Newspapers are full of stories about the technical accomplishments, scientific Cold War competition and daring of man’s first landing on the moon 40 years ago. All that is fascinating and worth recalling, but what I recall most is the sense of accomplishment that we, as mankind, experienced together back here on Earth.
I recall exactly where I was for certain historic events during my life. I was sitting in junior high school in Arlington, Va., when Kennedy was shot. I was skiing in the Austrian Alps when the Challenger space shuttle exploded. I was standing half-naked in my living room in Boston when the World Trade Center collapsed. And I was camping on a beach near Livorno, Italy, when man first landed on the moon.
Each of these events had a transcendent human aspect to them. Each was felt as a seismic world-changing event by most of the world’s people. Each of these events connected us, regardless of nationality, as people — through sorrow, shock or joy.
Forty years ago, I was camping through Italy with my grandfather and my younger brother. After driving up from Naples, we parked our VW van, set up our tent, unfolded tables and chairs and set up our camp stove. Then the process of finding the water spigot, the bathrooms, the showers, camping supply store and camp bar was always a ritual followed by fixing dinner.
Tents, especially in beach campsites, were packed closely. Neighbors became friends, sharing necessities like salt, butter and an occasional, extra desert. Our next tent neighbors might have been from Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium or some Scandinavian country. Campsites were (and still are) an amazing cauldron of nationalities where smiles, sharing and cooperation are normally the rule.
At dusk, as lanterns were being lit around the campsite and campers gathered at public wash sinks cleaning dinner dishes, a caravan about 25 feet away set up a small portable black-and-white TV outside on their camping table. Word spread quickly through the campsite that there was a TV and that the moon landing was scheduled to take place in less than a hour.
Campers began migrating to the small black-and-white TV set up under an awning. Old and young came pulling up chairs and stools and bringing their bottles of wine, beer, soda and water. A kind of international camperspeak was the main form of communication — Italian mixed with English and German and Dutch and French to allow everyone manage.
The tension around that TV was palpable as the lunar module separated from the command module and began its descent to the lunar surface. The group held its collective breath as the dramatic touchdown began to unfold.
When Armstrong announced that “the Eagle has landed,” that was a collective cheer. Everyone literally jumped with joy.
“We did it!” The crowd of about 100 or so cheered. “We did it!”
We campers, of all nationalities, were hugging each other. Some cried, but everyone smiled. The elation swept through the campsite across others who had been listening intently on radios across the sandy beach inside luminous green, blue, red and yellow tents.
“We did it!” Not, the “U.S.A. did it,” or “America did it,” but “We did it!”
The entire campsite stayed glued to their TVs and radios until the lunar module took off and reconnected with the command module. Then there was a community sigh of relief.
The lunar landing was a triumph for the world, a triumph for mankind.
Where were you when man first landed on the moon?
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
