I would imagine every one of us remembers exactly where we were when we first heard the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center building.
I was walking down Second Street in Redwood Falls on my way to the Redwood Gazette office.
It was about 9:30 in the morning, and from across the street Jay Eykyn yelled over, “Hey, Rick, did you hear about the plane that flew into the World Trade Center building?” I said I hadn’t but guessed it to probably be no big deal. Boy, was I wrong.
Until that day, in my world at least, Sept. 11 meant it was my dad’s birthday.
There are only a handful of days in our history that are forever imbedded in our minds like 9/11. I suppose besides the horrific events of the day, the fact that the day is commonly known as 9/11 helps us remember the month and date it happened.
I have compiled a list of months and dates of a handful of events in our country’s history. Let’s see whether you can recall what happened on those dates without the help of Google.
The first one is easy: Dec. 7, 1941.
Now how about these?
Nov. 22, 1963
April 15, 1865
Sept. 2, 1945.
Nov. 11, 1918
March 30, 1981.
Give up? Keep trying. (The answers are at the end of this column.)
This Saturday is 9/11, or Sept. 11, now known as Patriot Day, which frankly hasn’t really caught on.
Sept. 11 is a day for so many of us in which we will pause and remember the horror of the day, the bravery of the first responders, and the heroics of people in the towers, at the Pentagon and on the planes.
So much of it we will never really know. So let’s continue to remember this day and so many other days that have affected our country and in many cases our way of life.
Answers:
Dec. 7, 1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor.
Nov. 22, 1963: President Kennedy assassination.
April 15, 1865: President Lincoln assassination.
Sept. 2, 1945: Victory over Japan; end of World War II.
Nov. 11, 1918: Armistice Day and end of World War I, now more commonly known as Veterans Day.
March 30, 1981: Assassination attempt on President Reagan.