I mean something outside your personal experience. I don't mean remembering being in Kindergarten at 5. I mean an event. Like for me it is seeing on TV the coverage of the 1956 conventions.
I also remember hearing this reported:
The last known Civil War veteran was Albert Woolson, a Union Army drummer boy from Minnesota, who died on August 2, 1956, at the age of 106. Woolson's death was a significant event, and he is recognized as the last surviving veteran of the war, on either the Union or Confederate side.
And I remember when Disneyland opened as we lived 5 miles away

My earliest event memory is the JFK assassination. I was 3 at the time and I think I remember it because my mother was very upset. I remember asking her why she was so sad and I remember the front page of the newspaper.

Sputnik, October 1957; I was in the 1st Grade (Age 6). TV news coverage with newspaper stories giving times of satellite passing over in orbit so to go out and watch the moving light.

At the time, I didn’t understand what it all meant, and why some folks had a worried look. Later I figured it out; if the Russkies could put a basketball in Outer Space, then what was to stop them from putting something bigger and much more deadly up there flying over us.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 2BobTanner,

One of my earliest was the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.

Another was watching the tragedy unfold on TV with the 1972 Olympics.

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
One of my earliest was the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.

Same.

Another one for me is watching Walter Cronkite reporting on the Tet Offensive.

Elvis dying on the crapper 1977

For some reason my parents had decided to go the grandparent's house in Ill.we usually only went on week-ends. At the time we lived in St.Louis, Mo. but while on the way everyone was honking their horns like crazy. I asked why and Mom said everyone is happy because the War is Over! That was 1945, a mere few years ago LOL. That, my friends, is my first memory of a real-time world event.

Cuban Missile Crisis.
Week after my birthday.

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
One of my earliest was the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.

Same.

Another one for me is watching Walter Cronkite reporting on the Tet Offensive.

^^^
Same for me regarding the 1969 Apollo Moon landing and the Vietnam War.

And now to make you all feel old, watching the fall of the Berlin wall on TV.

I didn't understand what was going on, but everyone seemed quite pleased.

Maybe it’s a personal event and doesn’t count, but I recall discussion about the Korean War because there was a possibility my father would have been sent there. I would have been about six years old.

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
Sputnik, October 1957.

I had forgotten that, but remember it now that you mentioned it. 11-YO at the time.

Vague memories of the Cuban missile crisis.
The one that immediately came to mind was the JFK murder.

I generally have very poor memories of life events—except for the screw-ups, of course. Impossible to forget them.

My uncle Austin dying in a plane crash. I was six and he was a very fun uncle / cowboy from central Utah. The man took me on camping trips (with other young cousins), let us shoot .22s, and taught me how to ride a calf. Herding a bunch of six year olds was a special personality trait Austin had. He contracted for the Utah state govt. culling coyotes shooting them from the back of a Piper Cub. I was told his pilot flew up a canyon that climbed faster than the aircraft. That is the earliest I remember crying at a funeral. I still miss him.

I’m in the camp of the moon landing and the Munich Olympics.

Also the Roots mini series.

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
Sputnik, October 1957; I was in the 1st Grade (Age 6). TV news coverage with newspaper stories giving times of satellite passing over in orbit so to go out and watch the moving light.

My parents were on the back porch enjoying the starry night sky. They saw a light moving across the night sky. Next day Sputnik was announced

Elvis dying or Star Wars being released. I don’t remember which came first. Either way, I was 5.
May 25th, Star Wars it is.

The JFK assassination.

The Mercury astronauts, especially Shepard and Glenn.

I think mine was the RFK assasination in 1968. Remember mostly my parents shock.

As far as public events, Sputnik and then Alan Shepard. The space race was a big news item during that time.
I recall news stories from the early days of Vietnam with Walter Cronkite but not a specific event. Also Khrushchev banging his shoe on a table at some event.
About 3 years before that (spring of 1958), my Grandfather died of a sudden heart attack on an outdoor walk not far from our house and my grandmother was with him, so that was a traumatic and memorable event (I was about to turn 5).

My earliest memory is when I broke my leg climbing a large planter and it tipped over
I was two.

I have some personal life memories going all the way back to still being in the crib. The earliest outside event memory that I have is the Sputnik launch on Oct 4 1957 because it happened on my 3rd birthday and everyone was excited about it. That day was also my parents 10th wedding anniversary.