I usually have to mull over the weekly prompts for @ericvancewalton's initiative, Memoir Monday. I hit the jackpot this week: my answer to this week's prompt came to me instantly.
We are to answer the question "What is the first major news story you lived through as a child?" My first thought was not the assassination of JFK, even though that death preceded my chosen news story by a good three years. While I was aware of JFK's death, and could see that most people were freaked out, as an eight year old, I wasn't mindful of the news surrounding JFK's murder-on-high; I only knew that he had died.
Mostly, I didn't pay any attention to the news when I was a child. Life was all about heading outside whenever possible, finding places under bushes to use as hidden clubhouses, climbing trees higher than anyone else, jumping off swing sets farther than anyone else, riding bikes or skateboards, digging holes to China, dreaming of becoming an astronaut (no kidding!) and playing baseball in the neighbor's backyard. School was something I had no choice about, so I dutifully went. I don't remember doing very much homework in elementary school. Things were very different back then!
That all changed in sixth grade. In sixth grade I got a teacher I really liked, Mrs. Post, who was stern, yes, but also gave us interesting assignments. I started getting serious about school work.
Each sixth grade child was assigned a day to report to the class on the news of the day before. Most of the news in 1967 seemed dull, and I was afraid I would have nothing captivating to report. Even way back then, I enjoyed putting on a good show, and feared being boring to the point of being mostly silent. Luckily for me, I was assigned January 29, 1967 as my day to report the news. And I hit pay dirt with that date!
I remember being very excited that I would be reporting big news the day after three astronauts died in a fire aboard their space capsule, less than a month before they were scheduled to be launched into orbit.
I have no recollection of what I said that day. I know I brought a copy of the front page of the NYTimes, as pictured below. I can remember gravely holding it up to show to my rapt audience, while inwardly gloating about my good fortune at getting the biggest news story of all.
Anyone who follows me won't be surprised where my mind has gone on this event now, conspiracy theory minded that I am. I tried to find out how this could have happened; it seems impossible that an entire crew could have died while still on the ground and simply conducting a test.
I found the below, very lame, "explanation" in this article, which I had to use the wayback machine to find.
Because the test took place with the rocket unfueled, it had been considered non-hazardous and was not reviewed by the relevant safety organizations. Therefore, no provisions were made for rescuing the astronauts or treating injured crew members or pad crew in case of an accident.
And here is the article that appeared in the NYTimes if you'd like to read it. It's the one I crafted my brilliant report from.
Like after nearly all government-conducted investigations that have been conducted during my lifetime, there was neither a final nor a believable pronouncement of what, exactly, went wrong, even though there were several months of investigations. According to the results, the loss of three highly trained astronauts, and a whole lot of technology, was merely a senseless accident. The best scientific brains of that time couldn't figure out why it happened.
One has to wonder if it were not necessary to silence one or more of the astronauts.
This is my entry to @ericvancewalton's seventh Memoir Monday installment. Every week Eric posts a question about our lives for us to answer, in hopes that, after a year, the participants will have produced a valuable collection of memories.
In Eric's words:
Someday all that will be left of our existence are memories of us, our deeds, and words. It's up to you to leave as rich of a heritage as possible for future generations to learn from. So, go ahead, tell your stories!
