I was assigned to the Munitions Support Squadron located on Kleine Brogel Air Base in Belgium in June 1986. Kleine Brogel is located near the town of Peer, Belgium, in Limburg Provence in the northeast of the country. This part of Belgium is mostly farm and dairy country with some light industry. And, it is flat!
Kleine Brogel Air Base is a Belgian military base. The American squadron was just one small part of the base. We had all our own support in one little corner of the base. There was no on-base housing at all so married and single military members all had to find their own housing in the towns and communities near the base. It usually took a little bit of time to find adequate housing. It took longer for my family because we had five kids. We stayed in a hotel in Achel, Belgium, for almost two months before we found a house that would be suitable. It was extremely hot that summer and there was no air conditioning in the hotel. We bought a couple of fans to try to keep us cool but it didn’t work very well. We finally found a big farm house in Wauberg. The house actually had six floors, counting the basement/garage and the attic rooms. We installed carpet in the living room and completely finished the two rooms in the attic upon moving in. Jeff had his bedroom in the top of the house and we built a TV/game room for the kids there. The top floor was like a refuge for Jeff when he wanted to have friends over or to just get away from his four sisters. He also climbed into the storage place above the attic rooms and used a little crawlway there as a secret hideaway. The house was very comfortable for us the whole time we lived in it. Our landlord’s daughter was even our housekeeper for a couple of years.
Our house in Wauberg, Belgium, from August 1986 to June 1989
Ahhh,La Cucaracha. If you look at the picture, you can see above the garage, in wrought iron, some writing (bottom left corner of the house). It is a popular practice to name one’s domicile. For reasons unbeknownst to me, the builder/original owner memorialized the ubiquitous cockroach with this house.
I have lots of memories living here. The house was bordered on one side by a pasture for cows and on the other by feed corn, which Belgians didn’t eat, but harvested the corn to make meal for their livestock. The farmer was baffled by Dad’s request for us to be able to pick and cook a few ears for us to eat.
The house was indeed several floors high and one of my few childhood injuries occurred one evening when I was running upstairs (they were marble stairs) in some socks. I slipped and fell forward, busting my lip open. I got several stitches that night.
I remember the Frites stand just across the street where we would frequently go and spend our pocket change on the most delicious food in the world, Belgian Pommes Frites.
I recall being locked out on the balcony off Jen’s room on several occasions, and I remember riding my bike on the back roads about 2 miles to Will DeRoy’s house. Lots of good memories from then.
-jeff
Jeff, we both received childhood injuries from those marbled stairs! I also was running up them in socks when I slipped and literally dented my right shin on the corner of one of the steps. I screamed bloody murder from the pain! Then, my wonderful big brother rushed to me and carried me up the rest of the stairs to my bedroom where he made sure I was comfortable…thanks, Bro!
I still have a scar from that accident and, believe me, I learned my lesson about running in socks! LOL