I Remember… (Part II)
Let me continue my outstanding memories of a lifetime. It probably is more fun for me than it is for my readers. However, I ended my last column with the Bay of Tonkin in 1964. Onward…
Summer 1965 we bought a split level cathedral ceiling home in Westbury. It had a Westbury Post Office but Hicksville Schools. In that house Lorraine gave birth to three children, Cara, July 1964 – twins, November 1966. Adam survived (Thank God) but his twin sister did not – and Gregg, January 1970.
June 1967 – “The 6-Day War” shocked the world. Moshe Dayan led a sweeping victory over the Arab forces. The Israeli Army’s triumph shocked the world.
June 1967 – “The 6-Day War” shocked the world. Moshe Dayan led a sweeping victory over the Arab forces. The Israeli Army’s triumph shocked the world.
Summer of 1968 – A series of assassinations filled the nation’s headlines. Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel. Riots in the streets of major cities followed. Robert Kennedy, while campaigning for president, was killed by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
In 1973 the Vietnam War ended. It was the first time of outright defeat for American troops.
Watergate 1973 played a scenario before the American public. This “break-in crime” was viewed daily before the entire nation for two or three years. Nixon tries to cover it up, but in August 1974, Nixon resigns. Gerald Ford becomes president.
Woodstock, NY 1968 clogs the highways in upstate New York with “flower people.” On a muddy field on a rainy day, thousands enjoy a concert of rock music to be remembered.
Iran Hostages – November 1979. The Iran government holds approximately 50 American hostages, during the Carter years. The first day, when Ronald Reagan is inaugurated the hostages are released.
Ronald Reagan, March 1981, is shot by John Hinckley Jr. He survives but James Brady, the Press Secretary, is badly wounded and spends the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
John Lennon, December 1980, is killed by a crazed fan.
The Berlin Wall comes down in 1989. Not long after, the U.S.S.R. is disbanded and Russia becomes an independent state again. P.S. Dates left out (D-Day June 6, 1944 – Allied soldiers storm the Normandy Beaches to begin the dissolution of Nazi powers. 1959 – the Brooklyn Dodgers travel to Los Angeles. 1962 – welcome the NY Mets to Shea Stadium).
On my 75th birthday I am surrounded by my entire family: three children, three sons and daughters-in-law and 6 grandchildren. I have been through my Biblical “3 score and 10.” What follows now is whipped cream and a cherry on the cake.
