52 Ancestors Week 4: Witness to History

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 4

The theme for Week 4 is "Witness to History." What historical events did your ancestor witness or live through? Don't forget that local history is just as important as world history!

It was always burning as the world's been turning.

“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” — plaque on lunar module.

    I think it's safe to say that landing on our moon was one of the most pivotal moments in our planet's long history. In the last one hundred years we've gone from looking up at the stars and dreaming about what was out there to identifying several Earth-like planets located in a solar system's "Goldilocks Zone". In the middle of all that, we fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's dream of landing on the moon by the end of the 1960s. It wasn't done because it was easy by any means. It was done because it was a challenge that we as a species was willing to accept. I'm just paraphrasing his "We choose to go to the Moon" speech here. It was just so epic. Sadly, he never saw that dream become a reality. However, a great many people did watch the moon landing on that fateful day in the summer of 1969 including several of my ancestors.

Lookin' dapper, Dad.

    In 1969, my parents were dating while history was being made. Like many Americans, they heard about the eventual moon landing thanks to newspapers, radio and television reports. While social media was in its infancy, word spread around the world that a great achievement was about to be made and so the world watched and waited in classrooms and in living rooms all around our small blue planet.

    Since they were in school at the time my parents vividly remember the teachers wheeling in a television. It didn't matter if they were in high school or college. All eyes were glued to the set as they watched Neil Armstrong say the immortal words "That's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind."

   I can just picture all of the cheers. It was indeed a cause for celebration! The space race aside, humanity needed a big win after the second world war!

     I can only imagine what it must have been like for them to be in that moment. My dad has long been a fan of the really bad science fiction movies like the kind "Mystery Science Theater 3000" would riff on and various classics like "The Day the Earth Stood Still".  He also watched the first "Star Trek" series! For him science fiction became science fact (la la la). My mom was likely thinking of her father, the former pilot. He flew planes that were considerably less advanced than a rocket. He definitely had some thoughts on space exploration!

    Robert loved planes and he loved to travel. He was definitely impressed by all the innovations that had been made in his lifetime. When he was growing up during the Great Depression, space travel seemed like a fantasy. I have to admit he was probably right. It was hard living in those days and the very notion of getting off of this rock seemed like something straight out of a comic book.

    When my brother and I were growing up, he told us about where he was when man first landed on the moon. Like everyone else he was watching on television at home. He often had this twinkle in his eye whenever he told that story. I like to think he was proud of what we accomplished. By "we" I don't necessarily mean just Americans. I think he was amazed by what we as a species did. We as a species have an inate desire to push our boundries. In his lifetime we had already mastered the skies. The final frontier was the next logical step for all humanity.

    Robert Hamel was always a man who looked toward the future and beyond his years. I mean he DID have his own e-mail address! Though, his computer was just for e-mail and that was it.

    I wish I knew what the moon landing was like for my other grandfather, Marco since he passed away when I was four and I obviously never got the chance to ask him myself. I suspect he might have had the same reaction as my father and grandfather. Not to the same degree he had obviously. Considering what I know of the man, I can make some reasonable assumptions.

    Marco was known as a builder. He built a motel, a dentist's office and helped to build the house I grew up in. He was all about building the best things for people. So, it's safe to say that he was probably impressed by the space program and its innovations.

    I'm not sure what he thought about my father taking an interest in science fiction. But, he probably liked it just as much as he did. Let's face it. Those old movies were entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

    Still, I'm willing to bet he also thought it was cool. I wish I could have been able to ask him about the space shuttles which were considerably more advanced than the rockets from the 1960s. Grandpa Hamel loved them and I can only imagine Marco felt the same way. Both men did have experience with planes. Marco had been a paratrooper and Robert flew planes. It is a mystery. However, I like to think that he was watching along with grandma Ollie and her sisters at the time of the landing.

   A few months after the landing Ollie, Marco and my great-grandfather Vincenzo  went to Italy and Switzerland to attend my cousin Caterina's wedding.  It's a safe bet that they discussed the historic event over espresso.

    The moon landing was a huge deal for people all around the world and it's safe to say that it inspired generations of people to continue expanding our knowledge of the great unknown. In the years since the landing, we've landed rovers on Mars, sent probes into the farthest reaches of our solar system and even downgraded Pluto to being a dwarf planet. Sigh. We can't win them all can we?

    As far as my ancestors who watched Armstrong and Aldren are concerned, they were pretty much glued to the television set at the time. They all had great memories watching the event in class or at home with their loved ones. The moon landing proves that not all historic events needed to be disasterous. Some can help a generation feel like the future won't be so bad after all. There are endless possibilities when you witness a historic event that brings people together. You get a sense of hope and accomplishment knowing that your world will be in good hands when you leave it. The moon landing will always been one of those events where you remember exactly where you were that day and it gives people positive feelings and stories to share.

    Who knows what the next major historic event like the moon landing will be. What event will inspire us like landing on the moon in 1969 did? Time will tell. The future really is the undiscovered country and I can't wait to see what comes next.

See ya next time!

"A whole world looks to see what we shall do.We cannot fail that trust and we cannot fail to try." -- John F Kennedy's "New Frontier" speech, set to Darwyn Cooke's "Justice League: The New Frontier".