History of Clark Veterans Cemetery

Background

In January 2013, President Barack Obama signed into law the Dignified Burial and Other Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act, Public Law 112-260, directing ABMC to operate and maintain Clark Veterans Cemetery following an agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States.

That agreement was signed in December 2013, making Clark ABMC’s 25th cemetery.

While sources differ as to the earliest burial, interments date at least to the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). During that conflict and after, the U.S. operated a series of military installations in the Philippines with post cemeteries. The construction of Manila American Cemetery in 1948 led to disinterment and consolidation of the non-World War II dead from four post cemeteries onto Clark Air Force Base.

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 led the U.S. Air Force to evacuate and Clark Air Force Base was formally transferred to the Philippines in November 1991. The cemetery continued to be open for burials after the transfer, but it had been damaged in the eruption and fell into disrepair. Between 1994 and 2013, the Philippine government allowed members of VFW Post 2485 to operate and maintain the cemetery.

Clark Veterans Cemetery is located north of Angeles City in the Republic of the Philippines just off the SCTEX. The cemetery is located on Roxas Avenue just inside the main gate to the Clark Development Corporation.

Vintage Poster

Vintage posters convey the beauty, tranquility, and solemnity of the place as a sign of respect for those who fought so that we can live free today.