I was 8 and at a cubscout meeting at Harmon AFB Newfoundland. The whole pack of us were in the living room having some cookies and watching the old black and white TV with rabbit ears when it happened. To this day I no longer like peanut butter cookies, isn't that odd.
It took years for me to understand all the other things that were "true" but never seem to be spoken of about Kennedy. At 8 years old he was still a "hero" in my eyes, captain of the PT-109, the president who faced down the Russians over the Cuban Missile Crisis. Harmon AFB was a "Dewy-Line" base and during the CMC we had B58 Hustlers with big purple eggs (nukes) parked 100 feet apart down the streets with very serious Airforce Flightline Security Personell standing in plain sight and fully armed. The base shut down totally, machine gun nests were set up and we were in full alert status. Harmon used to have one wing of B58's and one wing of F100's. During the CMC we had 2 wings of each and an extra wing of B52's. I remember looking out the bedroom window at those planes and those purple eggs and knew if they took off the world as we knew it would end, I was 7 then and it was a very sobering time.
When Kennedy was killed there was a sense of loss that was very profound. My mother and sister wept and it was one of the few times I recall seeing my father with tears in his eyes. Kennedy's death is the marker for the end of an American era. Nothing has been the same since and that is perhaps why those of use who remember him and what he "represented" at that time recall everything in such detail.
For the generation of today, 9/11 will be their "JFK" day. I am saddened that I have seen another "marker" of change in our American Society and often wonder not when, but what - the next one will be.
"Any fool can use Power, but it is our wits that make us men."
Collecting Penguins, Named Ship Coins and other assorted goodies
Comments
It took years for me to understand all the other things that were "true" but never seem to be spoken of about Kennedy. At 8 years old he was still a "hero" in my eyes, captain of the PT-109, the president who faced down the Russians over the Cuban Missile Crisis. Harmon AFB was a "Dewy-Line" base and during the CMC we had B58 Hustlers with big purple eggs (nukes) parked 100 feet apart down the streets with very serious Airforce Flightline Security Personell standing in plain sight and fully armed. The base shut down totally, machine gun nests were set up and we were in full alert status. Harmon used to have one wing of B58's and one wing of F100's. During the CMC we had 2 wings of each and an extra wing of B52's. I remember looking out the bedroom window at those planes and those purple eggs and knew if they took off the world as we knew it would end, I was 7 then and it was a very sobering time.
When Kennedy was killed there was a sense of loss that was very profound. My mother and sister wept and it was one of the few times I recall seeing my father with tears in his eyes.
Kennedy's death is the marker for the end of an American era. Nothing has been the same since and that is perhaps why those of use who remember him and what he "represented" at that time recall everything in such detail.
For the generation of today, 9/11 will be their "JFK" day. I am saddened that I have seen another "marker" of change in our American Society and often wonder not when, but what - the next one will be.
Collecting Penguins, Named Ship Coins and other assorted goodies
Looking for Circulated coins of Papua New Guinea
stores.ebay.com/Grumpy's-Cave