Personal Historical Anecdotes Thread

[Hooahguy]

wow what a thread.

when the WTC was hit, i was in hebrew class when i was in 3rd grade. i didnt know any hebrew then, and when my teacher told us in hebrew what happened, i had no clue. i went on happily with my day until i got home, though about half the student's parents came to bring them home early.
when i got home my mom was watching the tv and crying, and i saw a video of the plane crashing into the WTC. i wasnt old enough to understand, so i didnt think of it. not until 4th grade when i really came to understand what it all meant.

when the Columbia exploded i was at home. it was the sabbath, so i didnt have access to tv or radio, so we heard it kinda late. the first thing that we heard was that the Columbia explosion. we were all in shock, because we were following it closely because of Ilan Ramon, first israeli astronaut.

but i would say the most traumatizing experience was in the second Intifada. in 2001, when there were a host of suicide bombings, tragedy struck when we found out that 2 of my cousins were killed in an explosion. when i first heard the news i kinda just sat there and stared. i knew that there were bombings, but i never thought that it would happen to someone that i knew, let alone a relative. we werent able to make it to the funeral, but the atmosphere in my house was as if we were at a funeral that lasted a week. but that wasnt it. though there were bombings, i went with a few friends to Israel in summer of 2002. we were in Gush Katif, and a Palestinian gunman (maybe there were two, i dont remember) just came out of nowhere.
i dont recall exatly what happened but i was scared out of my mind. there was a lot of noise and confusion and people were crying. soon the terrorists were killed and people started coming out of cover. i shouted for my friend. and then i saw him a few feet behind me and he wasnt moving. about a secondlater IDF medics were there treating him.
later that night he was dead.
i canceled the remainder of my trip, but we did stay for the funeral.
maybe ill go more into it later. im too emotional right now.