Skip to main content

Where Were You When Neil Armstrong First Set Foot On The Moon?


The date was July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon at 20:17:40 UTC according to NASA. (For those who like precision, Neil stepped onto the Sea of Tranquility0°40′26.69″N 23°28′22.69″E / 0.6740806°N 23.4729694°E / 0.6740806; 23.4729694 based on the IAU Mean Earth Polar Axis coordinate system.) I will never forget that date and time because I witnessed this historic event at 3:17 pm in the induction center at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri. It was a very odd moment in my life. I had left my wife early that morning in a very frightened and emotional state by herself in Milwaukee; travelled all day by busses without airconditioning in 100+ degree heat; met up along the way in various little towns with what seemed to me at the time to be a very ragtag and slightly dangerous bunch of fellow draftees; and then arrived at Leonard Wood to the welcome of a bunch of screaming Drill Sargents just 30 minutes before Neil's famous landing. Mostly because the Drill Sargents wanted to watch the Apollo landing themselves, our induction class was spared quite a lot of the normal torture of a first night in boot camp and allowed to stay in the company mess hall and watch that historic event for several hours. I was thankful for the chance to see that historic event and came to appreciate & respect all those fellows in my company very much.
One last thing. Many people forget that Apollo 11 took off from Earth during the Woodstock concert in New York. I wasn't a hippie, and I wouldn't normally have even been aware that Woodstock was taking place except for one other small detail on that odd day in July 1969. It turned out that one of my fellow draftee's had gone AWOL in a previous boot camp and decided to try to make it to Canada via New York. He heard about Woodstock, decided to stop and see it, got stopped by the police for speeding, was sent back to Leonard Wood and sat next to me in the mess hall watching Neil step on the moon. Then they sent him to Vietnam. I can't remember his name, and I have no idea if he made it back or not.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Forty Years

My wife Joy and I celebrated our 40 th wedding anniversary this past weekend with our children and grand-children. We were on lovely Sea Island, Georgia watching this spectacular sunrise and wondering how it was possible that forty years could have gone by so quickly. We had a lot of fun telling all the old stories about how we met, and courted, and married, and brought up the kids. Lots of laughs and a few tears as well. We've been through good times and bad together. We've both worked hard, had a few disappointments, but basically have accomplished mostly good things. We've had good health, loving families, good friends, three fine sons we're very proud of, wonderful daughter's-in-law who are perfect for our boys, and four of the best grandchildren ever. Life doesn't really get any better than that. We've really been blessed and we thank God for that. Now we're working to keep our health and live to celebrate forty more.
1 comment
Read more

Barry Schwartz - The Paradox of Choice

MediaPost Publications - Americans Get More Channels, Watch Fewer Of Them, Especially Broadcast - 03/13/2006 Ironically, Barry Schwartz spoke at PC Forum last night about the Paradox of Choice, and what did I wake up to this morning. Another possible example of too much choice in the channels people have to choose from on television. I wonder whether the "a la carte" crowd has thought about this problem. I'll have to ask Prof. Schwartz about that today.
1 comment
Read more