Readers Remember

Our young family was watching the grainy TV transmission of the U.S. astronauts preparing to land on the moon in 1969. My husband and I were transfixed by the whole mind-boggling event, but the children were getting antsy during the long delay before the actual landing. Our 12-year-old son finally got up and went to the door, and I said in disbelief, “Aren’t you going to watch this?”

He said, “Nope. I’ve already watched this a million times on TV. And the picture was a lot better!”

Already, fiction production values were becoming more important than reality coverage.

KAY WATERS

From the Internet

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On July 20, 1969, I had just settled my wife and our children next door to her parent’s house in South Carolina as I prepared to leave for my new Air Force assignment. This was one of our last days together, and we had driven to Florence to see the new hit movie, “Hello, Dolly!”

As we were returning home and driving down a two-lane highway, the full moon was centered over the roadway ahead. We were listening to the car radio and heard Neil Armstrong’s “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” as he made that first footprint on the moon’s surface.

It was an awesome experience for us to hear that as we looked at the full moon from which he was speaking.

ROBERT J. BRUN

Redlands

What do you recall most about the 20th century? In 200 words or less, send us your memories, comments or eyewitness accounts. Write to Century, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or e-mail century@latimes.com. We regret we cannot acknowledge individual submissions. Letters may be edited for space.