SUBIC BAY, P.I.

[tlawler]

Some fond memories of Olongapo. My ship, the USS Brewton made many port calls in Subic over the course of three WesPacs from '80 to '84. Poo river was literally that...All the bars along Magsaysay Drive piped their raw sewage right into the river. When you crossed the bridge, there were kids in boats that would dive for Pesos that you threw in the water. Grande Island had some great diving...I remember being at the bottom of the channel and watching a carrier going by overhead.

 

[hostler]

I was there for 45 days, running security patrols around the naval base in 1986 during the revolution that unseated Marcos. We weren't allowed in town so I didn't see much of anything except jungle.
A lot of stuff happened during the short revolution that didn't make it to the news.

 

[old tanker]

...first exposure to friendly foreign nationals....

Weekend liberty with an LBFM...then about Wednesday, the Corpsman, and six million units of penicillin in each cheek

 

[Lee in Quartzsite]

Lee, I sure enjoy your posts. Your Videos of VP-40 were terrific. The Chief's Club at Cubi was the best, it was called the Top of the Mark or something like that, it looked out over the whole bay.

USN-RET, liked your photos. I really like ships that look like ships, particularly Destroyers. So many today look like something out of a Hollywood special effects designer's imagination.

Thanks Chief. Actually the video is mostly of VP-48 aircraft....VP-40 was somewhat of a bitter rival! The P5M on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola was shared between VP-40 & VP-48 during rotating deployments in 1965-66. It happened to go to the museum with VP-40 markings, but I have flight time in that particular aircraft.

I see you are in El Paso. A VP-48 aircraft made an emergency landing on Ascarate Lake, April 23, 1960, when it had engine trouble. The engine was repaired and the plane stripped of all unnecessary gear and flown out by a volunteer crew. It made headlines in the local papers. I have a video made by the copilot of the takeoff. We visited the lake in 2015 and it is pretty small for any seaplane operations! The trees in the video were very small then and they were bent over with ropes for added clearance. It would have never cleared the trees standing there today!

 

[Lee in Quartzsite]

Did a search and found the story. Isn't the Internet great or what!! The plane was a P5M-2, not a PBY as mentioned in the story.

1960: Navy seaplane makes crash landing at Ascarate

 

[STCM(SW)]

So, how many of you guys got drunk enough to eat a balut or monkey meat on a stick?

 

[USN-RET]

I made my career as a DoD civilian watching contractors build and maintain aircraft. You name it, I've worked on it. At least until the F-22 and F-35 came along. In the 2006 to 2007 timeframe I was stationed at NAF Atsugi, Japan doing quality assurance on the air wing. But during that time I also went TDY to Clark to do QA on a PAF C-130 that was getting depot maintenance. Actually it was being rebuilt but that is another story. During that time I spent over 13 months total living in the PI.

When the US left the PI they turned over Subic and Clark. Both bases were appointed mayors and you can see the difference in how they were managed. At Clark the generals sealed the gates and stripped out everything of value (doors, windows, plumbing, etc.) and sold it. The jungle has been over taking most of it. The hospital is virtually engulfed. At that time some businesses were moving in and turning it around. It has a world class length runway and was an emergency landing place for the space shuttle. So cargo companies like Fed Ex and UPS have big operations there. There is also a nice golf resort and housing development. I heard that a big Singapore hotel company was going to build there.

Subic was cleaner and better developed. They USN still called there at times. There are some hotels and bars. I stayed at one where they had a monkey caged in the bar and people would torment the poor thing. I stayed away from the monkey! They also hosted a ladyboy beauty contest one weekend which was entertaining.

Is this MoJo you're talking about lambanog? A rot gut cheap liquor flavored with raisins, apples, and even Juicy Fruit gum at time.

I've been to Clark once, had to fly to my ship from Mare Island , CA. via Adak, Sasebo and then into Clark. That was in the late 70s before Mount Pinatubo trashed the place. I use to frequent the bars along Magsaysay and back in 1970 they still had a live Alligator or Croc in a pen, you could buy a back duck to feed to it, pretty crazy stuff.

As to the MoJo I speak of, it's just a concoction of many different type of Rum-based alcohol and some fruit juices such as Pineapple. If mixed properly it goes down like Hawaiian Punch and after about three good sized drinks you'll feel like a Hawaiian Punched you. In town it was mostly beer that was taken in but out at the beach Mojo was the drink of choice

 

[USN-RET]

So, how many of you guys got drunk enough to eat a balut or monkey meat on a stick?

Had both and wasn't drunk either time. Monkey Meat was actually very good, the Balut, not so much, I had to eat one at my CPO initiation which may have had something to do with it. Ah yes, the good times.

 

[les.b]

As an East Coast sailor, most of this is stuff I've heard of, but never experienced. But I do have one piece of one story to tell. Some of you guys may have heard me speak of my Uncle Gene, one of my several family members who were sailors during WWII. He was a Lieutenant JG when this incident occurred, but he had started his career as what we would call an E1, in the peacetime navy between the wars, and worked his way up to Chief Gunners Mate. He was later commissioned, and served on several subs, which kept getting dinged up by depth charges.

On December 7, 1941, (December 8th in the P. I.) his Submarine was in Manila Bay, just south of Subic Bay. He left behind a personal log that he had kept for years before the war began, and I have all of it up to just before he was killed in December 1944.

Here is his entry for his day on "Pearl Harbor Day":



Thought some of you fellows might like to share this. I was born a year after his sub was sank, so I not only grew up in a Navy family, but a "Gold Star" family as well.

Best Regards, Les

 

[tlawler]

So, how many of you guys got drunk enough to eat a balut or monkey meat on a stick?

Never could do balut, but I thought monkey meat was pretty good too. I loved lumpia.

One less than fond memory about Subic was the way the MA's would literally follow us around and ding us on every little uniform or clothing violation. Things like frayed trouser bottoms and crows that weren't completely ironed on dungarees could get you written up.

One time I was sent out with a fellow A-ganger in the ships truck to get our freon drums refilled. We dropped them off and were told to come back in about an hour. Since it was around lunchtime, we decided to drive over to the exchange and grab something to eat. We were sitting in the truck eating and suddenly two Filipino MA's came by, an MA1 and an MA2. They told us to get out of the truck, that we were being arrested for various infractions, the most serious being unauthorized use of a government vehicle. They handcuffed us and drove us back to the base police station. We were allowed to call the ship, and when I explained what happened to us to the Chief, he said "get the f*** out of here, you're pulling my leg". He came down to get us with the division officer and our LPO, an MM1. When they arrived, the Chief stomped in there and demanded we be turned loose immediately. He was screaming at the MA1 and the MA2 was behind him writing on a pad. The Chief turned around and said "what the f*** are you doing?" He replied that he was writing up the Chief, the DO, and the LPO for uniform infractions. The Chief then grabbed the pad out of his hands and said "I'm going to shove this up your a**, you little bas****." The DO, the LPO and the MA1 all had to hold him back to keep him from attacking the MA2. The Chief almost got arrested for assault, but the DO talked them out of it.

 

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

I unluckily caught duty as Shore Patrol on the Marine Corps' Birthday in 1970 at Subic Bay. I was a 1st Class PETTY Officer at the time. It would have been no big deal except all liberty was cancelled and the main gate secured because of political riots in town.

To start off the night, two Marines stole a deuce and a half and crashed the gate. While we were responding to that, a riot broke out at the EM club. There was only one Filipino woman at the club since the gates were secured, the regular female employed dance companions didn't get to work. The one woman present was a wife or girlfriend of some Marine. As the booze flowed and the night wore on, the woman became in high demand as a dance partner. The Marine got jealous, an argument ensued between him and the woman. A black Marine asked her to dance, the husband or boyfriend refused. He was drunk and picked up a metal folding chair and swung it. I don't know who the intended target was but it hit the woman full in the face.

The black Marine punched out the husband/boyfriend. The riot began. There was probably 300 drunk, pissed-off Marines throwing and swinging metal chairs. Beer bottles being thrown, punches and kicks being delivered. There was maybe thirty of us Shore Patrol armed with nightsticks when we arrived. It was more a matter of self-defense than trying to break up the fight.

I got back aboard ship after 0700. My uniform was so covered in blood and other stains, I just stripped and trashed that set of whites and took a long hot shower.

My next duty as Shore Patrol there was in 1973, I was a Chief and had two Marine Lance Corporals as body guards. We patrolled the streets of Olongapo and this was during Marcus' declared martial law. Those Marines were so protective of me that I thought it humorous. I was bigger than both those kids put together.

 

[AJ]

Anyone traveling by Pensacola, Florida, can stop in at the National Naval Aviation Museum and have lunch at the Cubi Bar Cafe. It is the same Cubi Bar that was the Officer's Club at Cubi Point Naval Air Station which was adjacent to Subic Bay. It is full of memorabilia and history. They even have San Miguel Beer. Rumor is that even a couple of waitresses came over with the bar in 1992. Subic Bay and Cubi Point were both severely damaged by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo on June 15, 1991. The Bases closed the following year.

Lots of my friends names are on the plaques on Cubi Point Bar. Some of these same friends had sons going through Flight School at Pensacola. Part of the school is a tour of the museum. Imagine having your Father's name on the walls of the museum and the instructor catching it.

 

[41 fan]

monkey meat

So, how many of you guys got drunk enough to eat a balut or monkey meat on a stick?

I liked the monkey meat. Tasted good to me. Dean (ex CYN/YN CLG5)

 

[Frank46]

USS Franklin D Roosevelt CVA 42 was there in 66-67 during our Westpac cruise. Tried the monkey meat on a stick and tasted pretty good. And the San Miguel beer. When I was there I seem to remember there being about 260 various bars there in Olongapo City. Division parties on Grande Island and have a few pics of the 10" disappearing rifles that were still there. Were made at Watervliet Arsenal about 1910. They were supposed to go to the Smithtonian but ended up at some fort or military installation on the west coast. Lotta memories. Frank

 

[ddixie884]

Been there done that got the T-shirt and the hat. MCB133 1973. My commanding officer and company commander were killed by the Hucks on an inspection trip to a perimeter road project........

 

[M E Morrison]

Upon the commencement of hostilities during the Spanish- American War, Teddy Roosevelt, then Asst. SEC. Nav., ordered Commodore Dewey to attack the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay. On May 1, 1898, Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet and U.S. forces invaded the Philippines. The P.I. became an American protectorate.

Following WWII, the Philippines became an independent sovereign island nation. They have experienced a difficult history of trying to govern themselves.

In the '50's, the Korean War showed the U.S. a need for a forward operating base in the South Pacific. The site of the Spanish Naval base Subic Bay was chosen. From 1951-1956, Navy Seabees worked to build the airfield at Cubi Point and the adjacent pier at a cost of 100's of millions of dollars.

Subic Bay and the associated Cubi Point Naval Air Station were of significant importance during the Vietnam War. Cubi Point had an adjacent pier that could accommodate the Navy's carriers. Cubi Point served as the maintenance, repair and supply center for the carrier fleet's air wing.

Right outside the main gate, across the river bridge is the city of Olongapo. For many young American sailors this was the scene of their first exposure to friendly foreign nationals. Many a young sailor fell in love with young dark-skinned beauties.

1. Subic Bay
2. A four day in port period was a time of relaxing, maybe.
3. The pier was a busy place.
4. The Coral Sea (CV43), our sister carrier seen in the distance.
5. The road from the pier to the airfield in the distance.

and the kids on bamboo rafts who dove into the 'Po river to retrieve nickels you threw in...

 

[M E Morrison]

Having been stationed on two ships out of San Diego (USS England DLG/CG-22) and the (USS Jouett CG-29) and made a total of 6 deployments it was always nice to pull into Subic for a little R&R, San Miguel or MoJo, if that was your poison. Trips out to Grande Island or Blacks Beach were always a welcome retreat after patrolling off the coast of Vietnam. To bad Subic was closed for my LAST deployment to the Persian Gulf for Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, I could have used a gallon of MoJo.

Here are my two ships, some shots of Subic and what I did in the Navy (Missile Fire Controlman). GO NAVY!! FCCM(SW)

I used to catch a Jeepney to cross the street - MUCH SAFER that way!!!

 

[M E Morrison]

Weekend liberty with an LBFM...then about Wednesday, the Corpsman, and six million units of penicillin in each cheek

Yeah, those LBFMs could be risky......

 

[M E Morrison]

So, how many of you guys got drunk enough to eat a balut or monkey meat on a stick?

monkey meat on a stick yes, but I couldn't hold my nose long enough for a balut...

 

[RobertJ.]

So, how many of you guys got drunk enough to eat a balut or monkey meat on a stick?

I was never brave enough or drunk enough to eat balut. I have a pastor friend who went there on a mission trip about 20 years ago, and he ate some. But not me!

We did eat monkey meat on a stick, and lots of it. I was told later that it was actually dog meat, but who knows and who cares? It was pretty tasty! A lot like BBQ pork!

I've also eaten 25 cent tacos from a street vendor in Tijuana, and lived to tell about it!