I remember Camp O'Donnell
by Charles Barone
The following are events of just one day out of two great years of my then young life.
In January of 1950, little ole "Sonny" Barone landed in the Philippines to begin a two year stint of overseas duty for the U.S. Army. Our station was a remote outpost called "Camp O'Donnell" , which was roughly 100 miles north of the capital city of Manila. Basketball became one of our most important forms of recreation and it certainly helped that our "Officer In Charge" was a big sport fan. He saw to it that we were able to play basketball games with local teams from the nearby "barrios" (neighborhoods). The O.I.C. held the rank of Captain, but on the basketball court was our 2nd string guard. The Captain would do all the leg work like setting up games, etc., then we would go out on weekends and get whipped more times than I like to remember. But, dispite losing a lot, they were still fun times. I can recall one game in particular, as this day was a little special.
As we pulled into the barrio, the locals had planned a surprise and welcomed us with a hometown marching band. There weren't many in the band, maybe 12 to 15, but coming down that dirt road that ran into the middle of town, they sure made a lot of noise with those horns atooting, and those drums abanging and a bunch of kids blowing whistles and all having a heck of a good time. The U.S. Army Band could not have impressed us more. It was a great start to a great day. Anyway, back to the game. The basketball court was located in the middle of that barrio. The people lived in wooden thatched roof homes, mostly built on stilts for when the "Monsoons" came. These "homes" completely surrounded the basketball court, and long before the game started the locals started to gather in the homes to watch the game. They just hung out of the windows or sat on the covered porches and thoroughly enjoyed watching the bigger Americans get their butts kicked. But, it was all in fun, and we laughed and had as much fun as the spectators. And, in return they cheered us just as much as they cheered for their home team. Those fans were terrific. They had ringside, skybox seats and they didn't have to leave home.
By the way, at the conclusion of the game (of course we lost) these kind people served us a fabulous barbeque pig dinner with all the trimmings. I can truly say that I enjoyed that basket ball game more than any that I have ever play. It wasn't an historical day or a earth shaking day to rest of the world, but to me and the other G.I.'s who played ball that Sunday afternoon 10,000 miles from home, it was a day we would never forget.
Cpl. Charles "Sonny" Barone
Gilbert, AZ
ok, so here's the real story:
by Charles Barone
The following are events of just one day out of two great years of my then young life.
In January of 1950, little ole "Sonny" Barone landed in the Philippines to begin a two year stint of overseas duty for the U.S. Army. Our station was a remote outpost called "Camp O'Donnell" , which was roughly 100 miles north of the capital city of Manila. Basketball became one of our most important forms of recreation and it certainly helped that our "Officer In Charge" was a big sport fan. He saw to it that we were able to play basketball games with local teams from the nearby "barrios" (neighborhoods). The O.I.C. held the rank of Captain, but on the basketball court was our 2nd string guard. The Captain would do all the leg work like setting up games, etc., then we would go out on weekends and get whipped more times than I like to remember. But, dispite losing a lot, they were still fun times. I can recall one game in particular, as this day was a little special.
As we pulled into the barrio, the locals had planned a surprise and welcomed us with a hometown marching band. There weren't many in the band, maybe 12 to 15, but coming down that dirt road that ran into the middle of town, they sure made a lot of noise with those horns atooting, and those drums abanging and a bunch of kids blowing whistles and all having a heck of a good time. The U.S. Army Band could not have impressed us more. It was a great start to a great day. Anyway, back to the game. The basketball court was located in the middle of that barrio. The people lived in wooden thatched roof homes, mostly built on stilts for when the "Monsoons" came. These "homes" completely surrounded the basketball court, and long before the game started the locals started to gather in the homes to watch the game. They just hung out of the windows or sat on the covered porches and thoroughly enjoyed watching the bigger Americans get their butts kicked. But, it was all in fun, and we laughed and had as much fun as the spectators. And, in return they cheered us just as much as they cheered for their home team. Those fans were terrific. They had ringside, skybox seats and they didn't have to leave home.
By the way, at the conclusion of the game (of course we lost) these kind people served us a fabulous barbeque pig dinner with all the trimmings. I can truly say that I enjoyed that basket ball game more than any that I have ever play. It wasn't an historical day or a earth shaking day to rest of the world, but to me and the other G.I.'s who played ball that Sunday afternoon 10,000 miles from home, it was a day we would never forget.
Cpl. Charles "Sonny" Barone
Gilbert, AZ
ok, so here's the real story:
posted by kgb at 9:14 PM
4 Comments:
Great story! Thanks for sharing an unforgettable time in your young life in January 1950 so far away from home. It jogged my memory into remembering that at that time I was a senior at Nyack High School, dating a young man, your brother, Frank, who had just completed his Navy service.
Love
Lorraine
Great job Ken!
I'm sure every one has a fond memory or two that they may like to share with us.I hope so anyway. We are looking forward to reading some of the other responses.Thanks Lorraine. Frank, start typing!
Charlie
Lorraine and Frank said, "Make sure that you read the blog! Your brother wrote a great story!" I enjoyed your story very much. Keep writing!
Love,
Rosie
Charlie,
Catching up on reading some of these blogs. I love your story and thank God for SPORTS!
Great Job and I love being a part of this family!
Can't wait until the reunion.
Love,
Your wopo d-in-law :)
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