ADVOCATE. Beeler, with mom Kim, seeing his lobbying to fruition.
CLARK FREEPORT – The upkeep, responsibility and care of the sprawling Clark Veterans Cemetery now renamed Clark American Cemetery (CAC) was officially turned over to the American Battle Monument Commission (ABMC) from the management of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 2485 during elaborate ceremonies here last Friday.
In attendance was Nathan Beeler, a 12-year-old American who helped lobby at the US Senate for the recognition and support from the US government for the “neglected, abandoned and forgotten” Clark cemetery.
Years back, Beeler travelled to Washington to lobby Sen. John Mc- Cain, R-Ariz., and other top lawmakers for the much needed US government support for the CAC.
The VFW Post 2485 website quoted Beeler as saying: “I got involved with this in third grade because we were randomly browsing through the Internet and we went over a little article talking about a veterans cemetery buried in disgrace, and so I felt angered because our veterans died for our freedom and when they’re buried in disgrace, it doesn’t make sense, so that’s why I started to do something.”
Beeler was with his mother, Kim, during the turnover ceremony which featured a “living museum” of the mounted US 26th Cavalry and the Philippine Scout Memorial Regiment led by its executive officer Guy Hilbero. American war veterans, US officials, a contingent from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) as well as local chief executives led by Mabalacat City Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales and Clark International Airport Corp. President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano and other guests were on hand to witness the event which was also an occasion for the solemn observance of the US Memorial Day.
The ABMC, established by the US Congress in 1923 as an agency of the executive branch of the Federal Government, is now the official guardian of the CVC as with other commemorative cemeteries and memorials outside the USA that honor the service, achievement and sacrifices of US Armed Forces.
Dennis Wright, president and CEO of Peregrine Development International based in this freeport and a retired US Navy captain, helped form and chaired the CAC Restoration Association while efforts were being made to get support from the US government.
Earlier, the VFW Post 2485 took responsibility for maintaining the CAC, but the donations it received were not enough. US Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said the US government has a moral responsibility to take care of veterans’ cemeteries.
“There’s no reason that the brave service members buried at Clark should be deprived of the honor they have earned and that veterans at other cemeteries are afforded,” she testified before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in June. “It’s time for the U.S. government to fulfil its responsibility to care for this sacred ground.”
In December last year, the US government fi nally granted $5 million to rehabilitate the CAC.
