One of Those Days When the World Changed

[thebes]

Forty plus years on, and sometimes it stills sneaks up and grabs you. They say it was when America lost it's innocence.

Not true, we'd already been through that particular trauma twice before.

Our innocence, that's a different story altogether. A sheltered and coddled generation, parents keep the reality at bay as the sirens do their monthly test and we duck and cover. Doesn't work. Two years prior we all knew, smelt the fear on the wind from the adults, the great ending at hand, carried in a ships container bound for Cuba.

Strange thing, though, out neighborhood was full of WW2 vets and even they, who'd had more than seen it all, were lost, shocked, in tears, something torn from them to never be replaced.

A national catharsis, not the first we'd feel, not the last we'd see.

Sure I remember where I was when he was shot, but the real memory was late that night, waiting for a bus in downtown Syracuse, dark, windy and cold. A newspaper blows by, streetlights revealing the headline. The exact words escape me, but the type was the biggest the Post could print and it was all in black and white.

The last sounds like a bad movie, but I dread that my memory ever make that moment fuzzy, for it's well worth remembering.

[jacksonbart]

I lost my innocense in the back of my Subaru wagon (the shaggin wagon) approx in August 1988.

[sputnik]

I was only in first grade but this is the image I remember.

[BLSamuel]

I was not quite 2 so I have no memories though memories of the picture Sputnik posted.... and others.

[LarryC]

I was only in first grade but this is the image I remember.

There are tons of videos of the JFK funeral -- this is close to your photo:

The funeral was amazing. I don't understand why there's no DVD set.

The whole effect of the massive, beautifully organized procession was made overwhelming by the constant beating of muffled drums, made poignant beyond imagination by the periodic entry of the great ceremonial brass band of the Military District of Washington playing hymns and great works like the Chopin funeral march, Holy, Holy, Holy, Onward Christian Soldiers, and America the Beautiful.

The unrelenting drums never stopped beating, continuing throughout each musical entry and carrying on awestruck after each work ended.

http://cnettv.cnet.com/1963-jfk-funeral/9742-1_53-50056341.html

"The greatest assemblage of world leaders in a half century" -- de Gaulle, Emporer Selassie, etc. There's a whole series of videos numbered from 1 through 13. It's gripping from beginning to end, worth watching.

[Mallette]

The unrelenting drums never stopped beating, continuing throughout each musical entry and carrying on awestruck after each work ended.

That's what I remember, and still hear to this day. The riderless horse with reversed boots...and the drums.

Dave

[HarryO]

The unrelenting drums never stopped beating, continuing throughout each musical entry and carrying on awestruck after each work ended.

That's what I remember, and still hear to this day. The riderless horse with reversed boots...and the drums.

Dave

Same here. Visions of a shocked nation.

I think our country did change that day.

[LarryC]

Here's the first video of the series of 13 of the JFK funeral, posted on Youtube by "armysaber." Not narrated, but powerful.

No. 2 plays the "Navy Hymn." The brass instrument mix topped by low trumpets is magnificent.

[SteelerFan]

I was only in first grade but this is the image I remember.

I was in first grade as well. I remember my mom was waiting at the door as my sister and I came home from school and said,"Come in the house, someone shot the president.". No playing that afternoon, the whole family sat in front of the tv and watched the news reports the rest of the day.

[thebes]

Those drums. The dirge of a nation's mourning. That sound of sadness. Haunting to thisday.

[fini]

Third grade, here. The image I remember most was of little John-John saluting. Heart-wrenching. Now John-John's gone.

[sputnik]

Of all the things there are to do and see in Washington DC, I don't think there is anything quite as stirring as a quiet walk through Arlington National Cemetary - mix of sadness, pride, inspiration, and humility. The world changes but there is so much there in that one place that represents and honors the very best of us. As part of the whole history there, it's an incredibly moving experience to stand in front of the Kennedy graves.

[oscarsear]

I was in the 6th grade and already had the daily flag duty at Beethoven Street elementary school. This event ushered in the ceremony of raising that flag to its pinnacle then lowering it to half staff, for 30 days. A sad and tragic day now seared into history. Yet other annual events are just as stirring. Visit any veterans cemetery on Memorial day or Veterans day and those thousands of rowed American flags will wrench your heartstrings. There lie countless and sadly anonymous unsung heroes that in some measure delivered to us our freedoms. JFK notwithstanding, this country has many, many to honor.

[boom3]

I remember lots of things..

My sister getting kissed by JFK at a campaign rally in 1960

The sound of two airliners colliding over Staten Island

The Cuban Missile Crisis, listening to Radio Havanna on our old Signal Corps shortwave radio, and doing air raid drills -including duck & cover-in the second grade

That Day In Dallas

Being the only member of my family to see Oswald shot on live TV

I was talking with a buddy 9 years younger than me..I asked him what was the first big event he could remember.."the moon landing"

As a part-time historian, I hope that these oral histories are being recorded somewhere. They are tremendously valuable to thsoe who will come after us and try to make sense of it all.

[IB Slammin]

My teacher was called out of the class room and came back in crying. She turned on the TV. Grade school in......DALLAS TEXAS......

tc

[kaiser SET say]

Catholic school for me in Houston T. What I remembered most was that it was the quitest day I have ever experienced in 54 years. My second history altering moment was watching the live footage of the space shuttle exploding into pieces to the gasp of everyone in the room with me.

Watching the Prez take the bullet in "Twilights Last Gleaming" always brings back that haunting feeling[]

[sputnik]

My mother saved this dollar bill from 1963. It's from the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank designated by a "K" in the seal, the serial number begins with a K (again for the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank) and ends with A (designating the first run of the serial number), and the number 11 also designates the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. But noting these coincidences, they were called the Kennedy Assassination dollars (from the K & A in the serial number), the "K" (for Kennedy) and Dallas in the seal, and the number 11 (for November) on a 1963 bill.

[Mallette]

As this has gone the way of "where were you?" I'll weigh in.

I'd just arrived in Spanish class under Mr. Thomas "Elmo" Elmore at Arkansas High School. It was a first floor classroom looking into the quadrangle nobody ever entered because all the rooms on every side looked out on it. Of course, I sat at the back of the room. We'd barely began the daily "Como se dice 'We rule the world' en Espanol" right after lunch when the intercom crackled into life and said "The President has been shot in Dallas" and we picked up an audio feed...not sure from where. One of the wiser guys than me said something smart ***, an Elmo went all alpha male and said "Shut up" with tears in his eyes. It was only at that moment I realized the full significance of the moment. Even the Lords and Ladies were not in control...we had no idea who was.

It was frightening and the swearing in of the LBJ, a guy everybody in Texas knew as a crook and somebody we could rely on, made it better.

Then came the drums signaling the death of our innocence, which never seem to have stopped.

Dave