Virginia Beach, Virginia
The image to the left is fairly recent while the one above was taken in the 1950s, shortly before we moved to the area when Dad was stationed at Oceana (flight line pictured below) and on the U.S.S. Forrestal, CVA-59. Somehow the ocean seemed smaller to me at 8 than the Pacific did when I was 5, but it's all relative I guess. We lived in Hilltop Manor, a very different place than now as thick woods bordered our neighborhood to the west with a drive-in movie theater (with a convenient hole in the fence, something about me and holes in fences) to the east. Many of the families in the area were military which considering the proximity to Oceana, Fort Story, and Norfolk isn't all that surprising. Lots of great memories built while living there and, as usual, a miracle that my life did not end while our family lived there.
My Dad was assigned to VA-81, an attack fighter squadron flying the A-4 (perky little guy that Dad always said was a joy to work on compared with the monsters today). The Forrestal was the ship the squadrons from Oceana deployed on when they went to sea and I can still recall the excitement and furor of going to the carrier piers at Norfolk Naval Base to watch them leave and return. One of the pilots in the squadron was the first to buy a color television and we always went down to their house after supper on Sunday to watch Bonanza. Can't remember much about the stories, but seeing a program in color was even more "coooool" than the Nike missile battery.