Former military installations

[Gumby]

A quick trip down memory lane for the veterans. Name some US military installations where you were either stationed or passed through but which no longer exist. Memories and anecdotes invited. I'll start:

Rodman Naval Station, Panama
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Puerto Rico
Naval Training Center Orlando, Florida
Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine
Naval Station Charleston, South Carolina
Naval Submarine Signal Station Annapolis, Maryland
Naval Support Activity Holy Loch, Scotland

 

[gayl]

Hamilton AFB, Novato CA

 

[JPatrick]

Fort Wolters,Texas

 

[Gumby]

Hamilton AFB, Novato CA

What did you do there?

 

[REWahoo]

McCoy AFB, Orlando FL
Goose Bay AFB, Labrador
Naval Air Facility, Adak Alaska
Glasgow AFB, Glasgow Montana
Torrejon AFB, Torrejon de Ardoz Spain
USAF Officer Training School, Medina Base Annex, San Antonio Texas
Mather AFB, Sacramento CA
Castle AFB, Merced, CA
Pease AFB, Portsmouth NH

 

[Gumby]

McCoy AFB, Orlando FL
Goose Bay AFB, Labrador
Naval Air Facility, Adak Alaska
Glasgow AFB, Glasgow Montana
Torrejon AFB, Torrejon de Ardoz Spain
USAF Officer Training School, Medina Base Annex, San Antonio Texas
Mather AFB, Sacramento CA
Castle AFB, Merced, CA

I guess Tan Son Nhut was not techically a US facility, but I'll bet you were there.

 

[friar1610]

NAVCOMMSTA San Miguel, Philippines
NAVSTA Subic Bay, Philippines
NAS Cubi Point, Philippines
Clark AFB, Philippines
NAS South Wemouth, MA
NAS, Quonset Pt., RI
Seabee Base (forget official name), Davisville, RI
Dow AFB, Bangor, ME
Limestone AFB, ME
Pease AFB, NH
Moron AFB, Spain
(wasn't stationed at all of these but am a retired Navy guy from New England)

 

[REWahoo]

I guess Tan Son Nhut was not a US facility, but I'll bet you were there.

No, that's one I missed. I did spend some time at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Kadena AFB, Okinawa and Andersen AFB, Guam. Plus Osan AFB, South Korea.

 

[samclem]

McLellan AFB (Sacramento, CA)
Lowry AFB (Denver, CO)
Clark AB, PI (okay, not US, but . . .)

 

[Gumby]

I see no anecdotes so far, so I'll start. In 1983, my submarine (the USS George Washington SSBN-598), having transited the Panama Canal east to west, was tied up at Naval Station Rodman. At the Officers Club that night, I led my wardroom, and several other young naval officers, in singing a selection of Beatles' tunes for the assembled crowd. I had a great time; I can't speak for the crowd.

 

[Gumby]

No, that's one I missed. I did spend some time at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, Kadena AFB, Okinawa and Andersen AFB, Guam. Plus Osan AFB, South Korea.

Were you part of Operation Linebacker or Rolling Thunder?

 

[Sanstar]

Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center, Denver, CO
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, DC

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

OCS at NAS Pensacola
NAS Brunswick, Maine
NS Roosevelt Roads

Everywhere else I was stationed is still open or just changed its name. I also visited Fort Sheridan in the 80s when my uncle was there.

 

[aja8888]

Lowry AFB, Aurora, Colorado (1965)
Orlando AFB, Orlando, Florida (1966)
Hahn AB, Germany (1966 - 1967)

 

[skipro33]

Norton AFB, San Bernardino, CA
Shemya AFB 3rd to the last island in the Aleutian Islands chain.

 

[Red Badger]

RIP:
Lucius D Clay Kaserne- Garlstedt, Germany
Yongsan Army Base - Seoul Korea
K-16 Air Base - Song Nam Korea
Fort Deven - MA

In the late 90's, BRAC felled a lot of stateside installations.

 

[braumeister]

I must be the poster child for closed installations. These are the ones I can think of right now where I spent at least some time:

Hancock Field, NY
Watertown AFS, NY
Griffiss AFB, NY
Suffolk County AFB, NY
Stewart AFB, NY
Montauk AFS, NY
Saratoga AFS, NY
Lowry AFB, CO
McClellan AFB, CA
St. Albans AFS, VT
Bucks Harbor AFS, ME
Charleston AFS, ME
Benton AFS, PA
Myrtle Beach AFB, SC
McCoy AFB, FL
Ent AFB, CO
Chidlaw Bldg, CO

Tan Son Nhut AB, Vietnam
Bien Hoa AB, Vietnam
Cam Ranh Bay AB, Vietnam
Don Muang RTAFB, Thailand
Hofn AFS, Iceland
Rockville AFS, Iceland
Keflavik NAS, Iceland
Howard AFB, Panama Canal Zone
Rhein-Main AB, Germany

Anecdotes? Yeah, i got a million of 'em.

 

[REWahoo]

Were you part of Operation Linebacker or Rolling Thunder?

No, I was in a very indirect support role at the time. Most of my time in SEA was after those operations were over.

 

[aworkingrachel]

Army Brat here. Was too young to know the official names of places sometimes.

Giessen, Germany
Aschaffenburg, Germany
Babenhausen, Germany
Fort Monmouth, New Jersey
Fort Snelling

The places we lived in Germany were in the process of closing down when we lived there (early and mid 90s), which was a weird experience.

- My brother's last day of sixth grade was the last day that school was in operation. He went back more than a decade later, and found the same fliers, etc., posted on the outside of the abandoned school. It was like it had been frozen the way it was in his memory.
- Most of the schools my brother attended K-12 no longer exist, including the high school he graduated from. He's only 33!
- My fifth grade class had about 100 students. By the end of sixth grade, we were down to 45.
- At least half of A-Burg was closed off when we lived there. It had been a base, but was now just a housing area. Lots of overgrown buildings behind high fences--spooky!

 

[Snafu]

Ft Devens, MA
Leighton Barracks (3ID), Wurzburg, Germany
I believe Schweinfurt, Germany is also long gone

I was in Germany about a year ago and all that is left of the base in Wurzburg is the stone gate.

 

[Bigdawg]

MCAS El Toro
MCAS Tustin
Stewart AFB is now an ANGB.
MCAS Miramar was USMC in the 1940's then went NAVY until 1997 when the Corps took it back.

 

[Out of Steam]

As a civilian employee, rather than a veteran:

Cameron Station, VA
Fort Monroe, VA
McClellan AFB, CA

 

[razztazz]

I must be the poster child for closed installations. These are the ones I can think of right now where I spent at least some time:

Hancock Field, NY
Watertown AFS, NY
Griffiss AFB, NY

Anecdotes? Yeah, i got a million of 'em.

You were at Handjob Field AND Griffiss? So was I. We might even have been in the room together. Small World.

--ALL of assignments except one are closed -- The ones that didn't close out entirely have had the mission handed over to contractors or Air National Guard.There are a few bases I transited at one time or another that are still open.

All those Cold War radar shacks in Alaska are robots now. The missile warning/Space tracking station is still there and operating but is Alaska Air National Guard now. Fort Lee Virginia is still there but the little Air Force Base near the trash dump and the back gate has been closed for 35 yrs now.

 

[Bamaman]

My hat's off to the veterans and their families that have suffered through move after move to support the freedoms we take for granted.

 

[H2ODude]

Wasn't in the military, but spent a good bit of time at Turner Air FB in Albany GA turning it into.... a brewery! (Miller). Worked for a consulting engineer on the project and we got quite a kick out of some of the left over manuals and imagining what life had been like at the height of the the cold war. This would have been around 1980. Not trying to hijack but now live about 20 miles from another Miller Brewery we built in 1976; they just closed it down.