John Norberg met Neil Armstrong while he was a journalist for the local paper in West Lafayette, IN. They developed a friendship after several interactions and Norberg said he learned how modest Armstrong was, in life and about the moon landing.
"Several of us had a beer and pizza with Neil and Gene [Cernan] at a local place here, Bruno’s," said Norberg, an author of eight books including Wings of Their Dreams: Purdue in Flight. "Incredible experience to sit there for an evening with the first and last men to walk on the moon. Well, they talked about their friends, they talked about their families and their grandchildren. The one thing they never talked about was walking on the moon."
Even when Armstrong returned to Purdue as a war veteran to complete his degree, Norberg said he never bragged about his accomplishments.
Talking about Armstrong’s school years, Norberg cited two loves of his: his love to fly and his love for Wapakoneta.
"He flew a plane home from Purdue once there during his college years. He did some damage to it had a little problem. They had to put it on a trailer and haul it back. Course he got a lot of kidding for that. Wapakoneta was important to him it was an important part of his life."
Armstrong must have learned from early mistakes because when the two first met on the ten year anniversary of the moon landing, Armstrong said his ability to land safely on the moon should be the most memorable moment, not his famous quote
"He said, 'Really that wasn’t the important thing I said that day.'
I said, 'Well what was?'
He said, "the Eagle has landed.”
He said, 'It was very difficult to land that lunar module. Very difficult, we had never done it."
Norberg added that even after all their interactions there was still much he didn’t know about Armstrong until he saw the papers he donated to Purdue. Norberg does know that Armstrong has influenced students to come to Purdue to be the next generation to fly through space.
"I think the legacy he leaves us is how to conduct yourself personally. How to be a human being who cares about other human beings. And does not—is not self-centered."
Norberg shared so many more stories including the time Armstrong forgot a speech and doing something unheard of at a press conference. You can find the full interview on Eran's Facebook page.
