Where were you when . . .

The recent anniversary of 9/11 made many stop and pause to remember where they were when they heard the news about the Twin Towers being attacked and destroyed. It made me think of the other memorable moments in history when I was a witness and where I was when I heard the news. 

Terrorist Attacks on the NYC Twin Towers, Pentagon, etc. Sept 11, 2002 

I had just arrived at Holbrook Elementary School the morning of September 11, when a teacher came running out of her room to say that a plane had crashed into the Twin Towers in New York. It was an hour before school would start so I ran to her room and watched the drama unfold. When we realized it was a terrorist strike that involved multiple strikes, we worried what was happening to our nation. However school went on, and we tried to calm the students and not to let them dwell on the situation. School did not let out early, as I now realize many companies and universities did, as we did not want to traumatize the students. 

But as fearful as that day was, I remember looking to the prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley for assurance, and that evening, he spoke at a previously scheduled Mormon Tabernacle concert that was turned into a memorial service. “Dark as is this hour,” said the Church President, “there is shining through the heavy overcast of fear and anger the solemn and wonderful image of the Son of God. It is to Him that we look in these circumstances.” 

In General Conference a few weeks later, in his first message, he told of the terrible sacrifices and despairs of the Saints as they were driven West, giving up everything. But there was hope in their hearts and they looked forward with hope, just as we look forward with hope. He encouraged us to look forward with hope to the challenges we were facing. I remember that the sorrow and fear I had felt since the terrorist attack lifted as I heard the prophet. I looked forward with hope again.

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster, January 26, 1986: 

This explosion in space killing seven astronauts, including a civilian, a teacher, shocked all of us who thought our space program was infallible. I remember being in my Italian class at the University of Maryland in Vicenza, Italy, the night we heard it had happened; all of us were shocked and dismayed. We couldn’t study; we couldn’t concentrate, but none of us wanted to go home. 

We wanted to discuss what had happened and how it would change our world. Would there be more space flights? Would they shut down the shuttle program? My husband was in the military and we wondered how it would affect his career, or our situation in Italy.  

First Vietnam POWs Released, Feb. 11, 1971 

This day may have gone unnoticed by most people, but for Ed and I this was a heart-rending and never-to-be forgotten day. I remember staying up all night waiting for the flight to reach Manila in the Philippines where the prisoners walked off the plane into freedom to be examined by doctors. It was the middle of the night but I cried as we watched their names being flashed on the screen to see if we knew any of them. 

I remembered a night in 1968 while Ed was in Vietnam when I had gone to a Waiting Wives group (other women whose husbands were serving in Vietnam). I had gone in a car pool and when we dropped an Air Force pilot’s wife off at her house, there was an official US Air Force car waiting in front of her house. Her husband’s plane had gone down over North Vietnam and he would be a prisoner for years. She would eventually divorce him before he was released in 1973. 

Ed, Marlowe & me approximate 1969

Ed had a high school classmate, Larry Chesley, who had also been a Vietnam POW in North Vietnam. We both watched anxiously that night those first prisoners were released and many others prisoner releases until he was freed in 1973. I thought how easily it could have been Ed who had been captured sometime during his two tours of Vietnam. We later found out one of Ed’s flight school classmates had been a POW for years, and we have his book, as well as Larry Chesley’s book, and the one with my friend’s husband’s story.  

Man’s Walk on the Moon: July 21, 1969 

It seemed the world stood still that night about 10:00pm as we watched the TV to see Neil Armstrong step off the space module and into history. We had even let our 20-month old son stay up late to see the momentous occasion. I was 8 ½ months pregnant with my 2nd child, and I’d hoped that she would be born around the time of the walk on the moon, but she waited another six weeks to arrive. I cut out the front page of the Fort Worth newspaper and decoupaged it onto a board to save to show my children the day history changed and man no longer was earth bound.  

John F. Kennedy Assassination: Friday, Nov. 22, 1963 

It is easy to remember where I was when I heard Kennedy was assassinated—Ed and I were getting our wedding license. Actually I heard something at work at the Beneficial Life Company just as I was leaving to get my license but it was rumor and no one knew anything for sure. But by the time Ed and I got to the Salt Lake City Building, it was official and everyone had TVs and radios blaring the news—Kennedy had been shot and they thought he was dead. We got our license despite all the brouhaha and I actually got back to work, where of course no one was working, everyone was glued to the radios (no one had TVs). 

Ed was listening so intently to the radio in his car that he rear-ended the car ahead of him at a light (but didn’t do any damage). I don’t think anyone did any work, but we stayed at work the whole day. Monday was an official day of mourning so we got the day off, and I could get ready for my wedding which was on Wednesday. However, it was a very sad time. 

My wedding was overshadowed by the unexpected death of the president. People were speculating President Johnson had a hand in the assassination since it happened in his home state, and since he was rushed to be sworn in as President before he flew home with the body—all things which were false. 

Our wedding day

How history’s great events imprint themselves on our memory usually depends on how tangentially it affects our lives. Many others shared these same historical experiences, but that memories are so different, or they might not even remember the event. That is part of the joy of memory!