ANGELES CITY- American war veterans who have opted to stay on here after the US military left the nearby former Clark US Air Force base and their supporters are beefing up their lobby for the current US Senate to finally pass a bill putting the Clark Veterans Cemetery under US government responsibility.
This, after supporter US Sen. Richard Lugar, who was here last October to visit the cemetery, lost in the recent elections.
“We have lost a big advocate,” said Dennis Wright, a retired US Navy officer who now chairs the Clark Veterans Cemetery Restoration Association (CVCRA).
“Please do not let up on pressuring your elected officials and contacting the media to increase public awareness.
We have come a long way, and getting closer to making it right, but don’t give up and help us continue to get the legislation passed that we need to restore the Clark Veterans Cemetery to the level of dignity and honor it so richly deserves,” Wright urged US war veterans and other supporters of the move.
The cemetery is the only area in Clark, which is now a government-run Freeport, where the US flag still flutters, alongside the Philippine flag, in this former US military base.
Since the US military left Clark in 1991, only US military veterans who have remained in this city have been taking care of the cemetery through donations.
The cemetery hosts the remains of war veterans of various nationalities, including Filipinos, in various wars fought by the US government before World War II.
Earlier this year, US Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R- New Hampshire) introduced a bill providing a $5 million fund to rehabilitated the Clark Veterans Cemetery and proposing that the cemetery be placed under the responsibility of the US government’s American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC).
In testifying before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee last June, Ayotte said “there’s no reason that the brave service members buried at Clark should be deprived of the honor they have earned and enjoyed by other veterans in other cemeteries.”
Bill co-sponsor Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), said “the cemetery has been left behind and it is a disservice to veterans who have passed away and to all veterans all over the world.”
“If we are not successful this year, we will have to begin all over in the next Congress,” Wright added.
