"Memories of November 22, 1963" Topic

I had just turned 4 years old, living in northeast Austin, Texas. Mom pulled down the Venetian blinds and closed the curtains so the house became very dark. Dad was an 0-1 Bird Dog pilot with 73rd Aviation Company. I don't recall him being at home, I reckon he was at Ft. Rucker or possibly already in Vietnam.
Mom started crying. I said, "What's wrong, mommy?" She said, "They're saying someone shot the President." Being a young 4 year old, I wasn't much worried, because I thought being the President of the United States was like being Superman, if someone shot him the bullets would just bounce off.
There was a knock at the door. It was my older sister, home early from elementary school. She said, "They told us to go home because the President got shot." For some reason, this made it real to me: they didn't send you home early from school unless there was a real disaster, like a tornado or a big fire. I recall squeezing in behind the couch and the wall, expecting "the commies" to come kick in the door any minute.
Don't remember much else about the day. I'm pretty sure it was the first time I ever saw my mother cry, that was bad enough.

I was 13 years old, in eighth grade in Catholic school. First we were told that Kennedy had been shot. A few minutes later, a very serious looking Mother Superior came in and reported that he had died. All we could think of was that Russia would be attacking!

7th grade and pulled into the gym for the announcement. I remember the shock but it was the whole somber process over days prior to the funeral that left me with a memory that it was as if the world had simply stopped for everything but the event.

The bugler blowing taps at the funeral and faltering still sticks in my mind.

I was in the Army helping to guard 33 Nike Hercules missiles all of them had a nuclear warhead!! We received the news at midnight. It was a tense time.

Was only 3, but not long after McArthur died with a State Funeral and my mom says I asked if another President died. So 3 yo have a little sense what's going on.

I was 6 years old. I remember the day because my mother was so sad, which was shocking to me.

I was very Young and was mad that Captain Kangaroo wasn;t going to be on, due to the new of the Shooting

I was in class during my senior year in high school when it was announced over the PA system. My afternoon chemistry class had a TV in the room, so we were able to watch events with our instructor.

I was five and waiting to see my favorite cartoon on TV when they broke in with the news Kennedy had been shot. I was so upset they were not going to show my cartoon! My Mom tried to explain to me what had happened, but I didn't get it at the time.

They sent us home from kindergarten and my mom and I watched tv continuously for it seems like days. I watched Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald. That period was traumatic and confusing.

I was stationed at Fort Knox as a new tank commander (ie, training cadre in an AIT unit). We were out of cycle; no trainees. Most everyone was off base or on leave somewhere. I still was living in the barrack.

At that point I was the senior member still in the company area. We had a holdover who was our runner in the orderly room. I was headed for the shower when the runner came in yelling for me saying they had shot the president. We went back to the orderly room where we had a TV. We watched as they announced the president was dead. Soon got a call from the the base HQ telling us to call everyone back to the unit. Right after that the old man also called saying he was coming in and to call everyone else.

I was turning 21 on the 25th and some of us NCO's were going into Louisville to celebrate my 21st in style. Never happened. In fact we were told that we and all other qualified tankers out of cycle would be sent to Germany to bring under strength units up to par. That didn't happen either.

On the 25th there was a mass formation of nearly everyone on base, where they officially notified us the president was dead. A birthday I'll never forget.