Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Where were you July 20, 1969? -- vanity
July 20, 2019 | Skooz

Posted on 07/20/2019 7:06:19 AM PDT by Skooz

My dad was USAF, stationed at Minot AFB, ND.

I was a 9 year-old space nerd. Most of my friends were also space nerds and we followed the Apollo program closely.

During the summer, the housing area was crawling with kids all day until the sun set about 10:00 pm. Every house had at least one kid, and most had 2 or 4. The winters were harsh, so we took full advantage of the summers and stayed outside as much as possible. GREAT place to grow up. The best.

The evening of July 20, 1969, I was playing with some friends and one by one they headed home to watch the moon walk. I walked home and sat on my dad's Ford Falcon, head down and listening to the news cast on a transistor radio my grandma had given me.

After 30 minutes or so I looked up and was amazed. The neighborhood that a few minutes before had been overflowing with people -- kids playing, moms gathered in groups chatting, dads washing cars--- was a ghost town. Empty. Not a soul. Not even a cat. Nothing. It was still and void. I had never seen it like that. I felt like the last person on earth.

That was when I went inside and sat down in front of the TV with my family. And like everyone else, watched Aldrin and Armstrong walk on the moon.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History
KEYWORDS: apollo11; apolloprogram; buzzaldrin; neilarmstrong
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 161-173 next last
To: Skooz

Vandenberg AFB. Just a kid, but we used to watch the launches from a hillside. Today, 50 years ago, I was glued to the black-n-white TV wondering how they got the images into our TV.

It was because of living at Vandenberg and watching launches that I became a space systems engineer.


41 posted on 07/20/2019 7:28:05 AM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and Americans!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

Love it!


42 posted on 07/20/2019 7:28:53 AM PDT by CodeToad ( Hating on Trump is hating on me and Americans!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Skooz
I was 21 year old and had just graduated from university. I was preparing to get up the next morning for my scheduled military draft physical.

Nixon declared a national holiday for July 21st because of the moon walk and my physical was postponed.

That gave me enough time to go join the Air Force instead of being drafted into the Army.

Best decision I ever made. It altered my life immensely because I met my wife of 45 years in the Air Force on my first assignment and we are still together.

I remember the day well. One of a few I have remembered vividly my entire 71 years.

43 posted on 07/20/2019 7:30:32 AM PDT by HotHunt (Been there. Done that.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

July 20 or was it 21, 1969...USAF. Ban U-Tapao AFB, Thailand. working on KC-135s and B-52s. Saw the moon landing at the USO. The place was packed!


44 posted on 07/20/2019 7:31:13 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upsdriver
I grew up on a farm 20 miles from Minot AFB.

My dad and I likely hunted on or near your farm at some point.

45 posted on 07/20/2019 7:32:50 AM PDT by Skooz (Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Skooz
I was in Army basic training at Fort Lewis, WA.

It was a Sunday and my Dad came down for a visit.

He brought along a bucket of chicken, a 6-pack of coke and a transistor radio and we listened to the radio broadcast of the event.

46 posted on 07/20/2019 7:32:59 AM PDT by PROCON ('Progressive' is a Euphemism for <strike>Totalitarian</strike> COMMUNIST)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

Not yet a gleam in my daddy’s eye.


47 posted on 07/20/2019 7:33:10 AM PDT by FLT-bird
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Archie Bunker on steroids
I was feeling guilty about the lack of diversity at NASA

Me too, Oh, the humanity!

48 posted on 07/20/2019 7:33:43 AM PDT by PROCON ('Progressive' is a Euphemism for <strike>Totalitarian</strike> COMMUNIST)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

I was at our summer home in Bay Beach, Ontario Can. ( Lake Erie), watching with my family,except my older brother who was serving on swift boats in Nam, I was 9 years old at the time.


49 posted on 07/20/2019 7:35:20 AM PDT by crosdaddy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Michael.SF.
".... a ski weekend at Lake Havasu...."

That, of course, would be a WATER ski weekend, not snow skiing. :-)

I spent many a summer weekend at Lake Havasu with friends water skiing. Fun times.

50 posted on 07/20/2019 7:36:56 AM PDT by HotHunt (Been there. Done that.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

I was at a place called Hill 55, about 20 clicks southwest of Danang.


51 posted on 07/20/2019 7:38:14 AM PDT by clintonh8r (Truth is hate speech to those who hate the truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

I was 18...at home..recall my step Dad worked on some part of the lunar rover equipment for Boeing...but it was supposed to be a big secret


52 posted on 07/20/2019 7:38:25 AM PDT by goodnesswins (White Privilege EQUALS Self Control & working 50-80 hrs/wk for 40 years!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

Qui Nhon, Viet Nam


53 posted on 07/20/2019 7:41:35 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (Chivalry is not dead. It is a warriors code and only practiced by warriors.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

NYPD


54 posted on 07/20/2019 7:43:06 AM PDT by JonPreston
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz
HS Sophomore, at bowling league.

We all stopped for about 20 minutes to watch.

55 posted on 07/20/2019 7:44:17 AM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

I was 9-years-old, soon to be 10, and going into the fifth-grade. I was attending a Honts family reunion in Milboro, Virginia.

As I recall, the adults were teasing us kids that if we looked really close at the moon we would be able to see the U.S. flag!! Somebody had a pair of binoculars that we took turns trying to find that flag. They kept us busy, huh?


56 posted on 07/20/2019 7:45:58 AM PDT by lyby ("Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe." ~ Galileo Galilei)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Drew68
Pretty sure 1969 was pre-bean-bag chair......

I got mine in 1975.

57 posted on 07/20/2019 7:47:46 AM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

A few days before the landing, dad snuck off to Sears and charged a big color t.v. especially for the event. Mom was furious because they really couldn’t afford it. We were all glued to the new set, but years later I realized there really wasn’t much “color” to see...lol. Mom and dad divorced later that year...sigh. I was 14 that summer.


58 posted on 07/20/2019 7:49:32 AM PDT by BamaBelle (The storm has arrived!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Skooz

On Long Island, in the Hamptons. I saw the landing in a bar.


59 posted on 07/20/2019 7:50:02 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets ( Schumer delenda est.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HotHunt
My Aunt had a cabin just north of Havasu Landing, spent many weekends there from about '64 until '74/'75. At night looking across the lake at 'Havasu City' there were almost no lights.

Today? Over 50,000 people live there. How times do change.

What part of the Lake did you go to?

60 posted on 07/20/2019 7:51:22 AM PDT by Michael.SF. (Youth, speed and energy can always be overcome with experience and treachery.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 161-173 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson