Scenery, More Charities, Dinner, Parade Grounds, and the Clark Museum

Late Tuesday, 18 July 2000 we had a chance to take some video of the local mountains, although the lighting wasn't the best: http://www.whoa.org/reunions/00picabmini2/  I'd highly recommend that folks bring traditional or good digital cameras for our visit in order to get higher quality pics.  Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative in November too.

Tuesday night VJ and I attended a meeting of the Mabalacat Rotary Club where we both gave presentations.  I again gave a summary of WHOA and our sponsored charity, Books for the Barrios.  May A. Bergmann, President, was very excited about the possibility of our helping some of the local schools through BftB.  She asked that we consider designating one or all of the 21 barangay (local government districts) schools within the Mabalacat area for our sponsored shipment of material.  This
is action I would recommend we take with Dan and Nancy Harrington, if we agree.

Wednesday we stopped at the Clark Cemetery for photos:  http://www.whoa.org/reunions/00picabmini2/04.html  The cemetery is designated for American and foreign military/families non war related deaths from all areas, services, and former bases of the Philippines.  It is maintained by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars.  It is also the only cemetery authorized to fly the American flag in the Philippines other than the American Memorial Cemetery in Manila.

The grounds were in immaculate shape and still actively accepting qualified interment.  According to a marker placed by the 13th Air Force in the early '80s, the Clark Cemetery was the only active military cemetery outside of the United States.  It covers the entire American presence in the Philippines from the late 1800's to present.

Wednesday evening we had a nice dinner with many members and relatives of VJ's Gomez family.  Dinner was held at an excellent local Chinese Restaurant, although it was relatively expensive compared to other restaurants in the area.

More scenery from the Holiday Inn on Thursday morning:  http://www.whoa.org/reunions/00picabmini2/07.html

That afternoon Tony, my friend Jasmine, and I took a walking tour of the Parade Ground area and made our second visit to the Clark Museum and Museo ng Kapampanga.

Walking around the area seemed like a contrast between the '50/'60s and the modern base.  Many of the "barn" style homes were still there, although not all were being used as homes.  Some had been turned into offices for the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) and other miscellaneous purposes.  The MPC Restaurant, for example, was a converted barn used as a small cafeteria for much of the local employees.  We had nice filipino style lunch there.

Near the Holiday are several new restaurants featuring Korean, German, and American style food.  We also found a short order restaurant that reminded me of the old Teenclub.  It featured video games, pool tables, and other entertainment for the younger set.

We stopped at the Regency Casino scheduled to reopen soon (formerly the Officer's Club) and took photos including the old tennis courts across the street.  They were in great shape.

We continued our walk eastward on Cardinal Santos Blvd. (formerly Wirt Davis Ave.) towards the Clark Museum: 
http://www.whoa.org/reunions/00picabmini2/21.html  The Fort Stotsenberg markers were still in place!  The barbershop at the end of the street near Chuck Vesely's old house was gone.

We met Cephie Yepez at the museum again and took the opportunity to present her with an initial WHOA and Commemorative Committee donation of $10,000 PHP to help support her efforts in operating the museum.   Although only a small donation, she was ecstatic!  Her thanks go out to all of us, and especially the organizers of the Commemorative effort.

She has set aside a very nice section of the museum for the Clark dependent's schools, including a large lighted display case.  The school section fits in visually very nicely with the rest of the museum.  She is anxious to display our material as soon as we can provide it.

We toured both the Clark Museum and the Museo ng Pampanga (second floor).  The Clark portion was a very interesting display of photos and memorabilia from the entire history of Clark/Ft. Stotsenberg.  The Pampanga Museum was just as impressive, and I would recommend it as a "must see" for visitors!

After much time at the museum, we ended our walking tour by taking a local jeepney ride and visiting a memorial in one of the barns.

More parties at the Holiday Inn and Field's Ave.

Coming next - Subic Bay and George Dewey HS, our second visit to Wagner, Expo Pilipino, Carmenville, Musicman, Holiday Inn Villas, the local American community, the Oasis, the Clark RAO, more WHOA donations, the end of our visit, and much more.

Comments and Lessons Learned -

-  the sun does shine in July in the PI (between typhoons)
-  the Clark Cemetery is immaculate and still active
-  there are relatively expensive restaurants downtown, but most are very reasonable
-  the Parade Ground area is in wonderful shape
-  many old "barns" are still standing
-  many restaurants in the Holiday Inn area
-  the Clark and Pampanga Museums are a "must see" for any visitor
-  San Miguel is still the best!

John '65 and VJ '70 - doing our part to remind the Aussies that we were there first