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14 Tlw Progfw-lnd**, Petirtburg, Va., Sunday, Augutt 29, 1971U.S. Navy Quietly Leaving73-Year-Old Philippine BaseBy WILLIAM C. MANN Associated Press WriterSANGLEY POINT, Philippines (AP) — Commodore George Dewey’s You may fire when ready, Gridley” started a rout of the Spanish fleet that brought the U.S. Navy to Sang-ley Point 73 years ago.America is pointing in the ether direction now, however, and the Navy is almost tiptoeing away from the peninsula it stormed to plant the Stars and Stripes and stake out the first U.S. colony.Cmdr. Charles Schied is overseeing the retreat on a low key.One of the hazards of moving,” Schied said, nodding toward the cup in his hand: You have to make your own coffee.”Sangley Point Naval Station’s decommissioning commander cat down, sipped.his selfmade brew and said: “You know, it's sad. This has been a pretty little base with a lot of history, put the Philippine government Baked for it, and our government looked at it from the standpoint of pulling back, re-Legal NoticeVIRGINIA:IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE COUNTY OF CHESTERFIELD Clerk’s Office, August25th, 1971 JOHN WALKER, ET ALS,COMPLAINANTSVS.EDDIE WALKER, ET ALS,DEFENDANTS ORDER OF PUBLICATION The object of this suit is:1. To partition in one of the modes prescribed by law, certain real estate of which John Walker, died, seised and possessed situate on Bermuda Road in Bermuda District, Chesterfield County, Virginia, consisting of two tracts of land containing 2Vi acres each. Reference is here made to the Bill of Complaint filed herein for a more complete description of said real estate.2. To ascertain whether or not the presumption of death applies to Cornelius Walker, one of the defendant’s to this suit, who left the place of his last domiele more than twenty years ago and who has not been heard from for a period of more than seven successive years and notice is hereby given to all interested parties that the Judge of the Circuit Court of Chesterfield County, Virginia, will on the 6th day of October, 1971, at 9 A.M, hear evidence concerning the absence of Cornelius Walker from, the replace of his last domiele and the circumstances and duration thereof.And it appearing from an affidavit duly filed herein that the following persons are non-residents of the State of Virginia: Eddie Walker, Freddie McCray, or McRea, Elnora Howard, Janet Walker Bland, Annie Logan, Arthur L. Weaver, Bertha Mae Weaver, Cornelius Walker, Arthur Walker and Ruby Lee Weaver. And that there may be other persons besides those named herein who have or claim an interest in the aforesaid real estate whose names and addresses are unknown and who are made parties defendant to this suit under the general description of “PARTIES UNKNOWN.Itducing operations, compressing and eliminating nonessential small bases,They gave us the marching orders and we started to march.”The march out will remove Sangley Point from foreign masters for the first time in many centuries. The bailiwick of Chinese traders before the Spaniards came in the mid-1500s, the hook-shaped spit of land became the target of Japanese and American bombs as it was shuffled back and forth during World War II.As the Americans leave, the Filipinos are arguing over the station, and officials are angry in Cavite City, the adjoining community that has flourished because of Navy jobs and the influx of dollars from free-spending sailors. The city is fading and the region's future is uncertain as politicians, businessmen and military men vie for influence*The U.S. Navy had made Sangley a bustling, picturesque station of 852 acres with a well-groomed 8,000-foot air strip beside Manila Bay. Sangley was the home of the admiral who►commands U.S. naval forces in the Philippines.Children of American sailors attended the John Paul Jones School, a cluster of air-conditioned Quonset huts beside the station's main road, as their mothers shopped across the street in the Navy Exchange-commissary store complex.Now this nook of America is disappearing.Seabees are dismantling houses and loading them onfor the 65-mile trip Bataan Peninsula to ay Naval Base at Olo-City, still America’s naval facility outside the United States. The concrete foundations here remain in week patches.Houses that will be among the $80 million in Navy property left behind after the turnover Wednesday squat forlornly in j u n g 1 e-Iike vegetation that grows quickly in the volcanic soil of Cavite Province.The sea has corroded planks from the docks that once greeted small boats ferrying passengers across the eight miles of Manila Bay from the U.S. Embassy in Manila.We have neither the manpower nor the money to'maintain the place as we would like,” said Schied, who is from Oxon Hill, Md. We have tooverlook some things like mowing grass to get on with the job of moving out.”Philippine marines are taking over security responsibility as the Americans phase out.A contingent of U.S. Marines came from Okinawa early this year to reinforce the station’s guard company.Armed robbers took $27,000 from a cashier at the exchange in February, and hijackers commandeered three truckloads of exchange merchandise in April on the road to Subic. Then, on the closing day of Sangley’s American Express banking facility, a gang of Filipinos entered the bank, took $56,000 and escaped after a Marine lieutenant, 22-year-old James PlumpowSiJ of Dolton,bargesaround Subic Jngapolargest111., and robber were killed in a gunfight.Schied acknowledged that Plumpowski’s death and the other incidents caused unrest among the station’s personnel but said morale was good now. He said security has not been a critical problem and that a coupon currency system put into use in July had stopped almost all incidents.Officials of .Cavite say there soon will be no money in the city, either. Their constituents have depended upon the base for millions of dollars a year in salaries and sales. At its peak, the station had more than 2,000 officers and men and employed about an equal number of Filipinos.Every day my office is filled with people who are leaving, getting out because there's nothing left for them here,” said Mayor Fidel D. Dones.The city. of 75,000 is losing tion's gate, where sailors formerly spent off-duty hours drinking San Miguel beer and chatting with hostesses, he added.* Cavite Gov. Dellin N. Montano called closing the base a tragic thing” that threatens his province’s economy.We are the victims of a diplomatic ploy by our own government,” he said. Trying to please the nationalists, it asked for a base it did not need.”Despite official assurances— the presidential palace said the military nature of Sangley Point will be retained as a nav-300,000 pesos—almost $50,000— in annual tax revenues just from the bars outside the sta-al air station”—observers here doubt that the Philippine Navy can handle the entire complex.Since the United States accepted the Philippine request, Sangley Point has become a yoyo of Filipino politicians. AllthSlt;GinRCHuturdshoirunsay the navy should take part feaiabosubT tersurknowerPthaof it. But there have been proposals to turn part of it into an international airport, an industrial park or a tourist haven with casinos.The casino idea, proposed by Montano’s brother, Justiniano, the chairman of the Philippine Games and Amusements Board, appears the most likely eventuality, though some Cav-1 s u ite politicians have denounced j Thiit.What we need in Cavite is immediate relief,” Justiniano Montano said. Only the casino plan can stop the economic slump, An airport? Maybe. But how long would that take?”Whatever happens in the future, this little peninsula’s past has included more than its share of events profoundly affecting all 7,100 Philippine islands.bytoser*3roiButhlt;nais!potri
Newspaper Details
Petersburg Progress Index
Petersburg, Virginia, US
Mon, Aug 30, 1971
Page 30
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 29 Aug 2019
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