[Perfesser]

Yeah, Doc, there are a few events that define a generational memory. JFK's assassination was one such for our generation. We share 9/11 with the younger set now. Others that may be indelibly seared in our minds could be the Challenger and Columbia losses, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, the fall of Saigon, but we all have something that we can use to date parts of our life from.

I still remember where I was when I heard of JFK's death. All of the schools in BC let out for the afternoon, which was quite something, as he wasn't even our president. I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis (and I read about the Bay of Pigs when it happened, but didn't really understand it.) I also remember staying home and watching Winston Churchill's funeral somewhere in that general time frame.

I also clearly remember the day they blew up Ripple Rock, but I've only found one other person who shares that memory!! It was one of the biggest bangs ever set off to that time, and I heard it even though it was miles and miles away.

CT

[DocSanae]

When you get to be the age I (we) are, we've "been there, done that" that are only references in history books for many.

What stands out a lot in my memories, that I left out because it could possibly open a can of worms, is the tension over the Civil Rights movements during the '60s as well--I know that a few of the businesses burned out during the riots that ensued included those operated by friends' families. When I was in DC for a medical conference after an absence of some 25+ years, I was really amazed at the difference in the social/political presence of African Americans. I will honestly say that I saw the greatness of America on that visit, in a way I couldn't before.

9/11 was late evening our time. I came home late that day because I had a working dinner with a surgeon I know, and he had said that he was leaving the next day for the US to attend a surgeon's meeting. Home I came, and the first thing I see when I walk into our living room are the crumbling towers on TV. After listening to the report, my first thought was, the surgeon won't be able to leave for the meeting--which indeed was true, when I asked him the next time I saw him. I also have a friend who was visiting friends in the US with her husband (her hubby was at that time associate prof of Kyoto University, and was a graduate of Oregon U graduate school, so has many friends in the US) at that time, and so ended up waiting 2 weeks in SF for a flight home.

This is turning more into a where were you when? thread rather than any historical event you were part of