56 years ago...

The weekend was spent watching it on tv. Saw Oswald get shot on live TV.

So did I. At least I think it was live. I remember I was just getting out of the shower and my roommate called for me to come out and see what was on TV about moving Oswald, which I did. Got there in time to see the shooting.
 
I was at work when it came over the intercom, the rest of the afternoon you could hear a pin drop.

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Nov 22

Sitting in my RA's room in the dorm chatting of things I do not recall. Excited buzz in the hallway came our way. Things changed. Radios came on.
I'd been at one of those football log pile burning rallies the night before. Boy did the mood plummet. They put up a black trimmed photo in the student union. The game was cancelled, and everybody who could fled for home. The game was rescheduled.
Similar to my parent's retelling of their hearing of Pearl Harbor.
 
Recall I was in school too. Teacher told us about it and shortly we were dismissed. Listened to reports on the way home on my Silvertone 6 transistor radio.
 
Everyone was crying. As kids we really didn't understand the horror. What a ************* day.
 
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.
 
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Well, I was cleaning an old military surplus rifle for a dude in Texas by the name of Lee and he said he had a date for hunting tomorrow. What were you guys doing. I never did like those surplus rifles from Klens.
 
I was on duty at PAX River Naval Air Station when the broadcast came over the radio. [emoji26] He would be called a right wing radical by today's standards.
 
And yet there are many reliable accounts that schoolchildren in Texas and throughout the South cheered upon hearing the news.

Do you think it would be any different today?
 
I was in grade school in a one room rural Kansas school. The phone rang, which was very rare. The teacher answered and listened and then hung up the phone. She was really shook up.
 
I was in the fourth grade and was walking home from school when one of moms that walked with us told us kids. I am ashamed to say that I said "Good!" because my mom and grandmother had been discussing Kennedy a few days earlier and my mom said that she didn't like the president. :(
 
And yet there are many reliable accounts that schoolchildren in Texas and throughout the South cheered upon hearing the news.

Do you think it would be any different today?

I was a freshman in a rural Georgia high school. I was in about my favorite academic class, which was what was called civics at the time. There was no cheering, although one student made a smart remark. That student was called down by the teacher, as well as a couple other students. I doubt there was any widespread incidents of cheering in Southern classrooms. You need to remember, this was still the era of the "Solid South," when democratic candidates for president spent little time campaigning in the Old Confederacy because it was a foregone conclusion that most of those states would vote democrat.

I remember that the mood was sort of somber, but there was no weeping and wailing among students, teachers, or other adults I came in contact with.
 
I was in school running the office( I had been a bad boy) as the secretary was out sick. Principal was out when I heard the radio report. Stepped into the hallway and saw the principal called to him and he listened to the news report and made an announcement Afterwards the school was the quietest I had ever heard it. One of those world changing events for certain.
 
I was in the Band Hall in Jr. High in Hurst, Texas. My mother was the manager of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Credit Union at that time and she got one of each of the Extra editions of the paper that day. I still have them. You have to be old to remember newspapers and even older to remember when they put out Extra editions.
 
I had very little interest in political matters at the time and the assassination did not arouse my emotions much one way or the other - but I did recognize its historical importance. At the time, I had a girlfriend who really went over the edge, crying fits, rage, etc. for days afterward. I stayed away from her for awhile until she calmed down. One other thing I remember was that most of the radio stations played mainly funeral dirge-type music for several days. And of course there was nothing but assassination coverage on TV for about a week.
 
I was 6 years old, and had my tonsils removed early that morning.

When you have your tonsils out, about all you do is sit around and watch TV for a few days.

When you only have 3 TV channels, and all their playing was the news...I wasn't a happy camper.
 
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