At the time my father was stationed at Tripler Army Hospital at the end of our first tour. The hospital was also the location of the Episcopal services. Normally our Sunday was Sunday school followed by church services, we did not have a children’s church. We believe child should be with their parents. But on a summer Sunday July 20th 1969, there was no Sunday school; instead there was a single TV set and the entire congregation as we watched the approach and landing of the LEM. Now one expect me to reminisce about the wonder of the event, but in truth like most eight year olds I suffer from a short attention span. Still I know this was not an ordinary day, after the landing we might have said a prayer and continued with the service.
Later I was with my parents at home, I was almost glued to the tube was we watched Neal Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon. Now for an eight year old that was the neatest thing in the world.
Days after splashdown my dad took us to Perl Harbor to watch the USS Hornet pull in with the quarantine trailer.