NAS Lemoore, CA March 19-20, 2013

When Charlie completed Naval Flight School and got his wings, his orders were to Lemoore. The first map we looked at didn't even have it. We had to get a bigger map! It was a tiny place and doesn't seem to have grown much since. Now the base has expanded a lot. Navy Housing is a whole city in itself and the Hospital, Exchange and Commissary are new and modern.
Many things happened while we lived there. 2 Vietnam cruises, Christine's birth, Mig 15 kill, traveled to San Francisco for the carrier return to the states to meet Charlie, and lots of parties! I especially remember one New Year's Eve party at our house. Catherine had her first Sunday School experience and I remember making a watermelon whale (with fruit in it) for Jonah at a Church Women's luncheon where each table needed to have a biblical theme. The girls and I made a gingerbread house for Christmas and kept it until Charlie returned in February.  My sister JeanE and my Daddy came to visit and I sewed her a red and white, up and down stripped dress with fringe on the bottom. We made many life long friends those three years and still keep in touch, as well as see each other at reunions.
I could go on and on but I think you get the idea why I traveled to Lemoore.

What a welcome to the base!
The plane Charlie flew!

This is only a sample of all
the ordinance it could carry.

VA-25
It was said 50 years ago that this
plane was held together with
bailing wire and bubblegum.

Here you can see the patches.
You may have to make this photo
larger to see the bird's nest in
the intake.

Christine was born in the first Navy Hospital built in 1961
on Thanksgiving Day. It has been torn down and this is the
new one that was built in 2000.

Front door

Interesting fire escapes
on all for wings.

The "Hope" Bell

I was trying to get the rays of
light coming through the clouds.
The single row of trees is seen
throughout the San Joaquin Valley.

Home when Christine was born. Same green. Same trim.
We did not have the awnings. The trees I planted didn't live.
The square on top was a water cooler A/C. I would sit in
the hall during the night to nurse Christine where it was cool.
I'm sure Charlie would remember putting together the
Jungle Jim for the girls on a Christmas Eve.

House to the left was our good friends
and fellow pilot, Chuck Turner and
 his wife Diane. I lost touch with
them when we moved from Lemoore.

2 houses to our right lived Mike and Mary
Walman, another fellow pilot. We all
were at the Real Estate Office at the same
time. For some reason I got to pick the
house and I chose the one with numbers
I could remember. LOL