How many are old enough to remember UT?

[News Shooter]

August 1966. Live coverage. You could see the puffs of smoke coming from the tower.

And a true American hero emerged

http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/5/Martinez.htm

 

[Pilgrim]

I remember very well. I was in college sweating the draft.

 

[Twigg]

This was the first year

I realized there were bad people in the world. I was just 11 years old. I recall watching this happen on an old B&W TV.

What I remember most is my mother running into the room and shutting the TV off and yelling at me to go outside.

 

[95thFoot]

I realized there were bad people in the world. I was just 11 years old. I recall watching this happen on an old B&W TV.

What I remember most is my mother running into the room and shutting the TV off and yelling at me to go outside.

I remember reading in TIME (I was 9) that students ran to their cars, got their rifles, and were shooting back. If they tried that nowadays, the SWAT teams would kill them too. If they survived, their lives would be ruined for defending themselves.

 

[Garys]

I remember reading in TIME (I was 9) that students ran to their cars, got their rifles, and were shooting back. If they tried that nowadays, the SWAT teams would kill them too. If they survived, their lives would be ruined for defending themselves.

Probably not in Texas. They certainly view gun ownership and self defense differently than most people in MA do.

Gary

 

[Wingwiper]

I remember it very well too. I was 16 and I was very serious about joining the Marines. Once this happened, everyone began saying how the Marines bred Killers. It seemed there were other killings back then, where the Branch of service was implied to be the reason behind the killings. Gave NEW meanings to Baby Killers and Mama Rapers. Then when Kent State went down, even the National Guard caught Flak. It wasn't just anti-war groups but now it was very much Anti-Military. When I did go in, in 69, it was a very unpopular move, it wasn't at all uncommon to be spat on, have feces thrown at you or other garbage and called names or singled out. I think the Whitman ordeal was the embryo of the anti-military that we are still feeling today.

 

[Chris]

August 1966....

Two years and a month before I was around.

 

[daveInME]

Once this happened, everyone began saying how the Marines bred Killers. It seemed there were other killings back then, where the Branch of service was implied to be the reason behind the killings.

I remember that. I was in the NJ air national guard, and after the Newark NJ (and CA) riots, we had to start riot training as part of our weekend drills. a bunch of flyboys trying to learn how to stop riots...right

 

[M1911]

I remember UT. I've been to Utah many times.

 

[Marcus in the Darkus]

The Ballad of Charles Whitman

Lyrics by Kinky Friedman (recent candidate for Governor of Texas)

He was sitting up there for more than an hour,
Way up there on the Texas Tower
Shooting from the twenty-seventh floor. Yahoo!
He didn't choke or slash or slit them,
Not our Charles Joseph Whitman,
He won't be an architect no more.
Got up that morning calm and cool,
He picked up his guns and walked to school.
All the while he smiled so sweetly
And it blew their minds completely,
They'd never seen an Eagle Scout so cruel.
Now won't you think for the shame and degradation
For the school's administration
He put on such a bold and brassy show.
The chance looked right, it's adolescent
And of course it's most unpleasant
But I got to admit it was a lovely way to go.
There was a rumor about a tumor
Nestled at the base of his brain.
He was sitting up there with his .36 Magnum
Laughing wildly as he bagged 'em.
Who are we to say the boy's insane ?
Now Charlie was awful disappointed
Else he thought he was anointed
To do a deed so lowdown and so mean.
The students looked up from their classes
Had to stop and rub their glasses,
Who'd believe he'd once been a Marine.
Now Charlie made the honor roll with ease,
Most all of his grades was A's and B's.
A real rip snorting trigger squeezer
Charlie proved a big crowd pleaser
Though he had been known to make a couple C's.
Some were dying, some were weeping,
Some were studying, some were sleeping,
Some were shouting "Texas # 1!"
Some were running, some were falling,
Some were screaming, some were balling,
Some thought the revolution had begun.
The doctors tore his poor brain down,
But not a snitch of illness could be found.
Most folks couldn't figure just-a why he did it
And them that could would not admit it,
There's still a lot of Eagle Scouts around.
There was a rumor about a tumor
Nestled at the base of his brain.
He was sitting up there with his .36 Magnum
Laughing wildly as he bagged 'em.
Who are we to say the boy's in
Who are we to say the boy's in
Who are we to say the boy's insane ?

 

[rscalzo]

remember UT. I've been to Utah many times

I think they were refering to Charles Whitman and his murder spree at the Univ. or Texas.

 

[M1911]

I think they were refering to Charles Whitman and his murder spree at the Univ. or Texas.

I know they were. I should have a put in a smilie to indicate my sarcasm.

I think for most readers, however, at first glance VT would mean Vermont to them, not Virginia Tech, and UT would mean Utah, not University of Texas at Austin.