I was 17 and living in Chambersburg. I remember the evacuees coming into town, as we were told we were at the edge of ground zero and would be safe. They stopped serving milk at CASHS for school lunches b/c of sourcing from the Harrisburg and local dairies (fearful of cows eating radiated grass). Other protocols that we learned during Hurricane Agnes just 7 years before were practiced, such as having a flashlight ready, boiling water, finding the fallout shelters at school. We got most of our news from local media.
I was in a German class at CASHS and some Faust Junior High 10th graders and I went on a school trip to Germany during the evacuation after the first leak at TMI. We went by bus and drove right next to TMI on our way to JFK airport. I remember seeing the towers and being fearful that we might be contaminated.
As we boarded our plane, the pilot announced that there had been a second leak at TMI. I got scared that I would never see my family again but maybe I would be safe overseas. We landed in Luxembourg and went to Trier. There were actual street protests and graffiti on the sidewalk that said TMI – No! and related no-nukes messages in German. Since we were just kids, we started telling Europeans we were from Harrisburg and TMI and that we glowed in the dark!
I also remember Saturday Night Live did a skit about TMI – we thought that was something, that even the coolest TV show there was knew about us.
Diane
Diane sees HARRISBURG written on a street in Germany. At the bottom: 100,000 years, Harrisburg, My God! in German.
Diane – age 16