Brian Manning and Susan Fox Bradley Manning Parents

What a lovely family..See the picture: Bradley Manning parents; Susan Fox and Brian Manning were not the American couple you see in a soap ad, she liked vodka – it was easier to hide.

If you put vodka in certain drinks, you can’t really smell it

Said her daughter, Casey Major, in a courtroom in Fort Meade, Maryland, last week.

Mum also liked rum and beer – and, really, whatever was in the house.

When she got pregnant for the second time, friends and family had diverse feelings. One relative, Debra Van Alstyne, testifying in court, said:

At first I said, ‘Oh great.’ Then I thought, Oh no.

Susan Manning, 59, who lives in Wales, is evasive with journalists.

Susan, is from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in south-west Wales. She grew up with eight brothers and sisters. In the 1970s, Brian Manning, a US Navy man, was stationed at close by Cawdor Barracks.

One day near the beginning of the 1970s, she was shopping at Woolworths and met Brian. They fell for each other and ultimately decided to move to the US.

She had grown up in a loud, crowded house and lived near cousins and other relatives in Wales. Abruptly she found herself in rustic Oklahoma, slammed from family, and in many ways brought to a halt from the humankind around her.

Brian Manning worked as a project manager for Hertz, and they lived on five acres of terrain in remote Crescent, a town in Logan County. They had a pond, a swing, two horses and a dog.

The nearest neighbour lived a quarter of a mile away, and her mother did not know how to drive…

So many people around the world, including Brian and Susan of course, are marching pro Bradley’s coming out. I personally think Susan and Brian’s efforts are not enough…

You can see more stuff on his mum Susan Fox here.