Moulins Dependent School History
Opened: 1953
Closed: January 1957
Moulins-sur-Allier Sub-Depot was located in the Cher Department, 145 miles (235 km) south southeast of Paris and 86 miles (137 km) east of Chateauroux. The Moulins Depot was operated by the 73d Air Depot Wing and CAMAE (Central Air Materiel Area, Europe), from September 1951 until January 1958. The Moulins facility had been a French Army Cavalry Caserne built in 1870–1876 after the Franco-Prussian War, comprised of approximately twenty large, tall, garage-like structures. The troops built up the Moulins depot as a large self-help project from 1951 until 1953. They built new roads, a large gym, improved all office and vehicle shop buildings, and installed a large base sewage system. The Moulins property and buildings were officially accepted from France and dedicated on 25 October 1953.
Moulins grew from eighteen officers and airmen coming from Chateauroux’s 73d Air Depot into the 7374th Air Depot Group, with vehicle maintenance performed by the 73d Motor Vehicle Squadron. In August 1952, the 75th Vehicle Repair Squadron, Depot, arrived at Moulins to supplement the 73d Vehicle Repair Squadron. The depot workforce on 1 January 1956 was twenty-five officers, 275 airmen, six DAF (Department of the Air Force) civilians, and 512 indigenous personnel (minus the 12th Comm Construction Squadron).
According to Larry Haley, a former student, “The school on base only went to eighth grade and there were only three classrooms: grades 1–3, 4–6, and 7–8. Ninth grade and above went to Chateauroux and lived in dorms. In about January of 1957 the Moulins Depot was closed down and my dad was transferred to Chateauroux. We couldn’t get base housing at first and so we lived in a house in Issoudun. The Air Force had a young airman come get us (me and two younger brothers and a sister) for school in an Air Force carryall, an early version of today’s full-size van.”
As part of the 1957 USAFE budget cuts, the 3136th Air Depot Group closed the Moulins Vehicle Depot 10 January 1957 and over the course of six months moved to the Chateauroux Air Depot and immediately reestablished at La Martinerie.
Information from internet and Larry Haley, former student