Minding my own business, and it's 50 years later.

On July 4, 1976, I was not long out of college and I was on the Naples Monitor masthead as “Photographer and Reporter.”

Daily papers in the office browsing bin carried front-page stories about the U.S. bicentennial — the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

Other stories included ones about New York Harbor where a parade of 16 majestic tall ships from around the world paraded and where President Gerald Ford rang a ceremonial bell aboard the USS Forrestal and delivered a nationally televised speech honoring U.S. naval history. That included an international naval review and Blue Angels aerial demonstration.