The following pictures were taken by Ben Sheerman.
He was stationed at
Clark from July 1970 to
January 1973, and returned for a visit while
stationed at Kunsan in
1980. He was in the Air Force
for 8 years,
1969 - 1973, and 1978 -1982.
Ben now lives in New Hampshire. Ben
photos, taken mostly off base, were the first
ones sent, so they are up front.
That's not a river, at least it is not
suppose to be. With way more rain
than the flat Pampanga plain could
absorbed, the countryside around
Clark turned into a huge lake. In
many places small bands of Filipinos
had to huddle together on high spots.
All the roads into and around Angeles
City and Clark flooded. The only way
to Manila was by air -- or small canoes
called banca boats that ferried
folks from high spot to high spot.
Downtown Angeles
where despite all
the water, Ben still
managed find a bit
of beauty. Check out
the blue truck's
bumper.
MacArthur highway
through Balibago.
Now remember
the main streets
were the high
spots.
Some of the not-so-high spots:
Look close and
you can see that
everyone in the
photo is looking
at two huge
cracks in the
blacktop.
Still, while it might get
them wet, the rain
couldn't dampen the
spirit of the people,
especially the kids.
Is this picture out of
focus because Ben
wanted to add to the
ambiance, or . . .
Note the large crack
the water cut in the
road in the center
of this photo.
Unfortunately, Ben didn't
take many pictures on
base. This one give some
idea of what it was like,
for days and weeks
at a time
That's Ben on the left on
a
much nicer day. He's the one
on top, in front of his dorm
-- before the upgrade.
No wait . . . he was actually
visiting a barrio with Filipino
friends. He said, "I spoke the
Pampango dialect pretty good.
My dream is to visit again
some day."
Lending a helping hand . . .
While Americans did their best to keep Clark afloat during the deluge, they also provided
flood relief for approximately 700,000 locals stranded around Pampagna province. An
operation was mobilized to deliver thousands of tons of rice, canned goods, and special
biscuits called nutribuns, by helicopters and C-130s. The nutribun was a disaster relief item
with enough nutritional value to sustain one person for one day. Official announcements in
the local news media claimed the Philippine government ran the program, “with the help of
the Americans.”In fact, The Agency for International Development supplied most relief foodstuffs. Clark’s
kitchens and mess halls baked the vast majority of the nutribuns. With the exception of an
occasional guide, Uncle Sam supplied the crews and the helicopter and C-130s. As was all
the ground support for the aircraft, mission control, flight operations, cargo operations, etc.
With few exceptions, everyone involved was an Americans or a Filipino employee of the
U.S. government.I didn't get to take any pictures of those events because at the time I was out of the photo
taking business due to a really dumb error. I was in the ville and left my camera in my car on
the floor, and I thought out of sight. Apparently I was wrong, I returned and found the door
unlocked and the camera had zigga-naded. I wasn't able to get the replacement camera after
the emergency was over.
Normand Deragon,
worked at AFPN,
went along on some of
the helicopter drops and
helped distribute the
relief supplies. The
pictures are copies
of Air Force photos
released to local
and international
news organizations.
.
A huge amount of Air Force people worked long hard hours preparing and delivering tons
of nutribuns and other relief aid to the thousands of stranded Filipinos throughout central Luzon.
A GI boot on the rail
of a mercy chopper is
all that is visible in this
picture. But the joyous
on the faces of these
lucky people tell
the story.
The somewhat battered and yellowed front page
from August 11, 1972 base newspaper reinforced
the obvious. Sent in by Charlie Lawrence, (right)
a former AFPN broadcast specialist, seen here
preparing for an evening newscast on AFPN. "I
would guess this was sometime in 1971- 72. I
don't think the hair and sideburns were exactly
regulation but no one ever said anything. We had
it made in those days, but being young and foolish,
we didn't realize it."
Then, after a
month, one day it
rained a bit
less. And the
day after that
even less. Then
the sun finally
appeared and
everything began
to dry. As days
went by life
slowly returned
to normal.Soon, as it turned hot and dry, it seemed as if it had all been a bad dream and
you found yourself "wishing for --God Help Us-- just a little rain."
