Ah, I was a few years ahead of you then. The family left Vandenberg when my dad retired in ‘63. I would have been about 16 years old. To this day I can remember the rumble and roar; the occasional explosion and the rare treat of wind blown debris falling back to ground.
Yep. I distinctly remember watching a missile launch from the front yard and it started heading inland soon after launch. I’m guessing it was at about 10,000 feet when it was command detonated. A remnant of one of the stages sliced through the roof of a trailer in Lompoc and came to rest over the top of a baby crib- no injuries, fortunately. Missile tests and failures were fairly common then.