We were evacuated to Naples and then moved to Salerno and on to the US by our means ( Geophysical employees and their dependents ). I did school on base though. Another unforgettable experience to add to our world travels. As an added visual we witnessed a water spout hit Salerno the day we arrived, a lot of roof material flying. Thank you for sharing never dreamt that this history would bring back memories as like an old movie of that era. Yes no actors involved here.

I should note that I discovered this video by accident in the National Archives. What is coincidental is that I sent the link to my mother. She watched it and called me to ask if I knew that we were in the video. I was shocked to discover that it happens to catch us getting off of a bus on the flight line as we were about to fly to Spain. Exactly 50 years before I stumbled on the video in 2017 a USAF photographer was walking around shooting film of the evac in 1967. He happened to be at the bus that we were getting off and at that moment caught us in the shot. Some coincidences are amazing.

Amazing, brings back memories. My husband and I worked as civilians at Wheelus AB. I was expecting my first child when we were airlifted to Moron AB in Spain. After a few days at Moron I was moved to the US hospital San Pablo near Seville. On 15 June 1967 our son was born there. Few days later we were flown to Germany were we originated. Towards the end of the film you can see the blocked East Gate. Opposite the gate there used to be many souvenir shops. We lived outside the gate on the Italian farm Castiglione.

My name is Lucky Nahum and I’m commenting from my business account. When you were evacuating, my family and I were hiding in what was then called Giorgimpopoli, we hid there for a week and then moved to the heart of the city where the trouble was. The thinking was that those who were hunting us down wouldn’t think us so crazy to hide in plain sight.

Fascinating to come across this. My late father was based in Tripoli, operating from Wheelus, with TWA maintenance & engineering for around 11 years I believe. He was on secondment to the CRAF for part of that time. I wasn’t born until 1968 (in Tripoli) but I believe my parents and elder brother evacuated to Madrid in ‘67. Interesting to see that you also have some connection with AWS. Small world.

My father who passed very recently was stationed as an armory mechanic here and recalled this to me once. I don't know all the details, but he told me how antsy the air force pilots were to intervene. Some had already jumped in their jets and were ready to go, banging on the sides of the pit because they were told we couldn't get involved. I didn't even realize until today that they were so many civilians also at Wheelus (in my mind it was a purely military establishment). It really is too bad how unaware people are of the history of the US in North Africa. Thanks for posting this video, it's eye-opening to me and gives me some insight into what my father experienced there.

My family was there during this time, however, we did not evacuate and rode out the long summer on a quiet base until dependents began returning. I know there were a number of families who stayed, but I do not know the numbers.

I was enroute to Wheelus Aug '67 when my orders were red lined during a stop in Frankfurt Germany due to the Arab-Israeli War. I was unassigned and free to roam all over Europe for almost a month before my orders were re-instated. Assigned to 1950 Comm Sqn as a tower controller at Wheelus.

My uncle used to tell stories about Wheelus. Thanks for posting this.

We were in that evacuation. C-130 to Bitburg Germany. Never forget it!

i was assigned to thw c88munication squadron at wheelus ab from 1969 to 1971 abd was one of the l;ast to leave when we gave everything eo gadaffi in 1871. i still vividly remember that day when the american flag came down and the libyan flag went up with a c-130 waiting on the tarmack yo takr us remaining 35 us troops to somewhere bu we did not know where and later learned we were going rhein mein ab gernany where we remained for 2 weeks pending pcs orders back to the states.