Where were you when JFK was shot?

[Gyrene6891]

Junior High School, prior to the death announcment a friend of mine came over and told us the President had been shot rabbit hunting in Texas. We all told him he was full of it. Next class we heard the President was dead. When I got home I tried to tell my Mother but she was watching it on the news...

 

[El Biblioitecario]

Coincidentally, I just read where the majority of people learned of Kennedy's death not from the media, but from another person. These posts bear this out--as does my own experience. I was stationed at Ft Bliss and was returning to the missile park after noon chow when a soldier from Tennessee told me Kennedy had been 'ambushed.'

I suppose if a similar event occurred today, the majority would read about it in their Facebook or hear it on their Tweeter.

 

[darmtn1917]

High school Latin class (10th grade) Leavenworth KS. It was announced over the PA system and afternoon classes canceled.
They did have drivers ed on the day of funeral even though no classes
While I remember that day - I can vividly recall stepfather screaming at the tv when Lee Harvey O was shot in police dept

 

[JeffNW]

Moron AFB(Spain)at the base theater watching Jason and the Argonauts . The movie was stopped, lights went on, JFK's death was announced, everyone went home.

 

[df06]

I was in a one room country school in south west Kansas. There were about 18-20 students total for the eight grades. I think I was in the 7th grade.
The phone rang, which very seldom happened.
The teacher answered, didn't say a word and after listening for a minute, hung up.
If I recall correctly, she did not tell us, but let our parents tell us.

 

[Stephanie B]

I was in Mrs. Tessmer's 5th grade geography class at Benfield Elementary School. They stopped classes and piped the radio newscast over the school's PA system.

 

[LouisianaJoe]

I was on campus at Mississippi State. At that time many welded cow bells to pipes to ring at football games and for use in fights after the game. I heard cow bells ringing all over campus. There were parts of the country that did not like JFK.

 

[joeintexas]

In jr. high, just finishing lunch when a bunch of teachers ushered us back to class. Told us the news and sent us home, not many dry eyes that day.

 

[E Z MUNNY]

Sir, I was stationed at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base just south of Kansas City, Missouri when John F Kennedy's plane landed while he was campaigning for president, stationed at RAF Wethersfield in SE England when he successfully made Kruschev back down and return home with his tail between his legs during the Bay of Pigs and was washing my recently purchased 1955 Oldsmobile in my driveway when he was shot. I felt like he was a member of my family.

I enjoyed most his questioning of daughter Caroline about some candy that had disappeared from the candy jar.........."Caroline, did you take the candy? You can answer yes, no or maybe". Best diplomat we've ever had as president

 

[m l mosley]

We were stationed in Misawa,Japan. I was in 3RD. grade we lived in off Base housing and I still can remember the Klaxon trucks coming through the neighborhood sounding the alerts to report to duty stations

 

[model70hunter]

Senior year of HS. It was announced at the end of a class, the president was shot and is dead.

Walking to the next class was surreal. It was very quiet, all had the look of shock on their face. Those that cried did it very quietly.

I was not shocked that the president had been shot, he was not the first. I was shocked that JFK who was very popular was shot.

I remember the quiet silent crying and a quiet somber dinner at our house with all eyes and ears locked onto Walter Cronkite. My Dad was upset, he was a WW 2 Vet and the Vets had one of their's in the White House, a man with brass and toughness. Dad was Livid, he wanted answers.

The silence was broken by Jack Ruby, it was live, a shooting that happened so quick it would have been missed had you blinked.

It was followed by anger directed at Ruby, Why? Now we will never really know the why.

It forever changed America.

 

[Dutchs]

I was 4 years old...I don't actually remember the event but I remember the sorrow everywhere..I want to say it was my first experience of a mass of bad feelings for the country.......My Grandma cried for a long time.....

 

[Hofstet]

In school, 8th grade. Remember that we got sent home early that day.

 

[mattallamerican]

i was in 2nd grade they let us out early i didnt no he was shot untill i got home. quote from joe dimaggio the kennedys got what they had comming to them

 

[Engineer1911]

It was 1:14 PM Central time when the announcement was made at Memorial High School in Eau Claire, WI. I was a junior in Miss Berg's third year Latin Class.

 

[labworm]

I was a Junior in High School sitting in a English Class.

Our teacher left the class for about 20 minutes then returned with the news.

To this day I remember how quiet it was at home for at least 7 days. Everyone glued to the TV, my mother constantly crying, just outright sad.

 

[Old TexMex]

I was in 5th grade. The principal called us out in the hall (all 98 students in the only school in town...1st through 8th grade...we didn't have a high school) he said quietly, "Y'all go on home now." we all knew it was serious, 'cause the Coast Guard had been drilling out in front of the station since the Cuban missile thing last year. We all felt like we were on the front lines of the war with Russia. We were kids.

 

[Bozz10mm]

Getting ready to go back to class after lunch. High School Freshman year.

 

[GRIZZLYBEAR]

I was arriving in Nam on that day.

 

[Beemerguy53]

I was in the 5th grade in my Catholic elementary school in Baltimore. Our principal came on the school's PA system and announced that the President had been shot, and asked us to pray for him. She came on again a few minutes later and announced he had died.

When I got home, my mother -- a proud Irish-Catholic girl -- was distraught. "They got him, they got him" she kept saying.

I remember watching the funeral on Monday, and my Dad explaining to me the symbolism of the riderless horse with the boots backwards in the stirrups...

Just thinking about those events upsets me...I don't ever want our country to go through anything like that again. Other nations change governments through violence and treachery...that's not the way we do it here.