Stephen Decatur School was started in Malta in 1958. At that time, the Navy shared an airfield with the Royal Navy at Hal-Far. The USN parent unit was FASRON (SP) 201 and they supported visiting VP squadrons and whoever else dropped in. There was no base as such, mostly just a collection of Quonset huts. There was no commissary and the Exchange was in a room about 50x50. Everyone lived on the "economy". The Navy families lived mostly on the east end on the island. Prior to the opening of Stephen Decatur, dependents had the choice of attending the school run by the Royal Navy for their dependents or a local parochial school

Stephen Decatur open in time for the start of school 1958. The school was housed in an apartment building in the village of Balzan, Grades 1st through 6th were on the first floor. Grades 7th through 9th on the second floor and grades 10th through 12th on the third. I say 10th through 12th, but we didn't have any seniors that year. The teachers were all wives of Navy personnel. The total enrollment probably didn't exceed 30. I arrived in early 1959 and was in the 7th grade. A couple of year ago my wife and I visited Malta and I was able to find the old school. It's now a Vets Office.

The name Stephen Decatur was a result of a "Name the School Contest". I'm not sure but I think the squadron Chaplains daughter Ingrid Wilson won the contest.

On April 1st, 1959, the squadrons R-4D crashed on takeoff from Naples. The base/squadron commander, Captain Hillis, CPO Schickleman were killed. They both had children attending Stephen Decatur. Chief Schickleman was one of the last enlisted pilots in the Navy. As you can imagine the devastated the small community. I remember streets in the housing area at Sigonella being named after them..  In the summer of 1959, operations at Hal-Far were shut down and everyone was transferred to the spanking new base NAF Sigonella.

Stephen Decatur also made the trip. The school was first located in a 3 story barracks at the bottom of the hill north of the enlisted housing. With the move to Sigonella we had all DODD teachers and our new principal was Gus Perna. He was the only member of the faculty that had on base housing. All of the equipment and books were piled in an open field. We helped the teachers unpack and set up the classrooms. By the time everyone made it up from Malta school was late opening and we had to go to school on Saturdays for a couple of months to make up the time. At the time total enrollment was no more the 50 - 60 students.

With the move to Sigonella, Stephen Decatur picked up its first seniors. Donna Roberts and Frank Holcombe. They graduated in June, 1960. Graduation took place in the base chapel with choir robes and home made graduation caps. I have pictures and invitations of the event. We didn't have anymore senior while I attended school Sigonella.

In 1962, we moved out of the barracks and into the school building. It was a single story building located between the enlisted and officers housing. It was quite a change because it was a real school building. However, in back of the school was a small valley that was going to be made into a 9 hole golf course. The base decided to start the project off by burning the brush. When the fire got going good, the old ammo from WW II started cooking off and they had to evacuate the school.

I left Sigonella in November of 1962. We were transferred to NAS Patuxent River where my father retired in January, 1963. While at Sigonella, we lived in quarters 123-C. Do those quarters still exist? While at Sigonella, we had two base Commanders, Captain Frazier and Captain Utgoff. Stephen Decatur was so small that Forest Sherman in Naples invited us to all of their homecomings. That made for some great trips on the train from Catania to Naples.

By Jim Jenkins