(Photo by AFP/Getty Images)
It was 31 years ago today the 60′s generation lost the last of it’s innocence with the murder of John Lennon. The Beatles co-founder was shot in the back several times while approaching his home at New York’s Dakota Apartments with his wife Yoko Ono. First word of the tragedy was announced on ABC Monday Night Football by announcer Howard Cosell who told America and the world, “An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City. The most famous perhaps, of all of The Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival.”
Word spread worldwide quickly and one week after Lennon’s death, on December 14th 1980, millions of people around the world responded to Ono’s request to pause for ten minutes of silence to remember Lennon. Wikipedia reports thirty thousand mourning fans gathered in Liverpool, and the largest group, over 225,000, converged on New York’s Central Park, close to the scene of the shooting.
In 1985, New York City dedicated an area of Central Park directly across from The Dakota as Strawberry Fields, where Lennon had frequently walked. In a symbolic show of unity, countries from around the world donated trees and the city of Naples, Italy, donated the Imagine mosaic centerpiece.
Every December 8th, a memorial ceremony is held in front of the Capitol Records Building on Vine Street in Hollywood, California. People also light candles and leave remembrances in front of Lennon’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and in New York at The Dakota and at Strawberry Fields Park.
We Miss You John!
Leave a Comment Below
print