Where were you on Nov 22, 1963?

[Texas1941]

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?

 

[mwtdvm]

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.

 

[feralmerril]

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.

 

[LedFowl]

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.

 

[Rule 303]

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

 

[BoDog]

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.

 

[ljmvaw124]

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 ..........

 

[peyton]

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.

 

[Joe Kent]

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.

 

[BUFF]

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.

 

[max]

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.

 

[imashooter2]

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

 

[cowboy117]

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.

 

[JohnnieB]

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

 

[Imshootin]

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.

 

[Will Carry]

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.

 

[Dyerbill]

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

 

[n4zov]

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.

 

[mafuta54]

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

 

[Bullseye 2620]

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

 

[tripledipper]

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.

 

[4011]

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.

 

[Duffy]

Nov. 22, 1963

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.

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

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

 

[judge]

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.

 

[Tam 3]

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

 

[dkees]

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

 

[Iggy]

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. .

 

[DCWilson]

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.

 

[ASA335]

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,