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My mother, older sister Kathleen
and I (age 12) arrived in Subic Bay aboard the
USNS Barrett in the fall of 1955 to join my father
who had flown there earlier to become Asst. Fire
Chief of Subic. President Magsaysay had just been
killed, as I recall. The East Kalayaan housing
was about nine months from completion, so our
family lived in Olongapo near the open market
for nearly a year. Officers lived either on the
main base or in West Kalayaan, where a new officer's
club was under construction. The Teen Club, an
L-shaped Quonset hut with pool and ping pong tables,
jukebox and a dance floor, would soon be located
near there as well.
Virtually everything else,
the PX, commissary, etc. were located near the
waterfront. Dredges were being brought in to begin
filling the swamps behind the base where all new
shopping and recreation facilities were planned.
Cubi Point was under construction. A new high
school also was rumored to be on the drawing board,
to be built at the base of the hill along the
road to Kalayaan. At that time, grades 1-12 were
held in Quonset huts near the waterfront. By the
time we left Subic in 1960, most of the new base,
including the high school, had been completed.
A few people traveled by
plane, but most spent the better part of a month
aboard one of the military's MSTS ships getting
between Subic and San Francisco. The Barrett was
the newest (she's now in mothballs) and the only
one that was air conditioned. Other's I remember
were the Sulton and the Breckenridge. Fire Chief
Don Farrar, bandleader at heart, picked the musically
inclined from his firefighter ranks to form a
band that greated each ship when it arrived. There
was no TV in Subic, or any place else in the Philippines
that I know of. But there was radio on the base.
KCMB, armed forces radio. My mother was the first
of our family to volunteer her talent to the radio
station. She hosted a morning talk show called
"Coffeetime" that included live piano performances
by some guy named Jimmy. Later, my sister and
her little friend Squeeky the Mouse hosted a Saturday
morning children's program. And still later, a
bunch of us from the Teen Club talked the station
into letting us host a Saturday night, one-hour
rock & roll show called "Teen Turntable."
I have reel-to-reel tapes of several of the shows.
Kids had no job opportunities
on the base back then. But when I was a sophomore,
I talked somebody into letting me deliver the
"Plan Of The Day" to East and West Kalayaan. I
couldn't charge for the paper, but I was allowed
to charge 10-cents a week per customer for my
delivery services. More than 35 years later, my
legs are still sore. Many more memories, but that's
enough for now.
Larry Taylor, '55-'60
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We sailed from San Francisco on
the msts sultan in June of '57. It was a wonderful
'cruise' stopping in Honolulu and Guam. The weather
was beautiful and calm seas all the way to manila.
We met up with my stepdad and drove from manila
to our quarters in Cubi pt. We got lost and finally
arrived around 7:oo in the evening.
As we entered our quarters, downstairs there
was a family of cobras all curled up near the
stairway. My dad got a stick and drove them out.
Cubi point NAS was a new base and our housing
was very nice. We lived in the key personnel section
close to the airstrip. It was a fairly long bus
trip to George Dewey high in Subic. We never minded
it was fun- we had a nice rec center and movie
theatre and bowling alley all air conditioned
just up the street from our quarters.
One night I came out of the movies and started
walking thru a open field, shortcut to the street
to the housing area. A wild boar came running
out of the jungle, right at me somebody up on
the sidewalk yelled for me to stand very still,
and I did. It ran around and around then went
back into the jungle. I was scared to death.
Some sailors caught a boa constrictor near the
airfield. They put it in a cage down in Subic
and everybody would come and watch it eat. It
was huge!!!! I loved going to the outdoor movies
in Subic, but there was a curfew and we had to
be on the bus and on our way home by 10:00. School
was fun we traveled to Clark field for volleyball
games and baseball. We were right across the street
from the pool so PE was a lot of swimming and
bowling. I never got to see the new high school,
but the old one was pretty cool. Anyways!!
The reconstituted milk was the pits. I didn't
drink very much milk. The ice cream tasted a little
better but not much. It was always an experience
to go off the base to olongapo- our neighbor always
went there to get fresh vegetables at the market.
I couldn't handle the fish!
We had our graduation at the movie theatre at
Cubi pt. It was a great experience in the P.I.
I hope more of my classmates join this website.
Take care-Karen class of '58
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