"The Civil War."

 

- mcpapa

 

I studied a lot of Civil War history in college.

While it was well before any of us were thought about, the Civil War was the saddest era in this country's history and it's not even close. Makes me sad and nauseous just to think about it. More Americans died in the Civil War than in both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam combined. That was 2% of the population at the time, equivalent to 6% today. Two-thirds died of disease.

 

More men were killed in two days at Shilo than in all previous American wars combined. There were 23,000 casualties in one day at Antietam, while 7,000 or so men lost their lives at Cold Harbor, VA in just twenty minutes.

 

There was no anesthesia on the battlefield. Can you imagine having to have a limb amputated without sterile equipment and only a glass of whiskey and a bullet to bite down on? About 40,000 men were imprisoned at Camp Sumter in GA, a third of them died there.

Two out of every five of the Civil War dead were never identified. One out of five of the soldiers were under 18 years old. Family fought against family in many instances. And I could go on. This was only the beginning of the sadness. Let's hope we never repeat this madness.

Edited May 7, 20179 yr by Science Friction

9/11 and it's really not close.

The JFK assassination was a sad ordeal. The shock of the assassination, then the assassin himself murdered days later, followed by the grief of the funeral and with Kennedy's widow and small children a focal point of the media. I was a 9 year old at the time and it was fairly heavy stuff for me at that age.

 

9-11, Katrina, Oklahoma City, Sandy Hook were all extremely sad as well. The reason I chose JFK was it was my first experience with something that traumatic.

 

^

I named JFK in my first post because it was my first experience with a national tragedy like that, but there's no doubt the one that has left the biggest impact on me and was so emotional was 9-11. I was teaching a high school class that morning and when the news hit all the classrooms turned on their TV's to watch the events unfold. I'll never forget how quite the students were throughout the school. Just a sad and unreal day.

Beverly Hills Supper Club. May 28 1977. I'm 7 years old standing on Highland Ave in Fort Thomas watching Black smoke fill the sky. 165 souls lost. Remember like it was yesterday.

"The Civil War."

 

- mcpapa

 

Here's an actual unretouched photo from the first tragedy I remember:

I was too young for the Assassination of JFK and to be honest, though I recall some parts of seeing the news, the other murders of the 60's were lost on a child.

 

It's hard to pick just one so I will try some kind of Top 5:

 

5. Challenger Explosion. It was shocking because NASA had this down to a science. It was routine. Not since my toddler years had America lost anyone in the space program. And to add a teacher on the flight, a civilian, made it more tragic as I watched her parents see it with their own eyes.

 

4. LA in the early 90's. Watching the riots after the Rodney King verdict seems to blend into the OJ Simpson story for me and the shock of the verdict. It wasn't just the shock of the verdict thought; it was the reactions around the nation. It was the first time I think I saw the racial divide that I had never witnessed before and deep seeded roots of it that I naively thought was going away.

 

3. Oklahoma City. Like the above, I never knew there were such people who so hated the government of the US within our own populace that they could kill all those innocent people and children. I know the first thoughts were outside terrorists from Islam. But when the homegrown faces took the screen it shocked me to no end to see the level of evil some could perpetrate.

 

2. Newtown Massacre. The elementary school. Same type of school my wife teaches at. The horror. Around here the Virginia Tech killings were the bench mark of destruction. We knew kids at that school. It was a college not far away. I knew officers who spoke of guarding a room full of bodies with cell phones ringing from frantic parents whose children would never answer them. I clump the two together because both effected me so.

 

1. 9/11. The shock was unbelievable. I was on the phone with our future associate minister who was in Texas and planning to come up for an interview weekend the next week. He broke off the call cause his wife said a plane had flown into the WTC. I assumed it was a private Cessna or something. I wheeled the TV into the Church Parlor as my Secretary and I watched the drama unfold. Went to a Ministers Meeting that Afternoon and an older gentleman recounted a similar recollection from December 7, 1941.

 

Suddenly I remembered my Step-Father was travelling on business. He was fine but he was stuck as millions of others were.

 

Going to meet my wife and son at her school, it was tough to explain to an 11 year old and see his fear. Watching people choose to jump rather than burn was a horror I will never forget. I think it will scar this generation for life.

9-11 for me .. good post SF . Your compassion for people is clear . Have a great day from the right side of the fence

Sadly, there are too many to chose from.

 

Locally, I would agree with the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire.

 

Otherwise, 9/11.

I'm 33 years old. 9-11 is the one I'll remember for the rest of my life. I was a senior in high school. Can't think of anything that comes close to what I felt that day.

 

I'm the same age but was a Freshman in college but I agree 100%. Nothing comes close to that morning.

I have two that had deep emotional effect on me.

 

The first was the 1972 Olympic hostage situation in Munich, West Germany, in which Palestinian terrorists held members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage and killed them during the summer Olympics. I remember seeing the masked terrorists on the balcony of a building and the artist's rendering of the initial attack when they tried to burst into one of the dorm rooms. A 278 lb Israeli wrestler was successfully pushing the door closed against the attackers when one of the them shoved the muzzle of his gun through the door so it couldn't be closed. I imagined that moment in my mind several times. The reason I include it as American history is that there was discussion of whether our great swim Champion, Mark Spitz, was in danger because he is an American Jew. They hustled him out of Munich and to safety. That was the first time that "terrorism" registered on my horizon.

 

The second event is 9-11. I was about to leave for my office when my wife called me into the TV room and said Good Morning America was reporting that a plane flew into one of the World Trade Center Towers. I sat in front of the TV riveted to what they were showing and discussing. I saw the tower start to crumble as the news anchors were talking. They didn't see what was happening and talked on as it fell. I had a horrible, empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. I told my wife then that the next one would also crumble and that everyone needed to get out now--first responders and those who were employed there. When it fell too, I crumbled inside. That is definitely a defining moment for me.

We have the same 2 entries.

The 1972 Olympic Hostage situation was a dark, scary time that I vividly recall. I was living 2 hours away from Munich at the time, in Nurnberg. I remember the pictures of the masked men. "Terrorism" then became an ugly reality to be feared. Bomb threats and school evacuations became routine.

9-11 for me .. good post SF . Your compassion for people is clear . Have a great day from the right side of the fence

 

Thank you. Very much appreciated.

No question it's 9/11 for me.

I studied a lot of Civil War history in college.

While it was well before any of us were thought about, the Civil War was the saddest era in this country's history and it's not even close. Makes me sad and nauseous just to think about it. More Americans died in the Civil War than in both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam combined. That was 2% of the population at the time, equivalent to 6% today. Two-thirds died of disease.

 

More men were killed in two days at Shilo than in all previous American wars combined. There were 23,000 casualties in one day at Antietam, while 7,000 or so men lost their lives at Cold Harbor, VA in just twenty minutes.

 

There was no anesthesia on the battlefield. Can you imagine having to have a limb amputated without sterile equipment and only a glass of whiskey and a bullet to bite down on? About 40,000 men were imprisoned at Camp Sumter in GA, a third of them died there.

Two out of every five of the Civil War dead were never identified. One out of five of the soldiers were under 18 years old. Family fought against family in many instances. And I could go on. This was only the beginning of the sadness. Let's hope we never repeat this madness.

 

Here's a question.

 

Arlington National Cemetery is on the grounds of the estate of Robert E. Lee. It was confiscated by the union and converted to a cemetery. There is a very large section that is the final resting place of many of these Confederate unknowns. Their tombstones are different then those of the Union unknowns. There is even a memorial to the Confederate Civil War unknowns. Now that we (collective we) seem hellbent on wiping out all vestiges of Confederate history by removing all reminders to it should these bodies be exhumed and removed? Maybe the graves should just have the headstones removed? Should the memorial to the Confederate Unknowns be removed?

9/11 and Sandy Hook top the list.

I'm 33 years old. 9-11 is the one I'll remember for the rest of my life. I was a senior in high school. Can't think of anything that comes close to what I felt that day.

 

I'm just a couple years younger and was a sophomore. I feel exactly the same. I can still be moved to sadness over that day and it's been almost 16 years now.