by Thomas C. Utts
These pictures come from Rusty
Leonard. A Pensacola, Fla. native,
he arrived at Clark late in February
1967, and stayed for 18 months until
August 1968. He turned 21 in the
middle of his tour. An Automated
Weapons Control Systems Mech-
anic in the 405th Armaments and
Electronics Squadron (AES).
He
worked on the F-102 missile
and
rocket control aircraft
tracking
system. Rusty's on the right with
his buds Ken Long (L) and Ken
Metzler. He said "Clark and the
PI were paradise; a lot of us
just
didn't realize it
at the time."
Rusty's time at Clark is an example of how
many troops in the Philippines spent a
significant part of their time TDY to base
in Vietnam and Thailand providing vital
support to the war. From fighter pilots to
aircraft maintenance to security police
to supply to nearly every Air Force career
specialty, huge numbers of TDY
troops from all the Pacific bases was part
of the Pentagon's shell game to
reduce the amount of people that were "officially"
reported to congress
as assigned to the combat zone. Regardless
of how they got there,
these brave young men and women performed
their duty under
in a manner that reflected great credit upon
the nation.
Rusty's squadron maintained F-102s at Danang
(where he took these pictures) and Bien Hoa
in Vietnam and at Don Muang and Udorn in Thailand.
Troops pulled two month TDYs at those
sites and then returned to Clark. Rusty
was at Danang in April, May and part of June 1968,
and he went to Don
Muang in Bangkok, Thailand, in October
and November.
(L) Rusty in the cockpit of an F-102. (R) F-102
armed with AIM-4A and AIM-4D missiles.
The three pictures above were all taken when
he was at Danang AB in Vietnam.
***
Rusty recalls that Bangkok, Thailand was another
dream duty site. "Being from the PI, we
had to stay in the Manida Hotel downtown,
close to the river, because there was no barracks
space for us. Man, that was rough .
. . We supported four F-102s out at Don Muang airport,
worked 24 on and 24 off. Anyone that was there
knows what we did on the 24 off! Singh Hai
beer for 20 baht, ($1), and it was a liter
of truly good beer that would knock your socks off.
Bangkok had a horse track,
dozens of beautiful temples that were
all over the city,
great bars and
massage parlors, and probably the best
looking women in Asia.
Danang, Vietnam, was a reality check after
Clark and Thailand. We lived in Tent City, in a
tent that had a stand-up fan for cooling,
was surrounded by sandbags for protection against
shrapnel, and the only fridge
around. We were rationed American beer, but could buy all
the Korean OB we wanted. We'd rent out
space in the fridge to other guys for more beer.
Incoming rockets and mortars were the worst
part. The siren would go off around 2:00 a.m.,
followed shortly after by incoming.
We would jump up, grab helmets, cigarettes and a beer,
and duck into the bunkers nearby and wait
it out. Sometimes we took small arms fire from
the perimeter afterwards. None of us
got hurt during my tour, but we had some close calls.
-------------------------------------
The rest of Rusty's pictures are from Clark.
Across from AES barracks. Love those photos
of older cars. Plus the picture
shows some of the trees that made Clark such
a beautiful base.
Anyone who was ever at Clark can relate to
the picture on the left taken during on the
monsoon season. Right: A nicer day, with Ken
Long and two AES houseboys.
Like most barracks on Clark, the squadron had their own day room/snack bar. The Humble Haven's
motto was "It's hard to be humble when you're as good as the 405th AES." Cheap San Miguel kept
those squadron day's profitable and was suppose to keep the troops on base. Of course most
said it only helped to get the motor running before heading out on a "ville run."
"Looking back, the PI was outstanding," Rusty said. "What else could a single,
20 year old get that was not perfect? I could legally drink, go to bars where
half-naked women served you booze and whatever else money could buy."The Filipinos were some of the greatest people you could meet. They were
poor but for the most part genuine. The Negritos were interesting; they seemed
to have the run of the base, and sold neat stuff like butterfly knives and blow
guns, (at which I got to be pretty accurate). Who could forget jeepneys, pesos
at 5 for a dollar, balut, cigarettes for .20 cents a pack, San Miguel beer,
and of course the Filipina love call, 'Tssst Tssst'?
Two more scenic barracks pictures and those wonderful trees.
(R) A classic Clarkmobile, looks like a 57
Mercury hardtop that has seen better days.
That's Staff Sergeant Emerson standing with
Ed Bumby inside. Looking close, you can
see even the modular buildings weren't air
conditioned until after the Vietnam War.
(L) Of course not everyone got to live in
the newer modular barracks buildings.
Because of over-crowding due to supporting
war operations in Vietnam, many
troops ended up in the early post-WWII-vintage
"chicken coops" barracks.
Looks like a school on the backside of the
base with the Pinatubo foothills behind.
Not sure what this is, but I like the trees.
Good view of Mt. Arayat looking from the barracks
across the flightline.
------------------------------------
In 1970, after completing 4 years
in the Air Force Rusty returned to civilian life.
He said, "I finished my USAF
time at Perrin AFB in Texas, where I met my
wife. This was a good place to be for my last
year and a half to end to my
USAF experience, that amounted to a truly
great four years." He
considered staying to go to Germany or Holland,
"but it didn't happen, so I got out.
Overall, he said, "The time in the
Air Force USAF was great. If I was told
that I could
do it over again, then 'Sign me up'! He stayed
in the Dallas/Ft. Worth
area where he lives with his family and works
as a mainframe computer programmer.
