Can anyone from a military family help me with a story detail

[InbetweenDreams]

Hello,

I am writing a story, and it is really a sort of minor detail but I still want it to be authentic. In my story, in the 80s, the father of the family was a military man with the family moving around other countries etc. I want to set a particular scene on a day trip that the family takes one day. Most of the story does not revolve around this period of time, and I suppose this element is loosely based on my own mother’s family upbringing so the rest of the story will have that authenticity. However, she grew up in the 60s and this family is more contemporary, so I don’t know where anyone would have been stationed in the 80s or what kinds of places (if any??) families might have visited on days off. Did they get days off to spend with their families? My mother was young when they lived abroad and can’t remember much about daily life etc.

Anyone raised in a military family and took a day trip they can remember? I’m not looking for personal details, just a “we were in Germany in the 80s, and one day we visited Berlin cathedral” or anything at all!

Thank you in advance for any help anyone can offer!

Are they based in Germany?

If so, then the basic choice of places with bases would be Osnabruck, Bergen, Fallingbostel, Paderborn, Guttersloh and Sennelager.

Are you specifying which bit of the Army the parent was in?

Yes families accompanied, and yes they would go on days out. I suggest you look at a map, and decide what sightseeing places are within easy reach. If in doubt, go for Cologne!

Or ‘we went to the garrison swimming pool and then bought sweets at the NAAFI’ for more of a realistic day out!

My Dad was RAF and we were in Berlin in the 80s and we would ride our bikes to the Havel river for a day out. Berlin zoo was a nice day out as well although I vaguely remember them having a polar bear that was very sad.

I give you a morning at the NAAFI and the cinema and the afternoon at the sailing club. Evening at a local restaurant having a meze.

Occasionally day trips to the mountains to escape the heat.

It was tough......

I was Based in Düsseldorf and Munster, The Rhine Army Summer Show was a yearly event not to be missed.

There was of course also Cyprus (is that where you were @cakeorwine ?)

Or if really lucky, Hong Kong. The main military bases there were in the New Territories. The HQ was in HMS Tamar on Hong Kong island (on the sea front, to the north of Central District).

There would be a British regiment based at Stanley at the south of Hong Kong island, and a good day out with DC would be Ocean Park (theme park on the island, notable for having a roller coaster built right out to the cliff edge, so it looked as if you were going to flung over in to the sea)

My dh was posted to Australia for 2.5 years. Families were allowed on Airforce planes for jollies. This amazed us as it was definitely a no no with the RAF!

Yes yes yes. I was stationed at Osborne Barracks in Kowloon Tong. The best ever posting, Ocean Park was brilliant, I’ve never forgot Atoll Reef, the most amazing fish tank. Also took a trip out to the market in Stanley and stopped off at Jumbo floating restaurant. A trip across the water on the Star Ferry. A wander round the night markets, the heat, the smell….

The floating restaurant was at Aberdeen and was enormous!

RAF Gütersloh and RAF Wildenrath in the 80s here. We went all over the place.

Möhne Dam, Hameln and Münster Zoo from Gütersloh and Mönchengladbach from Wildenrath were regulars. Dad definitely had days off and given the exchange rate was very much in our favour (apparently at one point when we lived in Germany it was 10 deutschmarks to the pound), we went out a lot. We have many photos of me looking miserable being dragged around the Dam and many photos of us sitting outside a cafe by the awesome Pied Piper clock at Hamelin.

Thank you for all the responses! No, the family doesn’t have to be based in Germany at all - it’s just somewhere I know a lot of people have been based in British military families (including my mother’s when she was little). It’s good to know there are those opportunities to go out and about and so funny that the RAF in Australia let you play in their planes 😂 I love that! It really is just a kind of footnote, but I wouldn’t want to say the family was in France or something and actually there were no British military stationed over there in the 80s, if you know what I mean! This has been really helpful :)

My Dad was based at Gutersloh in the 80s but it was before I was born. I know he and my mum took a trip to Neuschwanstein castle but I don’t know how close it is.

Ooh, I also wanted to ask - when you went out, did you have access to a vehicle? Could you take a car out or would you have used public transport/taxis. Thanks again!

Ooh, I also wanted to ask - when you went out, did you have access to a vehicle? Could you take a car out or would you have used public transport/taxis. Thanks again!

We always had a car. Dad liked his postings to Germany because there were garages who specialised in selling right hand drive cars to the British military minus VAT (I think it was VAT, I know Dad always changed our cars in Germany because it was significantly cheaper).

I actually found the RAF Gütersloh handbook he was given when he was originally posted there recently. They made a big thing about driving courteously on the correct side of the road and emphasised how many British personal were involved in road accidents in Germany.

We did also use public transport, both the local German "bendy buses"/trains and specific British military buses which took us to school and also onto camp from the housing which in Gütersloh was off base for the vast majority (maybe all families). We were certainly far closer to the city centre (walkable in 20 mins) than we were the RAF base.

The military buses were ancient boneshakers painted green with yellow stripes and no matter how bad the weather, they'd always turn up for the school run. One day the snow was basically over our boots and we thought "no chance"...but nope, Horst our German school bus driver came skidding around the corner.

We were in Cyprus in '78 and Hong Kong 80ish..
Can't remember much about Cyprus as was very young but the beach... obviously, Paphos, the swimming pool at the big school down the road...and the salt lake...where dad tried to teach mum to drive ....unsuccessfully.
In Hong Kong we'd get the bus to nearby towns, go to HK Island... with an overnight stay somewhere in Kowloon and then ferry over to Stanley Market and Ocean Park. Then there were trips arranged ... so we had a tour of the QE2 when she was docked, or Stonecutters Island. Sometimes we'd go and see other families in Sek Kong (not that far from where we were) and go to the market or hang out by the pool. There was also a walled city I habe vague memories of but can't remember much about it.

We had a car and dad would always have to check it for anything sinister before we got back in it. Thy would then check it at the gate with mirrors before we drove back onto the base.

We still got a fuel rqtion when the bases closed a few years ago! (Althpugh it had upgraded to a card thing by then, rather than tokens)... we were entitled to so much tax free fuel a month.
We also had a ration of tax free coffee, whisky, gin and cigarettes. (Think it was 2 jars of coffee, 2 litres of spirits and 1000 cigarettes per adult per month?)
Cars were tax free as welll... one per year.

Based in Herford, Germany - only day out I can really remember was Pots Park (spelling?) near Minden - small theme park where everything was pedal powered.

Also, be careful if you are mentioning a specific regiment, military branch, etc as different regiments were based in different places.

And as a random fact for you...

When the last few remaining schools did research a few years ago, it was discovered there is no record of how many Schools (and where they we or what they were called etc!) There was over the years on the bases. Some of the Secondary schools were weekly boarding as the smaller bases were too far away for daily trips.

We used to visit the Mohnesee Dam regularly

Sorry, forgot to add we were in Germany, Sennelager and Paderborn

SO many memories brought back by one single post!!!

Same places visited by my family too!!

There was a huge man made lake nearby that we spent days at with a BBQ, but can’t remember the name of it.

We were in Gütersloh (army base) in the 80s and had a car. We had day trips to Stukenbrock safari park. There was also an open air swimming pool near us that we used regularly. I remember a travelling fair coming along the road from us and we regularly collected my Grandad from the airport.

The battery my Dad was in did big family fun days too, in the summer and at xmas.

I can remember my mum taking us to the hive and my Dad taking me to the Naafi bar for crisps and lemonade.

We had a large garden with swings attached to our flats. At the end of the road was a playpark and further round was a small lake/really big pond that we used to walk round. There was a rooster there we called Foghorn Leghorn as he was so noisy.

It was RAF Gutersloh!

I also second the mention of security.
cars, vehicles & school buses were examined underneath with mirrors on sticks before entering the barracks. I recall all drivers stopping at the gates to “sign in”.

Apart from the domestic violence in every other house, it was a nice life for most families.