“ I moved to Florida with my family in April of 1969 and turned 21 about three weeks later . On July 20 , we visited Busch Gardens – not far from where we lived , and it was a frequent , fun destination . After touring the gardens and brewery , I was standing in line at the hospitality house — about to enjoy one of the benefits of becoming legal age — when an announcement came on the intercom that the Apollo 11 lunar module , the Eagle , had landed on the moon . Ironically , I was standing near a sign with the familiar Anheuser-Busch eagle logo . Shouts went out , and everyone was excited to hear the news . Although I never drove to the Cape to witness a launch , I ‘ accidentally ’ saw one from Clearwater Beach . While laying in the sand with my radio on to hear the launch countdown , I just happened to look between two motels and was thrilled to see a tiny rocket lifting into the clear blue sky . Those were very exciting times for the United States space program and the American people .” — Deborah Barnard
“ We remember exactly where we were during the moon landing – at Dennis ’ s parents ’ home in Philadelphia , sitting on the living room couch with ( Dennis ’) Granny in between us . We had married seven months previously . Patricia was in graduate school in English at Michigan State University on an NDEA fellowship , and Dennis was in graduate school in astronomy at the University of Michigan on a NASA traineeship . ( No , he was not in training to be an astronaut .) Granny was born in 1895 . As we watched the astronauts walk on the moon , Granny told us that , as a little girl , she had heard her uncles talking at breakfast one day about two brothers in North Carolina . In Granny ’ s lifetime , it had gone from the first flight at Kitty Hawk to the landing on the moon .” — Drs . Dennis and Patricia Marks
U . S . Rangers , their faces painted with grease , listen to the Apollo 11 radio broadcast at Tan An in the Mekong Delta before setting out on a dawn raid of enemy hideouts in Long An province , north of Saigon , July 20 , 1969 .
July 2022 | Valdosta Scene 21