I enlisted in the Navy in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam war.  I discovered six months after enlisting that my draft number was #1 so I saved myself some time as it turned out.  As well, by enlisting I was promised the opportunity to travel.  That’s one promise they kept!  While I was not by any stretch a fit for the structure of the military there were benefits.
In July 1969 I was stationed in Sicily and working as a clerk in the base legal office.  We heard a rumor that the Secretary of the Navy John Chaffee was going to visit Sicily.  After a quick visit to the base he and his entourage were scheduled to spend a day in Taormina, a spectacular Greek city and tourist resort on the north end of the island.  I volunteered to be his driver because I lived off the base and had been to Taormina several times and knew the roads pretty well.  It was frankly a surprise when I got the assignment.
There was a caravan of cars and vans packed with admirals, ranking officers, journalists and aides.  Some of them had a mild interest in the history and sites of Taormina but sadly most of them were more interested in the clubs and night life.  By the time we had found everyone something to do that night there were very few of us left in the group.  Secretary Chaffee invited all of us up to his suite at the hotel overlooking the cliffs down to the sea.  It was a perfect night with the moon out.  Secretary Chaffee had a large monitor installed in his quarters and there was some buzz going around about a moon landing.  I stood in the back and waited to see what they were talking about.
The monitor came to life and there was the lunar module but with one difference.  This was not a commercial feed.  It was a military feed and we were getting the direct reports from the astronauts themselves.  Seconds after Neil Armstrong stepped on the surface Secretary Chaffee made a call to him and congratulated him on behalf of the Navy and the whole country.  I’ll admit I did not fully grasp what was happening but I knew it was important.  I knew I had a brush with history from the back of the room.

So when people say “where were you when we landed on the moon?” I have a good memory.