Duty in the Philippine Islands

On Monday morning bright and early all the Nugs (new guys) showed up at the Orderly Room as ordered.  The first Sergeant then proceed to read us the riot act.  Clark Air Base was the largest military instillation in the world at that time.  Being we were the only Army company on the air base, we were a 'band of brothers'.  If one got into a fight, we all were in a fight til it was finished.  He said he did not want some one to come in with a black eye and say they lost a fight to an airman.  He told us if we were ever in the village off base, (Angeles City) later to be shortened to 'the vil', and we heard someone holler out 'Army', that meant someone was in trouble and all Army personnel must rush to the rescue.

Let me explain about our barracks building there at Clark.  It was a cinder block building with no walls.  The outside walls were wooden louvers that were adjustable by the people on the inside.  On the outside of the louvers was fly screen to keep out the bugs and insects.  The interior walls were fixed wooden louvers.  So the wind could blow right through the building.  Our building had a flat, one story structure off to the right of the building which housed our mess hall.  The motor pool was in a Quonset hut to the rear of the building.  Right across the street from our building was the dependent swimming pool.  Three building down the street from us was the Coconut Grove Airman's Club.  Out Orderly Room was on the bottom floor of the building and on the second floor were two large areas set aside, one for the Day Room, for anyone who wanted to watch the local American TV station, AFRTS, ant the other room was for the Bar.  The Bar had its own TV and also a bartender on duty from 0800 hours until 0100 hours daily.

One of the big culture shocks to get over was there was no KP (Kitchen Police) in the Philippines.  We had foreign nationals who were paid to do KP, Cook and wait on tables.  It was like going into a Cafe to just walk in, set down at a table, wait for the waitress to come over and place in your order for whatever was on the menu for that meal.  We also had paid houseboys who took care of our dirty laundry, shining our boots and shoes.  I said this was all paid and it was.  Each payday, we would get in line, report to the pay officer and get our pay.  After receiving this pay, we moved on down the line and each paid for the KP fund, Houseboy fund, Day Room Funds.  All the funds took the fun out of getting paid. But it was worth it in the long run not to have to worry about all the extra details.

Most of the work that we done in Morse Code and Non-Morse Intercept was classified and is still classified so all I can tell you is just some stories of what happened during our off duty time around Clark, so that is what I will do next time.  I am going to try to put a picture of our building on this.  So til next time,  it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life. . .

Til then, God speed. . .