This page was created on November 10, 2000
This page was last updated on February 28, 2021
"The word that has been on our lips this year is "First". The first year of a new high school, the first year for an annual to be published, the first year for basketball, football, track, and soccer. The important things that make a high school a success -- our colors, our traditions, our ways of doing things -- have had to be decided and formed on a first basis. Many people have worked hard to make our first year a success -- teachers, parents and military leaders. But above all, my hat is off to those students in all the grades who are our first high-school student body. You are the ones who accomplished the miracle of the first. You made Upper Heyford a High School!"
Copyright Gary R. Crandell 2006
All Rights Reserved.
Much thanks to the following Hadites for contributing to this page:
Mike Brown '69
Michele Gudyka Evans '86
Julie Peacock Hinton '83
Jenny Hitchcock Kucera '68
Phyllis Barnes McDaniel '71
Cheryl Garner Olmstead '77
Lyn Kulcyzk Pool '73
Linda Cox Rasch '78
Carrie Bedrick Reardon '86
Richard Stiles '68
Torger Totusek '70
Harry Webb
Ed Whitney Jr. '73
William J. Easley, Principal
Fall, 1966
With these words by Mr. Easley, Upper Heyford High School was established in the Fall of 1966. Most of the students and faculty came from American bases in France after French President Charles DeGaulle withdrew his country from military involvement with NATO and told the American armed forces to leave.
There was an elementary school and a junior high school at Upper Heyford at the time, but high school students attended Lakenheath High School, staying in dorms during the school week and returning home on weekends. However, when the Americans who had been in France arrived at Upper Heyford and High Wycombe, there were far too many new students for Lakenheath to accomodate, and there wasn't time to build a new high school, so the old barracks were made available and became Upper Heyford High School. Maroon and white was selected as the school colors, and Rick Hunter '68 and Mike Brown '69, came up with the school nickname, the Hadites.
In the Fall of 1975, the school closed at Upper Heyford and was moved to RAF Croughton, but was still called Upper Heyford High School until the end of the Spring semester in 1982. Beginning with the Fall semester of 1982, the school officially became Croughton High School. With the end of the Cold War and reduction of American forces in Europe, CHS was closed in 1997, bringing an end to the Hadite legacy. The school may be closed, but our Hadite spirit lives on... I hope these pages will help keep the Hadite flame burning in your heart...
Fall 1966
Spring 1967
Fall 1968
Spring 1968
Spring 1969
Fall 1971
Spring 1975
Fall 1975
Spring 1982
Fall 1982
Spring 1983
Spring 1997
Upper Heyford High School opens.
School nickname: Hadites
School colors: maroon and white
The Class of 1967 is the first Hadite class to graduate.
Football team records first ever varsity win, beating Brussels 18-6, then goes on to record first ever Hadite win over Lakenheath, 14-7.
Ed Latimer '68 is selected as DoDDSE European Athlete of the Year.
I graduate on June 4, 1969, along with 34 of my 69'er classmates.
The football team beats London Central for the first time ever, winning 14-8.
The Class of 1975 is the last class to graduate from the orginal school.
The old school is closed and UHHS is moved to RAF Croughton.
Upper Heyford High School opens at Croughton on a new campus.
The Class of 1982 is the last class to graduate from UHHS.
The school is now officially called Croughton High School.
The school nickname and colors remain the same.
The Class of '83 is the first class to graduate from Croughton High School.
The Class of '97 is the last class to graduate from CHS.
Croughton High School closes.
Upper Heyford High School 1967
This is how the original school looked in the early years when it first opened.
If you know of a significant Hadite event you feel should be listed here, please send me an email. Thanks!
