Riding from the original Clark AB to the VA Cemetary.

A Brief History of Clark Veterans Cemetery

Clark Veterans Cemetery is more than a burial ground beside the former Clark Air Base. It is one of the oldest and most historically significant American military cemeteries in the Philippines, with burials connected to more than a century of American and Filipino military service.

Although the present cemetery was established at Clark in 1948, its history reaches back to at least the Philippine-American War of 1899–1902. During the early American period, military posts throughout the Philippines maintained their own cemeteries. When the Manila American Cemetery was being developed after World War II, thousands of non-World War II remains were moved from four older military cemeteries and consolidated at Clark.

The cemetery became the final resting place for members of the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard, along with Philippine Scouts, military dependents and others associated with the American military presence in the Philippines. Unlike the Manila American Cemetery, which primarily honors those killed or missing during World War II, Clark Veterans Cemetery includes people whose service spans several generations of American and Philippine history.

For decades, the cemetery was operated by the United States Air Force as part of Clark Air Base. That changed after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991. The eruption severely damaged the base and cemetery, covering the grounds and grave markers with volcanic ash. The United States evacuated Clark, and the former air base was formally transferred to the Philippine government in November 1991.

With the cemetery damaged and no longer maintained by the Air Force, members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2485 stepped forward. From 1994 until 2013, local VFW members maintained the grounds, cleared vegetation and helped preserve the graves. Without their work, an important part of American and Filipino military history might have been lost.

In January 2013, President Barack Obama signed legislation directing the American Battle Monuments Commission to operate and maintain the cemetery after an agreement could be reached with the Philippine government. That agreement was signed in December 2013, making Clark Veterans Cemetery the 25th cemetery administered by the commission.

Today, Clark Veterans Cemetery contains approximately 9,060 burials. It remains a quiet and solemn reminder that Clark was more than an air base. It was a community where American service members, Philippine Scouts, civilian employees and their families lived, worked, served and, in many cases, spent their final years.

For former Clark personnel and their families, visiting the cemetery is not simply a stop at another historical location. It is a chance to remember the people whose lives helped shape Clark and the long relationship between the United States and the Philippines.