You Will Remember When
December 2nd, 2013 | by mmb5 |Last week somebody posted something that many people falsely remember big moments in a major social occurrence, such as where were you when you heard JFK was shot (I was not born, pretty sure on that one). Well, I thought I would put my recollections up for whomever cares, and I hope I have them right.
Saturday, December 30, 1978: The first bulletin I remember was a news crawl on a cartoon I was watching mentioned that Woody Hayes was fired. Not an earth shattering event by any means, but for some reason I remember it. I still had to ask my mom who Hayes was, since at 9 I really had no idea who he was.
Monday, December 8, 1980: I was well asleep when Howard Cosell broke the news on Monday Night Football that John Lennon had died. I have no memory of how I found out.
Monday, March 30, 1981: Ronald Reagan was shot at 2:27 PM. ABC went on the air with the bulletin at 2:42, mentioning the shooting but it was not known at the time that he had been shot. With the coverage going beyond 3 PM, my sister would be missing her then-beloved General Hospital. Her words to me when I would get home from school around 3:15 were “Reagan was shot” in a very nonchalant manner. I do remember watching a little bit of the NCAA title game that was played that night, but nothing really else.
Wednesday, May 13, 1981: Pope John Paul II was shot at 11:19 AM ET. I was told by a lunch lady. Even though I grew up in a predominately Catholic town, nothing was really mentioned about it at school.
Tuesday, January 28, 1986: The Columbia Challenger Space Shuttle exploded at 11:38 AM ET. A classmate who went home for lunch found out told me before fifth hour started, so this would had been around 12:25 PM. There was a school-wide moment of silence, I believe this would have been in my Algebra II class.
Tuesday, October 17, 1989: The Loma Prieta Earthquake shook the World Series at 8:03 PM ET. I had hockey band practice. On the ride home I was given, I turned the radio hoping to hear the World Series game, instead, I heard them talking about FEMA. When I got to the apartment, a roommate told me what happened.
Thursday, November 9, 1989: Around 1 PM ET, East Germany announced that they were opening the border. Sadly, I totally missed this. For days. I can’t remember why, especially since I read a newspaper every day, but it really didn’t sink in for days.
Wednesday, January 16, 1991: At 7 PM ET the bombing of Baghdad began. At the time, it was believed that the war would have started by now and I was watching the Red Wings playing Buffalo (hockey-reference.com confirms).
Wednesday, April 19, 1995: At 10:02 AM ET a truck bomb destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I was at work, it was mentioned on the radio but it was not a news bulletin, just a mention. I was flying to Colorado that day, so I missed most of the bulletins on the plane. TVs weren’t available in the airport (old Metro).
Tuesday, September 11, 2001: A jetliner was flown into the World Trade Center at 8:46 AM ET. I was still asleep at the time, only because I had flown in the night before after a week’s long vacation in Seattle. I had set my alarm for 9 AM, I was going to have a TV delivered later that morning and then go to work in the afternoon. I woke up to the news on the radio, and heard the second plane live at 9:03. Got up and watched a lot of coverage. Maybe too much coverage, I sort of freaked out on either Thursday or Friday for a bit. I cannot confirm this, but I swear I watched parts of the movie Deterrence the night before as well.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005: Katrina had actually raged on the 28th and the 29th, I mention this because on the 30th I flew out of Seattle.
Sunday, August 30, 2009: Nothing historical happened that day, but I just had to mention that I flew out of Seattle without a major incident.
Sunday, May 1, 2011: Around 4 PM ET (1 AM on May 2 locally), Osama bin Laden was killed by American Forces. Just a night watching TV at home, but I really wish they would have not said they would have a “special announcement from President Obama”, leaving 90 minutes wondering what the hell is this going to be about. That left me a little on edge.
Who knows what’s left in store? Frankly, I hope I never have to update this again.