What is your first (real) memory of a world event?

[ejigs]

Something that you were around for and remember it as it happened.

I remember Nixon resigning. I was at Boy Scout camp and after morning assembly they made an announcement that Nixon had resigned and Ford was now the president.

I also remember television reports of the end of the war in Vietnam, pictures of solders returning to the US and getting off airplanes. I don’t remember knowing about the war while it was in progress.

You?

 

[SeaSpray]

I have very vague memories of a lot of things...Kennedy being shot....seeing the train carrying his casket, on tv....the Vietnam war....Nixon....

But the first very vivid memory I have of something major happening was when the space shuttle Challenger. I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard about it.

I was in my mid-20's at that time....but for some reason, I don't SPECIFICALLY remember anything major before that.

Oh wait! LOL

I did see Neil Armstrong walk on the moon! LOL I forget how old I was, but my father MADE us sit and watch it on tv, because he told us "I want you to be able to tell your children that YOU SAW the first man walk on the moon!" I do vividly remember that too

Funny how these are both space-related memories!!

 

[paras4ri]

My earliest memory is of the Kennedy assasination.....it was a very warm day for November here in RI.....I had just turned 4. My grandmother had the tv on when my mom & I got home.....and back then we never had it on during the day. I don't think it was off for many days after that.

I remember the moon landing and trying to stay awake to see Neil Armstrong step on the lunar surface.

I also remember watching the Watergate hearings in school, and both Agnew's and Nixon's resignations.

I remember Dan Rather giving "body counts" from Vietnam and going outside to hear church bells ringing when the fighting finally ended.

 

[kylara]

Mine would be the blizzard of '78...I was a teen then. Other than that they Challenger explosion would be next.

 

[Fishbone†]

I remember Elvis' death..... actually, I can still picture watching all these women on TV dressed in black and crying..... I had no idea what the big deal was...... and I'm still not sure I do.
I think I was about 5 at the time.

 

[MosMom]

My earliest memory of a major world event was the Challenger explosion. We were in school and they had wheeled TV's in for us to watch the launch since a teacher was aboard. It really affected me and I made a page in my scrapbook about it. I was in the 5th grade when it happened.

 

[Cindyluwho]

I vividly remember watching footage of the Vietnam war on TV, my cousin Joey was there at the time and I remember being scared for him. I also remember seeing a photo of Abbie Hoffman being arrested while he was wearing that shirt that looked like an American flag. I remember "Elvis, Aloha from Hawaii". I really remember when I was driving along the road in my '72 Chevelle along the Columbia River when they said on the radio that Elvis had died. I had just seen him in concert the November before, I had never been a huge fan but my mom loved him so we went. It was unforgettable, amazing, all those words you use when something is beyond explanation. Never seen any performance like it since.

 

[caitycaity]

ronald reagan getting shot at and trouble in the middle east.

 

[worm761]

mine would have to be the challenger blowing up. i was in the 3rd or 4th grade.

 

[d.kurz]

JFK's assassination. I was in 2nd grade. Catholic school. They hustled us over to church, of course.

 

[adamak]

The silver Jubilee of the Queen Elizabeth. I remember the streets were blocked off, and there were parades. I was about 6 or 7, watching from the balcony.

 

[Michelle]

I was too young to remember JFK's assasination, but I do remember Bobby Kennedy's. And I have a very vivid memory of getting up very early to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.

The Vietnam War was on the news every night during my childhood, it seems. I grew up thinking we were always in a war.

 

[Princess_Aurora]

This will show how young I am...the earliest world news memory I have is of the presidential election between Regan and Bush. I think I was in the second grade. The only reason I remember that is because our teacher made us do a report on it or something.

 

[olena]

First National event I remember was the Bi-Centennial celebration. The first world event was the Falklands War.

 

[Rajah]

Challenger is the first for me, too. If some other big events between 1976 and 1986 were listed, I might be able to remember them, but off the top of my head, the Challenger explosion was the first.

I wonder if so many of us are remembering the Challenger explosion right now because of Columbia?

 

[Sandy51]

I have a vague memory of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 when I was 11. I knew that people were scared and uneasy and it had something to do with Cuba, but I didn't understand the particulars. However, the JFK assassination was just a year later in Nov. 1963 and I have vivid memories of that awful time. The rest of the world events are very clear memories. The most exciting was man walking on the moon on July 20, 1969.



Sandy

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I was going to say that my first major event memory was Reagan being shot. I was in the 4th grade.

Then, I read about Elvis. I LOVE Elvis. I was almost 6 when he died. I was devastated. I can remember that day vividly.

 

[disfanatiks]

My first memory of a world event was the night Nixon resigned. I was 10 at the time. I was at my grandma's and my uncle who was a republican came over and yelled at my Grandma that it was people like her that caused this. I was shocked that he talked to her like that.

Hi Dave, It is good to see you here!!!

 

[browneyes]

I remember watching on tv the long line of cars for Elvis' funeral.

 

[jsmith]

I remember watching Kennedy's funeral on TV-I was very small-under 4 and I think it sticks in my head because it was the first time I ever saw a TV (we did not own one until I was in 2nd grade).
Body counts from Vietnam, the end of the Vietnam war, and Nixon resigning are also there. When we finally got a tv and to this day my mother will only watch the news.