Living in the Philippines - Part 1 Clark AB in 1970-72

I have been encouraged by my kids to write a personal history. Since I grew up as an Air Force brat, the logical way to write this is in sections about the places I have lived. So here is my history for the time we spent at Clark AB, in the Philippines. I am breaking it up into several parts.

Living as a teenager at an overseas military base is a unique experience, but when you are living it yourself, it is just everyday life.

Clark in 1938
Parade ground area in the background

Clark, 1967
This is how it looked when I lived there

But before I can tell you about life in the PI, I need to tell you a little bit about Clark AB in 1970.

Clark was located on the main island of Luzon, in the Republic of the Philippines about 40 miles northwest of Manila. (We usually shortened that to the PI for Philippines Islands.) It was established as Fort Stotsenburg in 1903 after the US took over the Philippines from the Spanish after the Spanish American War.  In 1919, the Army Air Corps set up a section of the post as Clark Field. During World War II, most of the aircraft at Clark were destroyed by a Japanese air attack just nine hours after Pearl Harbor. The facility was abandoned when Gen MacArthur ordered all US forces to withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula in a delaying tactic to wait for reinforcements from the US (which never came.) The base was occupied by the Japanese in January 1942. The first Japanese Kamikaze attack of the war launched from Clark in October of 1944. Clark AB was recaptured by the Americans in January-February 1945 after three months of fierce fighting. Clark became an important base during the cold war and was a major logistics hub during the Vietnam War era - which is when I lived there.

According to Wikipedia, "Clark Air Base was arguably the most urbanized military facility in history and was the largest American base overseas. The base proper covered 14.3 square miles. At its peak around 1990, it had a permanent population of 15,000. It had a base exchange, a large commissary, a small shopping arcade, cafeterias, teen centers, a hotel, miniature golf, riding stables, zoo, and other concessions." It generated its own electricity and treated its drinking water.

Recreation

There were three large scale servicemen's clubs - the Officer's Club (CABOOM) near the parade ground (right next door to our house), the Top Hat Club for NCOs near Lily Hill, and the Coconut Grove Airmen's Club with indoor palm trees. The clubs regularly brought major bands and artists from the United States to perform.

Kelly Theater

At least a hundred sponsored clubs and organizations were active on the base, including the Knights of Columbus, a Latino American club, and martial arts dojos. The Kelly Theater showed recent releases for movies from the US. Movies were also shown at the Bamboo Bowl (the football stadium on base).

The Bamboo Bowl hosted recreational league football games for ages 8–18. The high school age football teams were included as part of the recreational league. It was also used for the base's 11-man tackle football league, which not only included teams from Clark but from Subic Naval Base as well.

Base Hospital

To keep the residents entertained at home, Clark had an active broadcast center called AFPN (Armed Forces Philippine Network), a division of American Forces Radio and Television Network (AFRTS). A television station broadcast on Channel 8. It showed about 20 hours per day of syndicated programs from the "big three" networks in the United States, with local news and talk programs.

AFPN had two 24-hour radio stations: an AM station which broadcast news and popular music, and stereo FM which was dedicated to easy-listening and classical music. Local Filipino TV also aired newer American shows than AFPN did.

Two major annual events at Clark were the annual Chili Cookoff, held near the Silver Wing recreation center around September, and the Happening on the Green ("the HOG"). The HOG was a major carnival held on a designated weekend in February which attracted thousands of residents. Amusements and rides were built and operated not only by Filipino entertainment contractors but also by individual Air Force units seeking to boost unit morale, showcasing their talents and to raise funds.

Because of the warm climate and the large number of units, slow pitch softball tournaments were held quarterly. There were at least 2 gymnasiums, 3 walking/running tracks and 7 soft ball fields on base.

There were schools for dependents k-12 grade. University classes were held on base also.

The base experiences two distinct seasons: a dry season from November through April, with a wet season from May through October. From 1953 to 1991, the mean daily low was 73.6 °F (23.1 °C) and the mean daily high was 88.1 °F (31.2 °C), with April being warmest and January coolest. The average annual rainfall was 78.39 inches (1,991 mm).

It was about an hour drive to Manila, and likewise to Subic Bay, a huge US Navy installation. A couple of hours drive north took you to John Hay AB in Baguio. John Hay was primarily a recreation area in the mountains where the nights were cool enough that you could used the fireplaces in the cabins.