National Museum of the Philippines - Clark (U.C.) (Mabalacat)

Philippines / Central Luzon / Mabalacat / C. M. Recto Highway
 museum, building/structure currently being renovated/restored/reconstructed
Formerly known as the abandoned site of Clark Air Base Hospital and Regional Medical Center.

Built in 1960, the USAF began construction of a new modern Regional Medical Facility at Clark. The new 200-bed Clark AB Hospital/Regional Medical Center was completed in April 1964 at a cost of $4.5 million. The new hospital occupied the same site (off Dyess Highway near its intersection with O'Leary Avenue) that had been in use for this purpose for some time.

The former Clark Airbase Hospital was once an instrument to American soldiers who were deployed and fought in the Vietnam War and catered to at least wounded soldiers of the war.

In June 1991, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo buried the Clark Airbase (including the hospital in 15 layers of ashfall), forcing the US army to withdraw from Clark AB and discontinue the hospital's operations. The hospital was looted entirely after the disaster and has been abandoned ever since.

In February 2023, the National Museum of the Philippines and the Clark Development Corporation signed a Deed of Usufruct for the adaptive reuse of the former Clark Airbase Hospital as a museum for at least 50 years. Located in the City of Mabalacat, the National Museum in Clark will feature exhibitions on local history, art, culture, natural history, anthropology, and archaeology. It will also serve as an off-site location for NMP’s central office and national collection repositories, among other functions.

Before converting into a national museum, paranormal activities were reported in the former abandoned hospital, where apparitions and mysterious voices are common occurrences. Violent spirits witnessed by the inhabitants have rendered the area off limits to everyone.

Reference:
www.facebook.com/nationalmuseumofthephilippines/posts/p...
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Coordinates:   15°11'43"N   120°31'31"E

Comments

  • The final breathing place of many a shot Vietnam Vet.
  • Most Clark Pics by malakingdude, former First Mobber, Clark AFB 1968 through 1969
  • I was here 1979 until Jun2 1991
  • I can't let go of the memories as a medic at Clark AFB. I was moved to the triage area where the wounded arrived with injuries that made you realize this was an environment you never wanted to ever see again! I am sad all the time because I fight hard to live in the present but the past always over shadows any joy. I have wanted closure but I can't abandoned the memories of a war that made us all become as one. I want so desperately to see Clark AFB one last time and maybe I can let go of the yearning for yesterday that doesn't want to let go of me! If I ever forget for a moment how important the medics were I feel I would have betrayed the men and women we were responsible for. I don't know who made it back but I pray their lives are good today! I want to find my roommate AIC Lavern Benton and I pray God would make it possible before I leave this earth! Vietnam vets have a special bond because we were not welcome anywhere when we came home. I feel a lot just suffered in silence and resented this country for how they treated us. We just became dispensable and were ignored. The military was the only significant thing that had ever happen to me in my life! You have never seen a woman like I was going to be. I had no idea how Vietnam would change me. I just want to see my roommate and the base again then maybe I could create memories that allow for closure and not continue to feel like a failure for leaving you behind to get the job done! AIC Gwynelle Eggerson medic 1968-1969.
  • I was a medic at Clark 67-68 worked in the ER then became the first and only medical photographer there. Had a lab in the basement and worked for the pathologist. Wish I could get in touch with buddies who took leave from there and went to Saigon and Bangkok to prove I had boots on the ground there.
  • I was assigned to the 19th Casualty Staging Flight when it was formed in Aug of 1965 - or offices and wards were in the old hospital down the hill from the new Hospital which had just been completed in 1964 - when we first started the Air Evacuation system up we worked 2 shifts 16hrs a day 7 days a week - the nurses rotated duty between the Casualty Staging Flight and main Hospital - after about the first 6 months of operation we had gained more people at the 19th to get some time off - My service was from Aug 65 to Dec 66 - To give you some idea of how busy it was USAF Hosp Clark and the 19th Casualty moved 100,000 patients in the period from Aug of 1965 to Aug of 1967 - I don't know the total number of patients moved during the war but for my time in the Air Force it was the best job we ever had - at the end of the day you were positive you had made a difference to the ill, injured and wounded you served.
  • I was a medic at Clark from June 66 until Dec 68. I was originally assigned to the triage wards down the street from the hospital. I then transfered to the Casuality Staging unit across the street. We would go to the flight line in our blue buses to pick up litters of wounded GI's from Vietnam. During the Tet Offensive in Feb 68 we averaged 350 per day into Clark.
  • I was born at this hospital in September 1968. The pictures of it today are sad.
  • I spent 32 day there as a patient in 1973, beautiful place. I got great care.
  • Wonderful memories, Thank you Clark Air Base, Philippines and God bless!
  • I was stationed at Clark from 1967 to 1972. I wasn't in the medical career field, but I can remember the blue liter buses making numerous trips from the flight line to the hospital.
  • I was based at Clark in 1996. When I was this hospital, it was really in a deplorable condition! Can we not rebuild it and make it serve VA in the area?
  • Was assigned to USAF Hosp Clark from Aug 68 to Jan 70. Worked for MSgt Lawing, and CMSgt McGilvary primarily in Admin. Was responsible for collecting all records on incoming casualties, and prepping same for transfer stateside. I remember Sgt. Delgado, AIC Deborah Smith, AIC Nancy Ransdale among WAF. Busy place, worked long hours, and additional when needed due to Air Evac.
  • I was stationed there from Aug. 1965 to April 1967. I was assigned to the 19th Casualty Staging Unit which was directly behind the hospital. We were the people who operated those big blue evac. busses. I got so I could make that run from the flight line to the hospital blindfolded. Along with the 200 bed hospital the staging unit also about 200 beds and went to 500 at the height of the war.
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This article was last modified 7 months ago