The deaths of the Big Bopper, John Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Robert Kennedy, MLK, Elvis, Pope John Paul I, John Lennon, and Diana.
The moon landing, OJ caravan or whatever, the OJ verdict, Berlin Wall, and 9/11. I think that’s it.
I remember hearing about the Challenger, then seeing it on TV, but I don’t remember if I was at school or we just talked about it at school. Fewer things stuck in my mind as I got older.
It wasn’t a big shocker for me but I was somewhere in Virginia.
The JFK assassination. I had just arrived in my freshman Architecture class. A fellow student came running in, screaming that JFK had been shot. This guy was somewhat of a practical joker, so everyone said “yeah, yeah.” Then a few others came in, and confirmed it was true.
I was living in a rooming house, and the only guy who had a tv lived on the top floor. We all huddled around his little b&w tv for the next few days. Saw Oswald shot, live. I was no fan of Kennedy, but was still affected by the whole thing.
Was at home for 9/11. On TV
Columbia, I saw it on BBC Website IIRC.
I saw the Challenger expolosion live. My high school was about 20 miles from Cape Canaveral, and we ate our lunches outside to avoid the horrific cafeteria. So we were watching the launch, saw the flash and the extra line of smoke, and someone said, “That doesn’t look right.”
After that, the typing teacher came waddling by at top speed and said, “The space shuttle blew up! I have to tell the principal!”
The Berlin wall – saw it on TV, and did a happy dance around the kitchen. I was in college. I’d seen it myself on a trip in 1987; it was a cold thing, with graffiti enlivening pieces of it. My dad had been in Berlin with the army as it was being built.
John Lennon was shot the day after my 10th birthday. Saw that on TV, too.
9/11 – I saw a repeat of the first plane flying into the WTC while at work on someone’s little tv. A friend and I (who had both lived in New York) were explaining to our co-workers who’d never been there how tall the buildings were, and how close planes got sometimes to the buildings…and then the second plane hit.
Diana – came in after a night out, saw the Diana news, and thought, “this is the LEAST funny Saturday Night Live skit ever.”
ETA: David Bowie. Sad. I woke up and turned on the TV to the news I normally watch. First on was a Chris Christie political ad, then the news that Bowie died. I wanted to go back to bed. Bowie was one of the coolest musicians/actors/dudes I’d ever seen, and I loved him from when first heard his music in the 70s.
I had trouble processing 9/11 and therefore my memories are a little muddled. I first thought something was up when I noticed the occasional person frantically running on my university campus (University of Rhode Island, about 2 hours outside of NYC). I got back to my dorm room, and my mother was calling, crying. She was stunned that I hadn’t heard, told me to turn on the television.
The next few hours were just surreal events followed by my teenaged brain saying “wait, what?! Did that just happen?”
I think I saw the second plane hit, but was so confused I can’t be sure.
For JFK I was in grade school and they announced it over the school PA system.
The Challenger, I was at home watching the launch live.
9/11 I was at work and it seemed like the longest day of my life.
Can’t say I have a specific memory of the Berlin Wall – I knew it was coming down, but it took a long time. I remember videos of people jumping standing on it waving ecstatically.
I’ll mention another thing I’ll never forget. The young man standing in front of and blocking the row of tanks heading into Tiananmen Square.
Those are the big 4 that I can recall what and where I was; I’m about 4 years older than you, Magiver.
JFK–Got out of school and my mom picked up my brother and I and was crying about the President being killed. Was too young to really process it, but remember seeing Oswald shot on live TV.
Moon Landing–At home watching on TV. I do remember going outside into the street and just staring up at the moon (I recall it being full, but that just may be wishful thinking; I do know I was outside looking at it) and thinking 'there are men up there."
Challenger–At work when the word started going around the room; didn’t believe it at first, but then walked down the hall where a TV was and saw it replayed.
9/11–Working in Abu Dhabi (about 8 hrs ahead) and had just finished work when my colleague called and said a plane had hit the WTC. I was figuring it was something like the plane that had hit the Empire State in the 1940’s, newsworthy but not a biggie, so I read a little longer then went over to the TV room and switched on the news…and didn’t leave the room for the next 6-8 hours.
JFK’s assassination is the first big news story that I recall being affected by. I was 9, and it crushed me because in my youthful innocence, I believed the President was elected because he was the best man in the country, and it was so wrong to kill the best man in the country…
I was 13 when MLK and RFK were killed, and by then, more cynical.
I watched the moon landing - grainy black and white on our little TV with the rabbit ears.
I remember watching the first shuttle mission landing in awe - I was working in the Pentagon, but I don’t recall the date.
Less than 2 months into my first engineering job when Challenger exploded - I stood on the roof of the plant engineering building and stared at the contrails in the sky - I was in Jacksonville, FL. It was surreal.
I was at work when the planes hit the towers - we watched on the TVs in the office till they told us all to go home (I was working on a Navy base.) I think we were ordered to stay home for 2 days after - paranoia and fear were pretty thick.
Celeb deaths never really had much of an effect on me - not so that I remember where I was, but I do recall really aching when I heard Jim Henson died.
JFK’s assassination. I was in school, and they announced over the PA that he’d been short during recess (I was outside). Later, when we had returned to class, they announced his death. School went on. I had a cub scouts meeting later and they mentioned they caught Oswald.
I was in NYC during the moon landing. I think they touched down when I was in Macy’s. There were TVs everywhere.
For the Challenger, I was at work. I remember seeing it on the TV. People were watching it fall and wondering if anyone was alive, and I was thinking, “They fell nine miles without a chute. Not likely.”
I was also at work for 9/11. Got the word and kept going back to the TV to watch. I was in my office when someone told me the towers fell. I couldn’t believe it.
There’s only two for me.
OJ white Bronco chase: I was at my friends house playing vidja games and my mom called and told us to turn on the news to watch. We thought, “Neat, let’s order a pizza.” and we did.
9/11: I was sitting at home eating breakfast watching the news when it happened.
Challenger: Wrapping up some stuff before lunch in the fifth grade. The teacher let us watch the news unfolding while we ate lunch (on the televisions normally reserved for the Texas Instruments computers).
Kurt Cobain suicide: Driving home from class freshman year of college.
9/11: Heading to vote after attending a candidates’ breakfast put on by the local Board of Realtors. It was primary day for our mayoral candidates.
Hundreds of things. I can remember exactly where I heard dozens of songs for the first time. Ton Jones’ “Delilah” while driving through a muddy road construction project on a rainy night in Swift Current Saskatchewan. “Whiter Shade of Pale” at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Demis Roussos “Forever and Ever” on a bus in Omdurman, Sudan. Juan Luis Guerra’s “Bachata Rosa” in a cafe in Santa Maria de Dota, Costa Rica.
RFK assination. I was 7 and was asked to bring the morning paper in from the front porch. Huge banner headline. My parents were very upset. (in those days, we would never have had the TV on in the morning, and I’m sure, being on the East Coast, we were not awake when it happened. On the other hand, for some reason I have no memory of learning about Dr. King’s death, which must have been huge at the time and I was old enough to know who he was.
Princess Diana death. It didn’t really move me like some people, but it was all over the news. I was at my brother’s house and remember the wall to wall coverage.
Shooting of John Lennon. No TV in those days, I was in college, walking across the campus, when someone started yelling from a dorm room.
9/11 Getting breakfast for my kids, looking for a morning show to entertain them before school.
Columbia explosion. On vacation in Hawaii, watched news on hotel TV.
The only thing I know I remember for certain was 9/11. I heard about it in an elevator.
I remember the Challenger explosion very well but cannot say for sure where I was. The disaster was not actually on network TV; only CNN carried it, so if you didn’t have CNN or weren’t in a school that had a special feed from NASA, you didn’t see it live. It was however REPLAYED so much afterwards, over and over, that I can practically say the lines word for word to this day.
My school watched that Challenger launch on a big TV in the gym, and we all saw it explode live. When I got home later, my mother had not heard about it yet.
9/11: I was at work. After the first plane impact, most of us were assuming it was some kind of accident. It started getting scary after the second impact, when it became obvious it was probably terrorists.
Space Shuttle Columbia: I was driving to a doctors appointment, and heard the report over the radio.
Kennedy shot: In 1st grade, the announcement came over the intercom.
Moon landing and walk: In my childhood home, back for a visit with grandma.
Lennon shot: Saw the news, oh boy, in a paperbox walking to the bus stop to go to med school that morning.
Reagan shot: treating a patient at the old US Public Health Service hospital in Baltimore.
Space shuttle explosion: Seeing patients in the residency clinic.
9/11: Driving to work, I recall the precise area on the highway that I was at, even.
Frankly, those are the biggies. I don’t have much memory of what I was doing for RFK, MLK, the wall falling, Lady Di, or any OJ stuff.
JFK Assassination: I was in first grade and a little scared because I had never seen a teacher cry before. We were sent home and I was bewildered to find my parents at home crying, too.
MLK and RFK assassinations: I was in junior high by this time, and getting used to the somber assemblies where we were called together to hear the announcement of yet another unexpected death. We watched a bit of the MLK funeral on a tiny little B&W tv our teacher brought in.
The retreat from Viet Nam: I was a freshman in college and we watched, riveted, as the last of the helicopters pulled away from the embassy roof, with all the desperate people attempting to cling to them. It was such a mix of emotions, shame, relief, fear, anger.
John Lennon’s death: I was a pregnant mom-to-be by then. Full of hormones and emotions. I heard the announcement on a small radio in the bathroom and literally slid down the wall until I was sitting on the floor - stunned and crying.
9/11: I was at work when one of the union guys came running in my door, telling me I needed to come to the break room (where there was a tv) immediately! I ran down the hall behind him, envisioning a fight I’d need to break up or some other crisis. I found a silent and stunned group of employees staring at the tv, just as the second plane struck the second tower. I don’t remember much after that except holding my breath and just staring at the tv.
I was 15 when Challenger exploded, and I’m pretty darn sure I saw it live, but I haven’t the foggiest clue where I was.
I do remember 9/11, but I was an adult and on vacation, so the circumstances gave me time context clues that help hold it in a place in time.
Time is weird for me.
I remember the OJ verdict and 9/11, and on a related note, when they started bombing Afghanistan