At Clark, the 80s really started in 1979
when the United States agreed to Philippine
demands to establish Philippine sovereignty
over
all the bases. The agreement created the Philippines'
Clark Air Base Command of the Armed Forces
(CABCOM),
with a Philippine Air Force Brigadier General
in charge. Soon
CABCOM had more than 700 people in administration
and security
posts. In a ceremony on February 16,
the Philippine flag was raised
over Clark's Main Gate. Following the
change, the only America Flag
permitted to be flown was the one in front
of 13th Air Force Headquarters,
which in the convoluted rhetoric of the deal
was called the U.S. Facility Command.
The Philippine government capped the
occasion by erecting a huge arch in front of the
main gate. It was designed in the form of
a typical native workers' cap called a Salakot, but
most GIs either forgot, or never knew the
term, and referred nicknamed the arch: 'da big hat.
This photo of the Big Hat was overexposed so the top part of
the mounment nearly disappeared in the hot afternoon sunlight.
(Photo by Tom Utts)
1986
Front & Back
Cover of Last
Base Guide.
(Sent in by
Joey Hodges
F-4 Crew
Chief in
3rd TFW)
1989
Nice picture
of the base
hospital. Built
during the
Vietnam War,
it was one of
the finest US
medical centers
in the Pacific.
(Photo by
Joey Hodges)
These pictures were sent by Chris Pagal, 19 when he got to Clark,
and was a senior airman,
assigned as an environmental health specialist at the base hospital
from 1979 to 1982.
Party for the
hospital troops.
He didn't say
what they were
celebrating.
Possibility the
hundredth-zillion
unit of penicillin
administered . . .
. . . that week.
Ernie Green said these were taken on 5N at the base hospital.
(L) A civilian nurse and Cheryl Akerboom. (R) USAF nurse whose name
he can't remember, said he and his friend called her "Captain
Bug."
Air Force barracks, excuse me, dorm life, was tough in the 80s.
(L) Ernie Green, (R) his good friend Dale.
1985
On a visit to Baguio, a main attraction was (L) the U.S. Ambassador's
summer residence. (R) Inside, the painting on the wall depicts the
Japanese
surrender in 1945 to General Douglas MacAruthur's forces.
(Photos by Everett Dominey)
But to get to the 5,000 foot
high summer capital of the PI
you had to drive this road.
On a rainy day it was
no small feat.
(Photo by Rex Beetner)