Subic/Olongapo 1990-91
I'm doing some research and would appreciate feedback from those who were station dito at Cubi or SRF in 1990-91. Personally, I was there in the early 80's so much of my recollection is irrelevant for what I am looking for. 1. Bars and hotelsWhat memorable bars and hotels were around at that time? I remember a few from my time, but I'm sure they were long gone. 2. The JungleWas this still a thing in 90-91? Anyone remember bars from there? 3. SR FenceWhen did the fencing go up on the bridge…
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Margarita Station AC 2011,back in the days there was not as much as a selection as this.
What is something that I thought I would never see,SM beer bottles with paper labels,and now a "light"beer (SML) out selling the my old favorite,(SMB)we called it "Magoo" cause the more you drank the less you could see.the women are just as brown and friendly!!
The bar decor there sure has changed since my time. Not so clean and respectable back then. Our bars were a little dirty, noisy, crowded, band blaring, crowded dance floors, fights, tables full of San Magoo beers, drunken sailors and marines. And that was early in the evening lol. I'd give almost anything to be back in those wall to wall bars again. I have to hand it to those bar bands. They were pretty good and could play a lot of favorites and hit songs from that time. If I remember, back then the exchange rate, when I got there, was 11:1. Eleven Pesos to one American dollar. A bottle of San Miguel was ₱1.50 to ₱2.00, depending on whatever bar. Even less out in the boonies dirt floor bars. The bar hostesses would come over and sit on your lap at the same time the waiter was taking your order. Good synchronization. Considering the chaos going on, the bars ran pretty well and never ran out of booze, hostesses, music, and great times.
The best of PI!!
David, I will try and collect, and salvage as many old Subic photos as I can. Sadly, many of my rolls of film from that time were never developed because after the service I moved around quite a bit and they were stored and forgotten. I still have them tho I doubt they will produce photos because of their age and that Kodak no longer exists to develop them with their processing techniques. I don't think I have any developed slides or prints of downtown Olongapo from that time. As you remember Olongapo was a wild and wicked city and it was dangerous to carry a camera around there day or night. We had one sailor at the hospital who had his camera grabbed from him and he also received a stab wound from a butterfly knife during the ensuing altercation.
And so I probably only have a few if any in those rolls. I did find a couple of around base for now tho.
The first is of a gun boat that we came upon during our wanderings around base. It looked a little intimidating so we didn't get too close to it lol. Don't know it's specifics. The second is of some pals on Grande Island. Not sure of exact location on the island.
If you look to the left of the walkway you can still see the old bridge.
The new back gate bridge coming from the cemetery to the old base,there is now a new hospital where the old PWC yard use to be and a new shopping mall is being built within walking distance from this shot.On the other end of the base,on Magsaysay drive just outside the old Man Gate,
they are Building a new SM mall between the river and Gordon Ave,I will get some pics soon.
David, they had moved the refuelers to the opposite end of the runway. They had us right above the swim beach on about 500X500 foot compound. There were 4 quansant huts two of which were ours. One for our dispatch and sleeping quarters and the other was our civilian Philippiano drivers. The other two were assigned to TAD squadrons rotating in and out of Nam. On the back of the lot was our maintenance shop for the refuelers. The jet shop had there test pad about 150 ft straight out from our office. Ever try to sleep with them playing with two T-58's in a F4 strapped down. My ears ring to this day. When on duty they would bring our chow off the hill in the roach coach aka chuck wagon. The poor flight line had to eat what ever swill they were serving, but because the cooks were always out of fuel chits we would keep their cars full and the brought us steak, lobster, shrimp, or anything we would order. Sorry guys, we just had what they needed. You remember how it was. Comshaw. lol.
Anyway David, I tried the stars and stripes, but they want $100 for archive stuff. I did not think of the Manila times. I will check it out. Thanks. Keep the memories coming, cause the older we get they tend to slip away. I love this site.
Dan and Adrian, I don't know if what I have to say will help or not. I was staioned at Navsta Subic Bay from 1968 through 12 August 1970 I do not remember any mud slides before I left the PI and working for the Provost Marshall's Office in Harbor Patrol Div. I am certain that I would have known about one happening, but do consider the fact that the storm and plane crash could have happened after 12 August 1970. Dan have you considered checking the weather service fopr the PI and searched their archives for the storm? Do you happen to remember when the rainy season hit that year? Have you searched the Stars and Stripes archives online? How about contacting the Manila Times? I don't know if they keep an archive of past editions or not, but there might be somebody there that is as old as us. Another thing is somebody there might be able to give you leads to find the information you are seeking. The Navy sucks at keeping records of those bases that have closed. So I doubt you will be successfull going through them. You might have some luck if you know exactly what you are looking for, but it will be like pulling hens teeth.
Adrian,I might be able to help you identify the objects in your photo. The building that is in the left of the photo is what used to be the Seaplane Maintenance Shop, but when I was stationed at Cubi Point working in the Aviation Refuel Dept. that building had been used as our dispatch office and on duty sleeping quarters. I have no idea what purpoe it was being used for from 1968 -1970 because I seldom made it to that side of the Bay. When you look at the photo on the left side you will notice a small concrete building. That building was PWC's electrical; generator building. I don't remember if it produced the main power for Cubi Point or not, but I think it was only an emergency generation plant. Between the Seaplane Ramp and that building was an open field where we trained our new refuel truck drivers how to drive the trucks. If you were on the road after coming off the hill you would have passed both of these buildings and as you drove toward the main gate at Navsta Subic you would have passed the petroleum tank farm, the road to the golf course on the right side of the road and on the left side you would pass the motor vehicle license office and the petro tank ship off loading pier. After that you would pass the main cargo ship piers and the main warehouse. I don't think I need to take you on this tour any further than this.But, Adrian I do have a small question and request. First, do you have anymore pics of either Cubi Point, Navsta Subic Bay, the Naval Hospital or Olongapo from the years you were there. If you do have would it be possible to get you to share them on this site? I am certain I am not the only one who served there in the '60's and '70's that would be interested in seeing them.
Adrian, I take it that you were a corpman at the hospital. During my last tour in Subic I was a patient at the hospital on three different ocassions. Had surgery on the left knee one time and the left ankle the next time. Cannot remember what the third time was about.
I know this has been a long post, but I just thought I might pass on one last tidbit. One day, in about '63 or so, I was dispatched to the flight line and on the way from the office to the truck line it started raining. Before I got to the truck the water on the Seaplane Ramp was over the tops of my boondockers. The rain drops were the size of a persons thumb or larger. That water wasn't standing either. The plane parking area was sloped towards the actual ramp and the water was running into the bay at a very fast clip.
Adrian, thank you.. I was regaining to think I had dreamed all this shit up. The friggin VA is giving me fits over this because I can't come up with the dates and the one shipmate who worked with me and was there with me when we were digging and found out two friends that we hung out with in town now has Alzheimer's and is unable to remember anything, thus unable to write a buddy letter backing up my claim. If anything else comes to mind please let me know. I have one more time line and that is the slide happened the same year the F4 flamed and crashed into the mountain above the ops building which caused the mudslide when the typhoons moved in.
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