Thank You Notes...
Here are some of the Thank You notes received by the Military Brats Registry
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I just had to share this with you guys! Last night as I was surfing on the net I got an e-mail from a dear friend. This friend and I knew each other 30 years ago when my family lived at McGuire AFB. Peachy Portela was a great friend of mine back then. Well. She had seen my name in the Military-brats area and e-mail me. This is what she wrote: "Hi Jan...I was in McGuire AFB in the late 60's and believe you were one of my hanging around friends. In fact if its you...I have pictures of us hanging around playing the guitar with a group of our firends...Let me know if you remember me or my brother Hector...we used to hang around with Sheila Davis too..." Let me tell you guys...I was FLOORED!!!!! I quickly saw that she had an AOL address and by shear fluke....decided to try to "instant message" her. SUCCESS!!! After inquiring if it was her I was "talking" to and her reply, "Yes!" we had a ripping good time!!! So I thank you and your site so very much. With out you and it we would have been worlds apart. We caught up on so much information! From my heart to you...I thank you!
Jan Funk
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Thanks to the Registry, I just found my best friend from high school. He registered as recently as October (and without seeing my listing). Of the 50,000 brats so listed out of the millions of us, I'm simply amazed at the odds of this find. Joe and I have exchanged a few lengthy e-mails this week and will speak by phone this weekend. Gee, it's only been 34 years since we last saw each other and 32 since we lost track. We've already shared some incredible discoveries about other old friends and I hope we can use this experience to share the value of Registry with others. Keep up the good work and, with regards, a big salute from me to you.
Larry S. Levy
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Merry Chrismas and Happy New Year.....You definitely gave me the greatest gift of all......my friends.....
Sincerely...Diana Jost
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I can't tell you how much I appreciate you setting up such a
website. For years I have wanted to find a way to contact former
brat friends. The memories are so strong and so good that it
would be truly special to re-live them if only temporarily. I
think that not having any contact with people who were such an
important part of your growing up years must be much like what
people experience who live a very long time. There is no one left
who remembers them when they were younger and who shared the same
experiences. I know I speak for many in your registry when I say
thank you so much!
Linda Sosbee
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Thank you! Found people that had almost slipped my mind.
Trails are growing dim for some. Found my best buddy who I had
lost track of in 1965. Made contact last week.
John "ED" Sullivan
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I found my best friend from 5 years ago on your site. I can't
thank you enough!
Larry Gray, Jr.
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I actually found someone last nite that I had gone to school
with. This is very exciting. There are a lot of people from that
particular time that I would like to contact. This is a terrific
service.
Keri Hadfield
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As military brats, it was a fact of life to say goodbye and
not have any continuity in our lives. You have done a great
service for all of us—we thought we would never find each
other again!
KATHY BREWER
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Without much hope or expectation I decided to check out
www.militarybrat.com. Those of us who were teenagers and
stationed overseas have a sort of experience and history that is
very alien to most people, but, especially at that time in one's
life, it is easy to lose track of people.
A few minutes ago I got off the telephone after talking with
my best friend from high school. I have connected with several
other people that I went to school with in Turkey and France and
have more to contact. You have irrevocably changed and enriched
my life, giving me my history, a community, and friendships that
have survived thirty years. All those with whom I have
communicated so far share with me a sense of wonder, awe and joy
at the miracle that has brought us back into each other's life.
Jacqueline S. Davis
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I have found a friend who doesn't remember me and a friend who
says he missed me like a long lost brother. There are few outlets
for the feelings of lost friendships save for the occasional
chance meeting years later. There are few words that describe the
happiness when I found those I was looking for and even fewer
words when I found out they were searching for me.
This feeling of connection to a place and to an extended
family is immense. When we were getting ready to move my mother
would try her best to comfort me by saying, "Don't worry
we'll come back and visit them." We could never afford to
travel such distances and never did. I can still remember the
tremendous hurt when I found out we had to leave our temporary
home once again. The loss of military bases has forced many like
myself to rely on memory alone to share the times gone by without
being able to revisit the places again.
The greatest rewards seem to be in the feelings of belonging
and sharing a past with someone who went through the same times
and understands you. That is something that time has taken away
from many a brat, but thanks to your site Marc, it has been
returned again and again.
George Clark
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I found the first person I was looking for and guess what, in
her notes she put down that she was looking for me! We haven't
talked in 23 years.
Angie
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Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I have been on line for three
years now and have been searching for just such a site. I have
felt this has been needed for a long time. I knew if I felt the
need, there were others like me. Yes, we are different and even
after thirty years as a civilian, I still feel the difference.
Thank you, again.
Rebecca Pemintel
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What a great way to keep in touch! And to begin the new year!
I am the mom of four military brats, two of whom are now married
and raising their own 'brats!' I enjoyed reading and sharing all
that I read! It brought back fond memories of our times overseas.
To quote Bob Hope . . . "thanks for the memories!"
Meg Duarte
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Thanks very much for creating this web page. It was strangely
heartwarming to browse through and see folks who had been
stationed at so many of the same places I had lived at. So far no
familiar names, but it's nice to know that it wasn't all an
illusion. It did really actually happen not only to me, but also
to others.
So often in life, I've been asked where I am from and all I
can say is " the United States." People looked at me
with puzzled faces as if were trying to hide something. Little do
they know that I'm sparing them a long-long story.
I participated in the National Geographic survey last month on
Human Migration, discovering I have moved over 30 times in my
lifetime. I see now how many others must have the art of packing
down to a fine science!
Rogers Julia Carol
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Thank you so much for making this web page for all us brats.
Since I've become a civilian, life just hasn't been the same. I
am forever indebted to the Army for making me the person I am
today, and I know that all of the brats who visit this web page
would agree.
I am on a mission trying to look up some childhood friends,
and I think I've gotten some leads. Thank you for providing the
opportunity for some of us to reconnect with our pasts! You are
wonderful!
Kyle Stephanie Pund
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I just wanted to drop a line commending you on a wonderful web
site. You are providing a very big service to all the military
brats in the country. I found two people in your listing that I
went to school with at Vandenberg AFB in California. Sent mail to
both, and have received a response from one of them. Once again,
congrats on a very wonderful site.
Johnny Sales
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Just wanted to let you know that I think your site is great.
It not only serves the "military-brats" out there, but
those of us who are "civil service brats". My parents
both worked for the DoD as civil servants and I think I shared a
lot of similar experiences as the "military-brats" out
there (not quite the same, but often pretty similar—moving
around, attending American schools overseas, etc.
Whereas my fiancé returns home and runs into many of his
childhood friends that he grew up with, I always feel like I'm
trying to reconnect with multiple facets of my childhood, almost
obsessively at times.
I was in awe when we went back to his hometown a couple of
weeks ago—he seemed to run into someone he knew on every
corner--and it's been 12 years since he graduated from high
school.
There's not really a single place I can say that I grew up in.
When people ask me where I grew up I usually have to explain my
response. It's kind of like a multiple-choice question for me.
I wouldn't have wanted to grow up any other way, but it does
make for a lot of missing links. Thanks for trying to connect
some of them! Keep up the good work.
Priscilla Benbrook
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Guess what!??
YOUR web site allowed me to locate my BEST FRIEND from 2nd and
3rd grade when I lived in Japan! (1961-63) at Brady Air Force
Base.
I sent her email and she replied to verify it was she! I
called her and we talked on the phone for over an hour and plan
to meet soon! She lives in Dallas and I live in Minneapolis.
Thank you so much! I have been thinking about her all these years
and had no idea how to find her! Her father was killed in Vietnam
in 1966. I just found out tonight. :-( )
I am SOO happy to find my old best friend!
Judy
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Thanks a lot! Until now, I've really had a lot of trouble
finding these people that mean so much to me.
I really have to compliment you on your site. I absolutely
love it! It has so many great things. My friend Julie told me she
sent you a letter as well saying that she loved the site. I told
her about it and encouraged her to enter her name in the
Registry. Every time I meet new people now I ask them if they are
or know people who are military brats. If they do I give them
your URL. My friend Julie and I have made it our mission to
inform people about your site. Enough said . . . Jenny Gemmell
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Just wanted to say thanks for the website. I'm really excited
about it. Haven't found anyone I know yet, but just going through
the Registry has put me back in touch with a part of my life
which I thought was long gone.
We brats really are a special group. No matter what era we
lived in, we all have a common bond. It's nice to be able to get
back in touch with a part of my life I hated to lose. Thanks
again.
Richard Lucky
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Just a note of thanks for such a great site. Had no idea it
existed. I just stumbled onto it.
My search for the word Bamberg turned up 60 people when I
thought I would feel lucky if I found one. Took a trip down
memory lane and brought tears to my eyes. Even I was surprised by
my reaction. We Military Brats had to just keep moving and not
form relationships. How nice to be able to glimpse my personal
history through other's eyes. Thank you so much.
Susan B. Gorsuch Metivier
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Just checked out your personal search, and read your letter
about how you began the Registry. Brought tears to my eyes, and
validated feelings I've had for years.
Just wanted to say thanks so much for the Registry, and for
all your hard work for the rest of the "family."
Your experiences have given me the courage to actually call
old friends whose phone numbers I've found via the net (those who
don't have an e-mail address). And I look forward to checking my
email each day in hopes of connecting with past friends. Just
can't tell you how great it is (but I expect you already know!).
Thanks again, Marc.
Susan Mayfield
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I just want to thank you for such a wonderful site. We
military brats are not like normal kids who grow up with the same
people all around them. This site gives hope for people to find
each other. Thanks again, very much . . . all brats are indebted
to you Marc.
Rachael Wyeth
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I registered my children, and lo and behold this past week my
39-year old son's best friend from high school contacted him.
Thank you so much. As the mother of five military brats, I am, at
64, probably one of the older military brats. I was a military
brat from 1934, till I married a military man.
Pat Bellaire
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Thank you for providing a central place to post requests for
lost friends. Two days ago, I logged on your website for the
first time. To my surprise and delight, I immediately found my
best friend from high school who I have not been able to reach
for over 13 years!
I thought I might never find the people I was searching for,
but right away I found the person I wanted to find more than
anyone else. Thank you!
Brian D. Levin
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I just wanted to write to thank you for this page. It's truly
a great idea. I've lost track of many people through all the
moves. I have not as yet found any of the people I'm searching
for, but I check back often.
My friend and I are spreading the word to all of the military
brats we come across. Hopefully, the word will get around to the
people I seek. I wanted to commend you on your wonderful idea.
Keep up the good work.
Julie Callis
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I can not begin to tell you the fun I have had looking at the
Military Brats site. What a marvelous service you have performed.
Thank you for meeting a very real need for those of us who want
to reconnect with childhood friends.
Cindi Rixey Scott
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Just wanted you to know that I have found the owner of the
lost Stuttgart-American, 1969 class ring. He is William (Bill) L.
Graham. Lives in Athen, AL. Many thanks to you and everyone else
who helped out in this search. P.S. The ring had been lost for 25
years!
Nan Locher
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What a wonderful thing you have created. It gives me real hope
to think that I actually may, one day, find the people that have
been in my heart for years and years.
I was a military brat early in my life (birth to 5th grade)
but even so young, I still have great memories of some very
special friends that I have wondered about for almost 20 years.
I am so amazed to see people who lived in the very same places
as I did. Some even seemed to follow the same (or a similar) path
of Army bases. These "strangers" may have lived down
the street or even in my same house. Who knows? It's really neat
to see.
Thank you for providing us "drifters" with a place
to look back and see where we've been. It's great to feel a
little less different and to find a place where we belong.
Carolyn Boudreaux
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Thanks for this site. I located several people I haven't seen
in 30 years. It's good to be a "brat." Thanks again.
Jeffery E Myers
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Just wanted to let you know that I found a friend of mine
after 30 years.
We were both dependents living in Ansbach, Germany in
elementary school. Also, a High School friend of mine from Berlin
found me. He went to the JFK school and I went to Berlin American
High School. He attended our Homecoming Dance since JFK did not
have one back in 1973. As we get older we find that old
friendships are very important. Keep up the good work.
Mike Rodriguez
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Thank you Marc. I have always wondered where all my best
friends have gone. This is the greatest. I am so glad I came to
play on the computer today.
Stacy Dee
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I can't tell you how excited I was to discover your website
through an article in my local newspaper. Having no way to go
back to your "hometown'' and visit childhood friends has
always been my one regret/sadness about being a military brat.
The wonderful book you referred to talked about how
significant address books are to us. The problem with address
books, however, is that the addresses from our childhood, even at
the time, were only good for three years at most.
Your site has the potential to do so much positive,
reconnecting us to our "hometown " friends, Thanks
again for this beautiful gift.
Kathy (Millard) Staples
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I signed on the registry a few days ago, and have heard from
three former classmates from Ramey AFB High School Puerto Rico.
It was like going back to a hometown after 31 years. Lots of
shared memories, lots of catching up . . . just wonderful!
I hope to hear from many more former classmates, not just from
Ramey, but also from Biggs AFB and Furstenfeldbruck AFB Germany.
I'm new on the Internet so I'm not terribly adept at
"getting around", but I had no trouble finding the
Registry. It's been really fun searching for former classmates,
and I just wanted to say thanks!
Susan McGhee Mayfield
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Just wanted to say a big "Thank
You" for doing a service like this. I've made so many
friends over my years of moving, and unfortunately lost touch
with a lot of them. In the time that I've been on the Registry,
I've got mail from about three people that I haven't heard from
in about five years. I'm so excited. Thank You so much for giving
us 'Brats' a way to keep in touch!
Shannon Delavan
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Tonight was my first time on your web site and I felt
compelled to write a quick thank you to you! My father was in the
Air Force for many years, so I said hello and goodbye to many
friends. After only one night, I found one of my closest friends
after seven years apart! Thank you so much!
Mandi Hardman Gant
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What a wonderful web site! I didn't have any idea that it
existed, until a friend that I recently found on the net, thought
I had found him here. I haven't thought of myself as a brat for
years. When people ask where I'm from, I don't know why but there
is a hesitancy in my throat, "I'm an Army brat." I am
not ashamed, but unless you're a brat you don't understand.
"Home" was where they told you, you had to go.
"Homebase" is where we stayed while our fathers served
in far away places like Vietnam.
I remember so clearly, when we moved to Las Cruces, MN, we
came over the mountain, and dad said, "There's your new
home!" As tears welled in our eyes, my sister said,
"You have to be kidding me." There was nothing but a
dot in the middle of the desert! Those turned out to be some of
the best years of my life, and I would love to get in touch with
some of the friends I made there.
I'd like to say, excellent job webmaster! I will pass the word
whenever I come across an opportunity!
Denise (Ilgenfritz) Thrasher
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WOW! I just finished looking at your wonderful web site, and
this is the third email I'm sending this afternoon (the first two
were sent to friends I haven't seen in YEARS! You're offering
such a valuable service to people like me; people who have lost
touch with chums from all over the world. I saw your web site in
the military brats newsgroups alt.culture.military-brats,
and was pleasantly surprised to find people there that I actually
know and remember fondly.
Tee King
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What a great service you're doing! I just registered, but am
hopeful. I loved all the years I spent traveling around the
world. It's just too bad that I lost contact with so many people
over the years. I did find one person I went to school with.
Thanks for such a great database! Hope you find your friends!
Amanda Woodruff
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Just a note to say BRAVO on the new search by new members
option. The Military Brats Registry is such a wonderful site to
begin with, but this makes it just that much better. I have
gotten in touch with a few "long lost" friends due to
your site, and I am VERY, VERY appreciative! Keep up the GREAT
work!
Christine Blakley Martin
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This is g-r-e-a-t! Hopefully many more brats will find their
way here, especially the one I'm looking for! We brats are a
special breed—I'm just not quite sure of what.
PROSIT!
Jimmy Carter
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Just found Gail Jackson listed in your database, a friend who
I haven't been in contact with since 1970! Thanks for reuniting
me with her and her family after all these years!
Robert E. Weil
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Thank you!!!
There are so many people I would love to locate after being a
brat for 20 years of my life. For the first time in my 50 years
you have provided a means of communicating with old friends from
the past—a past full of wonderful adventures in far away
lands with interesting people of different cultures. How lucky we
were to be "Brats!" Thank you again.
Sherry Davis
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This is the coolest! Thanks so much for your time and effort.
Civilians just don't understand what it's like to be a kid in the
military. Those kids were our FRIENDS, and when you move a lot or
you live overseas, your friends mean a lot. Thanks for letting me
look for mine.
Vicki Lane Mulloy
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There are tons of people I'd like to find. Until a few nights
ago I had written off ever having any hope of finding anyone
except by pure chance. Then I found this web site, and actually
found an old friend from Frankfurt and just sat there saying,
"I can't believe it." about a hundred times! The impact
was so profound that I've been on the edge of tears and had a
lump in my throat all week! Thanks for providing a great service.
This is very important stuff.
Paul Norris
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Thanks, Marc. I am still flying high from finding my friend
from 42 years ago.
Charlotte L. Kovalenko
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