Forty seven years is a long time. It's been quite a while since anyone asked me were I was when I heard that Jack Kennedy was dead, but I still remember where I was and who told me as clearly as any memory I have of my youth.

I was in the 8th grade. I was just finishing lunch when the typing teacher, Miss Austin, walked up to a couple of us and said "The President is dead. He was shot in Dallas.", and walked off. She looked so odd, we didn't believe her.

If you are old enough, where were you?

My father was stationed in Germany and he was an avid hunter. I was with him on a hunting trip near Nuremberg. The news came late that night. We returned home the next AM. I was 15 and thought that this could not really be happening I think the Country at the time, was revitalized with the youthful figure of JFK as our leader.
It happens that I am at a hunting camp in SW AL and have been thinking about that time.

I was 22 years old in rosenberg texas as a foreman treating utility poles. We had got rained out and knocked off work early. Heard about it when I went back to the plaza hotel where I had a room.

Mrs. Robinson's fifth grade class. She was called into the hall. She came back pushing a television on a cart and told us the President was dead. We watched TV coverage the rest of the day. On recess we wondered if the Russians were behind it and when the missiles would launch.

I was in the 8th grade in the school rec area of Sam Houston Jr. High when some of the kids who had gone home for lunch came back and said the the president had been shot.
The principal came over the intercom in the next class, Algerbra II and said Kennedy was dead.

Rule 303

I was in a high school gym class in California, everyone was almost speachless for the rest of the day. They announced there would be no school the next day. Almost everyone spent the next few days around an old b&w tv. Sad time.

Fifth grade in Mary Queen of Heaven in Brooklyn - we got sent home from school (after saying a chapter of the Rosary for JFK). The following day, saw Oswald shot by Jack Ruby on tv ..........

I was not is school yet, I remember going to tell my mom something was wrong with the TV. My cartoons were not on and all the channels were showing the same thing. Turns out it was the news coverage. My parents were stunned.

I was in 8th grade Health and Safety class when the news came over the PA. I remember how that was all we watched on TV over the Thanksgiving holiday. I still wonder today if we know ,or for that matter, ever will know the complete story.

Fifth grade, just finished delivering the little milk cartons to the classrooms and walked passed the office. Mrs. Cooper the secretary/receptionist had the radio on. As I went by, she jumped up from her desk and ran into Mr. Halliday's office, saying loudly, "They've shot the president!" I got back to my classroom and told the teacher, Miss Adams, what I had just heard. She told me I was probably mistaken. A few minutes later, they began to pipe radio news over the school intercom system. I remember how pale Miss Adams got. All of us kids were pissed off. It hadn't been too long since the Cuban missle crisis. I figured that the Russians and the Cubans were behind it.

Mr Myers's chemistry class. He came into class late as he had been listening to tv in the teacher's lounge. I went back to my hometown last month and Mr. Myers was back for the homecoming parade. He may be the last of my teachers who is still alive.

I was 6 years old and upset that my Mother was upset and there were no cartoons on TV.

I was on the ASB bridge in Kansas City,Mo.when i heard the news on the radio.Was out of the service 1 mo.,and was on my way to Kansas City,Ks.to go drinking at the Anchor bar.Picked up my girlfriend[my first wife]from high school,later that day,where her friends were crying.I remember it like it was yesterday. Thanks for reminding me it was Nov.22nd.

__________________
WALSTIB

Keesler AFB, (Biloxi, MS) living in a barracks built during WWII and going to Ground Radio Repair School from six to midnight on C-Shift.
We had just got back from a work detail of raking pine needles and learned about it when one of the guys turned on a transistor radio.
Speculations went wild and Emotions ran high as we listened to history unfold on that tiny speaker in the open bay.

At twenty, I was the "old" man in the group and the one that some of the "youngsters" turned to for advice.
Sadly, over a third of those brave young Airmen huddled together that day would give their all over the next decade.

John

__________________
Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

I was in the 5th grade. I remember they sent us home from school. I also remember being glued to the TV for days with the Oswald shooting and the funeral. Seems like forever ago.

I was in the first grade at Rockdale Elementary School, Conyers Georgia. The principal came on the intercom and asked all of the students to bow their heads and pray. For 3 days all broadcast TV was interupted by news. No Leave It To Beaver, no Lone Ranger, no Three Stooges and no Superman, NO CARTOONS!. I was the first generation in our family that grew up in the suburbs.

Canterbury Junior High, Marham Illinois....Miss Simpson's eighth grade math class.

__________________
One day at a time

I walked out of a history class headed for the library and saw some guys standing around a car listening to the radio. I asked "What's going on?" and found out that Kennedy had been shot. It was a sickening feeling to hear that news even though I was never a fan of his.

We watched it happen on TV back in Mr. Plotkin's 4th grade class.

__________________
Mafuta54

I was in last period chemistry, junior year of high school, when the department chairman, a walrus of a man, came in, in tears, and made the announcement. Jack Kennedy was killed that day, but all of us were wounded. And the wound still festers. . .


Bullseye

__________________
Five screws and 3-1/2 inches.

Working as a Sales Rep. for McLean Trucking Co. in NYC and walking on W.33rd St. outside the Empire State Building. The streets were crowded with people who were looking through the glass windows of restaurants and bars trying to see the television screens inside. No one could believe what they were hearing. Also was watching live TV when Ruby shot Oswald. One of the 3 days in my life which I remember and never will forget, the other two being VJ Day and 9/11.

Senior in High School in Hurst, Texas. Art class with Mr. Williams. Got a ticket that day after school for anti noise. Still don't think the Warren Commission is correct. Checker at the Worth Food Mart where I worked over heard a man on the pay phone say we got him................ Oswalds family were underwraps here in town for a few days. A sad day for our country.

I was on the Wash., D.C. Police Dept. working mid-nite tour, first I heard was when I got a call to report back..I stayed on duty in my patrol car but most uniform officers were on various details, mostly at the Capitol bld.

I was in third grade and was out in front of the old elementary school building playing. Don't remember if it was morning recess or just after lunch time. I lived in town and like most of my friends would walk home for lunch. Suddenly a large group of older students came out though the front doors along with several teachers. The teachers were all older women and were very upset. Some were crying. They stood on the porch and waved their arms as if to shoo us away , telling us to "go home, go home". One of the students was chanting " the president is dead, he's shot through the head" over and over (I still remember his name, he was always an obnoxious twit). I went home and watched Walter Cronkite on TV.
John

Walker AFB, Rosewell, N.M. - on my way to the duty station. Passed some other Airmen who filled me in on the news. Never believed in conspiracy plots until Jack Ruby stepped up and silenced the witness. If that wasn't a set up, I've never seen one. Much more than Oswald involved, however we will never get the full story. Most are dead now.

__________________
Martin Co,FLA(finally made it)

Shooting a rifle match at Mercer in Macon, Ga. There were muffled whispers behind the firing line, normally a major breech of custom.
Finished the kneeling position. Shot offhand. Cleared the range and walked past the ROTC orderly room just in time to see Cronkite make his announcement.

Regards,

Tam 3

Earth Science class at Ball State Teachers College (now Ball State University) in Muncie, Indiana.

Cadet Colonel in charge of college ROTC drill period. We received the word as we returned to the armory after drill. I had also been in charge of ROTC honor guard the day JFK gave a speech at the university and he had come over and shaken my hand a few weeks before he was killed.

Didn't agree with all he stood for, but I admired the man for what he had done. .

I was a college freshman in Connecticut. In those days I figured my future lay with the State Department, and I was studying Russian because that looked like the necessary language. I had just wrapped up the first of two hours of conversational drill with a native speaker when another of the Russian training staff stepped through the door of our basement classroom with a stunned expression on his face and said the only words I ever heard him say in English: "President Kennedy just been shot." The six or seven other people in the discussion group and I rushed out of the room, up a flight of stairs to street level, and out an exit door. Half way down the street in front of us a red convertible was parked at the curb in front of the nearby Law School, and a flood of people was rushing up to it, obviously to hear what was coming over the radio. That was all the confirmation I needed. I walked back to my rooms on a part of the campus about three blocks away, and by the time I got there Kennedy's death had been announced.

I never did get to the State Department, but I still remember a little Russian.

__________________
David Wilson

Third grade in Milwaukie, OR. Teacher in tears as the news was announced over the PA system. Released from school early. Mom crying as she watched the TV. Dad watching also. He was wondering if his Navy Reserve unit would be activated - they had been activated during the Cuban missile crises. Most folks I knew were either in tears or wondering what was next (Russian attack, Cuban attack, riots, whatever) and I was worried my dad would be gone again.

Peace,

Camp Kaiser, Korea. By the way, it was November 23rd, at least where I was as we were west of the dateline. The First Sergeant came through about four in the morning blowing a whistle and yelling that we were going on full alert because someone had shot the president. We thought that he was drunk until he started turning over some cots with the sleepers still in them.

8th grade , announced over the PA system in school. Everybody crying and in shock. What scared me the most was the fact that all the adults were so rattled.

Also watching Oswald getting whacked on live tv was surreal.

__________________
TomD

I was then working as a college placement counselor at the job placement office at Arizona State University. One of the secretaries hung up her phone and announced that Kennedy had been shot. We all thought it was some kind of joke at first, but she assured us it was serious. Later that day we were all glued to our TV sets and heard the gruesome details.

And to think that even today, 47 years later, we still don't know the truth about who was involved and why.

John

__________________
- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I was 13 at the time. We went to my paternal grand mothers funeral and returned to my aunts house. When we turned on the TV Walter Cronkite was detailing the Dallas shooting and he then broke the hospital report that the President was dead. That was one heck of a 5 minute segment in TV history.
Wheather or not you liked JFK and his politics, that was a tough way to end a presidency. I always felt badly for his wife and kids.
Oliver507

I was also across the dateline on a small island in the East Carolines.
My brother and I were playing pool at "The Club" which was empty except for us and the barman that morning. The guy had the jukebox top open and was playing rock and roll records one after another. No TV on the island and the radio wasn't on because the jukebox was.

After several games of rotation we walked home for lunch. The adults were just sitting around and I asked, "Hey! How come there's no lunch."

I was -9.5 years old.

__________________
All Rights Reserved

Where was I on Nov 22, 1963?????????????

Do I need an alibi??

I was in 3rd year of high school, English class. The teacher announced what had happened and retreated to the teachers lounge to watch the news on TV. Meantime my buddy Mike (who was 19 and dropped out of school long ago) was wandering the halls looking for me. I remember he spotted me and walked into class. He talked me into cutting class and we drank beer the rest of the afternoon. Ask the OP's question of pretty much any "boomer" and they'll remember where they were. I do not think much of the Kennedy family or their politics, or morals.

__________________
SOS USA

I was a freshman at North Texas State at Denton, Texas. The afternoon before his Texas visit, we drove to Ft Worth to see him and Jackie arrive from Carswell AFB. We were on the parking lot of the Texas Hotel that evening when they arrived. We elected to stay the night ,so we could hear his speech the next morning. That night, we spent most of out time in a beatnick spot called the Cellar, along with several SS agents. The next morning we were there when he, Johnson, and Connley came out for his brief speech. Afterward, we returned to Denton, just in time to hear he had been shot in Dallas. It was no surprise to us at all because he was VERY unpopular in Texas. So, I had the opportunity to hear his last speech in person.

I had just started a job, having dropped out of college after my discharge from 4 years in the USAF, and still "looking for myself". It was in a men's clothing store (I quit in Feb, 4 months later). The bookkeeper came out and announced the President had been shot. Not a sole came in for the next hour, and cars weren't moving on the street. The owner said we were closing for the rest of the day and we all left.

That day and 9/11 will never be forgotten.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

3rd grade in Granger, UT. There were cloud formations I don't ever remember seeing before or since and 3 birds disappeared into them. It was a wierd day and a wierd week. No school for the rest of the week and us and all we knew were glued to the TV.

__________________
Front sight and squeeze

I was in Miss Cox's 3rd grade class when the news came over the intercom. I remember my teacher sobbing at the news.

I was a senior at Byrd High School in Shreveport, LA and heard it on the radio while cutting a class by going to get a hamburger from a nearby drive in restaurant.

Since then I have given a lot of thought as to what may have happened and as an accident & crime scene reconstructionist have looked at many loopholes in what the official record says.

Now, after having read statements by many that were close to the situation, I believe the most reliable evidence as to the truth behind the killing was the statements by Madeleine Brown. Pretty much everything she had to say has been confirmed by history.

Uvalde, Texas. Going to college at the time. Expected to go to war within a few days. That didn't happen right then, eventually it did. I've often wondered about the relationship between the 2 events.

rayb

__________________
"cumplo pero no obedezco"

I had just finished lunch with a banker at the Milleridge Inn in Hicksville, LI, NY. I turned the key to start the car, a white Chevy 2 wagon, and the first thing I heard on the radio was the initial report of shots fired in Dallas. We drove back to the office and heard that the President was declared dead just as we arrived. We closed the business immediately but I had to stay as my brand new Dodge Polara 383 was to be delivered that afternoon. I have trouble remembering yesterday's breakfast but I swear I can still feel the chill from that first announcement.

Frank

__________________
sona si latine loqueris .

Taking a final exam for Descriptive Geometry. It was a gloomy day in Port Huron, MI that day - made gloomier by that devastating news.

__________________
-Bob

I was on a SAC base in Ok; when I heard and with in minutes our B-52's and KC-135's were sent to the runway with orders to hold since no one was sure what was happening. Thankfully they were not sent.

Standing in the drinking fountain line following afternoon recess at Eastland Elementary in Fort Worth, Texas. I was in the second grade. Overheard two teachers whispering about it.

I was on the pistol range at Fort Gordon, Georgia instructing on the .45. We were all sent to the barracks and dressed in A-1's, and then stood on the parade field for 7 hours in a heavy rain storm waiting for orders which never came. I'll never believe that gun and ammo made that shot three times.

I was not born yet, so only God and science knows where I was... However, I did grow up in Boston, and it was/is such a big deal there, that it seemed as though the incident was continually occurring throughout my childhood. So, I guess it was almost like being around when it happened...

__________________
NRA Life Member