Taking a dump in Cambridge, MA, at the moment the message came thru, "Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed".
Kennedy? I was in English class. The head of the department came into the classroom and announced the news. Several days before things became normal.
9/11? I slept thru it, having worked until dawn on a project. When I woke up, ----, shaved, showered, the radio was reporting the news. First thought was Saddam. Second thought was bin Laden. Second thought was right.
I was on duty at a small Air Force Security Service station in southern Italy as an E-4. I was working a teletype circuit but I didn’t see anything. My Mission Supervisor informed me that JFK had been assassinated in Dallas. Being an Irish Catholic boy, I took it pretty hard. We all went to the NCO Club around 1900CST and joined the crowd gathered around a radio which was tuned to the Armed Forces Network for updates on the situation. It was the base’s only source.
On 9/11, I had fallen asleep on the couch, and I was having a bad dream about a burning inferno, no doubt influenced by the TV news.
I got up and made coffee, and listened to the news. At first I thought they were talking about a small private plane. I was sitting in the Rocking Chair watching TV as the second plane hit.
I wasn’t sure what terrorist group it was, but I felt sure it was one from the Middle East.