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.
July 4, 1976 was a Sunday.
Had church in the morning, and watched “Operation Sail” in NYC harbor on TV, in the early afternoon. All the tall ships from the world were together.
Spent the rest of the day cleaning and painting the apartment my soon to be wife and I had just rented, getting it ready as we would be getting married on August 7th.
I was 22, newly graduated from college.
I was 15 and got up at 3 AM with my father and brother to travel to Staten Island to see Operation Sail, with all of the old ships. It was magnificent. I half expected the Russian to contribute some surprise “fireworks,” with the millions in 1 place, but I guess that the military persuaded them otherwise. Glad I went, it was unforgettable.
I was 19 and in the Army at Ft. Hood.
A few of us went to Willie Nelson’s 3 day concert somewhere in the area southeast of Austin. A great time and quite the eye-opener! Texans know how to party.
I sat at home where I could watch all the national happenings
Will never forget the day’s finale with Arthur Fiedler and The Pops blasting out Stars and Stripes Forever and hundreds of thousands celebrated wildly A year after Nam yet patriotism was alive and well
Chills . . even today
Interesting how many military connections on this thread. Suspect a high percentage of FReepers are/were in the Armed Forces or dependents.
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
‘Til all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
I was in 9th grade. We went to a mammoth fireworks display on Onondaga Lake that was put on by the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company to celebrate the opening of their new brewery in Baldwinsville, NY.
That brewery is now an AB-Inbev plant making Budweiser products. Not too far away, in Fulton NY was a Miller brewery (now closed) and the Central NY area from 1982 to 1996 was the largest beer producing area in the US.
Thank you, very nice views.
Dad drove us to Savannah to get Krystal hamburgers. Was a several hour drive but there were none locally.
I was living in NYC. My apt was on the East Side with a view of the East River, so Had friends over for a red-white-blue brunch and we watched part of the (less) Tall Ships pass by. Then we went to my office on the West Side, with a fantastic view of the Hudson, including the Statue of Liberty. Watched some more Tall Ships, then fireworks over the “Lady Liberty.” After that I went home and watched fireworks going off in different locations throughout Queens. A day and night to remember.
The BEST part was that everyone, even the most jaded lefty New Yorker, was into the Bicentennial. The last remnants of the anti-USA hostilities from the 60s - VN, the Civil Rights era, etc. - seemed to be gone. People were pretty much dancing in the streets and so proud to be Americans. Oh, to have that feeling again!
Thanks so much.
9 years old, almost 10. IIRC, I marched in the Fairborn, Ohio parade.
I was assisting in the privately funded Happy Birthday USA bicentennial on the mall, and, as part of my duties, was serving cokes to Johnny Cash and his group as they performed. He wound up, after he called June, staying and ringing the bell (with his ears plugged). I wound up sitting next to him and talking to him as we watched the fireworks together.
That’s where I was on the Bicentennial! About half way up on the south(?) tower! (The one closest to the water.) It was amazing. I was 16 at the time. My uncle was a big shot at PanAm. A huge area, the entire floor perhaps, was filled with food and drinks - but I don’t recall it being too crowded with people. Everyone had a window seat for the fireworks show. The fireworks were at high level for us!
We spent the entire day in the tower - watching the boats was great. We had trailored our 17.5-foot open bow ski boat out from Minnesota. Earlier that week we took it out into the the river and got some nice close up views of the Tall Ships. It was pretty wavy in some areas with that little boat!
Thank you. Now I’m crying.
I was in school.
Yes, a brief pause between VN/Watergate/Nixon resignation and Carter/malaise/Iranian hostages. Eye of the storm, and 4+ years before Ronald Reagan restored American Pride.
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