George Dewey Stories: The Sixities

 

Steve Sego

SUBIC BAY, RP
1966 - 1970

Barrio Life
(Mataain Barrio, across the hwy from Baloy Beach)

  • Arriving late at night from Clark, bladder bursting after the bottle of warm Coke with the paper straw at the Halfway House, waking with jet lag to the sound of a Blaylock Taxi - truck head-on accident outside the compound gates
  • Our maid, Nene, only 15 years old, lived in the Nipa hut next door
  • Waving hello to the kids hanging out the Nipa hut window, only to learn that the up and down wave meant "Come here" (sometimes accompanied by "psst - hey Joe!).
  • Making a new friend, Nene's little brother, Caesar. He didn't speak English, I didn't speak Tagalog, but we got along great. I spent the night in his house on a mat on the bamboo floor. Me and six kids, mom and dad, pigs and chickens running loose beneath on the ground - the Nipa hut was five feet above ground on stilts
  • Fishing in the shrimp pond behind the compound with triangle firecrackers wrapped with cigarette package cellophane and sunk with an affixed rock, making our own boat to row out to the snake infested island
  • Going to the Sari Sari store to buy Texas bubblegum and Sarsi, triangle firecrackers
  • Walking across the street, through the cane field, to Baloy Beach
  • The boys in the banca's with outriggers at Baloy Beach trying to sell rides, the dark sand too hot to walk on, the prickly sticker pods that stuck to your towel
  • Getting sunburned so badly that I was ill, couldn't even apply Solarcaine, which felt like knives cutting flesh, the burns were so bad
  • Four years of a sunburned, scabby nose - where was the SPF stuff my kids use?
  • Old women squatting by the side of the road, relieving themselves in the ditch with their black skirts pulled into their laps, skinny brown cigarettes hanging from their thin dry lips, lit end inside their mouths
  • The smell of burning cane fields
  • The neighborhood boys, Bert and Dado, who came to serenade my sister Ramona with guitars and flat, fourteen year old voices
  • Christmas with an aluminum tree
  • Easter - the good Friday pig slaughter, the flagellators, the candlelight procession to the Catholic Church, where we waited in line - to kiss the feet of a plastic Jesus!
  • Three days of singing, pig roasting, the trip on base for the Easter Egg hunt, and then the pig pickin' (as my Alabama kin say) on Baloy Beach. Tubs of San Miguel and Coke
  • The compound's sand brick wall topped with embedded broken glass, not much of a deterrent. Bars in our windows
  • Compound landlord Manuel Valencia (Val), who worked in SRF on base and thus was extremely wealthy by local standards, built the houses in our compound adjacent to his own sprawling home where he and a large extended family resided
  • Debbie Merchant, Jeff and Jay Saunders (Reavis), Peter Boyle and Erin Malene lived in our compound - until we all got base housing
  • Waiting for the San Miguel bus at the compound gate, loading up with a bunch of GDHS bound upperclassmen not pleased with the stop. They always joked that, when there was a breeze blowing across the bay, creating six inch breakers, the "Surf's up at Subic!" Patsy Collins and few other younger kids on the bus, the drive on the windy road around Half Moon bay and past the cemetery, Victory Liners hogging the road
  • Street gang fights between the local gangs - Bert, Dado and their pals. Kids from 8 to 16 engaged in mock battles which drew real blood, just for the fun of it

Harder Street
133-B Harder Street, close to everything, kids everywhere

  • Walking across the white wooden bridge between Harder and our duplex, which was separated by a normally dry ravine, boiling with water during the monsoon, perfectly trimmed hedges and yards, bamboo fences, white metal sign with black lettering in every yard with the inhabitants' head of household's name (first initials, last name), rank, address: F. L. Sego, Civ., 133-B Harder St.
  • Gutter sliding down one of the steepest streets in Kalayaan
  • Riding Steve Peltier's go-kart, made by the guys in his dad's shop, down Harder, crashing into the curb
  • Monkeys in Susie Gerard's backyard
  • Playing baseball at Jeff Walker's with my brother Fred, Richard Dowd, Greg and Stevie Young, Dave Lockyer and Mike Leyden
  • Digging a "swimming pool" during monsoon season in the drainage ravine between our house and the street
  • Suzie waking me up on Saturday mornings, dragging me off on some adventure
  • Our maid, Damie, making us french fries, hot dogs and Kool Aid after swimming on Saturdays
  • Maid Lucy and her hairy - very hairy - legs which freaked my brother Fred
  • Cardboard sliding on the front yard down to the ditch
  • The hum (and moldy smell) of air conditioners from every home and building
  • Typhoons blowing through, windows covered with the canvas that unrolled from above
  • Greg Young being big enough at 13 to get a part as an extra in the making of the movie "Too Late the Hero," which was being filmed on base
  • Running terrified down Harder Street after scary movies
  • Making our own park in the jungle at the bottom of Harder Street, with the Makers and the Youngs. Real BB-gun wars with brother Fred, Ward Yeomans, et al
  • Harder Street kids - the Gerards (Susie and Jerry), Peltiers (Steve and sisters), Dowds (Linda and Richard), David Montano, Jeff Walker, the Youngs (Stevie and Greg), the Makers (Barbie and Leland)
  • Watching Neil Armstrong on the Moon at Greg and Stevie Young's next door - we didn't have TV
  • Dave Lockyer playing Sgt. Pepper for me, playing Fred's Magical Mystery Tour album from Hong Kong - orange vinyl in thin plastic sleeve
  • Cobras in our yard that our cats killed
  • Our dog, Sam, attacked our cats during a lightning storm and injured them seriously, Susie was really upset and calmed down with a cigarette provided by the teen club managers
  • The yardboy climbing our coconut tree with his bare hands, throwing down ripe fruit. The pineapple bush and banana tree in the backyard, mangos, guavas, papayas, other weird stuff we'd eat because our maids said it was OK
  • Sister Lorelei and her girlfriends, Kim Cladas, Barbie Maker, having sleepovers and rehearsing their all girl band, the Banana Split Supremes, which I managed. Still no gigs booked, though
  • Sister Ramona and her teen parties when my Dad went to Japan to work. Low lights, alcohol and necking
  • Playing sunka, with puka shells, surrounded by lumpy cushioned rattan furniture, giant wooden spoon and fork, batik art, wooden hand carved lamps with translucent shell shades, wooden statues ("Because of San Miguel" - drunk sailor, "Because of You", pregnant Filipina, and Barrel man with surprise), and gekko lizards which seemed to never move, but when you looked again had moved five feet
  • Mom and Dad's cocktail parties, tanned women with poofy hair, Dad showing off his ice crusher and martini skills, sampling grenadine, crème de menthe, and Dad's sweet concoctions
  • Sundays - no maid, dirty dishes, Mom and Dad off golfing, bus ride to the chapel for Sunday School, afternoon teen club movie, hanging in the park until dark, then racing home before the folks to clean house


Kalayaan Housing Area
Everyone had the same house, some were just backwards.

  • Hanging out in the park at the Finback/Argonaut intersection, playing truth or dare, seven minutes in heaven while we were supposed to be at the movies or teen club
  • Joining Johnny White's gang - my friend Paul Thompson was already in - initiation was smoking a cigarette. Could've been worse - balut!
  • Exploring the jungle, finding the waterfall below the sewage treatment facility, getting sick from swimming there
  • Lizard hunting with blow guns
  • Convincing the school bus driver that Susie and I were the Base CO's kids, getting dropped off in front of his compound above Harder, then heading home when he left
  • Going to Brian's, Ed's or Sagat's house in East Kalayaan
  • Tim Bills chasing me from Bonita to Corsair to Finback through people's yards - he was big and angry
  • Trading coins with Brent Winant and Tom Crom
  • Finding the old Japanese WWII bunker in the jungle behind the theater
  • Stepping on a green viper on the way up Harder to the bus stop one morning (in front of Susie's house), which tried to bite me, with good reason
  • Hosting "carnivals" at our house during the rainy summers, parting the neighborhood kids from their allowances with our games and gambling devices, including Pachinko and a miniature roulette table
  • The singing from the maids' quarters in the evening, which was just below us on Harder
  • The sky dark with fruit bats
  • The smell - moist dirt, wet grass, moldy air conditioners, flowers and fruit trees, all swirling about from dawn till dusk
  • Wading through the lawns after a monsoon at Kalayaan Elementary, ankle deep in water and tadpoles
  • SOQ, Corsair, Bonita and Grouper Streets, Finback, the SeaLand convoys continuously heading in and out the gate on Argonaut
  • Playing night tag in the jungle with a wet sponge (we called it Gookus)
  • Ramona and her thirteen year old friend, Robin Monroe, taking Robin's folks car for a late night joy ride around the base - busted by the MP's. Two teenage girls, 2AM, driving around streets empty except for MP's and Shore Patrol - duh…
  • Mom and Dad bringing young sailors they met at BVGC home for good food, family, etc. Homesick sailors filling our house at Thanksgiving and Christmas
  • "Visiting" with my folks to their friends' houses - the Cladas', the Bruhns, the Merchants, the Meyers, the Thompsons
  • Hurling water balloons filled with Hershey's chocolate syrup at passing buses on Halloween
  • Gifts Dad brought from Japan - Pachinko, a high powered telescope that revealed yet unseen stars as well as close-ups of rooms and activities in East Kalayaan

Kalayaan Pool
Saturday afternoons spent swimming, playing Marco Polo and alligator tag, eating and getting fried

  • Swim team practice after school, Vic teaching us how to start, swimming lap after lap after lap
  • Swim meets, meeting kids from Clark, American School in Manila, Sangley, traveling to away meets and the friendly hosts
  • Night swimming, drunken Cubi fliers and hostesses, from Officer's Club parties in the adjacent lanai, falling in the pool, diving for their money and wallets on the bottom,
  • Swimming during the monsoon, raining so hard that it hurt your head and you went under to escape, sitting out waiting for the lightning to end
  • The bats swarming the bugs swarming the lights, fishing for bats with a fishing rod and chewing gum (bat sonar was confused, and they grabbed the gum)
  • Eating the greasy canned potato chips and soggy candy bars at the snack bar, getting yelled at for running, cannon balls and "depth charge" game from the low dive
  • The famous pool raid of 1970, when my brother Fred, Ken Stilgebouer, Ward Yeomans and Bob Young ran through the locker rooms and attendants area shooting pop corn kernels through straws at the staff, and were suspended from the pool - by the CO!
  • Walking home barefoot, the sidewalk so hot it burned your feet, throwing the towel down and standing on it every so often to relieve the burning
  • Watching the Musics work out, Olympic level swimmers (and cool name)
  • Meeting my GDHS friends - Gary Thobois, Sagat Giron, Denise McDaniel and Dale Schaffner - at the pool for the last time, the Saturday morning before the van left for Clark and the states. A gray sad day - all except Sagat left within weeks

Kalayaan Theater
The bugs flying in front of the projector, creating monster shadows on the screen

  • The National Anthem, with the scenes of fighter jets, and the NFL game of the week highlights before the movies in the fall
  • Sitting in the left back row with Susie and the cool kids, on top of the bench back
  • Never finishing a movie, always milling in and out, down to the snack bar, the teen club concession window, or just inthe parking lot hanging out
  • Everyone (kids too) always smoking
  • Heavy rain on the metal roof, sometimes so loud you couldn't hear the movie, screen walls, hot nights, cigarette smoke curling up through the projector beam
  • Sneaking into "M" rated movies
  • Making out - with whoever I was going steady with that week!
  • Watching Camelot with my mother, seeing 2001, Bond flicks, and scores of other now classic movies


Binictican Elementary
The first day - knowing no one, a very pregnant Mrs. Tilly, Brian Mitchell taking care of me

  • Kenny Whitney sucking his thumb while twisting his hair with the same hand during his personal nap time
  • The playground - survival of the fittest, hot scorching recess, kids passing out, Mrs. Byars making us do calisthenics (okay class, wing stretchers!). Her profound sadness after her son was killed during Tet
  • Kick ball, catching Avila Matthews monster kicks to center field
  • Hanging out under the shade of the pines, too hot to move, flat white sky
  • The hot walk up the stairs after recess, the long lines at the cooled drinking fountains, kids drinking too fast and fainting, salt tablets
  • In-room lunches, fizzies and balogna sandwiches, bad candy the kids from Olongapo brought
  • Christmas plays, wearing a toga for Mrs. Byars latin themed play
  • Purposely failing math tests in Fifth Grade to get sent down to the other class to be with my friend, Susie Gerard (Mrs. Lavasseur's class)
  • Nestor and Arlene Camerino, Johnny White, Kate Leonard, Dave Lockyer, Patsy Collins, Brian Mitchell, Ed Thompson, Mariabella Cobarubia, Billy Stark, Tim and Tana Bills, Mike Leyden, Suzie Gerard, Phil Edgley, Franklin Nebres, Joy Callaway, Melody Music, Betty Pace, Yvonne Elsas, Johnny White, Peter Boyle, Don McCauley, Kraig Siegel, Ward Yeomans, Ken Stilgebouer, Bob Young, David Montano, the Martinez brothers, Suzette and Nanette Bruhn, Steve Hudgins, Craig Hanna, Mark Pilkington, Barbie Maker, Kim Cladas, Mrs. Tilly (4th Grade), Mrs. Larson, Mrs. Pederson, Mrs. Lavasseur (5th Grade), Mr. Callahan and Mrs. Byars (6th Grade)
  • Losing the 5th grade presidency to Billy Stark by one vote - cause I voted for him!
  • Molly Tatum humiliating me on the bus ride to school when Johnny White asked her in front of the entire bus if she would go steady with me - she laughed and said sure, in January, cause she was leaving for the states in December! I hid under the bus seat until we got to school
  • After the famous humiliation on the bus by Molly Tatum, Ward Yeomans, Fred and I convincing my sister Lorelei to call the fire department to report Molly's house (corner of Finback) was burning down - the look on her and her dad's faces when the fire fighters burst in during dinner!
  • Playing dodge ball at the bus stop in Kalayaan every morning, where Bonita and Finback intersected
  • Watching the pool next door to Binictican, and wishing I were in it
  • Tension in class with some kids when their dads were on tour in Nam, tearful outbursts and uncomfortable silences
  • Mr. Callahan's sixth grade class, that foxy Cindy Calugay, girls starting to look like women!
  • Flying coconut beetles out of the bus window by a thread on a spool on the way to school
  • Boy Scout meetings at Binictican, playing tackle British Bulldogs after in the center courtyard
  • The visiting Filipino cultural performers, the candle dance, Tinikling, etc. ("Sunlight on the rice fields the gay maya is singing, Sampaguita scents every breeze in this fine weather, dance Tinikiling's way while the music is ringing, step Tinikling's way now let's all dancing together")
  • Praying everyday that the bus would break down heading up the Binictican hill. Every few weeks, prayers were answered
  • The first and last days of school always being cancelled or threatened by typhoon warnings
  • My first vocational urge - to be a housewife like my mom. As I left for school ever day, she was packing up the golf clubs, or going bowling, or some other social event, with no work obligations of any kind. What a life!

George Dewey Junior/Senior High
New kids everywhere, lunch in the Canteen

  • Getting thrown out of Mrs. Bate's Philippine Culture class (I should have gotten an A, I remember, "Land of the morning, child of sun returning, with fervor burning, thee do our souls adore. Land dear and holy, cradle of noble heroes, ne'er shall invaders trample our sacred shore. Whether within the skies or through the clouds or over the hills and seas, do we adore the radiance, feel the throb of glorious liberty. Thy banner dear to all our hearts, its sun and stars alike. O never shall its shining field be dimmed by tyrant's might. Beautiful land of love, o land of light…" , or something like that)
  • The dress code, long pants for boys, sandals only with socks, skirt length near the knee required for girls, boys' haircuts above the ears. My brother, Fred, was the poster boy for the haircut dress code, Mr. Schofer posted his oversized photo in the office, which he hated
  • PE with Mr. McMahon, football and outdoor basketball, hot soccer games
  • Shop class with Mr. Stauffer - I stunk
  • Mr. Nutter's Spanish class, the cute girls (Diane Dear, Ann Huddle, Denise McDaniel)
  • Getting booted out of Mrs. Rampe's Science for overzealous use of the burner
  • Mrs. Nash's music class, singing patriotic songs (She's a Grand Old Flag, I Like it Here), and getting misty and nostalgic for the states, being such an ass that Mrs. Nash slapped me hard across the cheek -she was as shocked as I
  • Mrs. March and her Southern outlook on life
  • Breeze ways and out door lockers
  • And as in every class from fourth grade on, looking out the window from the air conditioned room to the swaying palms, and wishing I was outside, at the pool, the beach, horseback riding, anything
  • Getting detention the last day of 7th grade from Mrs. Mallett, who retired as a Counselor in 1999 from the High School that I see out of my office window in Bellevue, Washington. My own son received detention the last day of 7th grade, and my wife didn't understand why I was so unmoved by his plight
  • Running with Gary Thobois, Sagat Giron, Mike Harrison, and their girlfriends Denise McDaniel, Dale Schaffner and Nancy Chutter, helping them get elected to class leadership
  • The Jr. High Valentine's dance, learning to dance at Dale Schaffner's house in SOQ with the gang
  • Seeing Mrs. Mallett's play, The Miracle Worker, starring Debi Stilgebouer and Melanie Cladas
  • Playing the clarinet in Junior High band with Brian Mitchell, and noticing how musically talented he was, but where would that get him, anyway?
  • Jamming my fingers in "Duck" McMahon's PE class on a hard football pass from Mark Sheddan, Mr. Mitchell driving me to the hospital for x-rays since my folks were in Japan, listening to the Apollo moon landing on the radio on the way in the car
  • Attending summer vacation Bible school at GDHS, learning a song that I still love, How Great Thou Art
  • Sultry April McMullen, the cute girls - Pam Schaeppi, Sharon Duncan, Nancy Chutter (same birthday as mine - 6/26), Sharon Stephens, Lolita Scott, Susan Butler, Tana Bills, little Clyde Carley, Ron Kassab and his high-pitched voice and laugh, the Bangle Boys, Joe and John, Ed Boywid, Louie Short, Kenny Thompson, Paul Prewitt, and my favorite name to this day - Mariabella Cobarubia

Teen Club
Sneaking in before we were 13, Susie was friends with the managers, the Bennetts

  • My first official visit, being ignored by the High School kids
  • Beating a Senior in pool on a Friday night, running the table in real by-the-rules 8-ball (call all shots, 1 and 15 in the sides, no off ball combos, cue ball scratch on the 8 loses), he was ticked
  • Getting suspended for a week after Gary Thobois and I got into a fight over a pool game, broke a window (he threw the pool ball!)
  • Reading Life magazine in the game room, seeing the My Lai photos
  • Clark Bars - two for a nickel! Fifteen cent hamburgers, nickel ice cream
  • First place after school, last place every weekend
  • Local bands doing Hendrix and the Doors, playing guitar behind their backs
  • Exceptionally active coupling out back
  • Weekend dances
  • Sunday movies
  • The Jokers and Unknowns, the Angels and Kittens
  • Hey Jude, In A Gadda Da Vida, Light My Fire on the juke box


The Base/Olongapo
The Spanish Gate and their triple decker cheeseburgers

  • Bad haircuts at the Barber Shop, ice cream and fries next door, then into the music store
  • Walking across the Main Gate Bridge, watching the street kids in bankas below, smelly, filthy water, jerry rigged nets and scoops in hand, diving into the cesspool for ten and twenty-five centavo pieces (1 to 3 cents) that sailors purposely threw away from them and into the water so they'd have to dive in
  • Sounds and smells that smacked you when you first crossed the bridge -money changers and loudspeakers, kids selling gum and trinkets, hostesses pinching your cheeks (face cheeks until I was 12)
  • Miniature golf right across from the pier (Alava Wharf), playing their one day with Gary Thobois when a fire broke out on the Constellation, pandemonium followed
  • Go-karting with sailors drunk on San Miguel, who always crashed on their own, rolled their cars, and stood up bleeding from head to toe, but laughing
  • Getting free go-kart rides for helping the Filipino track crew with litter, maintenance, whatever
  • Horseback riding with Susie Gerard, riding Lincoln and Big Red, she and I getting treed by a wild boar while walking on the dirt road from the stables
  • Bugging the American Express guys for old coins, which were in great supply in the 60s and 70s. Silver dollars, old halves and quarters, etc. I had to buy them Playboys to get them to exchange my allowance for old coins
  • Attending a Mass at the Chapel for an Elementary School teacher killed when electrocuted with her boyfriend while sailing in Subic Bay
  • Hanging out at the docks to get mini-tours of the carriers, other ships, from the OD, collecting official color photos of numerous ships (Kitty Hawk, Constellation, Saratoga, Ranger, etc.)
  • Mrs. Prewitt getting severely hurt when the huge aquarium in the breezeway between the Commissary and Exchange collapsed as she was walking by
  • Riding the buses for a nickel, from Kalayaan to the main depot at the Exchange, to the Station, to Cubi
  • Riding the bus up to Kalayaan, hanging a brown Exchange bag out the window to fill with air for amusement, the receipt accidentally blowing out, the CO following behind in his "Flag" car, pulling us over right past Kalayaan Elementary, boarding the bus and coming back to scream at me for littering his base, the older kids up front giving him the finger behind his back while he yelled at me, trying not to laugh so my Dad still had a job
  • Riding buses filled with maids and yardboys, chattering in Tagalog, guy friends with their arms around each other, not really Binny Boys, but still not something we'd do
  • Hanging out at the Exchange, buying Beatles and Beach Boys albums
  • Joe Namath coming on a USO tour
  • Going to the Station Theater on Saturday mornings - air conditioned! - for a matinee, which included a Mission Impossible episode
  • Buying blowguns and bolo knives from the Negritos
  • Visits to JEST (Jungle Environment Survival Training) to see all the stuff that could kill us
  • Endless inoculations at the Hospital, which only made us sick
  • Hanging out at the slot car track, where there was a pinball machine that gave up free games
  • Going to the Air Force/Navy football game on Thanksgiving, stealing the huge "GO AIR FORCE" canvas banner
  • Going to a USO show with Brian Mitchell and his Dad
  • Helping build the Boy Scout camp over near Cubi as a Tenderfoot, hikes to Dependents Beach from camp, getting stung by a scorpion, building underground fires for ovens, snaring wild boars
  • Dependent's beach, bad sunburns, swimming with a t-shirt on because of the sun, the covered swim float where I fell asleep while a storm was approaching and, after waking alone and abandoned by everyone, afraid to swim in
  • Navy jets at Cubi, blasting exhaust and noise towards swimmers at Dependents Beach, watching continuous touch-and-go exercises on the adjacent airstrip
  • Running across the Cubi airstrip between Dependents Beach and Dungaree Beach with brother Fred and Chris McManus, sirens wailing and SP trucks chasing, so we could hang out with the sailors and sample San Miguel
  • Making ceramics on rainy days, perusing the Toy Exchange, Foreign Exchange, buying volumes of gum and candy at the store next to the Station Theater
  • Buying a great bamboo fly rod at the skeet range shop, still use it in Montana
  • Buying models from the Hobby Shop next to the Slot Car track, building and flying RC planes with my dad
  • Mom and Dad always playing golf or socializing, so free run of life after school and on weekends - endless summer, except in summer when it rained
  • Dinner in the stateroom of a submarine, hosted by its Captain and attended by his Filipino orderly - lobster, real milk, fine china and linens. Another golfing friend of my folks
  • Dad's SRF office (NAVSEEACTPHIL - Naval Shore Electronics Engineering Activity - Philippines) in the upstairs of a Quonset hut, reading Life magazine there about the Dallas sniper


Ballfields/Park/Golf Course/Baguio/Beaches/Manila
Little League practice/games on hot Saturdays, playing pick-up ball with buddies, games against the Olongapo boys who had to borrow our mitts

  • Hanging out on the playground, climbing the Admiral Spring Park hill to the overview, swinging from vines on the way down
  • 4th of July fireworks, watching in the stands
  • Evening games under the lights, pitching and playing right field for the Cardinals, getting razzed in a way we'd never get away with today
  • Fighting with Robert Morel when the older boys laughed at him, he punched me in the nose cause he couldn't take them
  • Playing golf with my parents at BVGC, the caddies, the rope tow up the hill after the pond hole, Billy Casper playing on a USO tour, lessons from the pro
  • Mom beating most of the men at BVGC, starting as a beginner and developing into a single handicapper and teaching pro.
  • Spring break at Baguio, the cabin across the street from the Golf Course club house, sharing a cabin with Doug and Paul Thompson and their folks
  • Riding horses with my brother and sisters through the streets of Baguio, then up to the Crystal Caves
  • Having a fire in our fireplace - because it was cold and we needed it. The cool air, a rare frost and the locals thought it was snow
  • The Baguio orphanage, Silver School, buying trinkets, an ID bracelet to give to a Jr. High sweetheart
  • The rice paddy terraces between Baguio and Subic
  • Accompanying the Thobois family on vacation to Baguio as their guest in 1970, Gary and I miniature golfing, seeing smoke and then a fully engulfed forest fire, jumping the fence to battle the fire, man hoses with the local Fire Department to stop the fire as it raced up the hill through the pines
  • Surfing at San Miguel and Iba beaches, Dad pointing across the horizon towards Viet Nam, only a few hundred miles away
  • Fishing/snorkeling expedition with the Edgley family (George and Ruth, Dennis, Tim, Phil and Nancy) and our family on a Special Services boat to Selenguin Bay
  • Trips to Manila, staying in a high rise hotel and watching a police gunfight on the street below

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