Spain, Any Americans remember Royal Oaks or Torrejon? (veteran, purchase, street)

[SM68]

Hello....my dad was stationed at Torrejon AFB from 1966-1968. We lived at 129C at the very top of the
hill. I have so many wonderful memories to share, but right now, I am trying to locate a few of my fellow classmates such as: Karen Crist, Kathy Workman, Janet Rodriquez, Shannon Holdridge, Karen Cooper and Rusty Craig. I had Mr. Gamer in the fifth grade and Ms. Conner in the sixth grade. My music teacher was Mr. Bird, he was an odd character, and oh, who can forget Ms. Greenlee! OMG! I remember walking up the stairs to go to class and there she was, holding a yardstick in her hand with a smerk on her face just waiting for somebody to act up! She wore bright red lipstick and granny glasses. Fortunately, she was not one of my teachers, but would love for those of you who had the misfortune to have her, share some of your stories here.
Evenings were spent going to the movies. I can't remember the cost of a movie back then but I think it might
have been around a quarter. We didn't have a telephone, but we had tv. I think someone told me that there were several American actors that lived nearby. Did anyone reading this ever hear this?? I am not sure if that is true or just a rumor. I learned to play chinese jump rope from a few of my friends and also learned to play tetherball!
So many sweet memories made there and happy to have found this site where we can reminisce about the good 'ol days and hopefully reconnect with some of our friends.
My name is Susan and if you remember me, please DM me.

[Teignmouth]

We were there 1957 to 1961. Really started the mind working. I can see school on base the ride home on the bus. We were in the Generalismo building for a short time. Remember looking out window and seeing the carts come by to collect trash being drawn by a donkey.

[Communication 76]

Hi. I am looking for a Mr. Smalls. He served in the US Army and was based in or around Madrid about 1976 and had a girlfriend named Pilar and they had a daughter the same year. I know that's not a lot of detail but it's all I've got. Any information helps. PM's please.

[Lesliebach]

Originally Posted by jichy

I was trying to see my old residence in Royal Oaks on Google Street view when I learned Torrejon AFB closed in the 90s and Royal Oaks was demolished! I was bummed out about that and looking for more when I came across this Memory site. I am amazed to learn how many other people have such fond memories of living in the Roaks. We lived in Madrid when we first got there and I remember we had rats in the bathroom and I played with the Spanish children with no language barriers ever getting in the way. We played Cops and Robbers with them as well and somehow we were always the cops... We moved to unit 31C and lived there from 1967 to 1970. I was in Ms. Hartzog's 3rd grade class in 1968 like Jerry and wonder if he remembers me. I wish I could remember a lot of names like so many of you but am limited. I remember we, my brothers and I, hung out with the Shetterlys. There was Erin, Kiko, Joe and about five more. They lived in La Moraleja and were children of an embassy employee. I often think of the huge pool that I got to swim on the swim team in and went to every day of summer. To this day I love swimming pools and think of it every time I enjoy a nice one. Remember the baby pool how it was a gorgeous piece of landscaping as well? I used to get to go some of the dances though I was too young because my mom would chaperone. "I'm So Dizzy"- "Yummy Yummy Yummy I got love in my tummy" "Jam up and jelly tight" on and on. The music of the era was one of the best things. And yes I remember the Candy Man with his huge satchel and the peddler in the caravan. Peepas and cases of drinks delivered weekly. I have spoken often of Sewer Hopping with no response showing any kind of understanding of how fun it was. No one else on earth has ever heard of it! Because of the great skill learned by my brothers I escaped a gypsy who chased me through the woods. I was able to cross one sewer that he did not attempt and when I reached the playground at the elementary school and looked back he was returning to where he came from! I just brought that story up to my husband a couple of days ago exclaiming how different my life would be if I had been captured. crazy... My siblings are all older than I am- Rebecca. Suzy, Ted, Rick Sawyer. My brothers would play war with me and on their own they would throw rocks at street lights and get in trouble with the Spanish guardia. They peed in bottles and tried to get people to believe it was wine. We used to ring doorbells and run. Our phone number was 743-- "La Moraleja-- diga me!" And the wonderful, sunny days running through the fields I will never forget. There was a hill with white letters on it-- anyone remember? Beautiful spot. The cathedrals and the Royal Palace. Yes, I am reminded of Spain often. So many things take me back and I had realized long ago that I look back on that time more then I refer to any other time and place in my life. I remember the iguanas we would put in the metal trash barrels to startle the next person to open it. I remember the Rastro and Navacerrada. I live in southern Wyoming and it gets cold and can be very hot and dry in the summer as well which somehow reminds me of climate of Spain. Even some of the landscape and the plateaus bring me back.

I remember...loved it .....Was there in the 70's....anybody remember pinky's bar.....the papa man???...

[Lesliebach]

I used to chase these 3 brothers home from the bus stop....throw clothes out the window and changed in pinky's bar....(that's why I got kicked out of Catholic school)....shoot rats down at the creek......hang out with the gypsys when they camped nearby....

[Grandkids]

Does anyone know the name of the Torrejon base housing outside of the main gate? They were four plexes with some tall apartment. I lived there from 63- latter part of 65. My sister thought it was Lottle America but I haven’t heard anyone mention it. Would love to hear from someone who lived there. Denise Smith, Marilyn and Carla Pendergrass, Mary Ellen Thompson. Hope I hear from someone. [email]kimvickersmears@outlook.com[/email] Thank you.

[williams8888]

I went to the catholic school as well while my dad was stationed there from around 1962 - 1965. Last name Ritchie with my 3 sisters. I have a few memories of being there. Does anyone know where the school was located.

[mreedtec]

We lived in Royal Oaks from 65-68 in Unit 127C. Up stairs,facing away from the pool. There was a tall rock wall in front of the unit. My brother David and sister Dena went to MHS. I remember Doug Ramone, Damon "Dammit" Fletchall. Lisa, Lori, Lynn, Libbi and Lana Lentz, Debra Raymond and Colette Shoupe. The pool was what everyone talked about and the gullys across the street. The creek (open sewer) that ran behind the theater and the Guardia Civil (guys with machine guns and flat back hats). Pinkie the fruit/veggie guy on the 3 wheel scooter and the Fruiteria above the circle. Loved Royal Oaks, hated the walk to school. I remember that guys would get their bands together and play at the pool snackbar on weekend nights in the summer.

[mreedtec]

Originally Posted by Dadarby

Indeed. In the majors. Played with the Trojans and was part of the team that went to Frankfurt Germany to try and qualify to go to Williamsport for the Little Keague World Series. We got beat the first game by some kid who had a roundhouse curveball that we could not hit. He tossed a perfect game. One and done. I want to say 1966/1967. I was a catcher and pitcher mostly. The coaches son was the other pitcher. Remember hitting 3 homers in one game a bouncing one off the centerfield scoreboard.

I remember Daryl Jorgenson plated for the Rebels. He was a lefty and had a wicked fastball. Ran into him in 1968 in Tucson, AZ, after we relocated. Also I remember Henry Marshall, a kid who was a stud, played for the team with green colors. Can't remember the name. He went on to a big career in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs. I remember watching a football game in the 70s, late 70s I think it was, and up pops a picture and the announcer mentioning it was Henry Marshall. I sort of freaked out, I said to the person I was watching the game with, I played Little League baseball with that guy in Spain.

So many other memories of living in RO. Playing organized basketball in the gym. I played for the Owls one year, and the Squids another. With the Owls we were really really awful. With the Squids we were a little better. I remember hating, a team called the Royals, red uniforms. They seemed to have all the really good players. I remember one kid I think his name was Whitey Kilgore, his dad was a colonel. I really hated those guys, they always beat this snot out of us.

I remember playing tackle football on the outfield of the baseball field. With the older kids, with no pads or helmets. That was a whole lot of fun.

Also remember the french fries in the cellophane bags we would buy I think for $.10 at that food place across from the gym.

Buying and smoking Viceroy cigarettes. Sewer hopping. Hiking to what was described to us as a bombed out monestary from the Spanish Civil war. Driving to school sometimes with my dad in the early morning, he was the base golf course superintendent, and listening to Radio Caroline. I heard The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" for the first time. One particular other song burned into my memory was a version of "Stepping Stone" by a band called "The Flys".

A friend by the name of Albert who had an older brother called "Pooch" and drove a motorcycle. Late night seeing the "Guardia" walking in pairs through RO with what I was told were machine guns under their capes. Nobody messed around much in Franco's Spain.

Also riding horses up at the stables. One horse I remember was a paint or pinto, his name was Apache. I remember this horse had a particularly nasty disposition and liked to bite.

I also remember getting drunk for the very first time with a kid by the name of James Shirette. Not sure on the last name spelling. I think i was 13/14 at the time. We drank really cheap wine. I got so sick. He shared my love for all things rock 'n' roll. He had one of those Sears Silvertone guitar and amp packages that we used to play all the time.

I had my first three teenage crushes there. One young lady by the name of Bernadette Hohl. She had a bunch (10 I think) of brothers and sisters. A second young lady Candy Kendall, met her at the swimming pool. I remember hanging out at her house and listening to the song "Lies" by the Knickerbockers. She lived across the street. She had a brother named Ray. I think we lived in #219 or 222 and she lived in 206.. A third, had a twin sister. Can't remember the names. I want to say one was a Carol but not sure after 50 years. I do remember going to the movies with her once in Madrid, and saw "Fantastic Voyage".

So many memories. Dances at the teen club on base and the bus rides home on those blue bird uses. Who got lucky ad paired up and tried to sit in the back. Telling the driver to take the long way through RO so we could some extra time. Taking the luxury tour buses to and from school on base every day, and what girls we would try and sit near or next to. Going to downtown Madrid to the guitar store it was called Lecturiaga. We would catch a taxi at the front gates to some plaza, can't remember the name, and take the Metro to the store. Getting a Hofner 12 string there. Learning to play the guitar from a Kingston Trio album that had chord diagrams and lyrics.

Playing softball during recess and lunch at the junior high. Beating the high school kids as an 8th grader in intramural football. Big game, everyone was there. I think I scored a touchdown, might have been the winner. Playing basketball at the junior high on base on the concrete basketball courts with that really short PE teacher I thought was kind of goofy. I was 13 what did iWatching Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II, and the Ali/Floyd Patterson fight on 16mm film as part of PE.

When we lost the H-bombs when the B-52 and KC-135 collided in the med. the base was a ghost town for awhile. The Vietnam war. The Middle East 6 day war in 1967, heightened tensions.

Playing golf, a lot on base. Dad was the superintendent. The best French fries ever at the golf course grill. Hearing Sgt Pepper for the first time in '67 and buying the album for $2.50 at the PX.

I am sure I will think of more now that the juices are flowing.

Is this David Darby? I remember a David Darby, A Ronnie Morris and a Damon (Dammit) Flechall (sic). Jumping the creek. Riding bikes (banana seats and ape hanger handle bars). "The Hill" from the front of the pool down to the curve to the school. We lived in 127C facing away from the pool. There was a tall rock wall that was beside the road and the gullies across the street. Good times. I played baseball for 2 years. First year on the Picadors, then moved up to the Warriors. My brother Frank played for the Trojans.

[mreedtec]

Originally Posted by johndebpesce

Lived royal oaks 65-68 next to pool. My dad Catilleo”Pat” Pesce. Brother lifeguard there

We lived in 127C just south of the pool. Brothers David, Bruce, Frank, and Kevin. Sister Dena. Tony Turner was a friend in school. Had Ms Whitehead and I play baseball on the Warriors team. I knew a Ken Pesce while there. Any relation?