Posted on 07/04/2015 1:35:08 PM PDT by PROCON
Today, America celebrates it's 239th birthday, but do you remember our Bicentennial celebration, July 4, 1976?
Come on you older FReepers, and you know who you are.
Where were you and what did you do that day, 39 years ago.
My mother really enjoyed seeing it. She even called the local television station to ask why they didn’t show more!
LOL, you ought to tell that story at the July 29th FReeper Canteen, 6:00 PDT.
The theme is: "Tell us your funny Military stories".
Just Googled the Tall Ships images. So many have the Twin Towers in the background. Makes me tearful.
I was shuttling a Ryder truck back to San Francisco. Ryder rents them out and they end up in little towns all over the country. It’d take forever to rent them out again in a small market, so they hire “shuttle drivers” to fly out and bring them back to the city.
They flew about 20 of us to this little town in southern Colorado. They pay for the airfare, gas, oil for the trucks, etc. Otherwise, you’re on your own. Some guys actually make a living doing it. I took the job just for kicks. Spent more than I made. Never did it again.
Cruising up and down South Main street on a borrowed skateboard in Swanton, Ohio, with 2 beers in each hand waiting for the Bicentennial parade to start. I was 20 @ the time... Har!
10 years old at beach watching fireworks. I distinctly remember talk of the blak pampers starting a riot/war.
I noticed that, too. It’s an obvious structure to help line up your photograph and show the scale.
I was 17 years old on the Bicentennial. I remember watching on TV President Ford ring the Liberty Bell that day. Later that night, a bunch of us got together at a friend’s house, where we ate hamburgers and hot dogs and shot off fireworks. Back then, we had a lot more choices on the type of fireworks to buy.
I was 28 years old and working at McClellan Field in Sacramento. I came down to LA to visit my folks, who had invited all their friends to a big backyard BBQ celebration. Lots of flags, bunting, beer & BBQ. My Mom commissioned me to paint up a poster of the Statue of Liberty - “1776 to 1976” for the party. Both my folks had served overseas in the Army during WW2 and many of the neighbors in attendance had also served. They all thought America was the greatest thing this side of the Pearly Gates. With the Cold War still on, they all hated Commies. My folks have since passed on, but I know that if they were still alive today they would be totally disgusted with the idiots in DC.
what could be better?
Eating lunch at Windows on the World restaurant at the top of World Trade Center One. It was new, having opened the previous April. An unforgettable experience.
Was out of the Corps for three years at that time.
Had to work, 12 on 12 off for JPL.
I went to the first few, but noticed that the original cliques just got cliquier as the events went by...I wasn't a group kinda guy in school and didn't want to sit around with my thumb up my bung.
Bamberg. Wow. My grandmother was from there. Her parents owned a lovely large apartment on a prominent street. Sadly when they were in their 60s the Nazis threw them into concentration camps, murdered them and gave their place to their housekeeper. Still, my Omi never mentioned any of that, just talked about the fun she had growing up there. I visited once in my teens and that housekeeper still lived there.
I was in DC for the Bicentennial. Visited all the sites with my family and some of my cousins with their families. About forty of us in the group and then at night saw the huge fireworks show on the Mall. Very special day in my life.
Newly minted U.S. Navy Ensign stationed in San Diego.
I attended the “Firecracker 400” at the Daytona International Speedway. If my memory serves me, Cale Yarlborough won the race which had a rain delayed start.
I was 6 months pregnant with my first child. I was so proud of my country and the possibilities my country had in store. My son would one day come to defend her by serving in the US Army.
He is retired now from the Army, and I no longer have as much faith in the possibilities of the USA, but I am thankful for the blessing She has given us. God bless the USA!
Where were you and what did you do that day, 39 years ago.
I received my diploma from HS on Jun 26 1976, a date which will live in infamy. What I did that fourth of July I don’t recall.
On June 26 2015 I was in Woodlawn cemetery doing a job in the section where Miles Davis’ grave is when I learned that my nation was truly stolen and had turned it’s back upon God.
I won’t be thinking of Miles Davis when next I go back there.
I had just finished my first year of college and was at home outside of St. Louis. I believe we celebrated it like any other Fourth: barbeque at home, hanging out with friends, parking along Route 3 across from the Arch and watching fireworks. I remember some of the special commemorations that year: the “Bicentennial Minute” spots on TV, and the special quarters. I spent some time working with Jim Thompson’s campaign for governor that summer, so I recall some activities connected to that.
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