Personal Historical Anecdotes Thread

[CountArach]

11 years old doing something on powerpoint for math class. My teacher turns on the television just in time to see one of the planes hit the buildings and quickly shuts it off again. I didnt get what happend until my dad sat me down and explained it to me.

I was sitting in the living room of my then-house with my cousins, father and uncle. We rarely get to see them because they live inter-state, but anyway we were sitting watching some sport (Or cartoons, sort of hazy on that point). My mum walks into the room with my aunt and tells us to change to the news channel. I remember she said that the radio claimed it was the biggest terrorist attack in history. She also seemed quite worried because my grandparents were in New York on that very day doing touristy-things.

As it happens my grandparents had gone to see the Towers the day before and were planning on going back again later in the day of the attack. Fortunately they hadn't gone yet and were safe. However, they were in london on the same day as the subway bombing that occurred there... seems like someone was after them :/

I also remember the day of the invasion of Iraq. I was shocked that war had been declared while the weapons inspectors were still in there, but I stupidly decided to listen to talk-back radio as I did in those days. Someone was panic-mongering on there about Sadam having sent out thousands of infiltrators throughout Australia and the US who were going to start causing trouble with the outbreak of war. I was shocked because I wasn't all that discerning at the time (Being 13) and just assumed this guy was telling the truth. I was quite broken up about it and had to be comforted by my dad. I sometimes think back and wonder about what that guy was thinking and how shocked he was when exactly that didn't happen.

EDIT: As for ancestors I'll never forget one school assignment I had to do where I was to interview an immigrant to Australia who had a non-English speaking background about their experience. I interviewed my Jewish Great Grandmother from Hungary. I asked her about why she left Hungary and she had a bit of a wistful voice and a tear in the corner of her eye as she talked about the rise of Nazism in Hungary during the Interwar period. It was at that point that I realised some of the stuff she had gone through.

EDIT 2: Great idea for a thread mate!