News
American Legion calls on the Unites States Government to take care of the Clark Veterans Cemetery
Ninety-Third National Convention of American Legion
Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 30, 31, September 1, 2011
Resolution No. 60: The American Legion Policy for the United States Government to Provide Maintenance to Clark Veterans Cemetery in the Philippines
Origin: Virginia
Submitted by: Convention Committee on National Security
(Consolidated with Resolution No. 100 (PI))
WHEREAS, The United States closed its military bases in the Philippines in 1992; and
WHEREAS, The devastation caused by the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 caused the United States Air Force (USAF) to leave Clark Air Force Base on the Philippine island of Luzon; and
WHEREAS, For almost fifty years the USAF maintained the Clark Veterans Cemetery on the U.S. Clark Veterans Cemetery on the U.S. Clark Air Force Base; and
WHEREAS, This cemetery was established in 1948 to receive and honor the remains from four other United States military cemeteries that date back to the Spanish American War, cemeteries Fort Stotsenburg One and Two, the Canacao Naval Hospital at Sangley Point, and the Fort William McKinley Army Cemetery in Manila; and
WHEREAS, Over eight thousand veterans and their families and others authorized for U.S. interment repose in the Clark Veterans Cemetery, with more than half being the American veteran dead of all services; and
WHEREAS, Following base closure in 1991 the Clark Veterans Cemetery fell into disrepair and disgrace because provision was not made by the United States Government for its perpetual care; and
WHEREAS, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2485 with assistance of American Legionnaires has labored since 1994 to maintain the military cemetery and honor the hallowed ground and the traditions of warrior burial without support of the United States Government; and
WHEREAS, An Associated Press news article on the depressing state of the cemetery and the valiant efforts of retired veterans to support and sustain it recently appeared in newspapers throughout the United States on the fourth of July 2011; and
WHEREAS, The United States Government, through the Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Battle Monuments Commission, provides eternal and perpetual care for other military cemeteries wherein are buried our valorous comrades; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, By the American Legion in National Convention assembled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 30, 31, September 1, 2011, That the American Legion calls upon the United States Government to reassume its century old responsibility for the care and maintenance of this U. S. Military cemetery, Clark Veterans Cemetery, and with that act further validates the lives of service to their county of those interred there.