Where were you 55 years ago?

[Rockdiamond]

I was 10, one day from turning 11....driving across the GW Bridge to go to Palisades Amusment Park, when we heard the tragic news.....Robert F Kennedy had been assassinated......still hurts today

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I was at work that day. I often wonder what the world would be like if the Kennedys and Dr. King had not been murdered.

 

[AprilBaby]

I was 9. I moved from Philly to Chicago. I remember Dr kings assassination but not Robert Kennedy. I didn’t really watch TV.

 

[Lookinagain]

I was in junior high. I'm pretty sure the school announced it over the P.A. system. I don't have as vivid of a memory of it as I do the day JFK was shot when I was in 4th grade and the principal announced his death over the P.A.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Not born yet, so an egg in an ovary.

 

[jaysonsmom]

I did not exist yet, in fact my parents had not even met each other yet. They met about 52 years ago, got married within 6 months of meeting. I was conceived shortly after.

 

[pearlsngems]

I also remember the JFK assassination more clearly because it was a bigger deal overall. I remember my teacher and my mother in tears. The TV was on during the day -- unusual for us-- and I wasn't allowed to go to my friend's house to play. At age 7 I was bored! My dad cut out many newspaper clippings to make a scrapbook for me (I think ultimately it was for himself).

I was in 7th grade for MLK and RFK. My family felt dismayed at the killings, of course, but as a 12 year old the deaths of the latter two men didn't affect me personally as much as it would have if I'd been a few years older and more mature.

 

[Wink]

I was in Vietnam. Heard about it a day or three after. We were a little preoccupied with keeping our own selves alive and we did not have any TV in the field. We got most of our news from the Stars and Stripes newspaper and it was almost always a day or two after publication before we received it.

On the other hand, we knew about the first Tet offensive pretty much instantly from the incoming green tracers and mortar rounds. It was interesting to read about it a couple of days later.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Thanks for your service Wink...it sends chills down the spine to think of what you went through.
RFK was very much against the Vietnam War....not that it would have made a difference to the brave men and women in the field, like yourself.

 

[Wink]

Thanks for your service Wink...it sends chills down the spine to think of what you went through.
RFK was very much against the Vietnam War....not that it would have made a difference to the brave men and women in the field, like yourself.

Thanks @Rockdiamond, it messed a lot of us up to one degree or another. The Marine Corps response to PTSD in those days was a possible charge of malingering if you didn’t get over it PDQ. I am not even sure if we used the term PTSD back then. We just put a bandaid on our feelings if we wanted to get along.

Our reception from the younger civilians was nothing to write home about either. We received strict orders not to stomp the living crap out of them when they spit on us, or called us baby killers. It was one of the most difficult orders I ever followed.

Fortunately, I was transferred to embassy duty in Rio de Janeiro, where we were thought of as pretty tough hombres that no one messed with. More importantly for me, I met the love of my life and we spent fifty incredible years together. Lol, I had to travel all the way to Rio to meet my Kansas girl.

 

[MissGotRocks]

@Rockdiamond, I had just turned 11 three days prior. You were born in a very good year - lol!

I remember getting up for school and hearing it on the radio. My mother confirmed what I was hearing - just unbelievable that another Kennedy had been gunned down. It truly could have been another world if JFK, MLK and RFK would have lived. We can only dream about it.

 

[Mrsz1ppy]

I was in second grade and we had no television. So no memory of the sad event.

 

[Sparkledrops]

I was 2.

 

[Garnetgirl]

I was in high school; I remember hearing the announcement on the radio, and I remember thinking, ‘not again’. But the memory isn’t as vivid for me as JFK’s assassination, probably because he wasn’t the president.

 

[Rons Wolfe]

My mother used to leave me in my playpen in front of the TV all day, so I'm sure that's where I was, but had no idea what I was seeing.

 

[Gloria27]

In my momma's tubes

 

[Austina]

I was a schoolgirl and living in the UK, so I’m sure it was big news, but I don’t recall hearing anything about it.

 

[monarch64]

Idk, I’d have to do a past life regression.

Jokes aside, I’m sure that was a terrible tragedy and it’s obvious it had an effect on many. I must say I’m surprised more assassinations/attempts haven’t been made in recent history. I guess mass shootings are the new thing.

 

[Dandi]

I was non-existent, with an ETA of 14 years

But in all seriousness...during a trip to the US in 2011, DH and I visited the JFK Sixth Floor Museum. It was extremely sobering and really sad to have just visited the site where such a hideous event took place, so I can't even imagine how awful it must have been to have lived through an assassination in real time. One would have to wonder what may have happened had the world not lost influential people like RFK, JFK and MLK.

 

[Brigid]

I’m 55 on 14 November so I was ‘in utero’ my parents are history buffs & I have been consistently reminded over the years of what/when/who for 1968.
I also follow my mother’s mother & fancifully forget how old I am - which I have done on this forum.