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People(Veterans) who accompanied Parents of the Military to a overseas assignment and conus assignments, today is National Brats Day(April 30th).
Also, it is the last day for 'Month of the Military Children'.(April)
I am a Proud Military Brat & Vietnam Era Veteran.
April is designated as Month of the Military Child; a time to honor the sacrifices made by military families worldwide, with an emphasis on the experience of the dependent children of military members serving at home and overseas. Month of the Military Child is sponsored by the Department of Defense Military Community and Family Policy and supported by many other organizations such as the DoDEA.
Last edited by txwolfman; 04-30-2020 at 01:03 PM..
The USAF still has a few schools in the UK at Lakenheath which also serves Mildenhall and Feltwell, as well as Alconbury High Schoolwhich also serves Molesworth, however a number of US DoDEA closed after the end of the cold war and the withdrawl of many USAF and US Navy units.
Among the UK DoDEA schools that closed after the end of the Cold War were Woodbridge High School serving the former twin bases of Woodbridge and Bentwaters, as well as Upper Heyford Hgh School and the London Central Elementary High School which served the large US Navy Command in London, and at West Ruslip, as well as the US Bunker Command unit at Daws Hill in High Wycombe.
Daws Hill in High Wycombe was originally the HQ of the US Eighth Air Force during WW2, before becoming a USAF Cold War HQ Command with a deep bunker and then after the Cold War becoming a US Navy base until 2007 when it was closed. The bunker and many of the buildings have now been given special historic status and are protected, as is a lot of Upper Heyford, which is also seen as an important part of Cold War history.
PS - there were a few smaller High Schools such as Greenham Common which was only open a few years and Menwith Hill which was closed due to the fact it only had around sixty students.
Those at smaller bases (or in the US Navy) in the UK usually sent their children to the well rated London Central Elementary High School which was a DoDEA day school as well as a DoDEA boarding school until it's closure in 2007. The London Central Elementary High School was one of only a few residence hall operations the DoDEA operated in relation to the students of US personnel stationed in a number of countries and other bases around the UK that were not large enough for their own school.
The London Central Elementary High School and Daws Hill was close to the prestigous fee paying Wycombe Abbey Girls Boarding School which now owns the historically protected US Daws Hill former military site which they use for storage and maintenance, and have even started paid tours of the bunker and other areas.
Last edited by Brave New World; 05-01-2020 at 09:01 AM..
I was a military brat (grew up in the enlisted ranks of the Air Force) but had no idea yesterday was National Brats Day -- I would have celebrated!
Oh, and we were stationed in England when I was a kid -- 1967 to 1970 (for me, 3rd to 5th grade), Alconbury Air Force Base. We actually lived on Angus Court in Peterborough, which was leased by the Air Force for military families. (It's apparently back to being private housing now -- I've looked at it on Google for fun! ) We went to school on both Alconbury AFB and Molesworth AFB -- now THAT was odd, as at least one year, I went to Molesworth but my sisters went to Alconbury.
Anyway, I will be forever grateful that I grew up in the military, despite how hard it seemed to me as a child. It gave me resilience and independence and those are great to have in this day and age.
I was a military brat (grew up in the enlisted ranks of the Air Force) but had no idea yesterday was National Brats Day -- I would have celebrated!
Oh, and we were stationed in England when I was a kid -- 1967 to 1970 (for me, 3rd to 5th grade), Alconbury Air Force Base. We actually lived on Angus Court in Peterborough, which was leased by the Air Force for military families. (It's apparently back to being private housing now -- I've looked at it on Google for fun! ) We went to school on both Alconbury AFB and Molesworth AFB -- now THAT was odd, as at least one year, I went to Molesworth but my sisters went to Alconbury.
Anyway, I will be forever grateful that I grew up in the military, despite how hard it seemed to me as a child. It gave me resilience and independence and those are great to have in this day and age.
Alconbury has changed a lot, they have built new housing and offices on much of the old air base, and there are plans for the reamaining US personnel to move, with a possible new base at Moleworth in the offng. The nearby US base at Upwood is also being domlished to make way for new housing.
My Granmother lived near Cambridge, and I used to visit her.
Btw the base at Alconbury was well known for being haunted, whilst the US bases at Bentwaters and Woodbridge were close to Rendlesham Forest where a famout UFO sighting occured.
DH was an Army brat for his h.s. years (step-dad was Army). He attended Karlsruhe American h.s.
Our boys were Army brats their entire growing up years. Their experiences were a little different since DH's mos was small and there were only a few places he was stationed, so they had ready made friends wherever we went.
They had a good time growing up and both joined the Army.
I'm a Army brat by my father , retired Airborne. He was in Korea and Vietnam.
My husband retired from the Air Force , a few years ago. I miss military life.
We lived at RAF Mildenhall, then years later, RAF Lakenheath.
I miss all of the places that I read about here. I remember RAF Feltwell and the big white balls there, the radio communications radors.
RAF Menwith Hill , up North, had even more of them.
He took me to where Woodbridge used to be. I miss living on different bases and seeing planes fly over everyday.
I miss hearing reveille, retreat, and taps on the loudspeakers everyday and all of the different military exercises on the different bases.
I still remember the Alpha phonetic alphabet.
Last edited by Pumpkin mouse; 05-01-2020 at 09:38 PM..
Reason: Grammar mistake
I'm a Army brat by my father , retired Airborne. He was in Korea and Vietnam.
My husband retired from the Air Force , a few years ago. I miss military life.
We lived at RAF Mildenhall, then years later, RAF Lakenheath.
I miss all of the places that I read about here. I remember RAF Feltwell and the big white balls there, the radio communications radors.
RAF Menwith Hill , up North, had even more of them.
He took me to where Woodbridge used to be. I miss living on different bases and seeing planes fly over everyday.
I miss hearing reveille, retreat, and taps on the loudspeakers everyday and all of the different military exercises on the different bases.
I still remember the Alpha phonetic alphabet.
Menwith is still there with even more big white balls, as is Fylingdales which is now a big pyaramid on the North Yorkshire Moors.
The spa town of Harrogate which is not far from Menwith is very pleasant, as is the hiatoric town of York.
Feltwell still does space reccon, and still has it's big white balls, and Croughton also has big white balls, as do sme other bases.
Woodbridge became quite famous due to the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident, today it's a British Army Barracks and is due to become home to the army’s new Counter-Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear units based around 28 Engineer Regiment.
During the Cold War, the US built a secret long-range over-the-horizon (OTH surveillance) radar base near Woodbridge at Orford Ness, it was codenamed Cobra Mist and was designed to bre the equivalent of the Soviet Duga radar (Woodpecker) radar station near Chernobyl in Ukraine.
The US also had a base at RAF Chicksands with a AN/FLR-9 radar nicknamed the elephant cage radar, that was used to pick up Soviet Communications by the US. Chicksands is still a British military intelligence base to this day serving as the Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG), although given that part of the base is a Chicksands Priory that dates back to 1150, I am sure there have been few stories to tell over the years.
The so called US Military Brats from Orford Ness went to Wodbridge High School, and the US Brats from Chicksands went to Alconbury High School.
Today US students in smaller bases away from the main US High Schools are usually funded by the DoDEA in order that they can attend local private schools and gain international qualifications.
As for Rendlesham forest, so you can now walk your dog and look out for aliens at the same time.
Before the US base ar Daws Hill closed in 2007, the US military student brats from London Central High School were granted permission to hold a Halloween Party in part of the bunker, and a few of the walls became covered in Greek and Arabic as a result, so they weren't just brats they were geeks as well.
Among the military brats in the UK were James Mercer who spent time at Mildenhall as his father was in the USAF and later formed the band 'The Shins', as well as the members of the band America who met at the London Central High School. Charles Baker who played Skinny Pete in 'Breaking Bad' was also a former student of the London Central High School, althougn the school closed in 2007 after the US Naval Command was moved from the London area to Naples in Italy.
Last edited by Brave New World; 05-02-2020 at 04:31 AM..
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