Re: How many of you have gone back to look at your old bases and found them half torn down or closed
Marc Hebert, funny but we lived at 40 Pine Circle from 1957 to 1965. The Smiths lived in your half of the unit at 42. We also lived in 6 Pine Circle in 1956 where Rick Quesnel lived, but we moved to 40 after a year when my mum discovered she was having twins. There was a hay field behind 40/42 which caught fire one year. The light poles on the street had fire alarm boxes mounted on them so my brother ran out and pulled the alarm. The woods were full of poison ivy and there was rumoured to be a farmer who we called "farmer brown" who would shoot you with his shotgun full of rock salt if he caught you on his land. I'm sure this was just an urban legend as there was a similar story at Cold Lake. Don't remember a creek but there was an irrigation ditch on the east side of the PMQ area. Sadly, 40/42 burned down sometime in the late 90s or early 2000s and they demolished it, along with the brick buildings that each had about 5 townhouse-like units in them. The fields out back are full of new townhouses and the fencing that we sometimes had to climb over to get to the gypsy store is all gone.
Re: How many of you have gone back to look at your old bases and found them half torn down or closed
Hi Fellow brats. Dad was in the Air Force and we were posted at Moncton, Churchill, Falconbridge, and Baldy Hughes. Had the same experience when I took me wife back to Falconbridge to show her base. Not only was it much smaller than I remembered but run down. Like all of you moving continually and not building life long friendships has its negatives and pluses. I would like to hear from anyone who was stationed in Falconbridge between 1960-64
Re: How many of you have gone back to look at your old bases and found them half torn down or closed
Merl,
This forum doesn't seem to get much activity nowadays. Most people seem to have moved on to Facebook. Two Facebook sites for former AF brats are the Facebook site that goes with this CAFBA forum, and the C.F.B. Base Brats group https://www.facebook.com/groups/base.brats/
There are also some Facebook groups for specific bases like Cold Lake and Rockcliffe.
Cheers,
Bill
Re: How many of you have gone back to look at your old bases and found them half torn down or closed
WOW! We lived at 42 - 1972-1980...my dad was André Hébert...he was known in the community as a hockey coach. There was a dirt road right behind our house. On the right side of it was a creek - I remember catching tadpoles and minnow. There was a field and then woods. The field froze over some years and it was a huge ice surface. We played in the woods after the field and sometimes crawled under the fence to go into "forbidden territory" beyond the base...but never too long! The pool was our summer hangout...they had a "summer school" program...theatre...gym...we would go to St. Jean each Friday night to play hockey...life was simple and fun...no internet or PS whatever they call it...reel-to-reel movies (my dad was a "qualified" operator of the movie projector at the theatre)...then there was TeenAires (the hangout when I entered the awkward teenaged years...Styx-Led Zep-Pink Floyd...It's all coming back now...I was in the military as a career...was posted in St. Jean...went back to St. Hubert one time to "reflect"...very strange feeling...could even remember a certain smell at the elementary school...smell was still there-unbelievable.
