This is MY Olongapo Story!
By: A Hurt Wife

  I have never been to Subic Bay, but I do have a story to tell. I was engaged to a sailor who did the West Pac tour in 1967 - 1968. His ship made several stops in Olongapo. He wrote to me almost daily and was so in love with me he couldn't wait for us to get married. We were married the day after his ship returned to the states. He changed duty stations at that time and had his mail forwarded to our apartment.

  Three months into our marriage a letter arrived from a whore in the Philippines, asking him when he was coming back. She wrote about how much she missed him and announcing she had just given birth to his daughter. The letter was signed Priscilla. He said he remembered a girls named Priscilla but he never had sex with her and he didn't know what she was trying to pull. She had broken her bracelet and he fixed it. In return she bought him a drink and sat and talked to him a while. I asked how she got his name and address. He said she must have gotten my name and division from the stenciling in my hat and the name of my ship was on my shoulder. I then asked him if he did go with any women over there, and he reluctantly said yes, but you pick out the oldest ugliest ones in the bar as they were less used and less likely to have diseases.

  He said he did it three times. His explanation for Priscilla writing him was that she must have thought he was so drunk she figured he didn't remember what he had done and she was looking for money. I had my heart torn out at the time but I was so in love with him that I forgave him, never to bring up the story again until recently. I also pictured some two minute encounter (if that) in some dim lit back room three times, that hopefully he was too drunk to remember much about.

  One night recently, he was reminiscing about his navy days while he was drinking. I don't remember just how the subject came up, but I made a joke to him that I never had to pay for sex. He looked at me and said I never paid for sex !! I asked what he meant. He said I told you about the gal in the Philippines who broke her bracelet. I asked, the one who sent you a letter? He said yes, she gave it to me for free. I asked why did she give it to you for free? He said she was so appreciative that I fixed her bracelet, she bought me a drink, then the next thing I knew she bought herself out of the bar, latched on to me and brought me to her room a block away.

  He said the other times she sent guys to the ship to get him, and she would be waiting in the bar for him, to do the same, buy herself out of the bar and take him to her room. He also said, yes, she was small and young and cute. He claims he never kissed her which seems impossible to me, and he never bought her gifts or led her on in any way. He had sex with her only one time on each encounter and she would tell him to leave after.

  Now what is the matter with his story and why don't I believe him? Did the prostitutes in Olongapo take charity cases when a sailor claimed he didn't have enough money to buy them a drink, as he claimed he told her when she asked? He said that is how she broke her bracelet, waving her hands around when he refused, and she snagged the band on the table and broke a link. This to me is not just some two minute encounter with a faceless girl in a dark room in the back of a bar. This was an affair, and he was brought to her room, how cozy and private.

  So you can build up the memories of the beautiful girls of Olongapo who stole your hearts. They might have stolen your hearts, but they also took your innocents, your money and your morels. The name of the game was marriage, to get a ticket to the states, or a pen pal relationship to get your money in the mail. They had several guys lined up as pen pals and they all received a letter announcing the birth of their child, hoping one of the chumps would fall for it.

  Yes, my husband obviously used her for his own self satisfaction, but I guess she got even. It has been 33 years, and now knowing the truth pierces my heart like a sword. This has even taken the wonderful memories of our honeymoon from me. I now feel when my husband climbed into our wedding bed, he brought half the seventh fleet with him. Whatever pleasure he received from her can be multiplied a hundred times, and that is the pain she and he have caused me.

  Now the point! As one guy wrote in one of the articles, he has been married to his wife for 20 years and he loves her, but he will always remember his girl in Olongapo. That is so sad. I bet she does not remember him anymore than she remembers the many like him. A young foolish horny male dressed in a uniform. They were actresses and played the part well. I have read many articles about the girls in Olongapo, and if you think they enjoyed having sex with the many young men they took to bed, you are all sadly mistaken. They were doing this for money, not pleasure. They were the highest paid working class in the country. Keep your fond memories and I am sure they grow bigger with each year. I wonder how many young men have the fond memories of getting up one morning with burning urination and having to take penicillin?? They were nothing more than rubber lined receptacles you left your deposits in, one after the other.

  Would you feel the same way about your wives and sweethearts if they were doing the same thing back in the states while you were away? They were simply getting a piece of ass to satisfy their needs while they were waiting for your return? Or would you feel betrayed, and loose your trust and respect for her? I would hope instead of the memories of leaving your hearts with some girl in Olongapo, you have grown older and wiser, possibly developed a conscience and much guilt for your actions.

  Most of you have, I am sure, gotten away with your infidelity unlike my husband. He also is now filled with pain knowing, what he told me when he was drinking, ripped at my very soul. He had forgotten the story he had told me all those years ago. When the letter arrived three months into our marriage, I suspected I was pregnant, and I in fact was. I gave birth to our daughter nine months later. Now all these years later, I wonder if some other woman was carrying his child when we took our marriage vows. This is my Olongapo story.