BOOMER by Tim Engel (smallest ebook reader txt) 📕

committed to maintaining our promise to keep Lakewood beautiful through valuing our trees," says Mayor Raymond Coles.
Defining Moment
One year later was an event that we all remember. All of us Boomers. It was the day our President was murdered. JFK Assassinated we heard. Our Teachers were in shock; and soon we were as well. We were numb with disbelief! We had never been exposed to anything like this. I was 9 years old, I was in the 4th grade, I was James Whitcomb Riley Elementary School with the tons of blacktop.
Earlier this same year Mom and Dad took us down to Del Amo to see JFK drive by in his motorcade. Wow – there he was! Sitting up in the back seat of the Lincoln Convertible . Sitting on the back of the seat he looked right at us and waved. Right here in Lakewood! We felt ltruly honored and amazed to get to see JFK. He was a beloved leader; I didn’t know the difference between a liberal, a democrat, and a libertarian, but I knew I honored and loved the President.
James Sullivan wrote an article about JFK and the Beatles and shared that he felt they personified the 60’s. This article was written in 2003 on the 40th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination. And it states in part:
“Forever stranded on opposite sides of the grassy knoll, Kennedy and the Beatles together personify the 1960s. The British pop group's ascendance in America has always been credited in large part to the nation's yearning for a diversion from the mass grieving over Kennedy's death. The lost glamour of the Kennedy era was replaced by the frothy exhilaration and renewed possibilities of the Beatles' reign.
As the band and its fans evolved together, writes McKinney, the audience would "demand that they lie still as they are strapped to the slab and this surgery of symbology is performed under the white light of an international arena." Given the Kennedy analogy the writer has just made, it is impossible not to think morbidly, of the cadaver of the president lying still while a nation tried to make sense of both his murder and his meaning to the culture.
We have not stopped trying. From Don DeLillo's "Libra" to the "grassy knoll" episode of "The Simpsons," from San Francisco's punk agitators Dead Kennedys to a special-edition JFK G.I. Joe, which depicted the onetime Navy commander carving an S.O.S. into a tiny coconut, our popular culture is never far from our 35th head of state and the collectively memorized details of his life and death.
Images of Kennedy have appeared in "Ghosts of Mississippi," "The Right Stuff" and Oliver Stone's epic, problematic "JFK," not to mention the reunion hack job "Surviving Gilligan's Island." In "Forrest Gump," a digitally enhanced version of the late president says of his simpleton acquaintance, "I believe he said he had to go pee."It's something the real Kennedy might just have said. Habitually acknowledged as the first telegenic and truly media- savvy president, he recognized the immeasurable political capital to be gained from a well-tended appearance of folksiness. Images were paramount in the Kennedy White House -- of Jack casually tossing the football, however much his chronic back pain was killing him; of Jackie, impeccably dressed by Oleg Cassini, leading the famous televised tour of the White House; and most poignantly, of little John-John saluting his father's casket. “
I can never forget the horror of our teacher telling us about the President being killed. Adults do a pretty good job of ‘hiding’ their emotions. But when the time was right or wrong in this case, there was no hiding emotions. Their face was stoic, but you could feel the shock and horror emanating from every pore…or so it seemed.
I felt a pit of acid in my stomach. No one knew what would happen to us. Would this mean the end of our Country? What’s next? If the President could die, what about Dad? Or Mom? Or Tom? Or me? And who hated him enough to kill him? Didn’t everyone love our President? John F Kennedy. JFK. War hero. Author. President. Beloved.
In the years since so much has been written about this assassination. I remember walking around in a fog. No one had an answer. People were crying and sobbing. It was a tragedy. We remember JFK, but not FDR. Later we would see pictures and video of people who had found out about FDR passing. And they cried. They loved him. We loved JFK. It’s hard to explain. As a young boy I didn’t understand politics. I understood my family unit. I understood my school. I understood that we were in a war of sorts against an evil empire. Russia, the USSR. People who wanted us dead. Were they responsible? I don’t remember losing anyone in our family and this was like losing a family member.
So I was naïve, young, and inexperienced. This was death. This was loss, separation, sadness, shock and depression. Would we survive? What is next? Who is LBJ? He looks old. JFK was young and handsome and we thought his family was terrific. John John, Caroline, and Jackie. Camelot.

As much as we were saddened by the loss of our beloved President, we were completely psyched about the Beatles! Mom and Dad went and bought us their first album released in the states: “Meet the Beatles.” And meet them we did! One of my favorite things to do was cruise around on my green Schwinn Sting Ray bike (see photo above) with my transistor radio blaring the latest in fine music. Whether it was the Beatles or the Beach Boys – I loved em all. But just as the death of JFK was a horrible tragedy – America (and I think most everyone) fell for the Beatles. The boys from England, the mop tops. They were young, different, had a new sound and accents. How could we resist?

John, George, Paul, and Ringo. Meet the Beatles. They were quite young when they came to America. 19 to 21. And America embraced them and their music. The British invasion. Interesting. We had fought for independence from England and now they were invading with musicians. The mop-tops. We thought they were great. I must admit, we even bought Beatle wigs! Yep. Thinking of that now I believe we must have looked ridiculous with those things on our heads. On the other hand, now that I’m follically challenged, I think it might not be so bad. LOL.
This was music you could dance to; music that made you want to move! “I wanna hold your hand.” Now that’s a song! The boys from Britain certainly spoke from the heart…they spoke that feeling every boy had about girls. Even though when we were younger they were’icky’ and had cooties. But as we matured we did want to hold their hand. We did want them to love us – “love love me do”.
“Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you…”. “Tomorrow I’ll miss you; remember I’ll always be true.” This is what was on our hearts and this is what the girls wanted to hear. And hear they did. The screaming was an indication of their popularity. The boys formed in 1960 in Liverpool England. The Beatles were perceived to help drive the social and cultural revolution of the 60’s.
Did their music move us? Oh, yes – I would say. You couldn’t help get excited when you hear a Beatles song. I’m sure that Mom and Dad didn’t hesitate when they went to Wallach’s Music City to buy “Meet the Beatles.” In 1962 they produced “Love Me Do” and the rest is history. This song brought them mainstream success and they continued to make wonderful music together for the next 8 years.
In 1967 they released Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I was 13 at the time, and I remember getting this album from My Aunt Marie for my birthday. Wow – now, how cool is that? Rock and Roll music from your Aunt? This album came to be known as a masterpiece! They have sold more albums in the USA than any other recording artist. It was tragic that we lost John so long ago to an assassin. And George succumbed to cancer . But Starr and McCartney remain active and who would have thought that Ringo would mature and become ‘the handsome Beatle’?
DOUGLAS
From the time I could remember I had heard about Douglas. Douglas Aircraft . That’s where Dad worked. He built airplanes. Douglas Aircraft had started in the 20’s in the back of a Barber Shop. Donald Douglas was bitten by the aerospace bug and would grow his fledgling company into a giant. One that would play a pivotal part in the deadliest war ever - WWII. As many as 70 million perished throughout the world due to this conflict. It involved most of the world’s nations.
Dad was a mechanic. He helped assemble the airplanes. Dad hired in to Douglas in 1952. And at this time (1962) he was working on the DC-8. Douglas Aircraft was in the fore front of development of commercial air travel. From the 30’s into the 50’s – Douglas went through a progression of the DC-2, DC-3, DC-4, DC-5, DC-6, and DC-7. All piston driven aircraft. Even in these early formative years, the push was for continuous improvement. The public wanted safe, affordable transportation. And that’s what Douglas provided. Even though Boeing was first with a steel airplane in 1933 with their 247, Douglas held the lead during these years in commercial aviation.
The DC-2 was a twin engine 14 seater
This airplane came out in 1934. They enlarged the bird somewhat the following year and the DC-3 was born. The DC-3 would become one of the most successful aircraft in history. It was the DC-2 that provided safe, reliable, and comfortable air travel. KLM even entered theirs in an air race between London and Melbourne taking 2nd only to an airplane built specifically for the race. The military version was called the C-39. Wikipedia
The DC-3 came out in 1935. The speed and range of the DC-3 revolutionized the aircraft industry in the 30’s and 40’s. It had a huge impact on the outcome of WWII and many are still in use to this day. The military version was called the C-47.
In this picture C-47’s are lined up for the Berlin airlift. The American Airlines CEO Cyrus Smith called Donald Douglas and asked for an improved airplane. One that would replace the DC-2. What helped to popularize the DC-3 was the DST (Design Sleeper Transports) and in-flight kitchens. You didn’t have to do without now in air travel. And with a sleeper berth, you could even catch up on your rest!
Now an Eastbound trip from the West coast could be made