Ms. Ribbens picked up the chalk and swiftly wrote the current date on the board. “Today, children, is a very special day,” she said. “Today, Wednesday, January 7th, 1953, is a day all of America will remember. We, the United States of America, have finally produced an efficient—“ There was a vibration pulsating through the school. I could hear the walls rattling; the ground shaking. Susie McCormick, a young girl in my third grade class, was screaming hysterically, her hands sheltering her ears from the noise.
I was standing up when I first heard the air raid sirens.