Your first "remember where you were when it happened" moment

[wxfree]

I just realized that I don't really have moments like that.  To me, the event is important, but where I am when I learn of something doesn't seem to be important enough to remember.  I do remember where I was when I learned that standoff at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco was ending, because where I was determined how I learned of it.  I was in history class and the teacher came into the room and turned on the television.  She told us that the people were coming out, but that wasn't exactly what was happening.

I remember first hearing about the 2010 Chile earthquake, for reasons that are unrelated to the event itself.  This is one of those weird stories that most people wouldn't believe.

I also remember that I heard about the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on the radio while driving to a hike.  Other than these examples that happened because of unusual circumstances, I don't have any memories that stand out regarding my own circumstances when learning of a big event.

[Duke87]

I remember seeing coverage of the Northridge Earthquake (January 17, 1994) on TV that day. The image of the section of the Golden State Freeway totally collapsed onto the ground particularly sticks in my mind. As a kid who had just turned 6 I wasn't fully capable of processing that, it didn't seem real. But I was glad I lived far far away from California and didn't have to worry about earthquakes since they looked very scary.

[ce929wax]

Mine is kind of similar to Brandon, except mine is two years later and I live in Michigan.  A little background, I am on the autism spectrum so I am sensitive to certain things now, but was even more sensitive to certain things in 1992 when I was 6.  It was June 17, 1992 and it was a hot, humid, sunny day at my grandmothers house where myself and my cousins were playing.  At my grandmothers house, there was kind of a closed in porch off the living room.  I remember my cousins and I playing and I had to go to the bathroom.  When I was running through the living room, I just so happened to look over at the TV and saw the words "Tornado Watch" in yellow italicized letters on the corner of the TV.  I didn't quite understand what "Tornado Watch" meant, but the way the yellow letters were italicized on the TV stopped me in my tracks.  It is kind of stupid looking back on it now, but it really scared me.  I had to get out of that room immediately, it was as if the words were a direct barrier between me and the bathroom.  My aunt, who was staying with my grandmother, and who is one of those people who always has a smart aleck comment for everything asked me what was wrong.  All I could do was point at the TV.  It took my aunt a few seconds to figure out what I was pointing at, but she did and laughed and said, "you better be careful, a tornado will come and suck you up into sky."  We did not have a tornado in my immediate area, and I don't really remember anything else of that day other than the words "Tornado Watch" changing color.  I know that where my dad lived at the time, someones barn was leveled.  This was a life changing day because it was the day I became fascinated with weather but deathly afraid of thunderstorms for about 5 years after that.

[gonealookin]

The first time I was conscious of world events, though not an actual "when it happened" moment, was when my first grade teacher asked us "Does anyone know what happened in the world yesterday?"  and my hand went up and I answered "Mr. King died" (Martin Luther King).  Not bad for a little kid living in an all-white suburb with no real sense of what was hitting the fan in 1968.

The actual "when it happened" moment would have been the Apollo 11 landing (at home, watching on TV or trying to because Dad was cussing about the unreliable primitive cable TV service which had been out for a while that day).

[cjk374]

Reagan being shot: 1st grade, announced by my teacher.

Challenger: 6th grade. The PA speakers in both girls restrooms (one upstairs, one downstairs) sounded like it was playing a radio. Couldn't make out what was being said because the rooms echoed so much. When we asked our teacher what the deal was, our teacher answered so non-chalantly, "Oh, the space shuttle blew up." What an absolute bitch!

[Rothman]

The earliest major news story I remember is the Three Mile Island crisis.

But, when it comes to a "remember where you were" moment, nothing beats out 9/11 in my mind.  Not even the Challenger.

[Buck87]

9/11

I was in 8th grade at a Catholic school and had served the 8:30 am Mass with a classmate. When he and I walked into our classroom around 9:15 we were somewhat puzzled to see everyone transfixed on the TV, and we were soon filled in on what was going on. We changed classes like normal the rest of that morning, but didn't do anything but watch the coverage, and I can still remember which classroom I was in when each of the two towers collapsed. Later on in the early afternoon when myself and the 3 other band kids did our daily walk to the public Jr. High 2 blocks away for band I couldn't help but notice what a clear and calm day it was....with absolutely no planes to be found in the sky.

[Henry]

The first major event I remember was the death of Elvis Presley; I was 7 that summer.

[roadman]

For a planned event, it would be the Apollo 11 moon landing.  My parents and I, along with two brothers and one sister who were still living at home at the time, were gathered in our den watching on our then brand-new color console TV.

For an unplanned event, it would be the crash of Delta Flight 723 at Logan Airport in July of 1973.  My friends and I were on their back porch when their mother called out the kitchen window "Hey, there's been a plane crash at Logan."  We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the WCVB Channel 5 (which was a brand new station at the time) coverage on their TV.  I particularly remember their chief meteorologist discussing the weather conditions at the time of the crash and how they might have contributed to it.

The assassination attempt of Reagan stands out as well, as I was riding a train to visit my sister in Washington DC on that day.  A couple of passengers who got on in Newark spread the news, and I managed to tune in a local news station on my radio to get additional details - which I relayed to both the conductor and other passengers.  For years afterwards, we used to joke about how, after my sister picked me up at Union Station, we drove by the White House to see if Al Haig was throwing furniture out onto the front lawn.

The Challenger disaster also stands out for a very personal reason.  It was the last major live news event that my father and I watched together before he died several months later.  And, in the interval between the explosion and NASA's initial response, I recall looking at my father and saying "I'm not sure, but I think it blew up."

h/t to PHLBOS for the number of the Delta flight.

[PHLBOS]

For an unplanned event, it would be the crash of the Delta flight at Logan Airport in July of 1973.  My friends and I were on their back porch when their mother called out the kitchen window "Hey, there's been a plane crash at Logan."  We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the WCVB Channel 5 (which was a brand new station at the time) coverage on their TV.  I particularly remember their chief meteorologist discussing the weather conditions at the time of the crash and how they might have contributed to it.

That was Flight 723.  Several years ago, Airliners magazine did a look-back story on that Delta DC-9 crash.  This aircraft (N975NE) was originally delivered to Northeast Airlines circa 1967 and later flew for Delta following the 1972 merger of the two carriers (Delta acquiring Northeast).  One issue that contributed to the crash was the modifications made to the DC-9's radio and flight instruments as a result of the Delta-Northeast merger; the two airlines used differently configured avionics systems despite using the same aircraft type.

These records show that numercus complaints about radio and flight instruments were recorded in the flight logs of N975NE after the aircraft was modified from the Northeast Airlines to the Delta Air Lines DC-9 avionics configuration in April 1973.  Many of these complaints were of a recurring or chronic nature, as evidenced "by the seven write-ups "between July 25 and 29, 1973, dealing with the functioning of the flight director, the DME, and one of the navigational receivers.

A total of 14 NEA. DC-9 aircraft were affected "by this modification plan. The records of the aircraft which immediately preceded and followed N975NE through the modification program also were examined. The records of "both these aircraft, N979NE and N978NE, contained recurring radio and flight instrument complaints similar to those reported on N975NE.

Source for the above

Vintage photo of N975NE months prior to the crash:

Vintage photo from Bob Garrard

N975NE in its original Northeast Yellowbird colors:

Vintage photo from Bill Armstrong

IIRC, the findings of this crash was one of the reasons why Delta unloaded every former-Northeast DC-9 they inherited shortly thereafter.  Many of the-then surviving former Yellowbird DC-9s either went to Eastern and/or Allegheny (predecessor to USAir & US Airways).

Side bar: while I do remember the Delta-Northeast merger (I remember the billboard along then-US 1/now MA 1A showing the Northeast Yellowbird mascot wearing a white sweater with a Delta widget on it); I don't recall hearing about this crash when it happened nor heard of it until several decades later while reading the fore-mentioned Airliners magazine.  When I asked my older brother about it; he remembered hearing of it.

[pumpkineater2]

Sandy Hook school shooting: I was getting picked up from school by my mom. It was the first thing she said to me when I got into the car. I was in 9th grade.

President Obama's 2009 inauguration: My school had all the kids in my grade (6th or 7th, I cant remember) go into the library to watch it live on TV.

[slorydn1]

The earliest well known event I can remember where I was when I heard was Nixon's resignation. I was in my usual spot at the counter that seperated our dining room from the kitchen eating ice cream while my mom was getting things ready for dinner when the news broke on that little 12 inch B/W TV my mom had there.

Regan's shooting I was in 5th grade and we were just putting our books away from one course and getting ready to line up to go to the bathroom when the assistant principal came in and whispered something to my teacher. My teacher sent the 2 "pets" to the library to go get a A/V cart while the rest of us went to the bathroom and when we came back the TV was already turned on and they were talking about it. I remember that they let us eat our lunches we brought with us early that day while we watched the TV coverage. We stayed in school until our normal time, but we didn't do anything else but watch the coverage until then.

Both space shuttle accidents are vivid in my mind (I posted my Challenger experience in the other thread) In that same general time frame it was the Bears winning the Super Bowl, and the death of Mayor Harold Washington in Chicago too.

But for all of that, the death of Dale Earnhardt, Sr and 9/11 are the only two things where I can remember exact conversations almost word for word right around the time I found out that each had happend. Even the the death of my own father in March 2011, though burned in my memory, doesn't leave the same level of detail that Big E's death or 9/11 does.

[inkyatari]

The first was the explosion of the Challenger in 1986.  I was in High School, and the principal came over the PA system to announce what happened.


To expand the premise, the most IMPACTFUL "remember where you were when it happened" moment was 9/11, as that's my birthday.

[roadman]

The first was the explosion of the Challenger in 1986.  I was in High School, and the principal came over the PA system to announce what happened.


To expand the premise, the most IMPACTFUL "remember where you were when it happened" moment was 9/11, as that's my birthday.

9/11 happened the day after I turned 40.  When my brother asked me what I thought about what happened that evening, I quipped "Well, I sure didn't expect the world to fall apart so quickly after turning 40."

[roadman]

For an unplanned event, it would be the crash of the Delta flight at Logan Airport in July of 1973.  My friends and I were on their back porch when their mother called out the kitchen window "Hey, there's been a plane crash at Logan."  We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the WCVB Channel 5 (which was a brand new station at the time) coverage on their TV.  I particularly remember their chief meteorologist discussing the weather conditions at the time of the crash and how they might have contributed to it.

That was Flight 723.  Several years ago, Airliners magazine did a look-back story on that Delta DC-9 crash.  This aircraft (N975NE) was originally delivered to Northeast Airlines circa 1967 and later flew for Delta following the 1972 merger of the two carriers (Delta acquiring Northeast).  One issue that contributed to the crash was the modifications made to the DC-9's radio and flight instruments as a result of the Delta-Northeast merger; the two airlines used differently configured avionics systems despite using the same aircraft type.

These records show that numercus complaints about radio and flight instruments were recorded in the flight logs of N975NE after the aircraft was modified from the Northeast Airlines to the Delta Air Lines DC-9 avionics configuration in April 1973.  Many of these complaints were of a recurring or chronic nature, as evidenced "by the seven write-ups "between July 25 and 29, 1973, dealing with the functioning of the flight director, the DME, and one of the navigational receivers.

A total of 14 NEA. DC-9 aircraft were affected "by this modification plan. The records of the aircraft which immediately preceded and followed N975NE through the modification program also were examined. The records of "both these aircraft, N979NE and N978NE, contained recurring radio and flight instrument complaints similar to those reported on N975NE.

Source for the above

Vintage photo of N975NE months prior to the crash:

Vintage photo from Bob Garrard

N975NE in its original Northeast Yellowbird colors:

Vintage photo from Bill Armstrong

IIRC, the findings of this crash was one of the reasons why Delta unloaded every former-Northeast DC-9 they inherited shortly thereafter.  Many of the-then surviving former Yellowbird DC-9s either went to Eastern and/or Allegheny (predecessor to USAir & US Airways).

Side bar: while I do remember the Delta-Northeast merger (I remember the billboard along then-US 1/now MA 1A showing the Northeast Yellowbird mascot wearing a white sweater with a Delta widget on it); I don't recall hearing about this crash when it happened nor heard of it until several decades later while reading the fore-mentioned Airliners magazine.  When I asked my older brother about it; he remembered hearing of it.

Thanks for this follow up info PHLBOS - very interesting.  I'll have to look up that back issue of Airliners.  Found a copy of the issue of Airliners with the article about Delta 723 on eBay - it's the September/October issue from 2002 for those who are interested.

[KEVIN_224]

I was coming home from 4th grade the day Reagan was shot. Mom had it on CBS News and Dan Rather. I was 10 years old.

I was home sick from high school in Old Orchard Beach, ME the morning the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded...Tuesday, January 28, 1986. I didn't have the TV on, since I felt awful. I only started hearing about it when my two brothers got home that afternoon. (Super Bowl XX in New Orleans was held two days earlier.)

Lastly...Tuesday, September 11, 2001. At 8:46 AM Eastern, I was at Union Station, the train and intercity bus terminal of Hartford, CT. I still made my day trip to and from Brattleboro, VT. Let's just say I was lucky to get past Springfield, MA coming back that evening. I did make it to Hartford, but had to cab it back home, as all city busses were cancelled by then.

[RobbieL2415]

Mine was 9/11.  I was in school and my third grade teacher came into the classroom at 8:45AM (just after the 1st plane hit the WTC) and explained the situation.  At night I usually put the radio on to listen to music to help sleep but it was all preempted by President Bush's nighttime address.

Other moments like this:
2003 NYC blackout: was on vacation at the Cape.
2004 funeral for Ronald Reagan.  Fifth grade teacher made us watch some of it.
2005 London bombings: also on vacation at the Cape
2009 death of Michael Jackson:  had been following the coverage all afternoon.  Saw Shepard Smith break the news live on FNC that he had passed.
2011 capture of Osama bin Laden:  I was at home watching TV when the news broke on my Facebook feed.
2011 Manassas, VA earthquake.  I was sitting on my bed and felt the tremors shake it.  A weather forum I was following online suddenly blew up with chatter about the quake.
2012 Sandy Hook Shooting:  God, what an awful day.  Had exams in the morning.  Heard about the shooting then but no details were yet out about casualties.  Later in the afternoon our prof. interrupts to tell us 27 kids had died.  Went to my dorm, called my mother (a teacher, she was still at her school) and nearly lost it when I asked, "are you OK?"

[KEVIN_224]

2003 blackout: I was in a supermarket in Berlin, CT that afternoon. Me and my mother were treated to one hell of a light show that lasted anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute. Unlike much of the northeast, the power came back on after that. It's only when an old friend called from his home in Brooklyn that I even realized that something much bigger happened. We had gotten back from the supermarket and didn't have the TV on yet.

The death of President Reagan 2004: I was on a day trip to Scranton, PA that day. It was a Saturday. Dan Rather was on the air. I knew it had to be a major deal. I had an old Walkman with the VHF TV audio (analog channels 2 to 13). I was getting a weak signal of audio from WBNG-TV (CBS) channel 12 from Binghamton, NY.

Michael Jackson's death in 2009: I was work at Walmart in Newington, CT at the time.

[SectorZ]

Oddly enough mine was also the Challenger Explosion. Was in second grade, and my teacher had a TV in the room for us to watch it. Of course every teacher in the world was proud of what was to happen for obvious reasons. I had never seen a shuttle launch before, so really didn't know what I was watching, especially sitting 10 feet from a 15-ish inch black and white TV. My teacher just calmly walked over and turned it off without discussion. Her reaction was what I remember the most...

[sparker]

First US manned space flight (Alan Shepard) in May 1961; was in 6th grade, and they wheeled a TV into our classroom and brought the other 6th grade class from the next room over into our room to watch the splashdown.  That's the first actual event where I could more or less pinpoint the time and place (more followed in ensuing years -- the Cuban missile crisis the following year, the Kennedy assassination in '63, and so on.)  The year that brought the most of these was 1968 -- I can remember where I was at the Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assasinations as well as the Democratic convention/Chicago riots and the Nixon election.  Hardly the most outstanding year of that era!

[kkt]

I was interested in the space program, but we had no TV at home in 1969, so that was a "read about it the next day" sort of event for me.

Watching the helicopters evacuating Americans and selected Vietnamese from the roof of the American embassy in Saigon, the helicopters arriving at aircraft carriers offshore and empty helicopters being pushed off into the sea because there wasn't enough space for them on the carriers.  A great microcosm of the war as a whole.