Blasting The Hill of Cubi Point
By: Wayne Allee

My name is Wayne Allee, a Construction Man in MCB 5 Active Reserve from May 1952 to Feb. 1954. I Attended Elect. School Port Hueneme,Ca from Aug. 1952 to Nov. 1952. Shipped out from T.I. Dec. 1952 and got to Cubi Point in Jan. 1953. I lived in tents on the hill above and to the left of the Airfield. Worked on the Dynamite Crew for Chief Eggleston. The Dynamite Crew blasted away the whole hill on what would be the East end of the Airfield. I was there the day they had a HUGE BLAST that took down about 1/2 of the mountain. We had been drilling and loading the holes for 3 days. I was lucky enought to have an 8 MM Movie camera and caught the whole thing on film.  There was a Dredge working in the Bay and it was depositing tons of coral on the Airfield.

In June of 1953 MOB 5 and two other MOBs (3 and 9 ??) were shipped to Port Hueneme for R&R. We returned to Cubi Point in Sept.1953. I was finally used as an electrician, and was taken to West Quarry where the Line Crew built a power line from the Generator Shack to where they loaded the rock on the barges. From there it was taken back to Cubi for fill on the Airstrip. West Quarry was to the left as you came into the Bay from the ocean. There was an old WWII Landing Craft that was used to tie up to when the boat came over from the Main Base with supplies or men returning from town.

This was good duty, as you were able to order what you wanted for breakfast. Lunch and dinner were served family style and plenty of it. We usually had steak twice a week. The food was much better than it was at Cubi Point. Beer was served from 1600 to 2200 and a new movie every night.  You didn't go into the Main Base or Olongapo, very often from West Quarry as it was a two hour boat ride. You could take a hike (about a mile) to Pom Pom Beach where there were about 5 'ladies' brought over in Bancas from Subic City three nights a week. Then you stood in line and waited your turn if you could stand the looks and bodies of the women. Some of the guys would take a case of beer with them and spend the night. I could never drink enough of anything, to lay out there on the sand with any of these 'ladies'. At least in Olongapo, they were 'checked' by doctors, but Subic City was Off Limits to all personnel.