I Was There!

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Just remembered one, so I will add it now...

1. Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
2. 50th Anniversay of D-Day in Normandy (not as important as D-Day itself, but still a significant ceremony).
3. Operation Iraqi Freedom (whether it will be famous or infamous is uncertain, but it is a major historical event).
4. Unfortunately saw the Challenger disaster while on a school trip.
 
more i wasn't there !
was working in Oxford and was going into london to buy my wife's birthday present, anyway my headchef asked me to work and he would give me an exta couple of days of the next week so i could spend more time at home(was working away from home at the time).
couple of hours later the train i was going to be on crashed at paddington station with quite a few people killed !
my wife knew i was going into london and didnt know i was at work all day so she was beside herself with worry until i called !!!!
 
Lived a pretty dull and uneventful life so far I guess.

Was at the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends in Ohio back in Sept. 2007. Probably the largest gathering of P-51's to ever be assembled in one place since WWII and ever again?
 
I was at the beginning, in country, of Operation Just Cause when it was called Nimrod Dancer through to the end of hostilities. Actually sat with Dan Quayle to watch the superbowl game when he came to visit us.

I was part of the first active duty troops called to LA for the LA/ Rodney King riots.

I was there when the first shots were fired for Iraqi Freedom. Noticed our planes we coming back empty. :)

I was part of the first joint exercise between the U.S. Army and the 1 Div. Japanese Ground Selfdefense Force called Orient Shield.

I was one of the 1/27th Inf. soldiers selected to travel to Osaka Japan to visit the Wolfhound Orpanage. Received the key to the City of Osaka from the mayor. Looks like a gold tie clip with the city symbol in the middle.

Was part of a detachment sent to Malaysia to teach the Malays how to kill tanks at night. They were afraid of Vietnam because they had lots of tanks, that we had left behind, and nobody else in the region had any. Had a Dragon night site on my back when we traveled through the airports. When we went through customs, told them it was a fancy camera. :)
 
LA Riots - the day they started I had 4 guys pull up to me and ask if I was a cop (I was wearing a shirt and tie) When I replied "no" the said "good," showed me a shotgun and drove off. This happened in North Hollywood.

Northridge Earthquake - my main commute was on Hwy 14, the freeway overpass that collapsed. I became very creative in commuting between my house and the San Fernando Valley.

OJ Simpson's Chase - Saw him fleeing from the police.

I was in the first 50 cars to cross the Verrazano Narrows Bridge connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn. November 1964.
 
Was? What are you now? The SON of a diplomat? I know Vegas is wild but... :lol:

dad was a diplomat, no longer though he's retired and is now a lawyer. I'm still his daughter, just no longer a daughter of a diplomat. I guess I should have said the daughter of a former diplomat.

after 12 hours at work, it could have come out a lot worse than that!!!!!!!!!:lol:
 
I think there've been a few, some not particularly significant, but two spring to mind. The first was October 1973, and just about to leave for the flight back to the UK from Germany, having completed a large NATO exercise. Then the second Israeli war kicked off, someone hit the 'Oh Sh*t' button, and we were turfed off the transport and put on stand by.
The second was one particular night in December 1988. I was driving back to Cheshire, after a business trip to Glasgow. It was dark, cold, and damp, and I'd decided to get on my way a little earlier. After about forty five minutes of driving, a sudden bright glow appered in my rear view mirror, just over the crest of the hill, about five or six miles behind me.
An hour later, maybe less, the car radio announced the crash of an aircraft at Lockerbie.
 
Oh, come on Wayne. Must have been a shark attack or prison escapee you've been to? I heard you personally knew the lady who uttered the immortal words, "A dingo took me baby!". :)
 
Well, it isn't much that I can come up with here:
- photographing colleagues at the royal wedding in Copenhagen, 2004 (Crown Prince Frederik and miss Mary Donaldson from Tasmania got hitched - I watched the ceremony on the telly when I got home, as I guessed that it would've been hopeless because of the crowds, to get some even half-decent pics of the happy couple).

- photographing colleagues and cars at the clearing of the infamous Youth House in Copenhagen in 2007, which led to some of the worst riots in Copenhagen in later years.

- a very small part: Putting flowers and lit candles in front of the American Embassy in Copenhagen, on Sept. 11th, 2001.

- concerts: U2 at Gentofte Stadium, Pink Floyd in Parken, and a few other occasions not really worth mentioning.
 
Nothing I've been witness to personally (nothing that made world headlines and could be considered an historical event, anyway), although I do remember the day the Challenger exploded (was in the 6th grade, going in to Math class). Another time, I had gotten up early one Saturday morning and was just sitting around my apartment in Round Rock ( just north of Austin, Texas) when I heard this quiet, but deep boom...I was chatting with a friend (now my wife) in Rockwall (just east of Dallas, Texas), and found out that the Colombia had just exploded upon reentry.

While in the Navy, I was aboard the USS Drum (SSN 677) when it was rammed in Hong Kong harbor by a freighter...probably closest that I've come to death in the military (that I know of, anyway).
 
Historic events I've attended....hmmm....lets see..... ah yes....my birthday ! (No seriously, I have agreat memory...I remember going on a picnic with dad and coming back with mum :lol: )

I have seen the TSR2 fly but that was long time ago, late 60's at least. Historic ? ...well it was to me !...before the Train-wreck that was the then British Government, decided to scrap it.

And more recently, that absolutely fantastic, almost unrepeatable GOML 2007 (That was without doubt THE airshow to attend !), This was a historic show for numerous reasons.

Ummm...errrrr...oh yeah, we where amongst the last service families to leave Aden during the troubles back in the sixties (grenade through the front window on one occassion and a bazooka shell next door, fortunately both times, no-one was in, but a hell of a mess was left behind...I was five at the time (Used to go to school on buses with armed soldiers and escorted by Landrovers carrying more guns than you could shake a stick at !)

Was at the last ever RAF sortie of the venerable Wessex chopper (think Choctaw) at RAF Akrotiri back in 2003.

And more recently... I joined this great site in Dec 08
 
Saw the last Flight of the Cf100, Voodoo and Dak in the Canadian Forces , saw the last Vulcan flight in North America it was such a good flight the aircraft busted his spar and now is a gate guardian in Goose .
Was interviewed by every newspaper in the world when Double Eagle transited our teminal , saw the Space Shuttle as it sat on the 747 0n its way to Paris airshow . sang a song to Roger Whittaker, pissed off John Travolta
 
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I saw Neil Armstrong and buzz Aldrin together at the 2002 Reno Air Races...

That was cool

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