My sister transplanted herself in McKeesport, PA sometime after her divorce. I know it was before 1999 and I rode down with my mom to see her. When we arrived it was dark and dreary and the whole time we were there it dark and dreary.
I grew up there and it's a favorite city of mine...my sisters have said I wouldn't recognize the downtown area...it's grown so much. I have nobody left in Pittsburgh except some old school buddies, everyone has left.
Maybe I'm a sociopath, or socially maladjusted, because Kennedy's assassination didn't phase me at all, I wasn't particularly interested in the space program, when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, I forgot to come back after the first commercial, and I decided to hitchhike to Pasadena rather than going to Woodstock. As far as historical events go, I suppose the Vietnam War featured most prominently, given that a large percentage of the people I went to high school with were there, my brother and cousin were there, and I knew people who didn't come back. Otherwise, people and events that I saw only on television weren't any more real to me than the fictional people and events that I saw on television. The Vietnam War was real.
And that's the one event that wasn't very real to me. I knew nobody that went...and nobody I knew died there obviously.
this was a nuke reactor that blew up and went into meltdown exposing thousands maybe millions. not unlike Hiroshima and Nagasaki the death toll was spread out over years. the exact number has been debated for years. the world held its breath wondering where the cloud of death would wind up source
Going further ahead than my childhood, there were other events, such as Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the 9/11 attacks.
the Oklahoma city bombing. I stopped there to see it on a trip to Dallas. Timothy McVeigh witnessed the Waco attack which inspired retaliation against the Gov.
Yes, 911 is definitely an important moment in History that we have all shared. It happened on my oldest daughter's Birthday and she told me many times that she wishes she could change the date of her birthday because of this. So many innocent people killed and such a senseless tragedy.
The first historical moment was JFK's assassination, and the t.v. coverage of events connected to it. The next one that comes to mind is when astronauts Chaffee, Grissom, and White died in a fire on the launching pad. And then t.v., radio, and newspaper coverage of the Vietnam war when my brother was there. And when the teacher came into the classroom one morning telling us Bobby Kennedy had been shot.
I have photographic memories of V-E day May 7th 1945 crowds of people everywhere, dancing in the streets, lots of boats lit up on the river and lots more pictures in my mind ...... the other events are less visual...more mindful.....the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, the Kennedy assassination, The Berlin Wall, Diana's death and 9/11 of which I do have visual memories, it was all so unbelievable and surreal to me looking back....