna plus a few metal hair barrettes for good measure.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST,Boswell
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 07:58 PM

April 1970 -the day the music died!
August 1977 -the day the music died again!
December1980- the day the dream died!
September1989-the day my first wife left me! what a happy day that was.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 10:12 PM

I hate to admit it, but when we all heard that Reagan had been shot (was in High School at the time)..everyone I know was praying he'd die from it. Horrible thoughts, but we were working class kids just beginning to feel the pinch of Reaganomics as well as being scared he was gonna push the big red button and immolate us all. Not that George Sr. would have done much differently mind you. We were simply young and silly and thought if Reagan died, somehow things would be better. stupid.

I remember for some odd reason, that I was eating a chinese chicken salad when I heard on the radio that John Wayne Gacy had been executed. Not like I knew any of the victims, I just recall that.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 11:17 PM

dave's wife beat me to the first one that occurred to me--we were driving back from a camping trip and listening to the radio when men landed on the moon.

I was in school (fourth grade) in Seattle when John Kennedy was shot. I remember my mother paying close attention to the televised events back around then when a pope died and a new one was elected. Someone more in tune with popes in the early 1960s can probably flesh that out some.

I was at home just fixing lunch on April 19 when the Branch Dividian compound went up in smoke. A couple of years later I was at home with my son in 1995 when the Afred Murrah building exploded (Tim McVey). I called the elementary school and asked to speak to my very young daughter (first grade at the time). I was told something glib by the office staff, and I was just annoyed enough to tell her what had happened (she didn't know) and that furthermore, my daughter knew her father worked on the ground floor of the Federal Building. The fact that he worked in Fort Worth and the explosion was in Oklahoma City might slip past a small child if she heard part of the story. The receptionist straightened up her act and an administrator promised that if Caroline heard anything about this at school that they'd let her call home and speak to me to be sure her Dad was okay. During all of this we were in Texas

I was in bed at 8am on the Saturday morning the Columbia made it's sonic or explosive boom over the top of us. I'd have been more aware of it if I hadn't been up real late mopping up after a burst hot water tank. I was at home when the news of the Challenger interrupted something else I was watching. It was my day off and I was at home when we heard Reagan had been shot. Except for living in KY when Reagan was shot, the rest is again while living in Texas

I wasn't paying attention when they finally revealed who shot J.R. And I don't remember where I was living.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 11:27 PM

When the World Trade Towers were under attack, my wife and I were ready to head out the door and weren't watching television. My brother-in-law called to tell us, and we quicly turned on the news. The towers hadn't come down yet, but we were really traumatized by the coverage. I have a son who was working in that area, and my brother and sister-in-law had a daughter who was working there, so it really struck home.

Five minutes later, we were in the car, driving to a town forty miles away, where the Gospel Messengers were due to present a program at noon. While we were driving down,we heard the news report of the first tower collapsing. By the time we got to the bulding where we were to do the program, we were in such a state of shock that it was hard to know what to do. The audience (It was a Senior 's luncheon) were just sitting around, numbed by the news. But the other Messengers were there and we figured that we needed to go on. And we did, after acknowledging how disturbed we all were. It was the hardest time I've ever had, getting up and singing. I was at least appreciative that we were singing gospel, because the messages of the songs were uplifting.

We all despeately needed that.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 11:37 PM

When Kennedy was shot I was in 8th grade math class. When Challenger exploded I was nursing my daughter in front of the telly. I heard about the Towers here first then got on the telly. Bounced between here and the telly most of the day. Don't remember any others, except watching the telly about them.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 05:21 AM

When the Challenger exploded, I was in New Zealand with my mother, my sister and my 19 month old neice, trying to eat cereal. That neice will be 21 this year.

I wasn't around for Kennedy getting shot, but I do remember Reagan getting it and thinking the same as Dave's Wife above.

I was in bed when I heard about John Lennon, just about to get up for school (I was 16) and spent the rest of the day stumbling around in shock or tears. No-one else understood why but he was a link to my brother who'd been killed 6 years previously. Chris was a huge Beatles fan and had indoctrinated me!

For the World Trade Twin Towers, I was at work in a 33 storey building, which is used as a visual landmark for aircraft flying around London. About an hour after the news broke (about 2-3pm GMT), there wasn't a plane in the sky. The building was practically empty by 3.30pm, people didn't want to be in any tall building for a while after that.

I was at home, sitting in the window seat when the bomb exploded in London's Docklands, 8 miles away. I heard the blast clearly, and my windows shook.

When a huge car bomb took out a foreign ambassador in Kensington, I was working in Canning Town, some 8-10 miles away, it was 12.05pm and I was crossing the road to go to the sandwich shop. Again, I heard the explosion clearly.

When the Iranian Embassy was under siege, I was in Dorset, with my parents watching a John Wayne film, when it was interrupted with live footage of the SAS taking out the hostage takers.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: MBSLynne
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 07:16 AM

JFK was assasinated the day after my birthday, and I remember coming home from school and my Mum telling me. It shows what an impact he made that at the age of 11 I actually knew who he was.

When Martin Luther King was killed I was walking down the hill from school with my best friend heading for a shop where they had just started selling apricot ice-cream in cones. Outside the shop was a new board with the headline on it.

I heard the news of John Lennon's death when my boyfriend and I went to pick up his sister to go to Melton Mowbray market...she told us when she got into the car.

When Princess Diana was killed, my Mum and Dad had just arrived on a visit from Australia the previous day. We were all still in our jamas (it was a Sunday morning) and I went out to meet the man from the paper shop bringing the Sunday paper. He was actually in tears and told me the news. While I was not a fan of Princess Di, I was very moved by his obvious distress

Iwas driving to the chip shop when I heard that the Queen Mother had died.

My husband texted me to tell me that a 'plane had flown into one of the twin towers, but I didn't realise the scale of the thing until I heard it on the radio as I drove to work an hour or so later. After I got home we had the television on continuously to watch some of the worst and most amazing scenes I've ever seen (and I hope I'll never see again)

When the first men landed on the moon I was at work at my first job and someone brought a portable television in to work so we all sat or stood around and watched as it happened.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 07:27 AM

I don't remember where I was when President Kennedy died, but I do remember our neighbour getting a Returned Thanks card from Mrs Kennedy months later - a signed card from Mrs Kennedy definitely stuck in my 10 year old consciousness.

I was in my final year of High School when men walked on the moon & remember watching it on the (black & white) TV in the Science lab. We had a TV at home, but I don't remember seeing it there.

As was my wont, I had been listening to CDs all night & only turned the radio on well after midnight when I was heading into the bathroom & then bed. I stayed in the bathroom, sitting on the only seat there (the loo) for several hours listening to the totally unbelievable coverage of the destruction of the World Trade Centre. I was on holidays & next day went into the CBD & saw some coverage on the TV in a food hall as I don't have a TV. I also bought lots of newspapers in the following days.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Susu's Hubby
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 07:37 AM

On 9/11, I had gone in early to the office and did not know about the attacks until our staff accountant came in and let me know right after the first plane had hit the towers. I turned on the TV in the office and caught it just as the second plane hit the other tower. I, with the rest of the office staff, sat in my office all day and watched the continuing coverage.

One of the most erie things of that entire day as well as the days to follow was that our office was underneath one flight lines for DFW airport. When we found out about the FAA grounding the entire fleet, we walked outside and witnessed hundreds of planes circling the DFW area waiting to land. It was odd to not hear planes arriving or departing the area for several days. The only planes that we saw were the military jets patrolling the city from the local Naval Air Station.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Crystal
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 07:56 AM

I was at work when the news of 9/11 broke. At the time I was a postperson and didn't actually hear about what had happened until I got home and turned on the TV, just in time to see the second plane crash into the tower. At first I thought it was some boaring disaster movie so I changed channels and found the same things on all 5 stations.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 08:11 AM

When Kennedy died, it was evening in the UK.

The TV said he'd been shot.
Then they said he'd died.
Then nothing happened for about 15 minutes.
Then they carried on with the Harry Worth show.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 08:47 AM

When folks landed on the moon I was in the Dayroom of HHC, 7th Infantry Division, Camp Casey, Republic of Korea. I could barely see the television because of the Korean employees who were watching.

When John Glenn orbited I was in high school -- the school wheeled in as many TVs as they could find so that we could all watch. Same with Carpenter's suborbital flight.

When the Salk vaccine came out I was in grade school. My mother insured that we were inoculated as soon as it became available. Later, I also got the Sabin vaccine, both as a kid and in the Army.

I don't remember where I was when Yuhg-Gugh invented fire....

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 11:00 AM

Can't remember where I was when they landed on the moon, but I do remember my Uncle setting up a BBQ in the backyard one night for all us kids. He made us what he called sputnik kebabs with tomatoes with skewers sticking out them and little onions mounted on the skewers, in honour of the occasion and we all got to watch the first man-made object orbiting the earth. We were impressed.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST,Metchosin
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 11:03 AM

oops, I'm a guest at 11:00 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST,Wolfgang
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 11:29 AM

Short article about the accuracy of the so called flashbulb memories

Neisser U., Harsch N.
Phantom flashbulbs: False recollection of hearing the news about Challenger
in: Winograd E., Neisser U. (eds.) Affect and Accuracy in Recall; Studies of "Flashbulb" Memories, p.9-31 (1992)
for the more scientifically minded.

Let's face it, these recollections are less accurate than they feel. But I don't want to interrupt the game for it is fun. I know exactly where I was for the shuttle explosions and for 9/11. Do I?

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 12:22 PM

..........when I heard about the Manchester United plane crash, I was sitting on my mum & dad's front step playing with my Dinkies. And for the US contingent, Dinkies were a brand of metal toy cars/trucks - NOT what you were thinking! LOL!
S:0)

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Metchosin
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 12:49 PM

well Wolfgang, I don't know what it bespeaks of my personality, but all my flashbulb memories on this thread, so far, seem to be connected with food. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 12:51 PM

On 9/11 (11/9 to us), I was on the picket line at the Laurier Avenue door to National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa when the president of the Union of National Defence Employees got a phone call from someone who told him that "a plane" had struck one of the towers of the World Trade Centre. I didn't hear any more about it until the big parade of civil servants on strike in the Ottawa-Hull area was crossing the Chaudiere Bridge, heading for a big rally at Place du Portage. That was when the crash of the fourth aircraft was connected to the two that hit the World Trade Centre and the one at the Pentagon. The parade halted, and fell apart as word of the morning's events trickled through the crowd. The vast majority of the strikers simply went back to work. I first saw the famous video footage on a television above the bar in a cafe on the way back to the office.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Metchosin
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 12:54 PM

Perhaps it might be connected with me being nicknamed as The Seagull when I was young, because of my habit of cleaning up the scraps left on everyone else's plates. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Wolfgang
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 12:59 PM

Metchosin,
(let me take your remark serious just for the fun of it.)
I'm not into personality psychology, I'm more the statistical type. So that could mean that at any given time of any day the probabilty that your ongoing activity is eating is quite high.

Wolfgang :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Metchosin
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 01:22 PM

As a lifelong constant nibbler, you are correct. BG

My recollection on watching TV the morning of the collapse of the Twin Towers was sitting in my living room and commenting, "Oh dear! oh fuck! May calm heads prevail or there's going to be hell to pay for this"........Wasn't far off the mark.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST,Gervase
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 01:22 PM

I was sitting under the kitchen table watching my mother make marmalade when Kennedy was shot - I remember her bursting into tears and listening to the radio, telling me to shush!
When Lennon was shot I was on my way to a union chapel meeting with some colleagues, and we all immediately said this was going to be a "where were you when..." moment.
When the Challenger shuttle blew up I was giving a talk on journalism to a bunch of teenagers at a young offenders' unit. The talk came to an abrupt halt as we all watched the television murmuring "F***ing hell!".
When Lady Di hit the underpass I was hellishly hung-over at a friend's in Norfolk, and came downstairs to find 11 messages awaiting me to do interview and analysis crap on the situation, all of which I ignored to carry on laying a hedge. I lived just around the corner from Kensington Palace, and when I got home on the Sunday night the place was completely surrounded by weird people and TV crews. A pal from Channel 4 came back to the flat with a cameraman and we demolished a bottle of whisky before I went to CNN to do a two-hour transatlantic talkie, pissed as a fart, with a mate from the Daily Telegraph. Boy, did we spout some bollocks that night!
On September 11 I was in a directors' meeting when the receptionist rang through and told us to put on the television. We watched agog for about two hours and then adjourned the meeting to the pub over the road, where everyone else seemed in a state of shock.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST,*Laura*
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 01:54 PM

9/11 I was in a car with my dad - coming home from school going 'up' onto a speed bump. We were just chatting then he suddenly went 'ooh - some planes flew into the twin towers!' and we turned on the radio and the news when we got home.
Then I stopped watching for a while cos I couldn't watch it continuously - i went into the other room and could hear it. Then I remember standing there and hearing the voice 'the second tower has started to collapse' and I ran back into the other room and just couldn't take my eyes off it.
And also couldn't stop thinking of how (freakishly) on the 11th of August that year I'd been standing at the top of the towers and oh god it could have been me if it was just a month earlier!
And then telephoned my New York relatives who, thankfully, had been about to leave the house for work when they heard the explosion and decided to stay at home in Grenwich Village.

xLx

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: ranger1
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 02:23 PM

I was probably spitting up on my mother when John Glenn walked on the moon, being all of four months old at the time.

When the Challenger exploded, I was in American history class at high school. I remember the principal making the announcement over the intercom.

On 9/11 (which was on my day off), I had just been woken up by the dog, who wanted out. I heard the announcement about the first plane and turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit the south tower. I found out two days later that a friend of mine was on that flight.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 04:17 PM

John Glenn walked on the moon? Did anyone tell him that?

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 04:32 PM

JFK- I was in my first grade class. We had show and tell. I had my Etch-a-sketch and I can still remember that I drew an American flag and a phone booth. (At least that is what I wanted it to look like). I remember another teacher walked in the room to tell my teacher and she had a look of horror on her face. She told the class that the president had been shot. I remember that I took my Etch-a-sketch and shook it to remove the picture as a reflex.

Walk-on-the-moon - I had just turned 12 and my parents let me stay up to watch it. I took photos of the TV set with my insta-matic camera. Neil Armstrong took that first step.

John Lennon- I happened to be watching Monday Night Football (which I rarely do) and heard the news from Howard Cosell.

Harry Chapin - my future wife called me at my parents home to tell me the news.

9/11 - I just walked into work and my boss said a plane hit the WTC. We thought it was a small plane and while we were concerned, the gravity did not sink in. A few minutes later we heard it was jet and we all gathered around a monitor in our production room to watch the dreadful events. I live in NJ less than 10 miles away. I will always remember that we could smell the fires for days after. We visited my brother-in-law about two weeks later. He lives less than 5 blocks from the site and it is difficult to describe the feeling we get whenever we go there now.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST,*Laura*
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 04:41 PM

Princess Diana I remember too - I was about seven - I was upstairs and my dad called up the stairs 'Princess Diana's dead' and me and mum though he was joking.
And I remember watching the funeral and seeing a tear go down my dad's cheek.

xLx

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 04:44 PM

Oddly enough (for a Yank) I was in Cambridge, motoring to Ely, and my wife noticed that the flags were at half-staff. She asked why, and I replied that I had no idea, not being British. When we got to the cathedral in Ely, a service was going on so we waited quietly in the back. The Bishop his own self then addressed the small congregration, stating the "Last night, Diana, our beloved Princess of Wales was killed in a traffic accident in Paris." I thought, "Well, that makes it easier for Chuck."

Two days later I was in London, awaiting an early flight and DAMNED glad that I had confirmed accomodations (and confirmed prices!).

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: frogprince
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 04:59 PM

JFK: Just returning to our own farm (Minnesota) from a neighbors, with my father, when my mother ran out and told us he had just been shot; it must have just been moments before she told us; we watched the coverage a little before we even had confirmation that it was fatal.

First man on the moon: watched at the home of old family friends.

Challenger: I got up from sleeping daytime and got to my nightshift job, at the old Pontiac Foundry, Pontiac MI.,to find everyone talking about it.

9/11; At work in Auburn Hills, MI., inspecting automotive connectors, with the radio on a local "oldies" station, when they cut in to say the first plane had hit; as someone already mentioned, there was some claim that it appeared to be a small plane, so a lot of us were thinking it was an accident until the second plane hit. First response, I guess just utter shock; after that, every emotion in the book.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: kendall
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 05:01 PM

I was listening to music from the Maritimes on the radio when F.D.R. died, When JFK was killed, I was helping my Father-in-Law put up storm windows, and when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon I was sitting at my desk in the Federal building.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Once Famous
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 05:02 PM

I was under the El tracks when I got laid for the first time.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 05:44 PM

local or express?

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Once Famous
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 05:49 PM

Express on the outer tracks

Local on the inner.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST,harvey andrews
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 05:57 PM

Buddy Holly...buying Sexton Blake weekly from my newspaper shop and seeing his photo on the front page of the Mirror newspaper.

Phil Ochs..picking up the News of the World newspaper on a late night train home from a gig in London and reading this five line item.

Again, late night train home to Birmingham and hearing somebody tell about the pub bombing by the IRA in the Rotunda. Wrote a lyric on the train I never sang.

Thatcher's resignation..listening to the radio driving my car on the motorway then hanging on as my accelerator hit the floor and I screamed "Yes!"

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 07:43 PM

I was in a school secretary's office with four other guys waiting to be interviewed for a teaching job in Penkridge when the news came on the radio that Gary Gilmore had been shot, executed or what you will....

I think it was obvious to everybody that when that happened the capital punishment industry was soon going to be back in business in a big way.

I was at home in tamworth when the Birmigham bomb went off. Some idiot a few doors along the street had been keeping petrol in his garage and the lot went up five minutes after the announcement on the TV about the Talk of the Town. the blast completely rocked our house.

for about half an hour after we thought maybe the whole of the midlands was under attack.

all the best

big al

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: LilyFestre
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 08:48 PM

I remember when Ronald Reagan was shot and when it was reported that he had died...and how angry the announcer was. I was in elementary school at the time.

I was in Biology class when an it was announced over the loud speaker that the Challenger had exploded. One of our teachers had applied to be on that flight....

I remember whent he Gulf War broke out. It was the first time my generation had really seen the United States involved in a war. I sat in the living room (in Vermont) glued to the television and the telephone...my best friend was on the other end of the line in Georgia. He would say, NBC, and I'd switch the channel...he'd say CNN and I'd switch the channel...we watched it unfold together even though we were miles apart.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, my husband and I were driving up the side of a mountain....he was going to work and I was going to spend the day poking around an artsy community. We thought it was odd that a plane would hit one of the towers and thought perhaps it was someone in a small plane who was learning how to fly. We thought it was strange. We turned the radio off, he got out at work and I drove to where I wanted to shop. The store had a radio on inside and the announcement came that one plane had hit, then another and a third headed towards Washington...then the news that all subways were shut down. The store was absolutely silent...no noise, no movement. The news was repeated. An elderly woman who had been standing facing me started to cry. She came to me, held my arm and said, NOT AGAIN...NOT AGAIN. I'll never forget that feeling...

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 09:18 PM

I was in a high-school typing class when I heard that John F. Kennedy had been shot.

I was in the Macalester College student union when I heard that Lyndon Johnson had announced that he wasn't going to run again.

I was in a small office adjoining the green room of the Macalester theater department when I heard that Martin Luther King had been shot.

I was at home in St. Louis when I heard that Robert F. Kennedy had been shot.

I was on a lake fishing when the first moon landing occurred.

I was home washing dishes when Nixon resigned.

I was at work when the Challenger blew up.

I was having lunch in a bar when I heard about the fire in Waco.

I was at work when they announced the not-guilty verdict in the O. J. Simpson trial.

I was eating supper at a fast-food restaurant when I heard that the bombing had begun at the beginning of the first Iraq War.

I had just finished eating breakfast at a local café when I heard about the World Trade Center plane crashes. Then I decided to go home and watch TV. To hell with being late for work.

Looking back over this list, it's surprising how often I was away from home when important stuff happened.

Crackpot theory of the month: If you're in very familiar surroundings (e.g. you're at home) when you receive important news, you're less likely to remember where you were.

I can't remember where I was when I heard John Lennon had been shot, so I figure I must have been at home.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Gypsy
Date: 02 Mar 05 - 11:19 PM

Man on the moon.........auditorium at the local school. We were in a town full of engineers that worked on our project, and were sure that it was MY dad who built the rocket. Desert Storm. Shopping for a microwave to suprize my mother. The person surprized was her lover, who didn't think i would actually BUY the thing without agonizing over it. Watched the TV in the store for Desert Storm. 9/11. Building our shop at the time.......carpenter showed up, rang the doorbell, asked if we had heard about the planes and the twin towers. I thought it was joke, and waited for the punchline. I'm still waiting.........

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: LadyJean
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 12:21 AM

Winchester Thurston School's alma mater begins "In thy Pillared Portals". So, the school has to have a pillared porch. I was standing there, when Mrs. Lichtenstool, who was carpool mom that day came up and said, "Guess what?"
"What?"
"The president's been shot!"
I thought she was joking.
I remember everyone was saying he was young and strong and would probably survive. When his brother Robert was shot, five years later, they said the same thing.
I brought in the morning paper and discovered that Dr. King had been assasinated.

I had the television on, while I was studying for a final, when Nixon comandeered the airwaves, as he did from time to time, and announced that he was resigning. How's that for irony. I was cramming for a history final, and history was happening right in front of me.
The next day, having aced the final, I was enjoying a celebratory hot fudge sundae. Outside the ice cream parlor, a young man wearing a Nixon mask was panhandling with a tin cup.

On September 11, I was at the local coffee shop, buying my breakfast, when I heard people saying an airplane had crashed into the world trade center. I thought it was a private plane, and considered the many who had been killed in small plane crashes. I was cleaning for a Jewish couple, that day. There was a truck parked near where I parked my car, and a group of men clustered around it, listenning to the radio.
The couple had the television on. I was certain the stories of a second plane and then a plane hitting the Pentagon were rumors. We watched Bush's uninspired speech together. They worried that this would mean Israel would have to make more concessions. I prayed for everyone I knew who was likely to be called up to serve in the military. All day, I was looking down the street to see if anyone was doing anything with the Jewish Comunity Center. It still stands. But that's the way we were thinking on 9/11.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Kaleea
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 01:47 AM

I was in grade school in a Denver suburb when JFK was shot-I even remember where in the room I sat. Just the day before, we'd had a "civil defense' drill. A couple of the kids in class dropped under their desks when the teacher announced the President had been shot. Those kids thought a bomb would be dropped soon.
    I was kid in JR HI in April 1968, and babysitting at a neighbor's house, & in front of the TV with the 10 yr old boy, when it was announced that Dr. Martin Luther King had been shot. His parents came in early that night, saying that their evening card game was not appropriate when such a terrible thing had happened.
    A couple months later in June, Mr. Cronkite told us about RFK.
    In July of 69, my younger brother & I were glued to the TV in the living room almost 24 hrs a day when the Saturn V rocket sent Apollo 11 to the moon. The whole world watched with us.
    In 1970, a friend & I were listening to our favorite radio station when they broke in with the news of the National Guard shooting college kids for protesting at Kent State.
    A few months later in 1970, the boy who gave me my first kiss wrote to me as he was flying his last mission from the base in Korea to somewhere over "VietNam" thrilled that he was coming home soon.   He never made it home.
    I was with a date in the car, when the radio announcer said John Lennon had been shot to death.
    I was at home in Minnesota on June 3, 1989 with big eyes glued to the TV as machine guns were pointed by Chinese soldiers at the head of Mr. Dan Rather who was literally risking his life to show us the tanks & guns pointed at the brave young people of China who had erected a replica of our USA's Lady Liberty & were protesting in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China. They finally made all the reporters turn off all the cameras & leave, so the gov't troops could murder alot of people.
    In the Fall of 1990, I was visiting my mother in Tulsa, and we saw odd looking camo painted on odd looking humvee-type & other military vehicles being shipped South on flatbed railroad cars. I had a horrible sick feeling as I remembered the prophetic words of an Army officer from a few years earlier, "The next big war will be fought on desert terrain."-----------------------------------------------Feb. 1991, Desert Storm killed 180,000 human beings called "royal guard" &/or "Iraqi army troops" in the first few days of bombing. **[One guy came running up, hands in the air, to the American troops who were pushing through the country, saying "Hey, you guys, don't shoot! I'm an American!!" in Birkenstocks, polo shirt & shorts with a noticably Bostonian accent. He had been made a member of sadsack insane's army at the point of a gun while visiting his aunt
in Iraq.]***
    April 19, 1995, I in Miami, Oklahoma having breakfast with my then boyfriend while his new truck was being serviced. It was DeWard & Pauline's Restaurant across the street from DeWard & Pauline's Motel where mcveigh had stayed. Someone silenced everyone with the news. You could hear every fork falling on plates, dishes falling out in the kitchen.   A young state trooper from that area stopped one timothy mcveigh on a back highway. He almost was let go on bond with his NRA card, but the officer found a hidden weapon for which mcveigh had no legal Oklahoma permit.
    9-11:I was down in Winfield, KS at the Walnut Valley Music Festival & on my way to the portapotty when I heard someone's radio tell about the 1st of the Twin Towers. They had their battery powered TV on by the time the 2nd one was hit. A young friend came up to me & I asked him if he was on alert (with the Air Force). He said yes, & asked me how I knew. I told him to call in right then. He heard the about 2 seconds of the news report & ran to his truck. A few minutes later, I watched him in his desert camo fatigues kissing his young wife goodbye-as she held their baby in her arms. It was a subdued festival, several of the performers didn't make it & some others filled in--but I'm glad I was there in the midst of all those Musicians instead of anywhere else.
    In January '03 I awoke early one AM terrified after having dreamed of being in Baghdad. It was a terribly frightening nightmare. Air raid sirens, body bags without end, guns, guns, guns, bombs, evil special police . . .it took me at least half an hour to convince myself that I was in the USA in my own bed & it was all "just" a dream. The next month, . . . well, you know the rest of the story.
    I also remember the stunned feeling when I heard the news of Princess Di; John Kennedy JR.'s plane going down, & a few other historical things. These events are frozen into my brain. My nephews & neices & I have talked about some of these events, as I am hoping they will understand why these events were such powerful historical events. "Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat past mistakes in the future."

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 01:48 AM

The rest later, but I can tell you where a LOT of 'Catters were on 9/11........Right here!!!!

Here is a link to the first thread started that morning and as you can see, the second plane had yet to hit. I started that thread and it was the beginning of a series of linked threads that ran for almost a week and make some fascinating reading. Check some of the stuff out....

The First Thread about 9/11

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Teresa
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 03:06 AM

Wow, 'spaw, I was away from the 'cat then. When 9-11 happened, I was stunned and didn't quite believe it. I think it took about a half-hour for it to fully sink in.

Two other events: Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 in northern california ... I was busking in the subway station and didn't bother to panic, thinking I was about to die. Well, I was fine, but some were not.   ;( I remember thinking that I very easily could have been in the epicenter of that one, where one woman was killed by a beam in downtown Santa cruz.

Desert Storm: I was buying a book and was at the checkout counter at the UC Berkeley bookstore when I heard the news on the radio. I was so overwhelmed with grief and anger that I don't remember how I finished the purchase, but I went outside quickly and burst into tears.

teresa

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Gervase
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 06:38 AM

Thanks for the reminder about Thatcher, Harvey. I, too, was diving - up the M23 - and whooped and cheered for all I was worth, then floored the pedal. My mate in the car, was was a Tory, was distinctly uneasy! When Wilson resigned I was in a biology class whe the pan technician came in and told us. Bizarrely, we all started talking politics with the teacher and the tech in a surprisingly mature fashion for a bunch of teenagers.
And the Queen Mum? Don't remember, don't really care...

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Jeanie
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 07:04 AM

Harvey and weelittledrummer: I was in Birmingham, too, on the night of the Tavern in the Town bombing. In a student flat off the Bristol Road, to be precise. Some of our flatmates had gone into town that night (though not, thankfully, to that pub), so a lot of anxious waiting. This was long before the days of mobile phones, of course, and everyone in our campus of flats queued well into the night to make quick phone calls home from the public phone box to let our families know we were OK.

Did you by any chance see the good TV drama series that was on recently (the title escapes me) about a group of lads growing up in the Midlands in the 70s and set against the events of the time (including the bomb) ?

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: GUEST,harvey andrews
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 09:28 AM

Yes, I saw the drama. We need more of them.Maybe we'll get them now the Govt has told the Beeb it doesn't need to compete in the dumbing down stakes! Got wet eyes when the bomb went off in the pub, it brought it all back.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Chris Green
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 02:35 PM

When the memories were handed out I was behind the.... oh... erm... thing that lets you into rooms... it was on the tip of my tongue only a minute ago...

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 03:12 PM

Game 6, 1996 World Series. My wife and I sat on the couch in our first apartment with our emotions going from an ultimate low to an unbelievable high. We have Bill Buckner's legs to thank for that magic moment.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Firecat
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 03:24 PM

When Princess Diana was killed in the car crash, I was at Bridgnorth Folk Festival. I went into the craft fair bit where Mum and Dad were setting up the badge stall, and Mum said to me "Have you head the latest about Diana?" I said "No, why, is she getting married to Dodi?" and Mum told me Diana was dead. I then got the car keys off Dad and ran and turned the car radio on. I was 13.

For 9/11, I'd just got back from college. It was 4.10pm. My German homework was to watch the news and think how to describe it. I turned the TV on, cos I wanted to watch Starstreet (a programme with a pop group called allSTARS in it), but instead there was a news report. I watched in disbelief for a few minutes, then ran through to the back room, where Mum and Dad were looking at something on the computer, and blurted out "The World Trade Centre's been attacked!" Dad came through to the front room, where they were saying that the Taliban were claiming they'd done it. I was 17.

For the Columbia, I was watching The Chart on Channel 5 when a caption came up on the screen about it. Dad made me turn over to BBC1 where there was a news report. I think I was 18 or 19.

When the Queen Mum died, I was at CatsPHiddle's house in Gowdall. There was a film on Channel 5 which was stopped suddenly and Charlie Stayt presented the bulletin. I thought it was the Queen at first! I was 18, cos I was on the way back from Poland on the funeral day, but I'd spent most of my free time on the trip watching the preparations for it on BBC World Service.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Chris Green
Date: 03 Mar 05 - 04:03 PM

Coincidentally, I was at Bridgnorth when the news about Princess D. Some bloke came into the session and went "Princess Diana's been killed in Paris!" The general reaction, far from being spontaneous outpourings of grief, was more along the lines of "Bit of a pisser, eh? Oh well ,on with the music!"

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: JennyO
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:34 AM

Moon landing - I was teaching a year 1 class. We had TV's put into all the rooms, and everyone sat and watched it.

John Lennon's death - I was standing in the kitchen washing up. They played John Lennon songs continuously on the radio after that, for the rest of the day, and I spent a good part of that day crying.

Diana's death - I was at the Newcastle Jazz Festival. It wasn't till I came out of the festival and was headed towards the station to get a train home to Sydney, that I noticed a flag at half mast. I asked somebody, and they said "Diana's died". I thought they were joking. It wasn't till I was on the train and a few more people confirmed it, that I realised it was true.

9/11 - It was late at night - I was watching TV and I was about to go to bed. Then a news flash came on about the first plane. I thought it was an accident. Once the second plane crashed and the third one went down, I realised it was an attack. I couldn't tear myself away from the TV, waiting to see what would happen next. I thought it was the beginning of war and possibly the end of the world. I didn't sleep that night at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Where were you when.......
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 08:58 AM

Diana, Princess of Wales... I was in bed on a Sunday morning when my father phoned at about 8.00am, to tell us she'd been killed. I murmured something or other, half asleep, turned to Manitas and said 'how terribly convenient' and went back to sleep. Later at church we said prayers for ALL those killed, not just her.

I was in bed when I heard about Elvis' death too.... (I do actually get out of bed, sometimes!), having been at a carnival the night before. My dad came into my room and said 'The King is dead' and went to make tea.

Does anyone remember what they were doing when the Pope was shot? I don't!

LTS