The day after a date most Americans have no trouble remembering, right up there with the assassination of JFK (11-22), Pearl Harbor day (12-07), D-Day (06-06), or the Fourth of July. While I certainly have no memory of any date pertaining to World War II, I can recall Kennedy's assassination, though these memories are from the perspective of a boy in grade school. I can remember walking home from school that day and wondering why a girl walking with a group of girls behind me was crying. Aside from that, my main recollection of that time is that there were no cartoons to be found on television at all that weekend. In fact, it seemed to me that every time I turned on the TV I got yet another look at the cassion carrying the remains of our President through the streets of Washington D.C. Terribly dull stuff for a six year old boy with no real concept of what it is like to witness history.
As for September eleventh, I very well may have been one of the last people in the United States to even know that it happened. I was working third shift at the time, and after getting home from work I put in a load of clothes to be washed and made myself a snack. After I finished my washing I climbed into bed, and I did this at nine that morning, almost exactly as events were unfolding. After an eight hour shift in a factory I usually wanted only silence, as I did that day. With no television or radio going I was totally unaware of what was happening. I awakened at about four that afternoon, had a quick shower, tossed on some clothes, and headed for school, as I had a class that day. I noticed an undercurrent of tension and anxiety as I walked across the campus, but still knew nothing until I ran into a coworker and stopped to ask what was going on. He looked at me as if I was nuts and asked "You mean you really don't know?"
