Yep. It was November 22nd, not today, November 21st. Another famous (or infamous) person died on the 21st, but more on that later.
I was a sophomore in high school. Our coach called us over and told us what had happened. You could've heard a pin drop out on that field.
My Scoutmaster, Mr. Bob Walker, a tough old army veteran, had planned an overnight camp and hike that weekend for all those in troop leadership positions to check out some potential places for future troop campouts. I was serving as Senior Patrol Leader at the time, so I was one of the ones who went. I remember that a mother of one of the boys kept him home because of the tragedy. Mr. Walker's reply was, "The world still needs to go on."
I remember a couple of things. First, I remember stopping at a small town diner on the way for supper. We sat up at the counter and there on the front page of yesterday's newspaper were the headlines announcing the death of Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz, who had died that day on November 21st. I'd never heard of him before, so our Scoutmaster explained who he was.
I also remember Mr. Walker showing us his Colt parkerized 1911, explaining that he always carried it on campouts, usually in his pack, in case of emergency. He also taught us how to use it. That would probably be frowned on in today's world, but there was a time when he did have to use it when a couple of horseback riders came through our camp late at night knocking things over. But, that's completely off topic.
Anyway...yep, I remember the day well.