Clark Air Base Scrapbook

'60s -- Innocence Lost

by Thomas C. Utts

November 22, 1963 -- the day America lost its innocence with the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He was the first president
I voted for while attending the the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He was
killed while I was in Officer's Training School at Lackland. We had watched his plane
fly over after talking off from Kelly the day before. Vietnam was still only one blip on America's
radar screen. It quickly escalated, and by the end of the decade events in the war had started
to overwhelm America and shatter even more illusions. As the nearest American base
outside Southeast Asia, Clark had been deeply involved in the war going as far
back as the middle 50s when the United States sent planes from Clark to the
French to aid in their losing battle in the North. Later, fighter from Clark
were routinely sent into combat on to assist America's forces. After
the huge build up in 1965, it remained a vital support link
between the CONUS and troops in country.

As the next pictures illustrate, life at Clark
was still an adventure with a wide diversity of culture, exotic
places and experiences to temp both new and old GIs of every rank.

Dave Redman, an AFRTS broadcaster in the early 1960s,
contributed the next batch of photographs.

1962 (L) Sign next to AFRTS station. (R)--Dave Redman during a news broadcast. He was the
announcer for most AFRTS TV and Radio reports when President Kennedy was assassinated.

1962 -- Pacific Stars&Stripes' story about the AFPN television and radio stations at Clark.

1963
(L) -- 13th Air Force Band performs for USO event. (R) -- Flyover of combat aircraft
assigned to the base, the F-102 Fighter Interceptors and the B-57 Canberra Bomber.

(L) Dave said this was a typical local PI buses at the time he was there. (R) Checkpoint Jeepney station.

1963
A new secret weapon -- Goat Bombs!
The munitions Storage Area.
(Photo by Phil Herrell)

1963 -- Airman Club, check out those cars! (Photo by Phil Herrell)

1966 -- Bowlers Delight (Photo by Al Quayle, 5th TAC)

Jeff Sedivec lived on Clark from 1965 to 1969, from age
9 to 12. His father Lt. Col. Edward G. ( Sam) Sedivec flew C-130s.

(L) On base quarters where Jeff's family lived. Now that is some Clarkmobile!
(R) The backyard, Jeff in scout uniform in front of nipa hut playhouse.

Above -- visiting the Negrito village to buy souvenirs.

One of Jeff's most memorable adventures was the his parents visited friends and he and
his brother went hiking on a hill looking for old bullet shells. "We found a big one and
dug it up with rocks sticks etc. We played with the rusty thing all the way back to the
house tossing it around making bomb sounds. From the nipa hut playhouse on stilts
they threw the rusty shell on the front lawn and went in. Someone called EOD
who said it was a live Japanese WWII knee mortar. Dressed in full
protective suits they took it away. Jeff said, "We didn't
see daylight for a while after that one."

The next pictures came from John Petrick
who was in the 1st MOB from 1969 to 1971.

1969
Entrance to Snake School.
PACAF Jungle Survival
Training for aircrew
members on their way
to combat assignments at
bases in Vietnam and
Thailand. After a decade
of peace through the middle
50s and the early 60s, the
war at first seemed like
an exciting crusade, but
slowly turned into a
quagmire that sucked
down the best intentions
of the nation.

(L) Opening day
at the 1st MOB's
new barracks
patio.

(R) -- Looks like
a Friday
afternoon for
the mobsters.

Nearly everyone sends a picture of their barracks. Know what? They all look the
same. This is a Clark enlisted barracks -- one shared by the 1st MOB and 5th TAC.

John Petrick ready to ride.
Except maybe a helmet
would be nice -- and some
black leather, but otherwise
he looks good.

This biker gang is really a mob, the 1st MOB during a ride to the fascinating Banaue Rice Terraces.
Known as the eighth wonder of the world, whole mountain ranges are terraced for rice cultivation,
carved out of the mountainsides by the Ifugaos Indians thousands of years ago.

(L) -- On a trip to Baguio, John Petrick stops to pose with a local tribesman -- John didn't
say, but I think he's the one on the right. (R) -- Baguio's main street.

(Note of interest to photo buffs: Petrick's picture were 30-year-old snaps taken with a Kodak
Instamatic. It is amazing what computer graphics did to enhance the old, faded photographs.)

The next pictures are from John Hagler, he was in the
Armed Force Courier Service for a year starting in 1967

Hagler was from Springfield, MO and spent four years in Air Force after
doing four in US Marine Corps. He said the Armed Forces Courier Service (ARFCOS)
was made up of Air Force, Army and Navy folks assigned to stations around the world. The one
at Clark was run by the Air Force. Detachment 1400 and was located in a block building a quarter-
mile from the flightline. "While not spooks or even sneaky pete guys we were involved with them as
we transported classified material and other things all over the globe. No briefcase locked to the wrist
stuff as we could (and did) accompany hundreds of pounds of stuff (such as crypto) at one time
sometimes. We attempted to remain as low profile as possible. The Clark ARFCOSTA was
assigned to the PACAF region with headquarters at Hickam and we worked the Pacific
and SEA areas mostly. Although we did accompany stuff directly to CONUS at
times." They also traveled in and out of and around Vietnam and Thailand.

(L) John Hagler and Bob
Lehman outside the station.
"I guess one way to describe
us would be to say we were
mail carriers with a security
clearance and a weapon," he
said. Still a multi-branched,
it's now the Courier Defense
Command, with head-
quarters in DC.

Above (L) Paul Kelly and John Hagler outside the station.
(R) Some of courier guys, with Hagle's apology for the names he can't recall.

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WEB MASTER: Tom Utts
Zcap@usa.net

Update: 2006