I arrived in 2 Wing on 11th October 1952 and I was single at the time. I was in the 430 Squadron Maintenance Crew and travelled to France by North Star via Goose Bay, Bluey West One in Greenland, Keflavik Iceland, Prestwick Scotland, and Paris. We couldn't get into Grostenquin the first night due to bad weather.
The barracks were heated by hot water pipes that frequently failed. We finally got ourselves some small electric heaters which were shaped like headlights - they made good toasters too. Food was supplied through the US Army in Metz to the mess hall. The hangars were not electrified until we had been there a few months. Streets were muddy the first winter as you can see in many of the photos from the 1952-1953 time period. Lighting and heating were frequently off for days during the first few months. Food was not the best but improved later.
The concrete runways were poured without some necessary element, which when it rained, caused small bubbles to form and the runway became slippery. We had to tow aircraft out of the end of the runway quite often. Finally they resurfaced the runways in August 1953 and while they were doing it we were deployed to 3 Wing at Zweibrucken for the summer.
We also had a serious fuel problem starting about six months after we got there. The main fuel pumps in the center wing were clogging up. We had a few emergency landings but fortunately no lost aircraft. Apparently the large fuel storage tanks had been put in early and the tops left off. Algerian workers had used them as accommodations and badly littered them. The aircraft had to have a special inspection of the fuel tanks for contamination and tankers brought in our fuel while the main storage tanks were cleaned.
We had a theater that showed movies on weekends and a Rec Hall for sports and bingo. The wet canteens were the busy spots as well as the bars in the small villages near the base. The water wasn't potable and large canvas bags with spigots on them hung in the washrooms filled with chlorinated water - Ugh horrible. No wonder we drank the local beer and wine.
We worked 24 hours on and 24 hours off with a four day weekend every two weeks. Shifts were from noon one day till noon the next. It allowed us to get the aircraft serviceable before going to bed late at night, generally around 2:00 am and back on shift at 8:00 am or earlier if there were Operations on the go.
Your picture of Ginger Barron with the wire gave me the shivers - I was the third one from the right with the hat tipped back. Ginger married a Scottish lassie in 1953. When they had their first child in 1955, her Scottish niece came over to help her. Ginger introduced her to me and I later married her in Canada in 1956. Ginger died on 30th April 1989.