by Thomas C. Utts
Ed and Fely Smith visited the Philippines in
May 2000 and sent most of the following
photos. Ed was a radio mechanic who came to
Clark with the first group of the
29th Radio Squadron Mobile (RSM) in September,
1952. He wife Fely was
the niece of Leopolodo Paulino, owner of Pauline's
Club. Ed's photos
from that time are on the 1950s pages of the
Scrapbook.
Ed said he felt pretty much lost on Clark.
"Very little left of my old
landmarks, except around the parade ground.
The biggest changes were
in Angeles and Balibago. " There was no
Balibago,
except for a small group of
apartments outside the gate where enlisted
men lived with their families. You had
to be staff or higher to get base housing."
He said on a Jeepney ride from the gate to
Angeles there was nothing except fields until
the river. The first stop was at Pauline's Club.
The view coming onto Clark. The Big Hat arch was put up in 1979 to
commemorate the turn over the bases from US to the Philippine government.
From that point on the Americans were tenants on a Philippine base.
The main change
was that the Philippine flag flew at the main gate, while the United
States flag was only flown
in front of 13th Air Force headquarters. Later, it was also allowed
at the veterans memorial cemetery.
Beyond the arch entering the base.
While everyone is allowed on the
base, there are guards posted at the
gates and the property is fenced.
The Philippine Air Force compound
is a smaller area on the flightline.
View leaving Clark
going to Balibago. Top
of arch is barely visible
in the background.
Ed with Ceffie Yepez, the director of the
Clark Field Museum. It is located in the former
base headquarters building erected in the
middle 80s. Ceffie is probably the longest
resident of Clark. She came to work there
in the early 1950s. For most of that
time until the U.S. departure in 1991 she
was the community relations
section chief for the 13th Air Force Public
Affairs Office.
I got to know Ceffie when I was there from
1971 to
1973. Her knowledge and ability to cut
through Philippine government red
tape was legendary.
After the USAF left,
Ceffie was the one who
jumped in and worked to preserve
historical material. Without her efforts
much would have been lost forever. That's
why I call Ceffie "The keeper of the flame."
She
said she hopes that when former Clark people
come
back to visit they will make time to stop
by the museum.
The former
Chamber's Hall
BOQ is now a
Holiday Inn.
Prices have gone
up a bit. A recent
magazine article
reported rooms cost
$110 per night.
Ed's bride of 47 years, Fely (center),
with her two "baby" sisters Teresita
and Aurora. The picture was taken
inside the Holiday Inn, in an area just
off the hotel restaurant. One of the
huge old trees on the road hanging
over the beautiful grounds. Their
rooms looked over the area
.
Up the street from the Holiday Inn,
formerly Chambers Hall BOQ, many
of the "barns," the old officers' housing
bungalows, have been converted to
restaurants. Ed said they ate in
one called The Red Crab.
A story in another publication said the choices of food ranged from
Germany,
French, Italian and Japanese food as well as one called the Four
Seasons.
Angeles City, directly
across from the site of
Pauline's Club where
there was a well known
wood carver's shop,
named "Tanglao's".
In Angeles City Ed stands in his favorite spot from the 1950s.
This is the site of Pauline's Club where he met Fely. He said
the only thing he recognized was the telephone pole.
Angeles City with
police traffic control
box in the center.
This was take on
the same spot as one
of the photos on the
"Angeles 50s & 60s"
page in Scrapbook.
It's changed a bit.
Ed said Manila keeps growing, with
high rise buildings in every direction,
and more under construction. But the
weather was seldom clear enough to
get a decent photo however. The
white building in the foreground is
a major shopping mall. Just a few
days after they left Manila for
home, a bomb went off there.
"Some things never change."
Two pictures of the Intra Moros, the old walled city. Ed said when
he was there in the 50s it was
filled was filled with squatters, and was a horrible squalor.
Later the squatters were moved out
and the old moat outside the walls turned into part of the WakWak
Country Club course. By
1978, the place looked like these photos which he took from
a Manila Hotel penthouse.
Recently the inside has been developed with "touristy" restaurants
and shops.
(L) The oldest church in Manila, St. Agustine's Cathedral inside
the Intra Moros,
has been been restored and is the site of many weddings. (R) Ed's
gals inside
enjoying PI sunshine in a trendy restaurant compound nearby. He
said the
old cobblestone streets have been kept as part of the historic ambiance.
2000
Someone sent this snap
of Fields Avenue--that's
Garfield's on the right.
Sorry, I misplaced the
retired contributor name.