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(U) 'Fourth of July Abroad' Tales (part 1)
FROM: SIGINT Communications
Unknown
Run Date: 06/30/2005
(U) On Tuesday we issued a call for "4th of July abroad" stories .
We'll post several of these stories today and tomorrow.
Appropriately (perhaps), many of the stories have a British
setting...
From:
Text: (U) One of the best -- but most meteorologically challenging
-- Fourth of July holidays my family and I have ever experienced
overseas was after our arrival at Menwith Hill Station (MHS) in the
U.K. on July 3, 1995. Our sponsors warned us that North Yorkshire
is known for its rapidly-changing and unpredictable weather, but
on the third of July it was 85 degrees and sunny, reminiscent of
Southern California. Our sponsors also invited us to the Fourth of
July celebration at MHS the next day.
(U) We all awoke early and somewhat jet-lagged on the morning of
the Fourth, anticipating the day but disappointed to see that it was
raining. Not just a drizzle. Not just steady precipitation. Buckets.
Buckets of water. Going sideways. At about 40 mph in the gusts
that blew across the bare crown of Menwith Hill. But hey, this is
England, we thought, so we donned our gortex parkas and headed
up the hill.
(U) The rain let up when we got there -- it had to, because it
started to snow. And it wasn't cute picture-postcard flakes floating
gently down; it was stinging, glass-like bits of ice, which would
drive into your skin riding the force of the aforementioned 40 mph
gusts. I noticed that all of the trees on Menwith Hill were growing
sideways. Things did not look good for the start of the annual MHS
Fourth of July Parade.
(U) But the snow let up and the parade set out. People -- both
Brits and Yanks -- were festive and friendly. By four o'clock that
afternoon it was 80 degrees, sunny, and we were wearing shorts
and at a barbecue. All that was left was to wait until 11 p.m. that
night to see the fireworks. MHS is so far north that it stays light
until quite late -- you can't really see the fireworks in the sky until
almost midnight... A fitting end to an overseas Fourth that was
both festive and a demonstration of differences in climate and
latitude. The spirit of the holiday, however, remained the same.
(U//FOUO) Menwith Hill Station
From:
, SUSLOL 1997-2000
Text: (U) My story is typical of many NSA'ers who have had the
opportunity to live in Cheltenham, England. Each year SUSLOL
SERIES:
Fouth of July Abroad
1. 'Fourth of July
Abroad' Tales (part
1)
2. 'Fourth of July
Abroad' Tales (part
2)
hosts a huge 4th of July party for the SUSLOL community and our
GCHQ hosts. Additionally, many community leaders are invited, to
include the Mayor of Cheltenham, school headmasters and church
leaders. Hot dogs and burgers are grilled, American beer flows, and
there's entertainment for adults and children alike. It's always a
great day and the guests are very appreciative of the efforts of the
SUSLOL community. More important, however, is the feeling that
the Americans come away with. I have never felt a deeper sense of
patriotism than I did celebrating our nation's birthday on foreign
soil. American pride runs deep and travels with you wherever you
go.
From:
Text: (U) On July 4, 1987 while on a TDY to Edzell, Scotland,
another NSA employee and I played golf at St. Andrews. I think we
actually had the first tee time that day, at around 7 am. We left
Edzell at about 4:30 or 5. But since the days there are so long in
the summer, it was already sunny and didn't seem so early, except
for the fact that there was no traffic most of the way. They paired
us up with a guy from Perth, Australia. So the three of us, two
from the US and one from Australia, played golf on one of the
world's most famous courses, in Scotland, together on July 4th.
And we weren't charged holiday rates. Later that afternoon, we
went into work at the site for a few hours. So not only did we play
golf, but we also earned a little bit of holiday pay.
From:
Text: (U) On Independence Day in 1976, I was an Arabic linguist
serving with the U.S. Air Force at Iraklion Air Station, Crete. I also
served on a committee charged with planning and coordinating
bicentennial activities for the American military community. As the
key social event of that bicentennial year, the 4th of July
celebration was something I'll never forget. The day began with a
publicity campaign in the morning, an extravaganza all-day picnic
at the base beach, a "disco dance cum town meeting" in the main
street that evening, and a fireworks display the likes of which Crete
had never seen.
(U) During the morning publicity campaign, we cruised around the
base in a fire truck equipped with a PA system, playing "Yankee
Doodle" and announcing the day's activities. Among other activities
at the ensuing picnic, we selected the winners from some 100
entries in the "First Annual Iraklion Air Station Men's Bake-Off."
Then we auctioned off the cakes for charity. My own entry, I recall,
went to a group of hungry teenagers who paid ten dollars for a
bake-off winner that, unbeknownst to them at the time, was not
even baked. Yes, I had spread frosting over a couple of large boxes
of dry cake mix, making them look like a confectioner's
masterpiece and, thereby, taking home 2nd prize.
(U) At the street dance, which was attended by every man, woman
and child from the American community, we voted on new names
for the base's main street and beach road. The winners were
"Liberty Lane" and "Century Three Boulevard." We also offered
samples and a chance to vote on some libations invented and
named by various members of the community at a party at my
house the night before. The NCO Club and Officers Club had
graciously agreed to feature the winning drinks as 50-cent specials
for the remainder of the bicentennial year. Winners were a couple
of barely potable concoctions called "The Rocket's Red Glare" and
"The Star Spangled Banger." Both drinks were later offered by the
clubs, but I have it on good authority that not a single shot was
ever sold!
(U) I remember that we somehow "appropriated" some nonappropriated funds in order to purchase $3K of fireworks to be set
off by a professional pyrotechnic specialist brought over from
mainland Greece (included in the price). The pyrotechnics were
probably not sensational compared to what you might see in any
community back home. But to a group of teary-eyed Americans
huddled on a foreign beach, watching the fireworks and singing to
Old Glory at the stroke of midnight on their country's 200th
birthday, with two oceans and a continent separating them from
home, nothing in this world could have been finer. We banded
together that day and night, as Americans abroad always tend to
do on holidays, and experienced our culture and heritage more
intensely than the happiest reveler at any 4th of July celebration
back in the states.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108