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American Raul Beanes reminisces about his time spent on English soil:
I arrived in RAF Station Alconbury with the 86th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) in April 1955 till April 1959 and I enjoyed 4 of the best years of my life there in England.
I visited Bedford, Huntingdon, Cambridge, London & Nottingham. I was stationed again in 1967 till 1970 with the 2163rd Communication Squadron at RAF Wethersfield near Braintree. I have very wonderful memories of your great land.
I remember my first car, a 1937 Rover 12, it cost me 40 quid, a lot in them days (1957), but I loved that old car. I remember driving it to work when there was a lot of snow on the ground and, once on the base, the car went into a slide.
Luckily for the 4 of us we were on the taxiway, so we did have plenty of room and no traffic.
I was very proud of this car. One evening I decided to take my fiancé to the movies, I probably should have walked, but this YANK wanted to impress this Beautiful English lass so we drove to the movies.
When it was finished we were going to get our Fish & Chips before returning home, but as we exited the theatre it was so foggy we could only see about a foot and no more.
We did manage to locate the car even though the fog disoriented us. My fiancé asked me for a flashlight (Torch) and she went in front of the car with her torch on and asked me to follow her, and I did all the way home.
Needless to say we never got our Fish & Chips that evening. I remember like it was yesterday that my mother-in-law use to deliver milk and she drove an electric cart, rain or shine, fog or snow, she would always deliver.
We lived in a council house in St. Neots with my in-laws after we were married and my in-laws were the 'Salt of the earth.' I loved them dearly.
We used to scrounge for shillings to feed the meter during bath time, and when we were skint (Most of the time as my father-in-law only brought home 7 quid a week and I didn't do any better. (Who said the yanks were overpaid?)
But what I always remember was me and my mother-in-law used to pool our coppers together on a Saturday night and we would have enough for one pint and 10 Woodbines (Woodies), but nothing tasted sweeter.
We had no central heating, so when you came to bed we always had the hot water bottle and there was always ice inside the bedroom window. It was hell getting into the cold bed, but once you warmed up, it would take a team of horses to get you out.
I will always remember my mother-in-law would never let me go to work without a good breakfast. She was always up very early as I had to leave at 5:30 am to hitchhike to work, for by that time I did not have the car anymore.
I never had a refusal from motorists on the A-14 to go and comeback from work.
I could go on and on about my memories of your wonderful country. I will conclude by saying the English people will always have a special place in my heart. Thanks for the memories, England.....God bless all of you.....With best regards, Raul F. Beanes, 2002.
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