Living in specific quarters on an Air Force base was a time a Richmond High alumnus will never forget.
John Reasbeck, a 1959 graduate of Richmond High, recalled a “wonderful seven years” living in the permanent married quarters (PMQs) with his family after his father, an airframe mechanic, was posted at the Sea Island Air Force Base in 1956.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) base at Sea Island was established in July 1940. In February 1953, the first 150 PMQs were built and occupied.
The base was still used for military use and training exercises after the Second World War. Reasbeck, who was 15 years old at the time, moved with his family of five from France and settled on Wellington Crescent for one year before they were assigned a duplex PMQ on the base in 1957.
Two years later, his family moved once more to a single home PMQ in 1959 where they stayed until 1963.
“I still remember seeing at the edge of the runway there was a whole line of Mustang airplanes and fighter planes from World War Two,” said Reasbeck. “It was quite a sight to see.”
The PMQs that Reasbeck and his family lived in often had a shared patio between three or four homes, he explained.
Each building had a living room, kitchen, dining area, one or two bathrooms and one bedroom for each family member. In Reasbeck’s case there were four bedrooms.
“There’s nothing too fancy, but it was comfortable and adequate.”
Smaller families would move into duplexes while bigger families would get a single home, he explained.
“It was a great time living on the Air Force base because most of your friends were so close on Sea Island too,” he said.
Reasbeck highlighted the many amenities his and other families had access to including basketball hoops, a rifle range, table tennis, a gymnasium and a cafeteria.
“We definitely took advantage of some of the facilities on the base and I somehow spent a lot of time on the rifle range.”
Reasbeck told the Richmond News that the teenagers were “fortunate in getting a building” on the base for a night every week to hang out.
The teens formed a club called the Sea Island Teen Club in 1958, with Reasbeck being the first president.
They would host gatherings and parties every Friday night.
“We would have dances and sit down and chat to our heart’s content as much as wanted,” he said, adding the Air Force would provide couches, chairs, a dance floor and a room with a sound system “to play all our records.”
“It was a great way to just spend time together and quite a fabulous thing to have available to us really.”
The base was eventually decommissioned in March 1964, when the Canadian military consolidated services.
Several military bases were downsized or merged as well, according to the Sea Island Heritage Society.
While Reasbeck never got to follow his dad to work, he followed in his parents’ footsteps in serving for the country.
He joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets that was on the Air Force base while living in the PMQs and went through Air Force Reserve training while attending post-secondary at the University of British Columbia.
“My entire family served except my youngest sister who was only in the girl guides, but we were definitely proud of it all.”
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