Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire So, 50 years ago....

I was sitting under a large tent at Tam Ky International Airport, sippin' some water out of a canteen. OAT was around 110*, or that's what the thermometer claimed. There were two radios in action, one being the AM portable that was spewing AFVN news, sports and weather along with a little rock'n roll for the troops. They interrupted the program with an announcement and played a clip of Neil Armstrong's famous "one giant leap for mankind" message. About 30 seconds later the operations radio belched and the flight lead reported that his scout had taken hits in near proximity to Hiep Duc. That was my platoon leader, Cpt. Pryor he was talking about.

The irony was stunning....

So, what were you doing on that "small step" day?

I was sitting in a barracks room at Pensacola NAS, having reported to Naval Aviation OCS 5 days earlier, polishing brass and shoes. Our DI, through the kindness of his heart (we heard that many a time) had granted us permission to slip Taps to watch Armstrong walk on the moon. Sometimes, it just seems like yesterday.

Never made it to VN. Didn't have that kind of class trip. Graduated in '70 and wasn't called. So I was a junior in High School and had a Thai "brother" as a foreign exchange student for that year. He is now a retired senator from Thailand and I am now a semi-retired Corrections Officer. I remember watching the televised portions of that event and remember Tuan taking photos of the televised action on the moon. Te rest is history but did your PL make it back? I lost a lot of friends some in VN and some because of it. Be Well DD. Rusty

I was almost 10 and glued to the black and white TV. I was sitting cross legged and fidgety as the time delay for sound transmission was driving me nuts. I remembered watching the last of the Mercury launches a few years earlier and was space crazy since then.

Mom was 10 years and a month away from crapping me out.

I was 9. Watched it that day on my Grandparents B&W TV set.

I was on holidays with my family, we were staying at my great aunt and uncles farm up above the town of Rock Creek B.C., we all sat in the front room watching this momentus occasion, so as amazing as it was for me, it must have been more so for their generation.

Yes he did, but the LOH didn't fair too well as I recall. Ungrateful fella used to snarl when I called him "Moonwalker".

We were on vacation and I was 8. We had poor reception and the rabbit ears on the old black & white TV were doing their best, but we could see it. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was 17 and working my summer job. My service truck didn't have a radio, but I got to see some of it at a house where I was working on the phone.

I was 14 and in the small town of Fabens where my grandparents were living at the time...I'd spend lots of weekends with them in the summertime. The kid across the street there, his dad had a multitude of rifles of all kinds and was into reloading and hunting. I spent time over there with my friend when I could (some of our misadventures were legendary) and that's where I was when I saw Armstrong step out of the lander and onto the moon on television. That whole day was somewhat surreal to me...it just seemed to overwhelm my imagination. I watched a great deal of the Gemini and Apollo coverage in those years and took it all in stride, up until they had one of the missions orbiting the moon around Christmas (had to have been 1968, huh?) and that one was difficult enough to comprehend, but when they crossed the finish line 50 years ago today it was just more than I could really wrap my head around.

My dad belonged to the Second Company Governors Horse Guard a mostly ceremonial calvary unit in Connecticut. At the time of the moonwalk we were at an amusement park for the Guards summer outing. I was nine. Remember hearing it on the radio.

I was riding around Cedar Bluffs reservoir in western Ks, drinking beer with a good friend, and listening to the event on the radio. We were six weeks out of high school. I was not drafted and drew a high lottery number.
That friend went to Nam. He was not physically wounded. However, mentally and emotionally he was a completely changed person. Our paths took very different directions. Have seen him a couple times in the last 50 years, Really don’t know him in his changed state.

Hyfercating warts off the hand of a 12 year old dependent at Columbus AFB, Ms

just got in high school at 15 years of age, but made the the last draft at 18 my number was 267 and service was only taking too draft # 67 so i did not go in service. and that was a bad mistake in my life i have always wished i would have went in the service,many of my friends were in the service. now at 65 its too late but do i get to hear some great stories even the unwritten ones of Carlos Hathcock. a good friend another sniper who was stationed at the Whitehouse on the roof said this : one mourning i was on the Whitehouse and food there was good and got orders to pack up President Bush senior is sending the 1st troops over seas and your going ,next mourning he was in the sand over seas ,so for the next 40 some days he was in a sand bunker hot ,dirty and eating those nasty MRE`s in his words and after 8 full years and going to many countries as sniper and wounded once left the service for good. but i sure get to here some great true stories ! and GOD BLESS all Veterans ! Pete53

I watched it on my parents' tv in Atlanta, I was 19 years old. The previous week I had driven down with 2 buddies and we saw Apollo 11 launch.

I remember it well ! Performing long overdo mini gun barrel changes and maintenance in our sweltering gun shop since we had flown continuous three day CAS missions along the coast patrolling an inland POL pipeline from Qui Nhon harbor.

Sounds like you had a few customers.

I returned from RVN in Feb. and was all healed up and working as a Lifeguard on Huntington Beach, Ca. while deciding which PD to join. Interesting times for many reasons. It was a rare positive event in a country in upheaval and teeming w/ filthy hippies. Living in a beach town surrounded by blondes in bikinis was therapeutic.


mike r

I am mildly disappointed we have not been back, but note no one has tracks on the moon besides our own.