What are your " I remember where I was" moments?

The Kennedy assassination as a 5th grader was such a wake-up call for me. I was blindsided by the event and had developed somewhat of an obsession with the case because of it.

1965 - Blackout. I was 6 and at home. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_1965
1968 - Assassination of MLK, I was home watching TV when broadcast was interrupted with the news.
1969 - Men on moon. At grandma's house. I was 10.
1986 - Mets win epic game 6 of World Series. At home with parents.
1990 - Mike Tyson loses to Buster Douglas. In a bar.
1996 - Bombing during Olympics. At a bar.
9/11/01 - At home in NYC.

Obviously many more important events, but can't definitely recall where I was.

a few

sept 28/1972 - the big canada/ussr hockey summit. paul henderson scored with just over a minute to win. we were sent home from school early to watch it. my father also got home from work early. i believe it was a tuesday, only canada would shut down for a hockey game.

april 8/1974 - henry aaron passes babe ruth's home run record. no sports networks back then and it was a big deal to cut in on regular programming. it was a night game from what i remember. my father loved aaron and he had a tear in his eye.

august 9/1974 - nixon resigns. i found this fascinating as an eleven year old. never forget nixon's goodbye wave.

feb 20/1980 - miracle on ice hockey game usa over ussr. this started around 3pm. my father rushed home to watch it.

dec 8/1980 - john lennon shooting. a monday night and i had gone to bed. the next morning my mother says "john lennon was shot and killed" in a matter of fact tone. i was like wth?? turned on morning tv and it was the only story. the first person i thought of was my oldest brother a huge beatles fan who was living in labrador at the time.

march 30/1981- reagan shooting. got home from school around 4pm and my mother asked if i heard president reagan had been shot? i was glued to the tv.

may 13/81 - pope paul ii shooting. i was home alone studying for finals last year of high school when this broke all over television. after the lennon and reagan shootings we thought the world was going crazy.


october 17/1989 - san francisco earthquake - the world series game just started with al michaels and tim mccarver. the picture shook and al michaels says we are having an earthquake. then a blank screen.

april 29/1992 - rodney king verdict. my wife was seven months pregnant and we were living with her parents. my wife says los angeles is going crazy as she was watching it on cnn when i got home around 4pm. i remember the overhead chopper shots and the guy who was attacked in his truck at an intersection.

june 17/1994 - oj bronco chase. i missed most of this. it was a friday nite and we were going out to dinner. caught some of it on the radio. no smartphones back then and the restaurant didn't even have a tv. my sister was babysitting our son and saw the whole thing.

october 4/1995 - oj verdict. everything stopped at work around 1pm and radios were turned up as we all listened. one of those days when productivity dropped. it's hard to believe what a huge event this was.

aug 31/1997 - princess diana death. a saturday night at my brother's. we were playing cards around 11 pm and for some reason cnn was on. my son was five and the in-laws had him for the night. we stayed till about 1-2 am watching cnn.

March 30th, 1981

The Reagan assassination attempt. I was 8 and in a supermarket with my Mom and little Sis and the store manager turned off the tinny
‘Elevator music’ and made the announcement to the shoppers that the president had been attacked. Mom and Dad were big time Reagan supporters so Mom was distraught. What a relief it was to hear later that ‘Uncle Ronnie’ as we kids called him had survived.

1/6/21 - i was dying of Covid but this was entertaining in my delirium

Interesting question.

1963 - JFK assassination. I was in grade school. An announcement came over the PA. We weren't dismissed, but it was a very strange day. At my young age, I couldn't believe someone would do that to the president. Then a few days later, Jack Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald.

1968 - RFK and MLK were both assassinated that year. I was in junior high then, and I really began to wonder what our world was coming to.

1969 - Moon landing - I'd just gotten home from school and was able to watch it live with my family. It really felt like the country was united on this mission.

1980 - Mount St Helens eruption. I was a new mother so I was at home. I heard about it on the radio, and turned on our TV. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

1981 - Reagan assassination attempt. I was at home with my son and again, heard about it on the radio and turned on the TV. I remember thinking, "no, not again."

1986 - As 102000 said, the Challenger disaster was mentioned on another post.

2001 - 9/11 - I was at work, doing an online "chat" with a vendor when he told me the news of the first plane hitting the tower (he had heard it on the radio). We both thought it must have been a small plane, lost in fog or something (neither of us had no idea what the weather was in New York City at that moment. But a few minutes later when the news of the second plane reached us, we realized it was an act of terrorism. I didn't get to see any TV coverage until I got home. I remember the next few days especially, were very eerie, knowing out US airspace was closed. It was noticeable how quiet the skies were.

2009 - Miracle on the Hudson - I'd just gotten home from work and had turned on the news. It still amazes me what Sully and Skiles (co-pilot) did.

Sad that mostly what we remember are the tragedies.

1997 -- Death of Princess Diana. On a bus heading into York. Overheard a conversation about 'Oh, I liked her. Anyway, no-one deserves to die that way.' Overheard a different conversation in a different group on the bus. Me and the person I was with at the time exchanging 'Oh, someone famous has died' glances, but neither of us want to ask... Isn't until we're in a coffee shop twenty minutes later that we finally overhear a conversation that mentions the name. 'Wow,' we say. And 'Oh, no. The TV coverage is going to be unbearable. For days.'

There must have been other major news events that shook the whole nation since then, but I can't think of any.

John Lennon's murder - I was ice skating at our local rink when the news came over the radio.

President Regan being shot - I was in social studies class. Our teacher left the room. When he returned he told us of the shooting.

Space Shuttle explosion - I was a senior in highschool.

9/11 - My wife and I were watching Teletubbies with our young sons when the news broke.