Were you very young when JFK was assassinated, but you remember it?

[raccoon]

I wonder what's the youngest age a person could remember that.

[HopeHoops]

1. I was 7 months old, so no - but I have the newspaper with the sequence of shots!

It has somehow managed to remain in good condition.

[Captain Hilts]

2. I was 4 and remember it well because I had to spend the day on my

dad's submarine. He was captain at the time and mum had something important to do that would not benefit from a 4 year old.

So, I was on the sub the whole day. So, it was already a 'different' day, then the word came out that JFK had been shot. I remember some sailors wondering if he'd be okay, and then realizing not. I remember the confusion. So, the day was immediately noteworthy for two reasons.

[Gman]

3. I was in 4th grade and

we saw his motorcade go by on November 21, 1963 in San Antonio. For this reason we were probably especially shocked.

[Warpy]

4. I was in school down south

The announcement he'd been shot came over the PA. One of the blonde, Baptist ruling class type chirped "I hope he dies!"

I never spoke to her again.

I'm seeing exactly the same kind of hate from exactly the same kind of people now.

I hope the Secret Service are really on their toes.

[Bluzmann57]

5. Yes I was very young

Six years old but I still remember it very well. They let us out of school early that day and since we were just a bunch of kids, we weren't real sure what was happening. Then I got home, my sister, who was 2, was crying her eyes out and my mom was sitting staring dumbfounded at the tv. Then I realized that something was very wrong. About an hour later, my dad got home from work and they both sat me down and explained what all this meant.
In every life, there are some things that one never forgets, and the assassination of JFK is one of those events.

[HamdenRice]

6. I was a toddler and remember it because I was the first to tell my visiting aunt

I was 4. My great aunt (mother's aunt) was a live in nurse of some kind and visited us and stayed with us every weekend, arriving iirc on Thursday afternoons.

She arrived walking down the drive way and I ran down to tell her that President Kennedy had been shot. The b&w tv was on all day.

[Loge23]

7. 9 here

The nuns were crying. They wheeled in a TV, and then quickly dismissed us.
I still get a sick feeling in the stomach when I recall it.
It was an absolutely horrific day/weekend in our history.

May God Bless the Kennedy family - communion or not.

[Are_grits_groceries]

8. I was in the 5th grade in SC.

The principal came around holding a radio and told us of the news. His face was stricken.

However, I will NEVER forget the look on my teacher's face. She was miles beyond stricken. Nobody said a word. When they sent us outside for recess, everybody was somber and scared. Even away from the teachers basically, nobody was making jokes or positive remarks.

At home, we just shut down. My Mama was beyond upset. I don't remember my Daddy much, but he wasn't making any happy sounds. On the day of the funeral, my aunt and her 3 children came up to watch. She said there would be better reception on the tv. I think she just wanted some company.

[beyurslf]

9. My mom was 4 or 5 yo when he was shot. She has said she remembers it though.

She remembers her mom and her older sister breaking into tears. She said she didn't completely understand. She was the surprise baby and her siblings were all much older. She said everyone in the house huddled around the tv all day, even her dad came home early.

I have always thought the event for my generation that comes closest to that is the Challenger explosion. I was in 4th grade. I think everyone my age remembers that moment. I am not sure that adults remember as clearly though.
Of course, later, we have Sept 11 as well, and everyone (young or old) knows where they were then.

[rateyes]

10. I was 3 and a half.

Don't remember it.

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. in the third grade - remember it very well

[Berry Cool]

12. I don't think "school age" qualifies as "very young."

I mean, come on, all of you who were 6 or older remember being told in school and everyone crying and you being sent home early. That's not unusual at all.

I think "very young" would have to qualify as 5 or under, maybe only 4. As in, it might be one of your earliest memories, because it was such a tragic event and it stuck in your memory when a lot of other things fell victim to the usual amnesia we experience about our youngest years.

I can say, for example, that I was barely 2, and I have no memory of it at all. No matter how impressive the memories might have been, I just may have been too young to retain them. Maybe I could under the kind of hypnosis that can supposedly regress you back to remembering your own birth. Otherwise, no.

[pipi_k]

13. Don't know what "very young" involves, but I was 11

and I remember my sixth grade teacher, Miss Curtis, being very upset (and somewhat short with us kids) after lunch. None of us knew why until we got home and saw the news on TV.

We saw it over and over again.

And I remember seeing the funeral cortege, JFK's casket on the wagon, and Jackie and Caroline and little John John doing his salute.

It was all very sad, but because I was only 11, it probably didn't have the same emotional impact it would have had if I had been older.

[kwassa]

14. not very young, I was 11, and remember it well.

[MiniMe]

15. I was 5, I don't really remember JFK assination, but I remember the funeral

We were in the process of moving from California to New Jersey (yeah, hold the jokes), and I have no memory at all of JFK dying, I don't understand why. But I remember watching the funeral at my Grandmother's house in NJ with my Grandmother and my cousin, who is a year younger than I was.

[CanonRay]

16. I was in 7th grade Math class

and I remember it vividly.

[Tikki]

26. 7th grade science class when we heard....

Our teacher had a broadband radio of some kind in the classroom.
We sat in our seats and the other classes nearby lined the hallway to listen
to the sad, sad news.

Tikki

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

39. 8th grade science class

Actually, the news broke during lunch and we were taken to a large study hall instead of science class where the announcement was made. Just about 4 months before that, I saw JFK up close when his motorcade rode down the main street of my town, right in front of my house. I was holding a big American flag and my neighbor had a large sign that said "Welcome, Mr. President". JFK had his car stop and he rose to his feet to say a few words to the cheering crowds that lined the street for miles. He was only a few feet away from me. I was surprised at his red hair (we had black and white tv back then and I never knew). The day he died was one of the saddest days of my life.

[azurnoir]

17. I was in second grade and remember it

there was an announcement over the loudspeakers calling all the teachers to office when my teacher came back she said that President Kennedy had been shot, a little while later there was another announcement calling the teachers again this time she came back with tears running down her face and said that the President had died, school was let out early a little while later and I do not think we went back for about a week, this was in Lansing Michigan

[Donnachaidh]

18. I was in first grade - reading corner, doing the SRA

I do remember it, more because of the reaction of our teacher than fully understanding what happened. Didn't start to understand until later that evening, when family was together watching the news, and discussing what happened.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. I was 6 and Yes, I remember. n/t

[Mopar151]

20. 2nd grade n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. I was 10 and remember it well

[old mark]

22. I was in (Catholic) high school study hall, talking with a friend and a

phisics teacher nun about the then new Honda 50 cc motor bikes. The nun was remarking how little 50cc really is - maybe the volume of a salt shaker.
Then the announcement came over the speakers.

mark

[raccoon]

24. Sounds like you're even older than me. LOL. I was in junior high. nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

23. I was in Fourth Grade and the announcement was given over our PA

Plus even a recording of the bullets being fired.

I don't know how they did that but we talked about it for years
with school chums on how they put that on the PA...

Scared the shit out of us and the school was released early.

[hlthe2b]

25. I was five...

In kindergarten, but have vivid memories. We thought the new and scary janitor must have done it... Going home, I remember my Mom and the tv and later--watching live as Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby. I also remember my Dad-- not being a JFK fan at all--but being quite shook by the assassination and aftermath.

[Adelante]

27. I was 13

I remember it perfectly.

[mmonk]

28. Seven.

[Wanet]

29. I was four

I clearly remember the announcement coming on TV -- I ran to get my mom. It's one of my earlier memories. -- Wanet

[blogslut]

30. I was three years old

My mother tolerated my wild toddler behavior but I knew that if I made so much as a peep during As the World Turns I would be in big trouble. I remember the breaking news flash that interrupted my mother's favorite soap opera. I remember her sitting down to watch Mr. Cronkite. I remember she was very serious. I cannot say I remember what had happened but I remember it happening.

[keith the dem]

31. I was 5, and remember being told..

And how upset my parents were, they loved JFK.

[Tsar_Bomba]

32. I was an unfertilized egg in a womb

[Bluenorthwest]

33. three and a half and I remember the whole thing

From the moment the TV News broke into my Mom's show and she stood up and said 'Oh dear Lord' and then they said what had happened. He was a hero in our house, and to me his death meant that Dads could go to work and not come home, as happened to Jon Jon and Caroline's Dad. It was weeks before I stopped waiting in the corner windows for sight of my Dad's truck coming home. That day was the longest day, waiting for Dad. Dad came home. Poor Jon Jon.
The funeral, I remember asking my mom what a 'casket' is. She told me. Brave Mom. I remember telling her that President Kennedy was not in that casket. She thought I meant his 'soul' but I meant his body. Years later I read that the casket was in fact empty. I knew that then.
Peace to us all.

[hlthe2b]

36. When was JFK not in the casket?

I don't follow....:shrug:

[AngryOldDem]

34. I was 3 in 1963.

I was napping when JFK was assassinated, but I remember VERY CLEARLY Lee Harvey Oswald getting shot. It is the first clearest memory I have.

[oldlib]

35. I was thirty years old

and working as an Engineer at a Westinghouse plant in Thousand Oaks California. JFK's death was announced over the inter-com and shortly thereafter the plant manager led us in prayer over the inter-com. That was a very sad day.

[Scout]

37. i was just 4 yrs, barely for two month

i remember my mother crying.

i remember John Jr saluting, but not really sure if i remember seeing it live on tv, or just saw clips later and think i remember it.

i remember reading the book "Six White Horses"

[ThomWV]

38. High School, 11th grade History Class, the announcement came over the PA

The President had been shot.

Twenty minutes later, The President is Dead.

Thirty minutes later, school closed.

[LWolf]

40. I was 3, too young to remember. nt

[LiberalAndProud]

41. Can you remember remembering? I was 4.

I do remember when Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed and I remember remembering the killing of the president then, but I have no memory of the day.

[bermudat]

42. I was in 5th grade in Mtn. Home, ID

The teacher left and returned to the class crying. We all were sent home. Back then almost

all the mothers were stay at home, so there was no problem releasing kids before the end

of the school day en masse. Still remember to this day.

[Major Hogwash]

43. Which proves that all of our children's children will remember the start of the Iraq War

And we will have another generation raised while a war is raging in a foreign country - just like during the Vietnam War.

Stop the wars - we are ruining our children!!

[arthritisR_US]

44. I was 8 and remember it clearly. n/t

[CRK7376]

45. I was 5

and ticked off. My afternoon tv shows and weekend cartoons were wiped out over coverage of the death of JFK.

[Spike89]

46. Me too!

I was barely 5 and I told my Mom that "the man" was in the way of my cartoons...I don't recall if there was reporting going on, just that the local station had a full screen image of the President's face. It might actually have been for a short time (seconds), or minutes, the memories are pretty fuzzy. I do know that huckleberry hound and quickdraw mcdraw were supposed to be on.

[Octafish]

47. Six years of age.

My pops was in the Navy and we were heading home for Thanksgiving by car. The news came over the radio. We stopped and he called the base. They told him to turn around and we headed back.

I also remember thinking upon hearing the news, "Things will never be the same." That memory, however, may've been added in the intervening years. It has held true. It has held true.