What was your earliest national/international memory?

‘73 birth year. Desert One.
 
The latter Gemini flights and the Bobby Kennedy assassination.
 
Dave Theisen said:
The 1972 Presidential Election. Our town’s polling place was in the gym on the bottom floor of my elementary school. My second grade classmates and I were conducting a highly scientific survey by counting bumper stickers on the cars pulling into the parking lot. We were convinced that George McGovern had won. :)
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Sorry. My fault. I voted for Nixon.
 
Born 6 may 66,

remember sitting in front of tv for the moon landing.
 
We're very close to the same age....I wish that I could remember the moon landing. I want to say I can remember some of that early Nasa stuff on TV...but I'm just not sure if what I remember is just something from the movies or something else ....or if I lost interest quick...just some static and fuzz on the TV
 
EdFred said:
Inspired by the you know you're old when thread, it reminded me of a discussion I had with some friends. What was your earliest memory that was big enough to be something "everyone" knew about? Examples being 9/11, Challenger, Moon Landing, Olympics Games, Bobby Thompson's HR, etc... and not things like the opening of the local McDonald's, the birth of a sibling, some family dinner, the town's fireworks, or when Old Man Smith's barn caught fire.

The earliest big event I remember was the Lake Placid Olympics, followed by Mt St Helen's eruption.
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Start of the Korean War. Also, the biggest blizzard I remember happened the following winter (they brought in National Guard Tanks to punch through the drifts). Another memory from that era was the death of Stalin.

Me: a 1944 Model.

Dave
 
Deelee said:
Best bacon cheeseburgers of all fast food chains. We had one in the next towne over. Was always a treat going to Burger Chef.
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When I was in college there was a Burger Chef and a McDonalds side by side near my home. I used to get my burgers at BC and French Fries at McD! Those were the days

Dave
 
Clarification… clearly remember that moment, but also remember not knowing why it was such a big deal. They seemed to do it every year, like Christmas.

I remember being tired and I wanted to go back to bed!!
 
I remember the Reagan/Bush campaign signs at the elementary school. I remember the Challenger explosion. But the one that really stands out is the Voyager program around the world flight. I was facinated with Rutan's designs and the Voyager was just so awesome. I woke up early for the takeoff and the landing, and watched all the news I could in between.
 
1969 moon landing. Watched from Italy with my grandparents on their black and white TV
 
I very vaguely remember the OKC bombing. I was 5.

Having checked dates, I remember the Rodney King riots. Well, more being the remote control on the TV as it was one with a knob to change the channel.
 
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Brad W said:
ok fine.... correction... I remember the day when the Elvis death conspiracy theory was kicked-off.
(how's that?)
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Dang. I'm taking heat on this. I guess the 'hate to break the news to you' made it sound personal. Not my intent.
 
Bobby Kennedy assassination for me.
 
Brad W said:
We're very close to the same age....I wish that I could remember the moon landing. I want to say I can remember some of that early Nasa stuff on TV...but I'm just not sure if what I remember is just something from the movies or something else ....or if I lost interest quick...just some static and fuzz on the TV
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Early memories blend together- Vietnam protest (in DC) on 4th of July (tear gas is awful stuff; I was just an innocent bystander!) School vote on Nixon election (I hope they don’t do this any longer,) and NASA moon stuff on tv all run together.
 
My earliest national event memory is of the Warren Report on TV. I remember several early space launches but not sure which were which then. We lived in Central Florida and we could watch the liftoff live on TV and then go out in the yard and watch the rocket go up in the east. Born in '59.
 
64 model - I remember the Apollo 11 and subsequent ones. We lived in Park Forest IL at the time and I remember laying on the floor with my brother and Mom and Dad on the old green sofa.

All I really remember of Vietnam was the Bob Hope Christmas special in 1970 and our POWs coming home in 73.
 
I remember watching NC&StL steam locomotives from my front porch.
 
I remember almost everything mentioned so far. Clearly, too. A couple things not mentioned was the first H-bomb being dropped on Bikini Atoll. As I recall, it was being broadcast live. I don't remember if we listened on radio or watched TV. Of course, no way to see it live, but TV might have still covered it live. I can't find a recording to share, though. I did discover they missed their target by FOUR MILES, which was news to me. And of course, everyone my age certainly remembers when Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club aired for the first time. Right?
 
I remember our neighbor, Tom Lee bringing my mother some candles as our electricity was out. Pouring rain and wind was blowing. My father was on the road somewhere. October 1954, Richmond, Virginia, Hurricane Hazel. I was 3 and a half.
 
dtuuri said:
And of course, everyone my age certainly remembers when Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club aired for the first time. Right?
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And every male kid watching drooling over Annette. Right?

Cheers
 
David Lloyd said:
I remember our neighbor, Tom Lee bringing my mother some candles as our electricity was out. Pouring rain and wind was blowing. My father was on the road somewhere. October 1954, Richmond, Virginia, Hurricane Hazel. I was 3 and a half.
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Tommy Lee was your neighbor? Rock on!
 
Tiananmen, when they shot up the students. I was 8. Still remember a lot of the news coverage images. Including the ones that came in as the shooting started.

It’s also why we are here in Canada and not still in Hong Kong. I think it made up my parents mind that they’d leave after that.
 
Challenger. I think we watched it live. I seem to remember that we watched most of the shuttle launches live when possible. Not sure if the teachers were trying to keep us interested or if they were just using it as a way to take a break from us for a while. Early elementary school.

I think the biggest "man, you're old!" moments for me from this thread are the few comments about "I vaguely remember 9/11". That is astonishing - I remember that one as clear as a bell as a Jr in college.
 
While not a first memory, I remember how upset my sister was when pop did not let her go to New York to see the Beatles arrive in the USA for the first time.

Same thing for Woodstock.
 
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