My experience living in the Republic of the Philippine’s stationed at Clark Air Base was something I have tried to forget.
I attended the veteran’s luncheon with guest speaker and author Jenny Lasala on June 8, 2016 at the Farmington Town Hall in New York. It was fantastic and it awakened many of my experiences that I had as a military wife. Jenny asked me to share my story.
The day we arrived on May 1,1973; the temperature was 126 degrees in the shade. We were there until May 2, 1975. My husband, SMSgt. Theodore M. Fafinski was a Personnel Superintendent. His initial assignment was being in charge of promotions and testing units. Later he was in charge of internal assignments maintaining staffing levels of airmen and officers. He is shown here with me in the background taking his Oath from USAF Major H. W. Young at a reenlistment ceremony at Clark Air Base. The picture of soldier’s carrying, Charlie, and 18 foot, 200 lb. Indian Python was taken during Jungle Survival School, Clark Air Base.
Like all the other military families we hired a yard boy and house girl. They worked Monday through Friday. Our house girl, Lita, pictured here would come back on Mondays. She would have cuts and Band-Aids all over her. When we ask her what happened she told us she was a guerilla fighter in her home province on weekend. They were fighting against the Dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos the President of the Philippine’s. He was eventually over thrown. She showed me a few self -defense moves for my safety. I let her teach me because I knew how passionate she was about her plight.
The cultural change was something that I was not prepared for. I was scheduled to go for a Civil Service job interview on the night shift as a switchboard operator. But the night before an Airman was killed in the front of the building. My husband felt it could be dangerous for me to work there in the evenings, so I didn’t go for the interview.
As new arrivals we had to live off base until a house on base was available. Living off Base was an experience all of its’ own. On the corner of our road was a high tower with an armed guard who was there to protect our area. It was upsetting but necessary. One day we had a knock on the door and the guard told us to keep the doors, windows and curtains closed in the back of our house and to move to the front of the house and stay there till he told us otherwise. Ted found out they shot a person in the back yard and they had to clean the area. It took several days but seemed like forever. This is a picture of our on base housing, which were former WWII Japanese Officer’s quarters that had been refurbished.
An Airman who came home on R&R from the Vietnam War went off base to be with his girlfriend and got bit by a rabid dog. He stayed past the 10 days he needed to get tested. He became ill and went to the base Hospital. Every day on the news the hospital gave his symptoms until the day he died from rabies. They were horrible and it was a traumatic experience for me. I’m sure it was done to stress the importance of staying away from the native pets mostly from dogs off base. But after all these years I still watch out for strange dogs.
There was a Base Exchange and commissary to buy food and merchandise. I remember going there and finding a lot of items were gone. When we went off base stores we found all these items there with the base’s price tag still on them. People would buy all these items and sell them to the black market. The prices were higher on them. Many times I would write to my mom back home to send us items we needed and we ordered things from the Sears catalogue.
Then came the famous Vietnam Baby Lift, which transported Vietnamese orphans by airplanes to America in 1975. It was a humanitarian effort, but there were some issues. Some of the adults were able to get out of the country before the downfall of Vietnam. Besides infants, there were older children that were evacuated, some that were children of Vietnamese officials. We knew a few of the Airman who were working on this project. This important event turned out to be an unbelievable experience. We were told they had all the children throw out their shoes before they took off so they would look homeless and poor. We heard that most of the babies were not really homeless but were adopted by Americans and they needed to get out of the country. This came out when our Base Chaplin (Who was a Colonel) had a news conference and told people the truth. The next day he was shipped out because he divulged this information. No one was told where he went. The base had to process all of these Vietnamese people before shipping to America. So they put them up where ever they could like some abandoned barracks, bathhouses, pool areas and gyms etc. I felt sorry for all these poor homeless people when they arrived on base. A few days after their arrival Ted and I were driving past the base-dining hall where they had three meals per day. The women and men all had gold jewels up and down their arms and necks and rings on all their fingers. They were all shining in the sun. I couldn’t believe my eyes and wondered how much all this gold was worth that each of these “poor people” had? I understand they converted all their currency into gold with the pending fall of the Vietnamese government.
From time to time I have flashbacks of our time there. The experience gave me a better understanding, respect and love for our military that fought in Vietnam. I feel terrible when I think about what our soldiers went through. My time there can’t begin to compare with what they all went through, such as the fighting, bombs, rockets, grenades, traps, heat, jungle, rain, mud, dangerous snakes, wounded with some losing sight and limbs. Many of them were captured. When they came home no one cared. There was no welcome home or crowds and banners or “THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE”.
I am so glad the soldiers from the Vietnam War are finally getting recognized. We finally acknowledge the physical and mental agonies they all experienced as well as their families. All I can say is “GOD BLESS THEM ALL AND THANK YOU FOR THEIR SERVICE”.
Thank you to all our soldiers in all our wars and the ones that still are out there fighting and protecting our freedom and American flag.
~ Rosalie Fafinski, military spouse
