It’s a question we all know well: “Where were you when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated?”
Those who are old enough often recall exactly what they heard, saw and felt as the news came across millions of crackling radios and black-and-white TVs.
Recollections of that day always include the mundane details of everyday life — school lessons, bridge games, grocery shopping, afternoon soap operas, hair appointments and church bells.
GALLERY: JFK at Brooks Air Force Base. >>
GALLERY: JFK - that awful day. >>
Some people, like Mary and Ira Watts of Fort Walton Beach, were embarking on a new chapter in their life. The young couple had just arrived at Eglin Air Force Base after being transferred from Abilene, Texas.
“The guard at the gate informed us that President Kennedy had just been shot in Dallas, Texas,” Mary said. “It was such a shock to us and was so hard to believe. We will never forget our first day at Eglin.”
For many in the military, the day brought an abrupt change of orders and widespread alarm.
Local businessman Jim Tucker was a 30-year-old infantry captain commanding a rifle company in Hohenfels, Germany.
“My unit was immediately placed on alert and we continued combat training,” he said. “There was no television coverage at that time, therefore much of what I see now is new to me.”
Bill Byerley of Shalimar was flying a RC-130B on a reconnaissance mission along the coast of Cuba when one of his navigators heard it on the radio. None of the crew believed him.
“We said, ‘No, you’re full of bull!’ ” Byerley recalled. “Then we got one of those super secret messages that takes forever to decipher, and basically it said to stay out on reconnaissance until we were on fumes.”
Byerley said information was scarce, which added to the uncertainty.
“Nobody knew what was going on, whether it was a prelude to an invasion,” he said. “It was straight panic from Washington, D.C. … I’ll never forget that day.”
Many civilians experienced the same fear and uncertainty as details slowly emerged that Friday afternoon.
Betty and George Schmitt of Shalimar got married that day in Fairfield, N.J.
“It was a very solemn wedding,” Betty said. “It was so sad. We went on our honeymoon the next day, and that’s all that was on the radio on the way to the Poconos.”
For Ann Kief of Santa Rosa Beach, the news came over a loudspeaker at her high school in northern Virginia.
“Everyone was speechless,” she said. “I remember wondering … like everyone else, what was behind it. I just remember feeling shocked, just disbelief.”
Others related strongly to the grief they saw play out on television as the president’s widow and children mourned in public.
For Laraine Van Etten of Fort Walton Beach, one of her most vivid memories was Caroline Kennedy kneeling at her father’s casket at his funeral.
“I can remember Caroline, in her little white gloves, fiddling with the fringe on the flag that draped her father’s casket,” Van Etten said. “My mom said to me, ‘There’s Caroline. She’s saying goodbye to her daddy.’
“That one moment struck a chord with me. In my mind, it wasn’t the president of the United States who had been killed; it was Caroline’s daddy.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari C. Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.